Millennial Money Man

Helping Millennials Make More Money and Pay Off Debt

March 20, 2017

Should You Travel If You Have Debt?

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Should You Travel If You Have Debt?

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I've got to admit, I do wish I traveled quite a bit more. My wife and I just got back from about a week of vacation (did you miss me?), and I REALLY needed it. Coral planned the entire trip without telling me where we were going, and it was freaking awesome.

We ended up flying to Tampa Bay and then driving to Anna Maria Island (highly recommend) off the west coast of Florida, where I worked as little as possible and recharged my batteries.

I know a lot of you like to keep track of what I'm doing on a day to day basis, and admittedly I've been pretty bad at that. One thing I realized while I was on vacation is that I need to show you even more about my life (as if my income wasn't enough, right?) and the cool things that my online business and hard work I put into my student loans allows me to do now.

So – go ahead and follow me on Instagram really quick (@genymoneyman) and I promise you that I will post regularly AND you can see my recent vacation photos. 🙂

Vacations and traveling are fairly new for me

One of the most interesting things that I've noticed about millennials and vacations is what I'll call the “justification effect.” There are a lot of people that I know personally and through the site that go on incredible vacations all the time.

Then, they come to me and complain about being broke or how their student loan debt is so daunting.

If I mention the glaringly obvious “borrowing money for vacations” thing, I get something similar to:

“I just want to live while I'm young.”

“I deserve it; I'm stressed.”

“I'll have it paid off soon, it's not a big deal.”

Do you want to know why I have zero debt and a career 99% of people in the world would want?

I didn't take vacations. I didn't borrow money for crap. I put in the REALLY hard work and sacrifice when I was super young so that now, at 28, I can do nearly whatever I freaking want to and write a check for it.

Related: Life After Debt

This hasn't been mentioned on M$M in a while, mostly because I wanted to soften my tone a bit as the site grew. But I've got to say it: we don't deserve crap, and you'll still be the same person 30 years from now wishing you had taken your loans more seriously when you had the asset of time to work for you.

My wife and I make $200,000k(ish) a year and are JUST getting comfortable with traveling, because well…it's expensive.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't ever travel if you have debt…

My wife and I were extreme about being frugal in our early 20's, and I fully understand that most people don't want to do the things we did (even though our lives are pretty incredible now).

But honestly, if you have a ton of student loan or consumer debt and don't have a real plan for getting it knocked out in the near future, you literally can't afford a vacation. I'm sorry. If you take that statement personally and are offended, you need to learn how to separate money from your self worth (also sorry).

Related: Afford – A Dangerous Word

There are a lot of things we all want in life. I get it. But that doesn't mean we get to have it. It's a bummer.

However, if you have a real debt payoff plan and actually budget vacations in – go for it.

Here's an example:

I have two very good friends that are working on what used to be about $100,000 of student loan debt (they have paid off over $50,000 in the last two years or so).

They are both teachers, and make a $3,100/month loan payment by being extremely smart and diligent about their budget. It's incredible. I can't WAIT to feature them on the site when they make the last payment.

If they want to set aside some money to go on a vacation, they can and should. They WILL hit their goal of debt freedom, it just becomes a matter of exactly when, not “if.”

Vacations do have intrinsic value

Now that my wife and I are starting to travel more, I definitely see the value in getting away much more than I did before. But, I don't regret the years that we didn't take big trips at all.

I can guarantee you that it's a great feeling to go on vacation without having to keep paying the bill long after the trip is over.

Here's a tip from someone that has walked the walk:

If you're heavily in debt and still feel like you HAVE to get away – try taking a mini vacation instead (that link will take you to 1,000+ ideas for three-day trips).

Obviously doing a weekend trip somewhere in-state won't feel like a week in Cabo, but you'll probably find that it gives you juuuust enough of a mental break to keep grinding away at your debt.

Question for you:

How do you save/budget for traveling?

(BTW – the featured pic is from our recent vacation!)

Live differently. Your bank accounts will thank me later. ~M$M

Don't miss another M$M post.

Learn more about attacking debt, making more money, and creating an awesome life you love.

