My Economics of Travel

I read that cognitive science proved planning a trip is actually more fun for the human brain than taking a trip, and I believe it. I get so excited when I have a trip on the horizon. The imaginary expectations are almost always better than the reality. Movies, literature, art, friends, Instagram, Yelp, and so many random life encounters have already set the scene and my expectations and nothing ever matches them. When I'm planning a trip, everything is visually crisp, the food is fresh, the settings are undiscovered.

However, the planning part requires a hard look at finances, which takes a lot of the fun out of the process. That said, when I started this blog I promised at least one post about finances. I love to analyze budgets, so it will likely be a recurring theme, but we'll start with one post on the economics of travel.

To start, I need to address the obvious lifestyle factors. I'm 35 years old, a working professional, and I've chosen not to have children. That should immediately give you an idea of how I am able to make travel a financial priority. I don't have to save for anyone's college (I'm still paying off mine), I buy clothes and food for one person (plus a dog who eats almost more than I do, and a cat but she's cheap), and I don't have to pay for daycare or insurance or any of the other high costs that come with having a family. I was born into a middle-class family that openly discussed budgets and money management, which puts me at an advantage from the get-go.

My dependents are pretty chill

So, other than not having kids, how would I recommend planning and saving for travel?

1. Take an honest look at your budget.
Obvious, I know, but still worth stating. I have a list of my monthly expenses and my monthly income on my phone and in the little notebook I keep in my purse. I'm constantly checking it and comparing my budget to my actual money spent. My big bills (mortgage, student loans, HOA fees, etc.) are paid automatically from my bank account. I put all of my "extra" expenses (groceries, pet care, gas, going out, etc.) on my travel-rewards credit card. (And pay it off in full every month. Credit card debt is crippling.) I have frequent-flyer accounts with all the major airlines. I've been doing this for so many years, I've pretty much trimmed all the fat out of my monthly expenses that I can. But for folks who haven't taken a magnifying glass to their spending patterns yet, you can almost certainly find ways to save a tiny bit a month. And it really does add up.

2. Set aside monthly withdrawals into a special savings account.
I use SmartyPig, but there are ample choices for online savings accounts. I like SmartyPig because it lets me set up multiple savings goals in my one savings account, and then fund each goal with a recurring deposit from my separate checking account each month (or any frequency that works for you). I have an emergency savings fund, a travel fund, a property taxes and insurance fund, a charity fund, and on and on and on (right now I have seven different goals going). I fund them all at different amounts and frequencies. But I've made travel one of the priorities, so it gets a small piece of my paycheck every month. It's not a devastating amount to miss each month, but at the end of the year it supplements my trips.

3. Consider your income taxes.
This one is rightly controversial, but I set up my income taxes so I'm taking the fewest deductions out of every paycheck. Each year I get a tax return, and this is always my main source of travel funds. I know there are many arguments against this approach, but it's easier for me to let the government sit on my money for a year and then give it to me in a lump sum, even though I know I could be earning interest on it elsewhere. It's laziness, pure and simple. I think of my taxes as an extension of my travel saving account, and it hasn't become worth the effort to change my approach yet. Maybe I'll realize the error of my ways later, but for now, getting that tax return in February (I file early because it's always fun money!) is like getting permission to take all those trips I've been planning for that year.

4. Plan far in advance (I'm talking years).
I have a note on my phone (and again in that notebook I carry everywhere) with the trips I want to take for the next four years. I'm crazy about planning. Not only does it let me start imagining the fun way before the trip happens, but I can move trips around like pieces of a financial jigsaw puzzle. For example, in 2017 I had planned on going to Iceland for my yearly foreign trip, and then to Cuba in 2018, and Morocco in 2019. But then Andrew and I learned that we'll probably be going to England in 2018 for his cousin's wedding. That's very close to Iceland. I did a quick check into flights, and it made way more sense for us to switch 2017 and 2018. Flights to Cuba right now are about $400 round trip. Flights to Iceland are about $1000. Flights to England are in between the two. If we're going to pay for flights to England in 2018 anyway, we could tack on a cheaper flight on a regional airline from England to Iceland, and only be out a few hundred dollars. If we had gone to Iceland this year, and then Cuba and England next year, we would have been $1000 in the hole before we even started.

