We are working on our pre-baby bucket list and are trying to figure out where we want to go. Really trying ti stay around 1k per person for airfare and hotel. Neither of us have been overseas. Considering Vegas, San Fran, europe etc. What says you wolf web?

4/24/2011 11:53:35 PM

Barcelona-Paris-Rome

Fly to one of the cities for ~700 and backpack from city to city.

4/25/2011 12:03:22 AM

I've always wanted to go to Costa Rica.

4/25/2011 12:05:19 AM

Quote :

"Really trying ti stay around 1k per person for airfare and hotel."

You're not going to be able to do much in Europe with that. So you can cross that off.

4/25/2011 7:27:18 AM

^true.

I'd second Costa Rica. It's cheap and there is TONS to do/see.

4/25/2011 9:04:44 AM

my boyfriend and i have been looking into some vacation ideas ourselves. i don't know if you have a smart phone but my boyfriend checks the JetSetter app a lot. they have a lot of really cool deals and it lists out all the information, pictures of the resorts, prices, etc. it might be worth looking at the app to see if you guys can find something. they have some really awesome deals right now to go to the Caribbean for super cheap. definitely under $1K each.

4/25/2011 9:08:49 AM

for $1k per person I'd take Europe off the table. It costs $700-$800 to fly there.

Quote :

"they have some really awesome deals right now to go to the Caribbean for super cheap. definitely under $1K each."

^with airfare?

4/25/2011 9:09:45 AM

I just got back from Jamaica... All inclusive... Air & transfers included... 5 nights.... Was in that budget range...

So, yes....

4/25/2011 9:24:09 AM

i came to say costa rica. i went the october before last for $364 round trip and stayed in an awesome hotel due to getting "green season" rates

4/25/2011 9:24:29 AM

it costs $700 for 2 people to fly to montana

4/25/2011 9:29:20 AM

Quote :

"for $1k per person I'd take Europe off the table. It costs $700-$800 to fly there."

30 bucks per night gets you a room. Completely in budget and better than the cancuny places being mentioned.

4/25/2011 10:05:31 AM

vancouver. Only city where you can ski and golf on the same day.

4/25/2011 10:29:42 AM

Quote :

"30 bucks per night gets you a room. Completely in budget and better than the cancuny places being mentioned."

Haha set the pipe down and think for a minute. Sure you can get a bed in a hostel for $30 a night in most places, but even if they only stay a week, the flight + hostels will eat up their entire budget, not including transportation, food or fun. And who wants to pay $700-$800 to fly to europe for just a week. I've always looked at a Europe trip as a two week minimum, but maybe that's just me.

If you really think $1k per person is sufficient for a Europe trip you've never been (or more likely, looking at your username, trolling). Though I will admit if you're used to living in the woods/on the street and don't mind panhandling the entire time then you can probably pull it off.

4/25/2011 10:35:34 AM

they didn't say 1k was the budget for the entire trip. they said 1k for airfare and hotel and they will never have the opportunity to travel alone again as a young couple.

[Edited on April 25, 2011 at 10:47 AM. Reason : nobody said anything about a week either. 30 x10 =300 300+700=1000. ]

4/25/2011 10:45:22 AM

Quote :

"^with airfare?"

Yup. The airfare was about $700 rountrip a person but the 5 star hotels were SUPER cheap - like $150 a night.

4/25/2011 10:57:14 AM

I'd consider a trip to Canada. Vancouver, Toronto, Quebec. Cool cities most people will never go to that are relatively inexpensive. Plus I think you can legally smoke weed in some of those locations.

4/25/2011 10:58:30 AM

Quote :

"they didn't say 1k was the budget for the entire trip. they said 1k for airfare and hotel and they will never have the opportunity to travel alone again as a young couple. [Edited on April 25, 2011 at 10:47 AM. Reason : nobody said anything about a week either. 30 x10 =300 300+700=1000. ]"

Good luck finding a room for $30 a night over there. It's more like $30+ per person for a bed in a hostel, unless you're in eastern europe or some tiny rural town.