Comments

  1. We’re taking a “vacation” next week during our spring break. It’s more of a go visit family on the east coast. We try to do it as much as possible. This time around, we had the plan that just my wife and daughter (under 2 = free airfare) were going. My son and I would stay. When family/friends heard our plan they unsolicitedly sent us money to cover the airline tickets. A great gesture and one that becomes hard to say no to. (Could have put that cash straight into debt.) So, we are all going for 5 days. We’ll be staying with family. Our only vacation costs are a rental car and food. On the food end, we have some family members who love to cook and have already informed us there won’t be much expense on that end, either….. Doing all this is the only way we could make it work.

    After our 5 days of vacation life begins right away. We get back Thursday afternoon. Friday the kids are going to the grandparents. My wife and I are out of town for the weekend so I can work my side hustle and she can visit a few friends. The friends just happen to live where I’m working Friday/Saturday. This little weekend getaway for her is a great way to work and see old friends. The best part, I come out ahead on the financial end!

    Once the debt is gone, our vacations will look a little different. For now, we make the most of the little opportunities life gives us and we work our tails off to get the debt knocked out.

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  2. Travel to visit friends! So far in 2017, my family and I have traveled to Houston, flying free with credit card miles, and staying with friends – so the costs were basically the rental car and food (which isn’t that big of a deal b/c we’d have eaten even if we stayed home). We also just got back from Vermont, we again we stayed with friends. Both trips didn’t have as much sight seeing as I’m used to, but they more then made up for that with quality time spent with people we don’t get to see to often.

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  3. As I live 6 hours away from my family, most of my vacation time is spent traveling to visit them.

    The last long vacation I had was to Colorado in 2015. I was able to buy a cheap (under $300) round trip plane ticket, and stay with a friend for next to nothing. We went horseback riding with a friend of hers, checked out Rocky Mountain National Park, explored her beautiful mountain town, and hung out for a week all on a very limited budget because we also ate most meals at her house and didn’t spend a lot on entertainment. All together I spent maybe $600-$700 for a week vacation in a beautiful part of the U.S.

    My vacation plans this year include a week in PA and NY in May visiting family and another long weekend in August at a friend’s family’s cabin. There will probably be a few weekend trips as well, but expenses will be kept low by staying with friends/family, not eating out much, and possibly doing some camping.

    I would love to do some international travel while my passport is still valid but it’s just not in the budget right now. I may be able to set aside a few dollars here and there in the months to come. Air BnB is a great resource for inexpensive accommodations, and a chance to really be immersed in the culture. There’s also couch surfing, and hostels generally provide access to a kitchen which allows one to save a great deal on food.

    I think taking vacations is important from time to time because life is short and none of us know how long we may have on this earth. But you’re absolutely right that there needs to be a plan, and a budget, and that when in debt it is so important to avoid justifying expensive vacations with the false “I deserve this” mentality.

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  4. My husband and I set aside about 250 a month to go on our annual vacation. We just transfer it to our checking and book it when we are ready. We are really close to paying off our debt, we have about 5000 left on a credit card to pay off. It has been a journey for us, about 4 years of paying off student loans, personal loans, car loans and way too much credit card debt but we are should be finished by the time we take our next vacation in August. We also do mini vacations a couple times a year when we just need a break from work or want to spend time with our toddler for a day. We have a mini vacation in April to the Zoo and the Science Center in our area.

    I didn’t take very many vacations when I was little but not because of money but rather because my mom refused to take off work. So for me it is time to spend with family and go places I didn’t get to go as a child. Once out of debt we do plan to travel way more (3 times a year vs 1 right now), My husband wants to see all 50 states so we will be working on that starting next year when we will be debt free.

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  5. Nailed it again! This is a particular topic that my wife and I discuss often when seeing the financial habits or our friends. It’s hard to stay compassionate with someone that makes the same stupid mistakes over and over. Much respect to you for your patience with your followers. Keep doing what you’re doing.

    Make more. Save more. Give more.

    -Jordan

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  6. I make an ordinary salary and travel a LOT. I think that most people believe I am either heavily in debt, or very rich. But what they don’t know is that I am a travel whiz, and I travel CHEAP!