I realize this is an extreme example (and I sound really obnoxious), but knowing all the places you want to go in the next five or so years, and being flexible about them, can help you adjust to outside life events that might translate to big money.

5. Go off season.
Pretty self-explanatory, but travel in peak season is always significantly more expensive. Off season doesn't always mean bad weather, either. And if you've mapped out places for the next five years, you'll know which ones are good for off-season travel and which ones you really need to save more for to go during peak season.

6. Balance
My commitment to myself is one foreign country a year. That can range from less than $1,000 a trip (see my Jamaica birthday trip) to...say...six times that (see my Tanzania trip). I try to move from one bank-busting trip to one relatively more affordable trip. Obviously these ranges are whatever your budget deems expensive and affordable. But if I take a Tanzania-level trip one year, I'll be planning a Jamaica-level trip the next. That way, it's more like I'm planning two trips over two years, and they get to share the costs. The amount I save each year doesn't change, but I'll have leftover on a Jamaica year that I'll then devour on a Tanzania year.

7. Plan for a lifetime of travel.
In addition to the specific countries on my five-year plan, I have a road map of travel expectations for the rest of my life. I'm in my mid-30s now, with full mobility and good health. So I'm going to take my active trips sooner rather than later. And the older I get, the more stubborn and cranky I'll become (I apologize in advance), so I also want to take the out-of-my-comfort zone trips as early as I can. European capitals will still be lovely when I'm in my 70s, but I might not want to trek the Annapurna Circuit at that age. Plus, I'm working full time and getting full benefits right now. I have more expendable cash than I will when I'm retired. So the crazy, epic, adventure trips need to happen now. I won't be able to afford the flights when I'm on a fixed income.

That's the extent of my budget advice for now. Maybe I'll hit upon the holy grail of affordable, amazing world travel, but until that happens, I'll try to post anything that might be helpful. Hit me up if you have questions or gripes about any of this (finances are a very emotional subject, and I might have inadvertently offended someone or come off as pretentious; I don't want either of those.). And please let me know if you have travel-budget advice!

2017: The Year of Mini-Breaks

This guy is getting a lot play time in 2017.

This year I'm hoping to take a few short trips, as compared to my big trip in 2016 (Tanzania). So I'm calling 2017 the Year of Mini-Breaks. There will be one international trip at the end of the year (there has to be, per this blog!), but it won't be a budget-buster like last year, which gives me a little wiggle room for small trips scattered throughout the year. Which turns out to be excellent timing, since the boyfriend has a couple of out-of-state weddings to attend that I want to tag along for. And it allows me to take my semi-annual California trip with my best friend and my sister. Here's my anticipated line up for the year:

• Long weekend in NYC to see the sister: February, already happened
• West Texas with the boyfriend's family: April, already happened, post coming soon
• Colorado (near Boulder) for boyfriend's friend's wedding: May
• Nashville: June, this is a work trip, but I still count it because I'm going to try to find good places to eat (and food = travel)
• Maine (near Booth Bay) for boyfriend's step-brother's wedding: June
• California: August, hiking in Yosemite and lazing in Big Sur with Sarah and Michele
• Cuba (I hope!!): December, week trip with friends and boyfriend

Does anyone have recommendations for any of these spots? Especially food recommendations (vegetarian or pescatarian friendly), but anything that could fit into a long weekend is appreciated!

Shots, shots, shots!

Nope, not that kind. (via GIPHY)





Yep, that's more like it. (via GIPHY)



I went to a travel clinic to find out what vaccines I needed to visit Tanzania. I’ve never been to a travel clinic before, and I was impressed by the printed, bound book they created for me. It listed every recommended vaccine with the reasons for and specifics of it, and the nurse highlighted the ones she most highly recommended (Hep A and B, yellow fever, and typhoid fever). It was fantastic. There was even a section in the back about general travel safety and health concerns.

Not so fantastic was the total cost of only the most highly recommended vaccines: almost $1,000, plus another $100–200 for pills (anti-malaria, altitude sickness, and antibiotics). I asked her if insurance covered any of it, and she said usually they don’t when you’re traveling for fun. If people travel for work, she said the employers usually paid for the vaccines, but I was likely out of luck. I paid her $65 for the visit, took my impressive booklet, and left feeling defeated. There was no way I could afford the shots, but at least none of them were required, just strongly recommended. So I’d have to simply not get sick while in Tanzania.

