The Cost of Travel

OUR ADDICTION TO EXCURSIONS

In the past year, Peter and I have had the great pleasure and luxury of traveling together, both domestically and internationally. Most of our domestic travels were small spurts to break up the otherwise monotonous demands of work. We enjoy having small trips to see loved ones and to experience novelties without the extensive demands of trip planning.

Japan marked our first big trip—not only because of it was international, but because it spanned two long weeks. We knew that we could only afford, in both time and dollars, one such trip per year. We originally designed a budget based on our current and projected financial goals. We hoped to allot 50% of this budget to a big international trip and the other half to small trips sprinkled throughout the year.

This budget was designed several months ago but with time, we had to refine our numbers. Turns out, the overall budget actually shrunk to about 75% of the original projection. Thus, Japan was going to be quite an expensive endeavor, even with the USD to yen conversions. This was no surprise, given that it was peaking with tourism, and Japan already is one of the more expensive countries to visit. We did not expect, however, for this trip to utilize 100% of this newly calculated budget.

As Peter and I planned the first week of our Japan travels, we were pleasantly surprised by the relative inexpensiveness of the flights and hotels—as long as we did not splurge on luxury additions. It turned out, however, that the hotel quality was still quite nice, albeit a little cramped. Peter and I did not bring large luggages and generally do not require much room, so it was of little concern to us.

Week 1 involved a mix of simple, convenient meals and nicer sit-down restaurants. We also spent freely on souvenirs, gifts, and snacks. Surprisingly, we did not really track how much or what we were spending on during the first week; it actually felt like quite the splurge. Knowing that our accommodations leaned more inexpensive, we were comfortable letting ourselves enjoy various experiences throughout Osaka and Kyoto. There were many little purchases that brought us so much joy and had us feeling like we’re living in excess.

I knew that Week 2 would be much more expensive than the first, just not to what magnitude. Week 2 alone cost about three times as much. I had a brief idea from general planning but hadn’t crunched all the numbers until recently—after all, my friends did most of the booking for this second leg of the trip when it came to accommodations. The rough estimates during planning were not outrageous, and so Peter and I were happy to spend a little more to have a good time with friends.

Items that added up quickly in Week 2 were mostly the Tokyo hotel and Hokkaido ryokan. We did have several nice dinners out in Tokyo, including a 2 Michelin star experience at Crony. While Peter and I were in Osaka and Kyoto, many of our dinners out were $50 total. Dinners with my friends, however, were often $50 per head (and some outrageously more).

Though expensive, we enjoyed the food thoroughly, especially our time at Crony. Any comparable experience stateside would have been significantly pricier—this makes it even more worth it in girl math. Even Peter had to admit after the lavish dinner that it was quite the gem.

Room accommodations were also of a much higher caliber than what I would normally book for myself—and certainly leagues above what Peter and I booked for our private portion of the trip. Despite the high price tags, I was happy (and grateful) to not only have the opportunity but the means to experience them.

It allowed me to challenge my scarcity mindset and to enjoy something nicer for myself. These were places of splendor too difficult to capture accurately in words—places I would routinely admire from afar before exiting out of the booking screen due to fear of over-spending.

The calm with which Peter and I approached these costs stemmed from our appreciation of friendship couched in the joyous opportunity of traveling together. Opportunities like these are rare, especially for myself where getting two weeks off consecutively have traditionally been difficult during medical training. Having two weeks off makes international travel much more feasible, especially now with some disposable income to afford it. Peter and I find ourselves much more liberal with our spending when it comes with intangibles, such as investing in relationships.

Peter especially liked that by paying for more premium accommodations, we actually had (significantly) larger and more comfortable rooms. This allowed for our group of friends to gather in one place and hang out at the end of a long day of exploration. We would never be able to do this in the cramped spaces of most average hotel rooms in Japan. Importantly as well, one of my our friends had not been afforded the opportunity to travel in several years, much less internationally. It was good to see him enjoy and relax after years of hard work and obligations.

Needless to say, this trip to Japan for Peter was a wild departure from his usual mode of travel. For me, it was a little more lavish than I would have anticipated. But for both of us, it served as an invaluable and precious experience. We found it very enjoyable actually to have two distinctly different “trips” packed into one—one more affordable, and one more grandiose. Neither of us look back on the trip with any buyers’ remorse. In fact, we are left ever more excited for our next international trip.

Many lessons were learned on the trip as we start thinking about our next. First, that it is important and worthwhile to treat ourselves to nicer experiences. Second, it is because we live otherwise simple lives that we can even appreciate these extravagances—we definitely would pay for these experiences again in the future, but perhaps only for special occasions. Third, there are certain luxuries we would pay for regardless of scenario, including extra luggage, nutrition, fitness, and decent airplane seats—we’re still bitter about being seated so far apart. In sum though, we believe our trip was definitely time and money well spent.

XOXO,

Howard and Peter