A Tale of Two Vacations

In this post Mr. Money Mustache (MMM) has just gotten home from a 7-week vacation to Hawaii. MMM tells the readers his post is not about the vacation he took it is instead about the one he did not take. Talking to a couple of travelers on his return flight home he found out that an older couple was just returning from a week stay in a Waikki hotel. The couple tells MMM that they would have loved to stay longer but he could not get time off of work. So Mr. Money Mustache decided to compare his family's vacation expenses with those of the couple who he talked to on the plane. He then used a graph, which you can find by clicking on this link to his blog post.
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/01/15/a-tale-of-two-vacations/
The idea that he is promoting is that you do not have to be completely virtuous with your spending choices but you do have to be aware of your luxury spending when it happens so it does not get out of hand (MMM). He wants people to realize that a reasonable vacation is one that costs less than your net earnings during the period of your trip. This idea, to me, is very workable and practical. I think vacations are great to go on and spend time away from home while making memories with your family. You do not need to spend a lot of money to have a good vacation and Mr. Money Mustache proved that. While his family went on vacation for 7-weeks the elderly couple went for a week and the expenses of their trip were close to 8 times higher than Mr. Money's. Making yourself aware of a budget and finding ways to have fun without spending a lot of money is how you can make sure your vacations stay in a reasonable price range.
Doing some research I found another blogger who calls himself Nomadic Matt. One of his posts I found was on 8 great alternative budget vacation trips. He also agreed with Mr. Money in saying that you do not have to be rich and have a lot of time off of work to have a great vacation. It is hard for a lot of people to find the time and money to go on vacation but Nomadic Matt gave his readers 8 ways to travel and explore the world when you have a tight budget on time and money. If you get the chance check out his blog, there are some useful tips on how to have a great-inexpensive vacation for you and/or your family.
http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/8-great-alternative-budget-vacation-ideas/

One of the pictures Mr. Money took while in Hawaii