I’m lucky to have really good insurance coverage through work, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least ask about the vaccines. Surprise! They are covered, just not through the clinic I visited. I got the names of some doctors who were covered, booked an appointment, and was getting jabbed the same afternoon. The new office was definitely not as personal or detail oriented as the first place, but I’m not going to turn down free shots. I got the Hep A and B combo shot in one arm, yellow fever in the other, and typhoid pills on ice that I was to start taking later. A couple days later I picked up prescriptions for malaria, altitude sickness, and general antibiotics (just in case, according to the nurse).

The next day my whole right shoulder (yellow fever) was sore, I was super tired, and my right lung felt like it was bruised. I couldn’t take a full breath for almost two days. But then again, I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, so skepticism here won’t offend me.

I was feeling fine within a few days, so I’m curious to see if the next round of shots (Hep A and B again in month) does anything to me. And then after my third and final round of Hep shots (in five months) and a test to make sure I don’t come back from Tanzania with tuberculosis (the vaccine for it sucks, apparently), I’ll basically be invincible.

All told, I'll spend $430 for the shots and pills. It's no small amount, but spread over almost six months (and coming from my HSA), it's manageable:

• $65 clinic-one fee (for a booklet and a quality consultation)
• $65 clinic-two fee (round one of shots)
• $170 in prescriptions
• $65 clinic-two fee (round two of shots)
• $65 clinic-two fee (round three of shots)

Moral of the story: it never hurts to ask! I hate dealing with insurance companies as much as the next girl, but sometimes they just might save you $1,000.

Four Days in Portland

Recently I had the good fortune to be sent to Portland, Oregon, to attend an editing conference for work. The conference was on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so I flew in Wednesday evening and stayed through Sunday morning. Work paid for my food and hotel through most of Saturday and my flights, so I was able to see a new town (one I’ve been wanting to visit for years!) for only the cost of a hotel room on Saturday night, a few extra meals, drinks, sightseeing, and souvenirs. AND it was sunny and in the 70s the whole time I was there. AND my friend Michele was coming to visit on Saturday. Luck was definitely on my side!

I rarely get to travel for work, but when I do I try to add an extra night or two at my expense when possible. Flights tend to be the biggest expense, so if someone else is covering that for you, take advantage! I won’t bore y’all with details of the conference (although if anyone wants to know about it, I will happily nerd out with you) other than to give you the bare bones as a backdrop for my experience in Portland. The conference was in a Hilton downtown, which was also where my company put me up Wednesday through Friday nights, meaning I could walk around the downtown area super easily. Also, the conference included a dinner on Friday night, but no other meals, so I got to try a bunch of different restaurants.

Day One (Half)

After an easy, direct flight but a painfully expensive cab ride from the airport to the hotel (pro tip: take the train!), I dropped off my bag in my room around 8 pm and headed right back out. I had looked up restaurants and breweries before I left Austin (Portland has more microbreweries than any other U.S. city), so I knew exactly where I was going: Deschutes Brewery in the Pearl, an area just north of downtown. It was a ten- or fifteen-minute walk from my hotel and the weather was perfect.

Deschutes

The restaurant was packed and I waited about 15 minutes for a table next to a vacationing family who kept staring at me. At one point I heard the dad tell his daughters I looked sad and lonely (I wasn’t; I was eagerly picking out beers to try). It seemed like the sort of parenting fail that’s probably going to keep those girls from being very adventurous, but I might not be a good source of parenting advice, not having any kids and all. My waiter was terrible, too, but otherwise the experience was great. For less than the price of two beers I got a flight of six different Deschutes brews (Theory of Sourtivity was my fave, but I’ve been on a sour-beer kick recently and admit it’s not for everyone).

Even more exciting for me was dinner. I’ve been a vegetarian for 22 years, but for the last year or so I kept toying with the idea of adding seafood into my diet. So, I took the plunge! Deschutes had a crab roll on the menu, and it sounded too delicious not to try. Plus, it didn’t seem too seafood-y for my first meal back. And damn if it wasn’t one of the best things I’ve eaten in recent memory. Obviously I don’t have much to compare it to, but I’d highly recommend it to anyone visiting.

