An Ill wind and your travel budget

[albatross710]

As well as our investments & income going down I am expecting that the cost of travel and living will also decline.

• Airlines have always argued that fuel is their biggest expense - well now fuel is a half-third of the price.
• Employees are most valuable asset - they will also be working for less.

Good news is we are alive to decide our future. The alternative is not much fun at all.

 

[Pushka]

As well as our investments & income going down I am expecting that the cost of travel and living will also decline.

• Airlines have always argued that fuel is their biggest expense - well now fuel is a half-third of the price.
• Employees are most valuable asset - they will also be working for less.

Good news is we are alive to decide our future. The alternative is not much fun at all.

I don't expect the cost to come down if we still have to practise social distancing for a while. Might mean no middle seat.

 

[Tiki]

There is no impact on my financial travel budget. The only thing I ever book and pay far in advance is flight award tickets. And if it is short haul, this is not necessary as rewards in Y are easily gettable. In the past, for things like J to Africa or South America I had to book 11 months out. Hotels and AirBnb I book a couple weeks ahead unless it's a hard-to-get place on IHG using points.

My only worry is getting the world reopened asap. I don't want to fly someplace and be stuck in 14 day quarantine. I am cool with having a test performed at departure and arrival like EK is doing. If people are really worried, I have seen people getting on planes in hazmat suits and full masks.

Someday I will buy a 4x4 and start doing more road trips around Australia. My 2007 Ford Fiesta is not up for it. But before I do that, I want to finish all my international travel plans while I still have miles and points to spend.

 

[jase05]

Saving a huge amount of money currently and squirrelling it away for whenever travel open up again. Have been going over the finances the last few weeks and it’s actually a bit of an eye opener for me

 

[Buzzard]

We have a New Zealand cruise booked for the end of the year. If it doesn't happen so be it. Our only other plans for this year are a month or two on the NSW South Coast and hopefully a trip to Armidale to visit family with a couple of days in Dubbo on the way there or back.

 

[Cossie]

We are ok, in fact it's been good not obsessing over flights, car rental, hotels and the like, some time to think about more important things and to complete some unfinished projects.

Financially we are also ok, I feel for those that have lost jobs, and so closely following on from the bushfires it's going to be a very difficult time for some.

My investment with RallySafe is looking very precarious, no rallies nor boat races means their world leading timing products are not being used, hence no income for them, hopefully they can ride this out along with other businesses in trouble.

The "want" to travel will still be there when this over, hopefully.

Our Luang Prabang booking in late October is the only thing that may have to change, but next year will be good even though it's a bit too close to the PRC to want to go anywhere near that country.

Trips to NZ may become much more regular, still lot's to see there and of course much of here hasn't been visited.

 

[drron]

Rallysafe is also in the North West lockdown area which just adds to the troubles.
Hopefully the Tassie government will give some help if times get tougher.After all northern Tasmania is the strongest area for them.

 

[Bindibuys]

Travel budget = my income, still working 40 hours p/w so no change to the budget.
Will blow some of it on our Big Birthday Bash later in the year.
I would really like to start organising something for next year, but no knowing if some fabulous bargains will rise from the ashes, not ready to commit.

 

[hossein_au]

About 6 times my projected travel budget for the next couple of years has disappeared from my super, so in reality there is no extra money at all.

Yep! True that :-(

Post automatically merged: Apr 29, 2020

You'll be right, apparently injecting disinfectant is going to save us...

Or swallowing UV globes/lights

 

[tgh]

There seems a valid argument that many folks have not been severely impacted financially (yet….)
Leads to a substantial "head of steam" awaiting release when the government eases restrictions.
All this should be very good for au and Nz based travel , who will reward us all for our enthusiasm and jack up their prices I fear.

 

[Mumanddad]

With no cruise or airfares to outlay our travel budget is slowly getting back into the black. Until cruise lines give everyone back their promised refunds, they are not getting another cent from us. Somehow I expect some will go to the wall. Even Qantas is being very tardy with points and tax refunds.

