How Often Do You Travel Overseas for Holidays

InfraRed on 16/01/2024 - 17:17
Last edited 16/01/2024 - 18:01

Hey everyone, just curious on how often you travel overseas (excluding quarantine years of course) for vacationing purposes.

I think I've gotten the itch to travel more, I hadn't travelled for holidays in over a decade til last year when I went to Japan and it was a great experience. Im thinking of making a 1-2 week overseas trip a more regular thing. But I struggle with my natural tight arsery to not spend too much money, I mean I can factor it in financially (especially with deals here) but I'm still a cheapo at heart.

Also any tips if I do decide to commit to a travelling schedule? Im guessing I'll need one of those frequent flyer credit cards to minimise the cost.

Poll Options expired

  • 184
    Multiple times a year
  • 277
    Annually
  • 101
    Every 2 years
  • 77
    Every 3-5 years
  • 78
    Every 5+
  • 72
    I don't travel overseas
Travel

Comments

    • try2bhelpful on 17/01/2024 - 13:53

      Several years ago Ozbargain had a post for around the world business class tickets with Virgin for $3700 each. As soon as I told the man he said "let's go and book". Just magnificent.

  • Jugganautx on 17/01/2024 - 14:00
    -1

    Haven't been overseas in 10 years.

    My bet is all of the annual leaves are boomers.

    • try2bhelpful on 17/01/2024 - 14:56

      Well certainly not amongst my friends. You might, also, want to look at the Boomer years, a lot of them are getting a tad long in the tooth for overseas travel. It will really piss you guys off when you don’t have Boomers to blame for everything. In the meantime I would treat your Boomer relatives nicely or they will find someone else for the inheritance. :)

  • Shadowsfury on 17/01/2024 - 14:18
    +4

    Since I started working full time, spent a small fortune on travel especially overseas - but don't regret any of it.
    2013 Korea Japan Singapore
    2014 India (work)
    2015 USA Canada | India (work)
    2016 NZ
    2017 Japan Thailand | Thailand HK/Macau
    2018 USA Canada (work)
    2019 Korea (work) | Singapore | Malaysia Cambodia Indonesia
    2022 NZ
    2023 French Polynesia (Bora Bora/honeymoon) | Vietnam | Singapore
    2024 Japan Korea

    Somehow haven't made the trek to Europe yet though as you can see…

    • Poor Ass on 17/01/2024 - 14:49

      Cambodian bribey bribey at the airport

    • try2bhelpful on 17/01/2024 - 14:50
      +1

      I’m the opposite. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Europe and America and only done Singapore and Hong Kong in Asia. I don’t like humidity and spiders.

      • Shadowsfury on 18/01/2024 - 12:45
        +1

        Singapore features a lot because extended family lives there - otherwise yes I can't stand the weather.

  • blushingelephant on 17/01/2024 - 15:24

    I usually go twice a year. A 3 week holiday mid-year and a 2-3 week holiday over Xmas shutdown.

    Post COVID my trips have been

    2022 - Thailand, Vietnam
    2023 - Bali (twice), South America (Ecuador/Peru/Chile/Bolivia)
    2024 - SEA (Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam) and planning on Europe later this year

  • Powershopz on 17/01/2024 - 15:34

    Back when my wife and I were DINKs in our 20s we used to go overseas once every year for at least 2 weeks plus and then also do 1 or 2 interstate trips a year (generally only for 4-5 days - tied to a long weekend).

    Past 10 years a lot of things have disrupted that (Saving for a house deposit/buying a house, having a baby, COVID) so have only been overseas 3 times in the past 10 years. Now that the kids older and everything is more stable, hoping to bring the back and start going overseas once a year.

  • CHIEFMEGADETH on 17/01/2024 - 17:39
    +2

    Travel for 1 month or more every year.
    Last year I went to the UK for 2 weeks and for Christmas UK/Vietnam and Cambodia for a month.
    I live for Holidays. Covid stuffed up leaving the country. So now kicking it into overdrive
    This year I'm going to San Diego Comicon and Florida and LA. See some Baseball games, Disney World, Universal Studios, and Nasa. Doing that with a buddy, Can't wait! first time going to San Diego Comicon but been to America many times.
    Also Doing a Safari around South Africa with my wife and other family members and plan on going swimming with Great White Sharks as well.

  • heysoph9 on 17/01/2024 - 21:08
    +1

    I used to take one big-ish international trip per year, put all my energy into the big event.
    I read that it's better for happiness/wellbeing to take frequent of short trips rather than one long one.
    So now I go on a short trip each month (3 days minimum, over long weekends etc) domestic or international, as well as 1-2 week trips. I feel like I'm always on holiday but barely use any leave.

    • s1Lence on 18/01/2024 - 00:36

      are you rich?

  • jimburns4u on 18/01/2024 - 01:01

    Young family with a 4 year old daughter, every year try to take 3 international trips. 3-4 weeks seems to be the sweat spot for us to really reset, though for the longer trips like Patagonia its better to assign more time if you can or your flights take a huge % of your budget. Travelling is a way of life for us and we lead a frugal lifestyle, saving money in our day-to-day expenses, which allows us to indulge in frequent international travels.

    Always something to look forward to, spend time looking for new destinations and planning trips and so many amazing experiences and personal growth feels so much more rewarding than others i see addicted to buying new things all the time.

  • witheredcouch on 18/01/2024 - 09:15

    My partner and I have been saving all we can to attempt to go overseas for about 10 days once a year. We both have extremely full-on schedules, juggling full time study and full-time work, and it is seeming to be the best way to avoid burn-out.