    – I don’t purchase a plane ticket unless it is an amazing deal (Example: East Coast to Europe for $450, East Coast to South American for $500)
    – I stay in bunk rooms in hostels or in private rooms via Air BnB (in some countries, like Mexico, the cost is comparable). This is also a great way to meet people for solo travelers!
    – I eat most of my meals at fast casual restaurants or street food, typically splurging on one or two nice restaurants over the course of a trip
    – I use public transportation
    – I typically travel to countries that are much cheaper than the US, where I live. My dollar goes farther, and I get to know amazing destinations – Mexico, Peru, Greece, Colombia, Turkey, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, etc..

    I do not have debt, and I save money. Following these frugal tips allows me to travel, stay debt free, and keep growing my bank account!

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  7. The answer to your question goes back to having a realistic plan/budget of how this decision will affect your overall finances/net worth (and really that’s the key to any financial decision).

    The people who take the leap without thinking of the consequences (and are probably just paying minimums) put themselves in a much different position from the people who have a solid plan/budget and are throwing thousands at their debt each month in attempt to rid themselves of loans. The latter will be more likely to weigh the cost benefit between paying off debt quicker or taking the vacation and paying debt in a longer time frame and making a solid financial decision with a plan and end goal.

    It helps to think about the consequences in each decision and formulate a plan to deal with the problems that you can anticipate. Of course things come up that you never saw coming, but it’s hopefully easier to deal with if you plan for the worst. Great post!

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  8. I had a tough marriage that was full of financial problems. Several years ago he left, and as a single mom of 2 kids with no child support, I FINALLY got the hustle to tackle my debt! I hustled my tail off, working 7 days a week for many months (then only working 6 days a week when I got burned out) and piled the money on my debt and all the emergencies that came up!

    I worked full-time and side-hustled like CRAZY as a Brand Ambassador working as many events as I could book Fridays after work, then Saturdays and Sundays. (BTW, I cannot recommend being a Brand Ambassador enough, the $$ is great!) Thanks to the support of my family and friends and TONS of help with my kids, I survived, but barely. My home water heater went out, transmission, then home furnace! It seemed like during the worst time in my life (emotionally and financially), I could not escape the catastrophe’s that life had. I tell you what, pushing a space heater around your house in a MN winter and waking up to 50° in your bedroom teaches you something. Boiling water on the stove in stock pots for warm baths sure gives you a lesson in humility.

    We were already stretching our dollar every way we can, and I took pride in the fact that we were a team, in it together and making progress! It became a game to see how frugal we could be, and it was a struggle at times, it was very rewarding. This meant that we eliminated things like eating out, vacations and anything we didn’t absolutely need. When there were weddings or funerals out of state for close people I did not want to miss, I took the least expensive method of travel, stayed for a shortest amount of time and my kids stayed behind.

    Last year my grandfather passed away. He and my grandmother lived 8 hours away. Several months after that, my grandmother moves 16 hours away to live closer to my uncle since she was all alone. That was a punch in the gut for me. Yes, I was struggling, yes, on paper, it made no sense for me and my kids to travel. But I wish we did. I wish we went to my grandparents house once over the summer for a week and once over the holidays like we used to. I wish my kids had more memories of them, especially as they were older. I miss my grandparents dearly (grateful my grandmother is alive and well, albeit 16 hours away), and wish I could take my kids there now. They used to live on a lake, had a boat and we’d spend days fishing with campfires in the evening.

    Right now I’m comfortable. I’m tackling my student loan debt, and will have it paid off in less than a year. If something comes up beyond my $1,000 emergency fund, I can push pause on my debt snowball and handle it with ease. I wish I would have given myself some more freedom to visit my grandparents. I got so rigid with my frugality that I had blinders on to ANYTHING that did not contribute to paying off debt and saving money. I wish I would have slowed down my hustle so I didn’t feel so guilty joining the rest of my family on trips to see my grandparents. But I felt like I was doing something wrong and with all the help people were giving me with my kids and my life, I needed to show them I was not “wasting” money on a vacation. I don’t think you should take vacations when you are in debt, period. That’s why I didn’t. But I think you need to define your definition of vacation and allow yourself to spend meaningful time with those you care about who don’t live near you. I think you should do this without justifying it as a reason to overspend.

    Thank you for your blog and sharing your story and your life! It provides motivation and encouragement to people like me! All the best!