4/25/2011 11:01:31 AM

keep in mind for hostels

4/25/2011 11:05:10 AM

^ definitely experienced those at a hostel in Thailand

4/25/2011 11:20:12 AM

Quote :

"they didn't say 1k was the budget for the entire trip. they said 1k for airfare and hotel and they will never have the opportunity to travel alone again as a young couple. [Edited on April 25, 2011 at 10:47 AM. Reason : nobody said anything about a week either. 30 x10 =300 300+700=1000. ]"

Still...good luck getting airfare and lodging for that budget. As someone already stated, the CHEAPEST hostels in the bigger Western European cities are $35-40...per person. Add in train tickets, food and drink (its still a vacation, so you have to splurge a little)...and Europe just isn't feasible. Either increase the budget or go somewhere else.

4/25/2011 11:22:55 AM

ITT people who clearly haven't been to Europe theorize on how much a trip to Europe costs.

Again, go to Costa Rica and stay here:

http://www.lostiguanaresort.com/



edit: holy shit that place is expensive now, it was dirt cheap when I went. Still, amazing views and the most amazing room I've ever stayed in.



[Edited on April 25, 2011 at 11:28 AM. Reason : d]

4/25/2011 11:25:19 AM

vacation on a budget FTL. Might as well going somewhere (domestic/carribean), where you can travel comfortably within that budget.

4/25/2011 11:30:32 AM

^ I didn't stay there, but I would also highly recommend Costa Rica. The coast is nice, as is Arenal (where the above link is). Here is one of the hotels we stayed in, I can't remember where we stayed in Manuel Antonio.

http://www.arenal.net/hotel/casa-luna-lodge/index.html

4/25/2011 11:38:19 AM

They said thats how much they wanted to spend on airfare and hotel. They didn't say anything about total budget. I think they would have said "total budget is 1k each" if thats what they meant. If that was what they meant, then you are right, but thats CLEARLY not what they siad.

Paris would be expensive but Barcelona and most euro cities 30 a pop will get you a GOOD hostel.

4/25/2011 11:40:27 AM

What would be a good tropical place to go during December around this price range?

4/25/2011 11:42:16 AM

^^lol just saw your initial post in this thread

Quote :

"Barcelona-Paris-Rome Fly to one of the cities for ~700 and backpack from city to city."

That's a hilariously bad recommendation. Judging from their $1k airfare and lodging budget, they might be able to stay a week. And if they take your recommendation they'll be spending half their trip riding around on trains and getting to and from the hostels, not to mention going wayyyyy over budget with all the train rides.

If ya got a week, and really wanna spend that much on a flight to only spend a week in europe, it's best to stay in a single city, maybe two at the most. Not bounce around all over western europe. I could *maybe* see Paris and Barcelona, but Rome is way out of the way.

Plus, on the budgetary side, we're not even sure if hostels are acceptable to them. A bunch of people refuse to stay in them due to a variety of issues, and if they can't do hostels then lodging obviously is going to cost more

4/25/2011 11:46:52 AM

Quote :

"Paris would be expensive but Barcelona and most euro cities 30 a pop will get you a GOOD hostel."

When was the last time you traveled Europe?? Barcelona has a few decent deals, but Paris and especially Rome are all $40 and up (there was a really cheap one in Paris but you have to be younger than 25)...Amsterdam also doesn't go below $35-40.

Again...these are also per person. Cheapest you'll get for a couple is $50...and that's a stretch.

4/25/2011 12:11:18 PM

E man, When the hell was last time you traveled Europe, 1k pp can get you a trip to Europe, but 3 cities like that? Laughable.

[Edited on April 25, 2011 at 12:17 PM. Reason : a]

4/25/2011 12:15:34 PM

Quote :

"1k pp can get you a [very short] trip to Europe"

somebody check some flights. assuming they live in raleigh (meaning they'll have to pay more to fly through ny/atlanta/dc), how much is the airfare these days for non-students?

4/25/2011 12:22:01 PM

^students get cheap airfare? Never knew that...

I admit the barcelona-paris-rome thing was out of line but they could go to any of the 3 and travel to nearby cities. You can get a good feel for a city and hit the top attractions in like 2 days. You can't see all of a city in a week so you might as well bounce around like a sampler then go back to your favorite city for an entree later in life.

When i was in europe you could fly from city to city for like 50 bucks. Trains are way more expensive.

Quote :

"What would be a good tropical place to go during December around this price range?"