Random pretty building

After dinner, I strolled back to the hotel and walked by a semi-homeless artist or musician, Powell’s bookstore (the one place on my must-see list that I didn’t make it to, which feels like a huge failure considering I was at a conference for people who read for a living and it’s all anyone was talking about), another semi-homeless artist or musician, a building with really pretty lights on it, and a gaggle of semi-homeless artists or musicians. Finally it dawned on me: there were more “homeless to be cool or to live more authentically, but not out of necessity” people in Portland than I have ever seen in one place before. And I’ve been to lots of places. It seems to be a subculture that springs out of predominately middle-class, white enclaves (I’m a sociology expert now as well as a parenting expert), so I wasn’t surprised to see so many of them in Portland once I thought about it. I just hadn’t really anticipated it.

Day Two

Maurice

The next morning I had breakfast at the hotel (I thought breakfast would be included in the conference so I hadn’t researched any options at that point), learned some stuff, and then headed north during my lunch break. I had read about a quaint French bakery called Maurice and decided it would be my first lunch in Portland. It was every bit as adorable as I was hoping, and my meal (risotto and lemon soufflé pudding cake) was delicious. A woman who I think was the owner/head chef made my risotto directly in front of my seat at the counter in an old-timey, French-country-looking pot and asked with genuine interest how I liked it after I finished eating. So, so charming.

I took the long way back to the hotel and walked along the river. It was a nice, open space with people biking, jogging, and just walking around on their lunch break like me. And did I mention it was sunny and in the 70s?

I spent the afternoon engrossed by editorial wisdom and then hobnobbed with a few fellow editors at the hotel bar for happy hour. Ever the introvert, though, I politely (or so I hope) ducked out for dinner by myself, hoping it wasn’t obvious that I was intentionally not inviting anyone to join me. I had a couple brewpubs on list, and I decided to try Old Town Brewing because it was near the Lan Su Chinese Gardens, which was also on my must-see list. The plan was to walk over to the Gardens with about an hour of daylight left, wander around inside, and then pop over to Old Town. It was only about a twenty-minute walk and I was going to see Chinatown. Long story short, that didn’t work out and I just went to Old Town.

Old Town and Chinatown

I ordered the Old Town Pils and learned that beer isn’t brewed onsite, but it’s still a local beer, just brewed at a different Old Town in Portland. I had a chatty bartender, which was perfect for the mood I was in: wanting to talk when it was easy without being obligated to carry on a conversation. There were two other people at the bar, not together, who seemed to be in the same mood as me, so we all chatted while I ate my (giant and surprisingly tasty) Caprese sandwich. I learned about heroin’s recent comeback in the area, the Portland basketball team, and the bar's sordid history relating to the Chinatown slave trade. Bartenders used to get people drunk and open a trap door under the bar stools that dropped the drunkards into underground tunnels, where slave-traders would carry them to ships waiting to take them to China and a life of slavery. I did not order a second beer.

By the time I was done eating it was too dark to visit the gardens so I said goodbye to my bar buddies and headed back to the hotel. I walked by Voodoo Donuts on the way but the line was too long and we have one in Austin now anyway. I also walked by the Chinatown arch but there were so many homeless and semi-homeless people around it that my photo is terrible. Then it was a quiet night and early to bed. I was there for work, after all.

Day Three

Imperial

The next morning I still hadn’t looked up breakfast places nearby, so I grabbed a bagel and coffee from the hotel restaurant. For lunch I went to Imperial, a restaurant in a trendy hotel downtown, just a few blocks from the Hilton. It kept popping up in my searches as one of the best restaurants in town and the chef seemed to be a celebrity on the Portland food scene, so I was excited to try it. I was so taken in by all the hype about it that I made a reservation online. For lunch, for one. I know. But, I had a limited window and it was Friday and it was the most popular restaurant in town, so I couldn’t risk it! When I arrived there were open tables and tons of room at the bar, so I asked to sit at the bar without telling the hostess I had a reservation. Pro tip: if you take some very lame, type-A precaution like this while traveling, and it turns out to be unwarranted, no one needs to know (unless you write it in a blog).  