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  9. True dat!

    I’ve seen the range of gamut from people saying you need to treat yo’self to those who think that you must live as a pauper monk while paying off your debt. I disagree with both. You can’t spend crazy amounts on vacation, but you can’t live like a pauper either, especially if you’ll be paying off your debt for years.

    We’ll be paying off debt using the debt avalanche method for the next 6 years at least. We’re still going on vacation, but we’re doing it by visiting cool places over short three-day trips (like the Rocky Mountains which happen to be next door…), visiting family (hooray for a reunion in North Carolina this July!), and travel hacking with credit cards.

    Credit cards can be dangerous to someone in debt, but for me, credit card debt has never been the problem. To make sure it doesn’t become one, I’m militant about paying it off – I log on each weekday and pay off the previous day’s charges. Gotta put the kibosh on any out-of-control spending before it starts getting away from you. 🙂

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  10. One of the perks of working for a major hotel chain is that I can stay in really nice hotels for dirt cheap. My mom and I went to Florida in February and because of my amazing discount, we stayed at Hilton hotels for under $80 ( two nights, one driving to and one driving home). We then stayed with family and we cooked for the three days we stayed with family. You kind of become the cook at family get togethers when you’re a chef, lol.

    I have an absolutely intense travel bug and I’m having a rough time controlling it. But that’s why, along with starting my business, I’m also planning on doing real estate investing. The passive income from my investment properties can be my key to traveling again! It’s all about self discipline and not going for the instant gratification, which a much harder concept today because of modern technology.

    I’m hoping to start doing some incredible traveling next year, but my over all goal is to be 100% debt free and living on passive income in 3 years and I need to cut out as many things as possible. But it doesn’t stop me from having a giant map of the world on my wall with a bunch of pins placed in places I want to go!

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  11. I totally agree with your perspective of traveling while in debt.

    There is nothing necessarily wrong with traveling while in debt, but you just need to be mindful of the money you are spending and really budget for it. If you have to spend a ton of money on credit cards or even take out a personal loan to travel, you shouldn’t be doing it at the moment.

    I have to admit, I travel fairly often. However, a lot of my travel is at least 50% for business, and sometimes it’s all business! Traveling has allowed my business to grow, and I also get a little free time to enjoy myself. I consider that a win-win!

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    • Yeah I just think it’s a really interesting topic for millennials. The traditional arguments by older personal finance experts probably leans more towards no travel with debt, but most of that dialogue was created for consumer debt, not necessarily student loan debt.

      Should young people punish themselves because they went to college like everyone told them to do? I kinda did, but I’m not sure if that’s necessarily the right thing for everyone or not.

      After my wife’s father passed away, my views definitely skewed a lot towards enjoying life now while knocking out debt aggressively.

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  12. I definitely traveled a lot before paying off my student loans. I don’t exactly regret that, as they were awesome experiences and some were really cheap (like going to Germany twice and staying with relatives so the flight was the primary cost). Also, these trips would be harder I to do now as a parent, so I’m glad I traveled a lot while single and without kids! Ido think I could have budgeted better in other areas to make up for travel spending and pay off loans faster. Of course I agree with you on having a plan and budget if you do travel while paying off debt!

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    • Yeah we are definitely trying to do some more traveling, and I’ve realized that it is just better for me mentally since I have this weird constant stream of working. Even after just taking a week off I feel totally refreshed and ready to go on all the projects I’ve got happening in the background!

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  13. My husband and I bought a 2001 Ford Econoline that was converted into a camper van. The initial cost was $6,000; however, we sold my husbands truck for $10,000 and he now drives the van to work (buying the van put $4,000 in our pockets). We use the van just about every other weekend to travel and explore. We have been to Big Sur, Lake Tahoe, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas…and the only cost is gas and any activities we want to experience. Since we can cook and shower in the van, meals and hygiene are the same cost as staying home.

