I know a lot of middle class families that are in this situation, or the related situation - Grandma died and left us six figures (or we sold the farm and all the kids got six figures). I know a few living in their childhood homes - when you never have a mortgage money goes a lot farther. One friend has gone on a few nice cruises with his family - his grandfather is spending his money on family reunions on cruise ships. My friend really would prefer other vacations, but this is what grandpa is paying for.
I know people who travel so much for work that they take four people on vacation each year on frequent flyer points.
I know people who travel to conferences or training for work and the family comes along. The employees airfare and hotel bill are picked up by the company, so there is just the family airfare, and the hotel over the weekends, to pick up. Especially when its some sort of bonus boondoggle - my parents traveled for years on “salesman recognition” trips. My husband’s company paid for him and I to take a trip to Disneyland - he had one day of meetings and we had three days in Southern California together (and the day he had in meetings, they put all the spouses on a bus and took us to the beach).
Is that still true, even with nearly $4.00 per gallon for diesel? The reason I ask is, I had considered a fifth-wheeler in my retirement plans at one time. But, without putting the numbers on paper, I have wondered if it made more sense to get a 35-40 mpg car and stay in $50 - $70 per night hotels.
Our last camper (pop-up) trip vacation was over ten years ago, and the campground fees were running $20 - $25 per night then. More recently, we’ve stayed at the state park in Galveston and, with day fees and campground fees, I seem to remember it costing around $80 - $90 to stay two nights. That got me to wondering about the cost per day to go “full-time”, especially for a bigger rig.
To address the OP (even though it’s nearly a year old), when we were younger, we didn’t go on vacation. We couldn’t afford it. Out first real vacation was a tent camping trip to the Rockies and that didn’t happen until we were in our thirties.
Now, we like to travel to beach resorts a couple of times per year. The airfare is a big part of the cost. We live near DFW airport and American Airlines has a near-monopoly here, especially on international flights. When I plan a trip, I add the airfare to the resort cost and divide it into the number of days and compare the cost per day to previous trips. We travel in the off-season (huricane season in the Caribbean) and on off-days. I look for specials among the resorts we like (discounts, free days). There are tricks (most already mentioned) to saving on airfare. For example, on our last trip, we saved enough on airfare by returning home on Tuesday instead of Saturday that the savings almost paid for the three extra days at the resort. The internet is a valuable tool for this and I use several different web sites. I usual find deals easier on the airlines web site than on sites like Expedia or Orbitz.
We also book the fligts 4-6 months in advance when the economy seats are still available. It’s risky, but it helps if you just make the vacation a priority and decide you’re going no matter what.
Actually, my statement is probably false when factoring in the cost of the RV, etc. Pulling a cheap used popup behind the family minivan would be cost effective for vacations. Paying for a larger RV, plus storage and maintenance probably nullifies any hotel savings for me. I’m thinking of the immediate costs, since we already have the equipment.
It seems to run about 200-250 per day to keep a family of four housed, fed, and in a rental car when we travel by air. Add 1500 or so for a hypothetical airfare, and you’re looking at about 4000 for say, a 7-day trip to the Grand Canyon.
Using even my rig’s shitty gas mileage, and 18.00 per night to camp at the North Rim, I come up with only 1500 in costs for the same week, including the extra travel days (and more expensive campgrounds enroute).