Imperial was stylish and looked cool, and the food was good, but nothing was as amazing as everyone made it out to be. Maybe it was because I ordered simple food (kale salad and a roll), but it didn’t live up to my expectations. I’m glad I checked it out, but Maurice was so much better in every aspect of the experience.

Lan Su Chinese Gardens

After lunch I had enough time to go back to Chinatown and see the Lan Su Chinese Gardens. It cost almost $10 but I’m always willing to pay for gardens in new cities. It was peaceful and beautiful and a mini-oasis surrounded by city architecture. But then it was back to the Hilton to learn more, followed by another informal networking happy hour at the bar. It was banquet night, so I headed down with my networking friend Gina and grabbed spots at a table in the giant ballroom. The food was just okay and it was a cash bar, but one of my table-mates was an editor of Christian romance novels, so that kept things interesting. To close out the night Kory Stamper gave a keynote speech. She’s the editor of Merriam-Webster and a major celebrity among editors. (She seemed super cool, btw.) It was a fun night even if I didn’t leave the hotel.

Day Four

Mother's Bistro

I finally did a little breakfast research and headed over to Mother’s Bistro in the morning. I got there right as it opened because I read that it fills up quickly. I sat at the bar and watched more and more people squeeze through the door as a wait formed, then happily ordered cereal-encrusted French toast. There were two other ladies next to me at the bar and we became buddies. One was attending the same conference I was, and the other was attending a printmaking-artist convention. They were both in their fifties, one early and one late. I glimpsed my future as they discussed how good the fabric stores in Portland were compared to their hometowns.

For my lunch break I headed straight for the river and the Saturday Market. Blocks and blocks heading west toward downtown from the waterfront were taken over by vendor stalls selling prepared food and all the hallmarks of a craft market: jewelry, soap, various forms of art, purses made from recycled jeans, and lots of crystals. My kind of place. I bought a handmade necklace and a purple tank top with an elephant on it. On my way back I walked by Huber’s for probably the twentieth time and decided to have lunch there, solely based on the sign outside saying it was Portland’s oldest restaurant. Meh. It was nice and old-fashioned-looking inside, but the bartender couldn’t have cared less about bringing me anything and what I finally got was mediocre. However, they have a “famous” flaming coffee cocktail that I didn’t order; maybe if I had I would’ve left with a different impression.

Huber's

A couple afternoon sessions later, I was officially on vacation! I had about eight hours of unfettered adventuring in front of me before I would just start falling asleep wherever I was (because I’m old and my body loves sleep more than anything else in the world), and I was going to live it up! First, I wheeled my suitcase about ten blocks south to the cheap hotel I booked by the university. Work was no longer covering my bills, and the Hilton was way too fancy for my checking account.

Michele had been working in Seattle that week and was driving down to hang out for the night. She met me at the hotel and we immediately headed back out. Mish used to live in Portland and was happy to get me out of downtown to see “real” Portland. We hopped in her rental car and headed east across the river. I’m pretty sure we went to three distinct neighborhoods: Mississippi, not sure, and Hawthorne …sorry I can’t remember the middle one.

Ecliptic spread

First she drove us to Mississippi and we went to a brewery (Ecliptic) with perfectly fine beer and delicious snacks. Then we walked down to a bar in a pink house called Liberty Glass Bar. Ecliptic was a little too stark and warehouse-like for my taste, but Liberty was perfect. We sat outside under a vine-covered awning for another drink but time was limited and we had to keep moving. Next was White Eagle, further down the road. It used to be a brothel but now it’s a bar, live-music venue, and hostel. They serve pink beer. One of us ordered one. One of us loved it.

Happy with my life choices

After our beers it was time for dinner, so Michele drove us to the neighborhood whose name I can’t remember to an old school that’s been turned into an adult-fun complex and hotel. Mish informed me that it and the White Eagle are owned by McMenanims, a brewery and real estate investment company that finds old, dilapidated buildings around Portland and turns them into cool places to sell their beer. She also told me they’re better at creating cool bars than making good beer.