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    • Haha wow that’s so cool! I’m always so jealous of people that do that. I really doubt I’d be able to get my wife to travel around in a van with me, so we’ll probably just have to stick to the normal vacations for now. 🙂

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  14. Oh yeah, if you stay in one place for a few years while paying off debt you’ll go insane. Mr. Picky Pincher and I opt for more affordable local vacations, like a weekend getaway in a cabin. Our most expensive trip was our honeymoon, but most of that was paid for by friends and family (score!). We do want to go to Belgium once our student loans are paid off; that means lots of budgeting and a few travel hacks for now!

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    • Yeah our most expensive trip was the honeymoon too. We really like the all-inclusive trip, but when we went on a second one last year I didn’t really like it as much. This last trip to Florida was my favorite so far and cost easily half what an all-inclusive does!

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  15. Glad to see you go on vacation and enjoy it! We loved seeing your travel on Instagram =)

    Totally agree that going on vacation when you have a huge amount of debt or even worse borrow to go on vacation is a terrible thing. Unless you are really focused on paying off your debt and budgeting for a vacation you don’t deserve it.

    My mother was a school counselor so every break she had at school lined up with us kids. My father was a project engineer with Kodak and had lot’s of vacation time. We would literally go on vacation every break. I only remember one time that we actually stayed home. These trips were not always extravagant, most of the time it was camping, myrtle beach, etc.

    Growing up in that environment really trained my personality to LOVE traveling. Our website is all about living frugally so you can live free. Meaning if your smart with your money you can have all the freedom in the world. We wholehearted believe that experience far outweighs the happiness that you get from buying material things.

    We both drive old cars with rust. Have the same couch we had in college. Almost never eat out. Rarely buy new clothing. Bought a small affordable house well below our means. All of these things are done intentionally so we can maintain a certain level of freedom in life.

    We LOVE to travel and go on vacations, living frugal allows us to do so.

    Last year we went on a friendcation that was rather expensive. We budgeted and saved intentionally to allow us to financially go. It was one of the best experiences we have ever had in our life. The memories that we made with our closets friends were worth every penny.

    Thanks for sharing! Love that you also live frugal & free! =)

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  16. All of my “vacations” are going to conferences or things for church so not really vacations. I do sometimes stay a few extra days in order to enjoy the area and not work the whole time but even then it’s all paid for in cash.

    Also I wish I knew you were in town I would have taken you guys out to dinner. Next time you find yourself in Tampa Florida area send me a email lol.

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  17. I’m with you M$M, I don’t feel you should you go on vacation when you have debt. Every dollar you can squeeze out of your budget each month should be going towards debt reduction. Why do I have such a harsh stance on this? It’s not because I don’t want you to go on vacation or have nice things. It’s because I know how good it feels to not have any debt. Trust me, you’ll enjoy your debt-free vacation SO much more than if the payments follow you home afterwards. Short-term pain for long-term gain!

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  18. It’s all about balance, in my book. Focusing on demolishing debt, or building your investments is fine, but my quality of life would be severely lowered if I couldn’t travel to see my friends and family on a regular basis.

    I’m entirely against mindless consumption, but I’m also of the opinion that you’ve got no guarantees of any day other than today, so it seems a risky proposition to put it all on the future. Better to hedge, and balance it out by living in the now as well as planning for the future, in a financial sense 🙂

    Now, of course, there’s a bit of a difference between travelling and staying with friends and family, and travelling to stay at five star hotels, dine at the finest (most expensive) restaurants and what not. The latter is not very important for me, although I have to admit I’ve went a little overboard on a couple of occasions. But, live and learn, as they say!

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  19. I totally agree that you shouldn’t spend money on vacations if you are in debt.
    The nice thing is it is relatively easy to travel for free or close to it if you have a decent credit score.

    We recently traveled to Boston from Texas. The flights cost $22 (TSA fee). All hotels were free (SPG points) and the rental car was free (chase points).
    We did splurge on food a bit but didn’t have to. We are debt free now but try to travel for free as much as possible.
    When were were in debt and younger we mostly traveled to visit family by car and had a couple vacations when relatives paid for plane tickets.
    I think it’s like anything else. If you prioritize travel and that experience, you plan ahead and be deliberate but debt is first.

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  20. I really hate it when people try to justify their overspending by saying they deserve it. No one deserves anything. You reap what you sow.