  • Eeples on 18/01/2024 - 10:56

    I travelled a lot last year.

    I did Italy and Greece in their winter and flew scoot; accommodations were cheaper, even entry to sites was cheaper.

    I can recommend Cebu and scoot to get to Asia.

    I found Phillipines (red planets are cheap to stay at when connecting) and Vietnam cheap for hotels.
    Danang is really good value.

    More and more non refundable accommodations are being discounted. This is great if your life is pretty stable; but always some risk.

    I found wise card pretty useful but Citibank card was still my preferred option.

    I found Grab pretty good and cheap. But I think it varies on the city.

    Using booking dot com for airport taxi connections was sometimes pretty good.

    Booking accomodation with breakfast typically meant I only had to buy 1 other meal typically early dinner.

    I’m avoiding USA and particularly Hawaii at the moment. The latter has terrible accommodation pricing.

    When travelling by myself I can only do about 3 weeks at a time overseas.

  • TightAl on 18/01/2024 - 11:13
    +1

    3 Overseas trips last year - had something to look forward to every 3/4 months + two or three domestic trips.
    Will probably do 1 this year… Lack of annual leave is a killer

    • try2bhelpful on 18/01/2024 - 11:21

      If you work for a large organisation sometimes you can take unpaid leave. You buy an allowance at the start of the year and you get the money back at the end if you don’t take it. Also double the length long service leave at half pay.

      • TightAl on 18/01/2024 - 11:43

        I think unpaid leave is ok but i rather use paid leave LoL.
        Work had a shutdown that took 8 days of annual leave over xmas and ny. Tragic.

        • try2bhelpful on 18/01/2024 - 11:50

          Yeah that is a PITA and more and more companies do it.

          Sometimes you can offer to be part of the skeleton staff for emergencies. Either you are going hell for leather because something blows up or you are sitting around all day answering emails and planning your next holiday.

    • lainey13 on 18/01/2024 - 23:47
      +1

      I purchase leave at work… it means I 'pay' to get an extra month of leave a year. It's a great perk but not that common because of the paper work required by payroll.

      • TightAl on 19/01/2024 - 00:45

        Does that save you tax or is it net same?
        I gotta look into it.
        - Accure annual leave while on paid leave
        - Get paid super
        - Paid out higher if you earn a pay rise.

        Have i missed anything else? Actually a great deal.

  • Dack Smith on 18/01/2024 - 13:25
    -3

    Bloody hell so many wealthy travellers going overseas multiple times a year.

    It ain’t right, and now the stage 3 cuts will give the top end of town even more money to waste.

    No equality in Australia these days

    • MrThing on 18/01/2024 - 15:58

      If albo had any stones he would cancel the stage 3 tax cuts and pay off our debt and not reignite the inflation dragon

  • MrThing on 18/01/2024 - 15:58

    Bali for cheaaaap cigggies

  • dbnewman89 on 18/01/2024 - 19:39
    +1

    By the time we reach the end of July I'll be at 16 weeks in 5 trips across Europe and the USA in the last 3 years - Single 34yo IT worker, no kids, never married.

  • gromit on 18/01/2024 - 19:44
    +1

    My tight arsery on other less enjoyable things is so i can travel overseas for holidays each year without financial difficulty.

  • Hangryuman on 19/01/2024 - 10:54

    last century when I was in my twenties, my girlfriend saved up for 3 years to afford overseas travel, and used some of her savings to put a deposit on a house

    more recently (pre-COVID) I noted young people putting frequent overseas travel on their credit card, and then complaining that they couldn't afford to buy a house.

    overseas travel can be life-changing and unforgettable

    property ownership can be disastrous for your finances if it goes bad (e.g. Mascot Towers owners whose paid-off unit was valued at $2.4M before cracks in the basement had it declared unliveable, and now they have been offered $400K to walk away with no bills to pay. Another guy used his retirement life savings to buy two studio units in Broadway student accommodation, until major historical awning repair requirement got him a bill for $80K which he couldn't afford, and he couldn't sell for what he paid as they were now distressed properties)

    • try2bhelpful on 19/01/2024 - 11:15

      I don’t think that is really a valid example.. At the age of 27 my other half and I were buying our first house. By the age of 32 we had traded in our old house and bought our current home. We had this paid off by the time we were 39 and have not had to worry about interest rate rises or getting a rental property since then. My first overseas trip was in my 30s and we didn’t go to Europe until I was 40. Since then our spare cash has been going into Super, Shares and holidays we can afford to take.

      You don’t have to buy into new units. My suggestion is try to get standalone and if you can’t then look for an older apartment that has had time to show up any faults. That also, usually, gets you into a block with a smaller number of units. Yes shit happens but not to everyone. The issues you’ve highlighted is what happens when Government outsources primary functions like building inspections. That needs to be fixed.

      You can have amazing travels and life changing experiences but you can wait until you have provided a secure base to your life.

  • Worf on 19/01/2024 - 19:36

    Guess it depends on what your financial goals are and how that fits with lifestyle goals…

    you might find travel also varies based on age / life stage… e.g., might travel more in younger years when you have few financial commitments, travel less when saving for a house/paying mortgage or if you have dependents, then travel more (again) when you are more financially flexible…

  • hopper on 19/01/2024 - 22:14
    +1

    Forgot about holiday and travel after my kid was diagnosed with autism 😢. That was 6 years back

    • try2bhelpful on 19/01/2024 - 22:29

      I, genuinely, wish you all the best for your family. There are certainly more important things than holidays but I hope you all get to where you can enjoy them as a family in the future.

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