The Kennedy School had a full restaurant and lots of little bars scattered around the building, along with a theater. I embraced my new pescatarian side and ordered lobster mac and cheese, and … dang. It’s the richest thing I can remember eating, I think ever. We walked around the whole school to see everything they had (and almost crashed a wedding), but then we had to keep moving.

Backstage

We drove to Hawthorne, parked a couple houses down from the one Mish lived in while she was in Portland, and walked around the corner to our final McMenamins bar of the night: Backstage. This one used to be the backstage of a live theater (that part is a movie theater now), and they kept the high ceilings and catwalk. We had a couple drinks and played shuffleboard, but then my internal clock started telling me it was time for bed. Michele took the hint when I couldn’t stop yawning and we headed back to the hotel, but decided to have one last nightcap before bed, since there was a bar right next door. Besides, we only see each other a couple times a year and we were still catching up. But then it was off to bed, up early to go to the airport, and my Portland experience was over.

It was such a short trip, and I know there are so many areas of the city I haven’t even seen, so I’d love to go back, especially with some time to hike. It’s so green and beautiful that I instantly wanted to move there as we flew in, and I still think it would be a nice place to live. Although Michele insists that it really does rain all the time, so I’m not sure. But I’d definitely be up for another trip (and more of Portland’s delicious food and beer) to continue forming my opinion.

Traveling at Home: Food and Film!

My endless quest to peek into other cultures prompted Andrew and me to start a new, semi-regular event. Once a month(ish), we have a “Foreign Food and Film” night. It’s a simple premise: we pick a foreign country; find a recipe for something common there that doesn’t look too tricky (my cooking skills are questionable); pick a movie from the country; and friends bring drinks, appetizers, or desserts that fit the theme.

So far we’ve done Indian, Italian, and Japanese. We cheated the first time and ordered takeout from an Indian restaurant in town (Nasha) and picked a Bollywood movie from Netflix pretty much at random (Hasee Toh Phasee). For Italy we made a Caprese salad and few different types of pizza; friends brought bruschetta, wine, and cannoli; and we watched Cinema Paradiso. For Japan we made ramen; Andrew bought some sushi; friends brought sake, Japanese beer, daifuku, and matcha ice cream; and we watched Howl'sMoving Castle.

I don’t know if we managed to order all the wrong food from Nasha, but we were not impressed at all. Everyone else I know who’s been there raves about the food, so I don’t want to dissuade people from trying it, but I won’t be giving them another chance…unless someone else is buying. Hasee Toh Phasee was silly and adorable, and I really liked it. It was the first Bollywood movie I’d ever seen, and, if they’re all like this one, I found my new favorite genre: goofy romantic comedy with elaborate song-and-dance numbers.

Despite starting a fire in the oven on Italian night, our pizzas were really tasty. We used Trader Joe’s pre-made crust (wheat and garlic, obviously the garlic was better), and my favorite combination was with pesto, mozzarella, kale, and garlic (based off this recipe but y’all know I did not make my own pesto). Cinema Paradiso was long but lovely. Plus if you don’t get too hung up on how a man can go decades without visiting his mother who lives just a few hours away, there’s a metaphor about leaving home to follow the adult path on which your childhood influences set you.

Moving to Japan, I was surprisingly impressed with how well the ramen turned out. We tweaked this recipe quite a bit by subbing fake sausage for the pork, using veggie stock instead of chicken stock, omitting fish sauce and Chinese five spice, using higher-quality noodles, and roasting Brussels sprouts instead of acorn squash. Full disclosure, Andrew and I did a test run with my mom and sister, and it was not so great the first time. But we learned some very important lessons (e.g., fresh noodles need to be pre-cooked before adding them to soup) and the second batch was pretty darn tasty. The recipe is more work than I’d put in for a normal meal, but it’s worth it for a special dinner. And Howl’s Moving Castle was a fantastic, charming, weird-at-times animated movie that made me want to watch all of Miyazaki’s movies!

I’m thinking about going to Argentina for the next installment, but I’m open to suggestions!

UPDATE: My friend Jason just introduced me to this blog. I think she's going to be great inspiration! http://globaltableadventure.com/countries-ive-cooked

Travel photography

Today at work a coworker shared beautiful photos of his recent trip to Europe with me and then I came across this list, and it's like the universe is sending me a message. I need a good camera. But not a really great, crazy expensive camera that takes up a ton of packing space and makes me look like a pickpocket target wherever I go. Can someone please recommend a high-quality, affordable, easily transportable camera that can help me take shots like the one below on my next trip?