    About 7 years ago, my wife quit her job to go back to school for her teaching degree. All of a sudden we were a one income family and paying for school (without student loans). We lived very tight and didn’t take vacations. We finally did travel for a long weekend vacation in Miami to watch our alma matter in football. It was about 3 months before she finished her student teaching. We basically paid for just the flights as we had points for the hotel, and went down a day later than most others to save money. It was a real cheap trip but we still had a blast. You don’t have to spend a lot of money for memorable vacations.

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  21. Great article. Love the last part on taking mini vacations. In fact my husband and I are taking a mini vacation this week (3 day trip to Charleston SC. which is a nice getaway from the cold weather in the Northeast). I agree with your points above, and in a recent post I wrote about how we built our monthly budget. While most of it is focused on saving money for investments and paying off our mortgage we have a small piece allocated for vacations. We have a separate savings account for vacation which is used mostly for small extended weekend trips. I agree that getting away and traveling has its own benefits and if you are able to use credit card rewards or other discounts you can reduce the travel costs even more.

    Hope you had a great time on vacation!

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  22. Hi M$M,

    Travel really is a great thing around the globe – what there is to see out there is truly awe inspiring. I’ve done a huge amount of travelling in my time (in fact, had I not done all the travelling then I would probably be financially free by now!), and it costs money. It can cost a lot of money. Is it worth it? For me, yes it was. I have seen and done things that you can no longer do (I’ve been inside the great pyramid in Egypt, Ive climbed pyramids and tombs in Mexico, I’ve been diving in what is now a war zone). Some things in life will never be there, but as you so rightly point out… be aware of what this means.

    I am completely with you – I have no time for people who say “I deserve this” or “I need this” but then complain about a lack of money. Don’t go then. Save, invest, then your investments will pay for that travel every year for the rest of your life!

    Keep up the good work, and I hope some of the millenials out there read your blog and realise the decision they are making!

    Cheers,
    FiL

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  23. Love the article, and I hear this all the time at my day jobs right now from employees. I own two company’s, and I just had someone take a two-week vacation to Disney world….last time I checked that was pretty expensive…and then they got back and didn’t have enough money to have gas to get to work until payday. Needless to say, they no longer work there. But that is the entire mentality of people nowadays.

    I wholeheartedly agree taking a vacation is a must for individuals who work all the time as you need the mental recharge but it doesn’t have to be big and extravagant. Having a weekend away camping or at a cabin is a good enough recharge for my wife and me, and that costs maybe $29-$50/night.

    My wife and I give ourselves an allowance in our budget. So if we want to go on vacation, we take that $20/paycheck and save it up and determine that’s how we want to spend our money together! It has worked out well for us. At $80/month it won’t doesn’t take us to the Bahamas very fast 🙂 But we agreed if we can finish becoming debt free, only have our house payment left now, we can then travel however we want as that house payment alone is $1,200/month.

    Thanks for all your inspiration!

    Barnabas

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  24. The blunt tone of this post made me laugh (“we don’t deserve crap”).

    I’ve been travel “hacking” (ugh, hate that word) for the past few years. I’ve used miles to get to Japan, England and France. In a few months I’m going to Hawaii, and then New Zealand in December. I only have a one-way to NZ right now, but I”ll put in the work to find a way back. For me, I always like to take advantage of opportunities I see, and it makes sense to be rewarded for purchases I’d buy anyway. Like right now, I’m planning a wedding so obviously it was prime time to sign up for a new credit card.

    I also prioritize travel by putting a hundred or so dollars into a ‘save to spend’ account every month. When I spend on travel, I move that same amount over to my checking account.

    I find it weird when people want to wait until they’re retired to travel. There’s surely a balance that can be had. I’m envisioning myself trying to hike Macchu Picchu when I’m 65….yeah, nope.

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  25. We were both in debt when we met and ended up not travelling at all the first years we were together. Paying debt while on a low income was difficult enough, there wasn’t much room for vacation time back then.

    However, after a while I thought.. hmm.. maybe we CAN travel, there must be somewhere we can go even on a tight budget. So, I did some research and found quite a few great destinations nearby (less than 100 miles).

    We began going on city breaks every now and then and loved it so much it became sort of a ‘tradition’ for us.
    Close destinations are ‘cheap’ to arrive to, packing your own lunch helps avoiding restaurant costs (plus you know exactly what you eat..) and buying some ‘travel equipment’ reduces the cost of renting it every single time.

