Any thoughts on how to decide whether to go to a distant funeral? How do you balance the obvious facts of high cost with something that you really don’t want to be about money?
How close are you to the person who died and/or their family/friends? Money issues asside, how strongly do you feel about going and being there for yourself and/or the others there? How much hurt would it cause if you said “I’d like to be there, but I can’t afford it.”
Ultimately, if you had strong emotional ties to the person or their loved ones, I’d say money is no object & you need to be there. If it’s someone you didn’t know well and is more of a formality, then you could probably get away with begging off due to the financial issues.
And to that I would add how much do you need the ceremony for your own grieving process and that of your family/friends?