Copyright Rus Margolin of Travel2Unlimited

Mini Vacations

I couldn't agree more, fortune.

I’m a big proponent of the mini break. Sure, I’d love to spend my time jet-setting around the globe on epic trips, but for some stupid reason my bank account and work schedule refuse to let me follow my heart in this regard. To the rescue … weekend getaways! The much more affordable and practical sister of my yearly overseas adventure, a mini vacation is easy enough to do at least once a year, if not more. Personally, I try following a schedule (without schedules, I’d end up sitting on my couch in all of my spare time) to make sure I take a minimum of out-of-town trips every year. For me, that means at least one weekend away in spring, summer, and fall, plus a few days off around the winter holidays.

My friends Christina and Matt (they’re married and I’m their permanent third wheel) and I have a loose agreement to go camping once in the spring and once in the fall, and to hit the beach once a summer. As for the winter time off, for the past decade at least, my sister or I have lived out of town, so the holidays are usually spent being a tourist in our hometown, checking out new bars and restaurants and revisiting old favorite spots. (Staycations are an entirely different beast that I’ll probably address here soon.)

The Great Outdoors

Camping is such an affordable and rewarding break for those who don’t mind sleeping in a tent and wearing flip-flops in the shower. And as a central Texas resident, I have access to so many beautiful state parks just a few hours’ drive away that it seems silly not to go camping when I need to get out of town and recharge a little. And luckily for me, Matt and Christina share this outlook. We always invite other friends to join us, sometimes with success, other times not, but either way the trips are affordable enough. Rates for a campsite are usually $15–$30 a night (and you can cram a bunch of people in one site), and then you just need to factor in gas, food, beer, ice, wood for the campfire, and any other miscellaneous stuff you want to drag out with you. It’s no stretch to plan a weekend away for less than $100 a person.

For me, camping means setting up my tent, throwing on sunscreen, hiking, swimming, cooking over a fire pit, stargazing, playing cards, talking nonsense, and making s’mores. So many s’mores! And so many stars! As a city dweller, I love getting away from light pollution and simply looking up—I can easily pass an entire night at a campsite marveling at how vast the sky is. On every single camping trip we take, Christina and I are guaranteed to look up at least two or three times and say idiotically, “Just look at all the stars! I mean, just look! It’s A-MAAAA-ZING!” No shame. It’s a great, giddy, childlike feeling. And for less than $100, how could I not indulge in that joy at least two weekends a year?

The Beach

The trouble with camping in Texas is that you’re pretty much screwed from May to September. It’s just too damn hot to be outside for that long. For me, at least. I’m sure there are people who love it, but I’d rather not share a car home with them after two days of sweat-lodging (no lodge needed) in the 100+ degree weather. Which is why I prefer to go to the beach in the summer and splurge on an air-conditioned condo with indoor plumbing to wash away all of my saltwater, sun-drenched stink.

So, yes, this mini break is more expensive than camping, because condos will always be more expensive than campsites. But you can still do an affordable beach trip, and the more people you involve, the cheaper it gets. Win win! We usually end up spending about $50/night for lodging per person (assuming three or four people) and, like camping, you just need to budget money for food, drinks, sunscreen, and gas. It’s easier to go out and spend money at bars and restaurants on a beach trip as well, but I’ve always found that with a lively enough crowd, everyone is content to cook and hangout at the condo or on the beach at night.

I’m heading to the Port Aransas this weekend, and I plan on sticking to a $200 budget, including the condo cost. (This is actually my most expensive beach trip, too, because there aren’t many people going and we’re paying a little more for a dog-friendly cabin.) And I completely recognize that $200 is no small amount in our lives of underpaid, underemployed, overcharged, and overburdened stress, but for me the relaxing respite of sitting on the sand, swimming in the sea, sleeping late, reading a book in the sun (under a giant hat), and enjoying the company of friends is worth the money.

So here’s to mini breaks and the sanity they restore! I’ll cheers to you all and your various ways of stretching budgets to get away while I watch the tide roll in this weekend.