Brisbane


[Edited on April 25, 2011 at 1:02 PM. Reason : or the dominican for cheapos]

4/25/2011 12:59:22 PM

Quote :

"ITT people who clearly haven't been to Europe theorize on how much a trip to Europe costs. Again, go to Costa Rica and stay here: http://www.lostiguanaresort.com/ edit: holy shit that place is expensive now, it was dirt cheap when I went. Still, amazing views and the most amazing room I've ever stayed in."

that's where my fiance and i stayed. we went in october stayed 5 nights. we paid $189/night for three nights, but got 2 nights free which came to $113/night. it was well worth it as the rooms were nice and the volcano view from the room was pretty awesome.



you could almost definitely stay at the lost iguana for your budget. they do buy 2 get 1, and buy 3 get 2 specials from may-november. definitely an awesome resort/hotel in an awesome country that I would highly recommend, especially if you are somewhat adventurous.

also it's worth going to costa rica for the fruit alone.

4/25/2011 4:07:32 PM

I love how people think you can backpack around Europe for dirt cheap.

4/25/2011 4:13:45 PM

Before the Euro you could

4/25/2011 4:21:22 PM

I was able to do 18 days in Peru going all over for around 2k...could have knocked a couple of the more expensive things out and made it around 1300 easily...a shorter trip could definitely put under the 1k mark

4/25/2011 4:42:49 PM

Quote :

"I love how people think you can backpack around Europe for dirt cheap."

It's a lot more affordable the further East you go.

I would say I went in between cheap (stayed in hostels and didn't buy anything) and expensive (I splurged on food and drink) and ended up spending about a grand a week.

Although it's not cheap...it was worth every penny and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

4/25/2011 5:12:16 PM

Don't go to Europe to save money. Stick with Disneyworld and the Outer Banks until you can afford to do it proper. You don't fly halfway around the world to live in squalor and eat like a college student.

4/25/2011 5:21:43 PM

Quote :

"You don't fly halfway around the world to live in squalor and eat like a college student."

Yeah, I did that for an internship abroad. Even lived in a college dorm. Having to make sure you still had enough money to go to the bathroom after buying a meal when visiting a city is not fun.

4/25/2011 5:34:46 PM

Latin America might be an option...some of the exchange rates are very favorable.

I spent just over $2k when I went to Peru a few months ago, and that was with splitting hotel rooms 2 ways...but I didn't do it with a budget in mind. I spent money like a drunken sailor the entire time, and I spent a full 2 weeks there. That also included THREE domestic flights within the country, plus my round trip airfare from RDU<-->Lima. I stayed in nice hotels in Lima and Cuzco, ate at the some of the best restaurants, did a guided 5-day hike of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, stayed in a nice river lodge in the Amazon and toured the jungle for a few days, etc. We hit the bars hard (I ran up a $70 bill at a wine bar one night just after dinner before we even really went out partying until 5 a.m.,--and keep in mind that everything is about 1/3 of the price here).

I think that you could easily do a really good trip there for $1000/person. You easily could keep it in that range for just airfare and hotels. You would just have to be mindful of your spending (instead of having purposeful disregard for it ), and you probably won't be able to do every major thing the country has to offer.



If you're going to do something in CONUS, like San Fran (cool, but fucking expensive) or Vegas, I suggest driving it. I've driven from coast to coast twice, and it is absolutely something you need to do. I'd do it a 3rd time (actually, I fully intend to, on a motorcycle next time...and then maybe again in a small airplane). Only thing about that is that maybe right now isn't the time to do it, with gas prices being pretty steep.


You can probably count out Europe. The airfare is going to be expensive. For that matter, I don't think you'll really find anything about it to be a good "bang for the buck", unless you go to former eastern bloc countries (and even then, I bet airfare is still a shit ton).

4/27/2011 11:11:56 PM

I went to Europe for 42 days in 09 ended up costing about 100 euro a day, I stayed in hotels(split three ways) and did not really spare expenses, ie ate what I wanted, bought what I wanted. That was roughly $145 a day, and the dollar/euro is similar now iirc. I second the carribean or south America. Europe is NOT going worth it with only a week.

[Edited on April 28, 2011 at 12:15 AM. Reason : That figure does not include airfare which was another $1300.]

[Edited on April 28, 2011 at 12:17 AM. Reason : Flying from AK at the time which is $Texas. Also another option a trip up north in June/July rocks.]

4/28/2011 12:13:46 AM

go to costa rica with a backpack apiece. stay in hostels. resorts are boring.

4/28/2011 12:48:42 AM

^and remember, you can stay in one or the other on your trip. Never a mix of both.

[Edited on April 28, 2011 at 7:51 AM. Reason : df]

4/28/2011 7:51:06 AM