As we have just sold our house we will be officially classed as essential travellers and are looking forward to having a couple of weeks in a caravan park at the beach until our new place settles. A small win on the travel front.

 

[JohnM]

I'm adopting the attitude that this year's travel, some of which has been suspended already, the rest almost certain to be, I'll move to 2021. My sketched out plans for 2021 now go to 2022.

The full refund for my 13 week DONE4, which was due to start on Friday, hit my Amex account overnight. Sweet timing, as I used the 2020 travel suspension as an excuse to buy a new 4WD last week and had plonked the changeover on my Amex.

I have a couple of suspended tours where I chose a 110% credit.

Still waiting for a couple of others a little later in the year to notify what is happening and will see what they offer in the way or credit or refund.

I'm due to travel on the Indian Pacific SYD-PER at the end of October. It was my way of getting home after an African trip that I suspect will not operate this year. Hopefully the IP and flights within Australia will be running by then and I'll just be able to fly to SYD and return by train.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Our budget is looking healthy. A bunch of QF vouchers, and spending has shrivelled (boredom up though).

At this stage we, like 1/2 of Queensland I suspect, are budgeting for a drive on Saturday to somewhere no more than 50k away.

Need to get on a plane and get back to work to have any other travel budget. Checking the crystal ball for when that is, but there’s just fog in there.

cheers skip

 

[clifford]

Nope won’t be spending a penny forward - book today fly tomorrow

That's certainly a lesson I've learnt.

 

[travel_bug]

Lots of money saved from not visiting family interstate since Feb; though the only major 2020 travel on the cards is a honeymoon which is well and truly up in the air until we get confirmation that the wedding can even go ahead!

Honeymoon was going to be a U.S trip to make the most of the VA/Delta relationship, but since everything that has occurred in Aus this year alone between the bushfires and now Covid, I think we'll be trying to organise something down under, and be booking directly with different merchants to give them the cash without any middle men like LE or FC taking a cut.

But if anything, this whole time I've just been reminding myself how lucky I was to get in a Europe trip from Nov '19-Jan '20 that had all accom and intra-Europe travel prepaid on non-refundable rates. I don't want to think of how much money I'd be pulling teeth to get back in some form or another from so many different merchants.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I dare not look at my super.
My only "retirement plan" is to live dangerously and die before I run out of money,

 

[LadyC]

My travel budget is usually aligned, at least in part, to my bonus. Which will be non-existent this year as advised by management. Boo. Luckily I am still gainfully employed so can still dream and put together various itineraries for future holidays I may or may not go on

 

[Franky]

There seems a valid argument that many folks have not been severely impacted financially (yet….)
Leads to a substantial "head of steam" awaiting release when the government eases restrictions.
All this should be very good for au and Nz based travel , who will reward us all for our enthusiasm and jack up their prices I fear.

You may be right, with a vertitable squillion public servants in the country who it would seem have not felt any financial pain, they could be what the economy needs for that head of steam to be released...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You may be right, with a vertitable squillion public servants in the country who it would seem have not felt any financial pain, they could be what the economy needs for that head of steam to be released...

Unfortunately even that is not guaranteed... in some cases there are public servants who can't work from home (some front-line staff). In other cases it might be that the public servant is just one half of a dual income household and the partner has lost their job or had reduced hours.

 

[Chicken]

with a vertitable squillion public servants in the country who it would seem have not felt any financial pain

APS here, and I have just lost my job. Not stood down, but gone. That's why my DPRK trip report grinded to a halt, because I have been doing overtime at Centrelink and Seek.

Most of us are suffering some level of economic distress.. but has this killed your budget ?
What are you going to do about it ?

Yes and no. Yes for the short term, but I am also making investment decisions for the long term, see if I could make a killing.

If you go to any investment online seminar right now, you will see all these people looking for opportunities.

I also have 300934 miles in VS Flying Club. My budget really depends on whether Richard or the UK government wins their game of chicken.