Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
“I’m seeing all these people jet off to France or Greece for weeks, and I can’t figure it out,” says Victoria, a 30-year-old corporate consultant in New York. “These are people who probably make less money than me — actually, some are co-workers, so I know for a fact that they do. But they’re renting yachts and villas in Europe, doing stuff that seems completely out of reach to me. It makes me wonder what I’m doing wrong.”
She’s not the only one. The Euro-summer fever pitch is almost comical this year. Every time someone mentions they’re going abroad, they seem borderline embarrassed to be swept up in the hype (“I’m in Puglia — I know, I know!”). But how can something so expensive become a cliché? Who are all these people with enough money to blow on peak-season plane tickets and $800-a-night hotel rooms?
“I could understand why, after COVID, there was this surge of crazy travel,” says Lindsey Stanberry, the founder of The Purse, a newsletter about women and personal finance. “But then it never stopped. If anything, it’s gotten more intense. Sometimes I think Instagram has broken our brains.” Americans plan to spend more money than ever on vacations this year — approximately $10,600, according to a recent survey — despite the quivering economy, higher prices, and weakening dollar.
So how can they afford it? I talked to dozens of people about how they were financing their trips. Here’s what they said.
“I get a lot of trips comped through my job,” one woman, who works for a hotel group, tells me. This summer, she’s adding days to a business trip in Europe and then piggybacking on her boyfriend’s conference in the Bahamas. The downside to free travel is that you don’t always get to pick your destination — but at least there is one.
A few people tell me they’re staying with friends or family who live abroad. But even a free bed can be expensive to get to. “I’m using my savings to go to Italy to visit family,” one says. “I’m not financially stable right now, and this is going to cost me about $2,700. But it’s super-important to me and worth it.”
In other cases, people are living off the good graces of deeper-pocketed (and generous) companions. “My best friend invited me to Europe, and when I told him I couldn’t afford it right now because I’m between gigs, he offered to cover my accommodations,” my friend Alan, a TV writer, tells me. “I’m still paying for my flight and meals, but he’s paying for the rest.” When I ask if he feels weird about it, he said “no”: “My friend knows that I’ll get our next trip.”
And, of course, there’s always the rich parents. “My mom and stepdad take us on a summer trip every year, and as our kids get older, they’ve been taking us to Europe,” says one woman, a mom with an 8- and 10-year-old. “We did Ireland this summer. I know we’re lucky. I’m pretty sure all our friends know we aren’t paying for it ourselves, but oh well.”
Yep. “I know I might regret it later, but I know plenty of people who are super-responsible with money and don’t have much to show for it,” says Marisa, 28, a publicist who lives in North Carolina and is going to Spain and Portugal in August (she has spent $2,100 on the trip so far, all on her credit card, and hopes to pay it off over the next year). “I’m only young and single once. When I’m older, I’ll have other responsibilities, and I think I’ll look back on this time fondly.”
My friend Amelia uses a house-swap platform called HomeExchange, which, for an annual fee of $235, allows you to trade homes with other members around the world — a particularly convenient setup if you’re traveling with two kids, as she often is. “It’s kind of like online dating but for houses,” she says. It also works on a points system, so if someone wants to stay in your home but you’re not interested in theirs, you can accrue points toward future stays elsewhere.
Kat, a 33-year-old who does freelance marketing work in Los Angeles, decided not to renew her lease when it was up last month; instead, she put her belongings in storage and is spending her rent money — typically $2,700 — on a trip to Europe for the next few weeks. At first, she struggled to work remotely; reliable Wi-Fi was an issue, especially at cheaper hotels. But then she got a subscription to Regus, which has air-conditioned co-working spaces in most major European cities, and it’s been smooth sailing since. “If I want to do something that’s out of budget, then I just have to work a bit more,” she says.
Most people I spoke to said that they paid for at least part of their trips with credit-card points — the Chase Sapphire card was frequently mentioned — which they hoard throughout the year specifically for this purpose. Some travelers use PointsYeah and the Points Guy; others just use miles. “I haven’t spent actual money on a vacation flight in years,” one woman, a lawyer I’ll call Andrea, tells me. “Granted, we always get the very cheapest, crappiest flight at the worst time, and we practically sit in the bathroom, but it enables us to have more money to spend on nice hotels when we get there.”
“I have found that it’s worth getting the cheapest room at the fanciest hotel,” says Andrea, who travels to Europe for at least a week with her husband every summer. “Your room might be small, but you get the same access to all their amenities and concierge services, which feel superluxurious.” She typically starts researching nine or ten months in advance. “The most affordable rooms always get booked up first,” she says. She also works with a travel agent: “A lot of people don’t realize that most travel agents are free because they get paid on commission from the hotels. And they can often get you special add-ons, like free breakfast.”
Just because she’s staying at fancy hotels doesn’t mean she’s always doing it, though. “If it’s more than $800, we usually just stay one night and then we’ll move someplace more affordable,” she says. “We still get the experience, but we don’t need to spend our whole trip there.”
Tina Malhotra, a hairstylist in New York, didn’t travel much when she was younger. But now she prioritizes her annual summer trip over almost all other expenses. “I’m 45, I’m divorced, and I want to see the world,” she says. For most of the year, she works 11-hour days and saves half of what she makes; then, every summer, she blocks her schedule and goes overseas. “This summer, I’m going away for a month,” she says. “I’ve been planning it since last fall. I don’t do fancy stuff or eat out when I’m at home. Travel is my thing.”
Like Andrea, Tina enjoys a cushy hotel. “I know a lot of people say the hotel doesn’t matter, but as a solo female traveler, I actually care a lot about where I’m staying,” she says. “I love to relax by myself in the room, take a long shower, use the fancy products — that matters more to me than a fancy dinner.” She sets alerts on Booking.com and often gets deals by being patient and early. “If you’re able to plan a big European vacation six to eight months in advance, you can get incredible deals,” she says. “For this trip, I got a room at a hotel that’s usually $700 a night minimum for $400.”
One woman tells me she typically travels with ten people — her three kids, two nannies, her husband, sometimes her parents, and an extra friend or two. “It’s a little bit out of control,” she says. “I don’t have any hacks or advice — it’s expensive, and we just pay for it.”
Stanberry points this out as well. “There are a lot of people with a lot of money who just like to spend it on travel and post pictures online,” she says. “It might seem like it’s everybody, but it’s not.” Just because they’re highly visible doesn’t mean their lives are normal — or that there’s anything wrong with you if you can’t do the same thing.
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