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Bought Our Tickets for Next Summer

October 22nd, 2015 at 12:51 am

So here's the good news: YNAB says we have $4778 in our every-other-year-trip-to-Europe-to-see-D's-family category.

This represents $3130 that we've saved up and $1648 from credit card rewards (when we get a statement credit for rewards, we accumulate this money in our account rather than reduce the amount spent on budgeted items).

The tickets for the three of us: $4237. That is $500 left over that can be used for the next trip (in two years' time).

The rest of the trip is paid for from our Irish account. We can stay with D's mum and sister and they feed us, so that's good. When we see D's dad we have to get a hotel, but he will probably take us out to dinner. We'll need to sort out breakfast and lunches.

The second half of the trip is always a family vacation (just the three of us!). Since we're already in Europe, we take advantage of Ryanair's low fares and go to one of their not-big airports. This time: Trieste. We'll be staying in Croatia (I am so, so looking forward to this!).

A word on the high cost of our flights...they are actually quite low (we used 1800 Fly Europe) for us. We live in the middle of the Southwest. If we lived somewhere near an actual International airport, the fares would be a lot lower. The nearest major airport is the Albuquerque International Sunport. Since there aren't international flights originating from this airport, and it's called a Sunport, I can only guess that they have flights to the sun or something.

Amazingly, it was actually cheaper (and way more convenient) to fly from our local airport than have to drive to Albuquerque. This is not the case if we're flying within the US, but overseas, it's always cheaper to start here. Which is great! It means we can leave our car at home and have a friend take us 15 minutes down the road to the airport. If you live in a real city, especially one near the east coast, I think Europe is a lot more accessible.

Anyway, we have the flights, now we just need to fill in the gaps: flights to/from Italy, self catered apartment in Croatia, Premier Inn near D's dad.

It's not the most frugal thing, but it's one of the reasons we're frugal with everything else - these trips back to the UK are not optional since D's family does not come out here (except his mum, a few times). I know there are others on here who are married to people from other countries... travel back is one of your priorities, yes? Do you set aside money each month for trips back? Do you have other ways of saving for this?

5 Responses to “Bought Our Tickets for Next Summer”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1445472759

    I'm sure if I was married to someone with family in another country we would do the same. Super work saving up! How long are you away for?

  2. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1445475044

    It sounds like a grand time! Great job saving up for it!!!

  3. Livingalmostlarge Says:
    1445476623

    All the time we save up for our big trips. Hawaii and Canada are not cheap or short either. Actually now it is MUCH closer and cheaper. Rest of family is abroad and we've never been with the kids.

    If I tally what I've spent on flights it's I would guess at least $30k or more. I won't even try. In general to go home around $800 sometimes as high as $1200 but usually above $1k I use miles.

  4. My English Castle Says:
    1445478854

    Fabulous! We have friends in Trieste and were there (eek) 15 years ago. It was lovely! It's a funny combination of Italian and Hapsburg -style architecture. We really enjoyed it.

    International airfares are one of my preoccupations too. I looked at a fare on Saturday which went up $300 over the weekend. So frustrating.

  5. bluesfemme Says:
    1445532958

    So exciting - once you buy the flights you know it's happening :-)
    We plan for it by saving a bit for a couple of months leading up to buying the airfare as soon as it opens (11 months), finishing it by cashflowing that for the nearly two months of c/card statements, and then book and pay for as much as possible before we go. It's a priority for us not just because my hubby is british but because my sis lives in Edinburgh and one brother in Amsterdam.
    Ahh - just over a year since we came back from Croatia and it was lovely (except for the smoking which I think I already warned you about!) We got our apartment in Dubrovnik through Trip Advisor.

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