    I’m currently waiting for the weather to warm up some more, I can’t wait to go on our first city break this year! There’s this lake about 60 miles from here I’m dying to revisit!

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  26. First time reader here. I love your blog category on beating student debt.
    Such an inspiration to so many. And so practical too. Planning to subscribe to your blog.

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  27. Thank you for this. It needs to be said.
    We have been very lucky to be able to travel while blasting through our debt (visited our 6th continent together and paid off over 100k in loans in 2016!) but this approach to budgeting is challenging and is probably not ideal for most people. We often find that people we talk to about travel have badly confused their wants with their rights, and they get a glazed look in their eyes when we try explaining that travel can be budget-friendly and that backpacking in the wilderness (one of our favorite low-cost vacation tactics) is just as fun for us as jetting off to an expensive resort.

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  28. I am loving your blog! First-time poster!

    I paid off $35k in student loans in 25 months. I did not travel at all during that time. Paying off my debt was too much of a priority. Now that they are paid off I am able to travel and to do so without having to worry or stress about costs and paying for it. I love to travel, but I only do so twice a year usually. My goal is to save more money now and travel more when I semi-retire down the road.

    Otherwise, living in Colorado, I can easily escape to the mountains for day-trips or weekends for some R&R!

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  29. 1. We buckle down and do not spend money on anything several months (or a year) leading up to a trip. Depending on the size of the trip, we also book way in advance and have everything paid off before we even go. That way we know we need to budget for food.

    2. Which leads me to my next thought:saving money. First, we use Airbnb or stay at a friend/family member’s place. That gives us access to a kitchen. We eat a meal at “home,” pack a second, and eat out for the third. That way we are only eating out once a day on vacation. Second, I use Pinterest to find free things to do in our area. Whether we are packing a lunch and going on a hike or doing a free walking tour in the heart of a city, we always try to do the free stuff. There are also ways to find discounts: i.e. The first Thursday of every month is free admission to an art museum or go to a brewery during happy hour.

    If you plan right and are careful, you definitely can spend your money wisely on a trip!

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  30. I do a lot of camping and river trips on weekends during the summer. I’m grinding away at ~$30,000 in student loans right now, and once you have the gear, outdoor adventures are incredibly cheap and relaxing. Plus, most places that I go for outdoor R&R have poor cell service, so I get a technology break. I also bring my dog with me on my adventures, so I don’t spend the money on boarding him.

    Disclaimer, getting started camping and kayaking was not a cheap task. I had to set aside some of my monthly spending money for several months to save up the cash base to buy my gear one piece at a time, but it was SO worth the wait! If you don’t want to purchase gear, there are several places that rent it out or do guided trips for a really fair price. The options range from a few hours to 8 days!

    I will have my loans paid off before they ever actually come out of deferrment, I can’t wait for December 2018, here’s to being debt free!

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  31. My fiance and I travel for really cheap while we are paying off debt. For extra income my fiance works part time for Hampton Inn. The Hilton hotels give employees really good employee rates so we often get our hotel for $35 a night. I also have an Amazon credit card that gives me a free companion ticket each year whether or not I use the card, which I don’t. It holds a zero balance. Then I have another credit card with Venture Capital One that I put everything on (food, gas, etc.) and i earn 1.25 miles for every dollar. I just make sure I pay it off every month so it doesn’t accrue interest. I use this card to reimburse my rental car and hotel bill. My rental car I get through Costco Travel where you can get a week long rental for about $120. After I reimburse my rental car and hotel with the travel points the only out of pocket expenseswe have is the one airline ticket, which if we go off season might only be $200. So there’s a week long vacation for 2 for $200.

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  32. It is such a hard balance to figure out. I am trying to decide if I am going to take a trip.

    I have condo paid for in Orlando I just need to get plane ticket and pay for any tickets. I can do it without acquiring more debt.

    I do have student loans and credit card debt. I have a plan I paid of $5000 already credit card and budged extra payments to pay it off the last credit card debt in next year. Once credit card is done pay off my car then tackle student loans. I’m hoping to have car credit cards finished early next year,

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