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what do you value more? vacation experience or physical possessions?

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Why does it have to be a trip to hawaii? I can think of many things that would be just as fun but require less money.
 
I've been trending more to vacations as of late but am fairly successful at scoring good deals (thank you Priceline, SPG, and AAdvantage) to keep the costs down so as not to compromise too much on other purchases.

 
Originally posted by: nonameo
Why does it have to be a trip to hawaii? I can think of many things that would be just as fun but require less money.
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Hawaii (Maui in particular) is pretty fucking fantastic.

 
Vacation by far. I've got enough "stuff", don't need any more. I'd rather have the experience of two out of country vacations or more per year.
 
vacation. i spent over 2200 for a week in san diego with my kids, we had a blast. we will all remember that. much more worth it than a kick ass tv or a new puter, those are just appliances that come and go. how often do you reminisce about your old 27" trinitron?
 
I need a certain level of possessions to be happy in life. A car, a computer, a place to live, etc. But after that base level, money spent on vacations would more satisfying than additional possessions.
 
Possessions. Usually they last longer than the memory of the vacation. I'm not a big "Remember When" type person.

Currently my wife is on "vacation" visiting her parents. I can pretty much guarantee the only memorys from this $1200 vacation will be the 5 cancelled flights she is contending with. She might be home today, the question is which city I have to drive to to get her.
 
Experiences and friendships > material things. We just got back from three weeks in the UK visiting friends, my wife said we could live in our smallish house forever, as long as we could travel like that.
Possessions, no matter how hard you try to maintain them, will eventually go to dust. Plasma gives way to OLED gives way to whatever.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
Vacation by far. I've got enough "stuff", don't need any more. I'd rather have the experience of two out of country vacations or more per year.
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I agree. I put the value of physical possessions WAY down on my list. Any or all of it could easily be lost in a fire, stolen, etc. It just also seems somewhat selfish to get attached to a possession as well.

Why don't you buy the TV and go have a blast somewhere locally? You can just travel to a nearby city and experience whatever they have to offer, or a winery, distillery, bed and breakfast, etc.
 
Originally posted by: BassBomb
I have never really been on a "real" vacation. I am sure a certain vacation experience could be so game changing that it could outweigh the benefits of a gadget over its lifecycle.
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I've been to Maui, NY, Spain, and Portugal in the last few years. I'll never forget those experiences as long as I live. Definitely more memorable than any gadget I've ever owned.
 
$2500k could buy you a lot more than one trip to Hawaii... Hell, with good money management, that's enough to retire.

I'd take the trip. I got a $2,500 TV recently, and it's absolutely fucking fantastic, I won't lie. But I've also been to Hawaii twice. And I have to say, when I'm on my deathbed, I don't think I'll be remembering the clarity of a television that has long gone the way of obsolescence; I'll remember sitting on a black sand beach with a shave ice watching sea turtles crashing around in the surf. Actually, I'll probably remember the Galapagos even more than that, but I'm pretty sure that's way more money than you want to spend (though I strongly recommend it).
 
Item.

An item can be sold to recover some of the cost if I get sick of it. I can enjoy it for longer. And I like the idea of building and enhancing my home/castle more then visiting anywhere. Intrinsically, I want something I can hold onto.

Vacations are abtract, no value can be recovered if they suck. And the truth is, I don't actually like vacations that much. The planning and traveling portions are exceedingly stressful, so much so they outweigh the benefits to me. My wife loves trips...I would probably never go on one if it wasn't for her. The only trips I want to do are so expensive they will likely never happen (Rome, British Isles...maybe Japan) due to cheapness and other obligations. My family used to "cheap out" on vacations when I was a kid, which has also soured me to them. Half assing a vacation is pointless. I just stopped going with them because they sucked so hard. If I wanted to do nothing, I'd do it at home where I have more bathrooms and I know my bed isn't full of bed bugs.
 
Right now, I would LIKE a 52" TV for my living room, and I WANT a more comfortable car for commuting to work. I'd LIKE to go on a good vacation, too, but wants and needs take priority over what I'd like to do.
 
Think of it this way: in 20 years, what story will you be telling people? Will you tell them about the fun you had in Hawaii? Or will you tell them about the ancient computer you had that couldn't even run Windows version 10?
 
Originally posted by: joshsquall
I'd probably say possessions. I have a lot of things I still need to do/buy for my house:
- Finish basement
- Deck
- Fence
- Hardwood floors
- Crown molding
- Paint
- Dining room, basement, and office furniture
- New laptop

Vacation is meh. I enjoy going places and all, but I'm perfectly happy at home as well.
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So if you got hit by a bus on the way home, what would your dying regret be (aside from not waiting to cross the street)? Would it be "I wish I could have installed that hardwood floor" rather than "I wish I could have seen the Pyramids" (or whatever)?

I travel whenever I have the chance.
 
Vacation.

In the last year my wife and I have been to Cozumel, St Lucia, Vancouver/Victoria BC and will be in Freeport Bahamas in December 😀

As far as possessions I prefer to live pretty spartan, he who dies with the most shit, still dies.
 
I don't have a single physical possession that makes me feel they way I do when I think about the trip to Puerto Vallarta the wife and I took in April. Looking at the pictures makes me sad and long for the experience of warm sun, relaxation, and sea breeze.
 
Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
experts say we value a memorable experience more than a physical possession?
i'd love to take a vacation with my gf right about now, but then i think about what i could buy with that money instead and i'm not so sure anymore.
$2500k could buy us a trip to hawaii, or a 55" HDTV, or the electronic drum set i want, or a new computer with 30" monitor...
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$2,500k = $2,500,000...


Anyway, I vote vacation.

 
Depends. There's a lot of activities I've done that fall under the "vacation" category that were nothing more than expensive, stressful days away from work. I'd much rather have a big ass TV with the money spent on those.

But, there's been a few that even years later I can still close my eyes and remember like it was yesterday and long for the days I can return. With those there's not many things that can really replace it.
 
Originally posted by: dainthomas
Originally posted by: joshsquall
I'd probably say possessions. I have a lot of things I still need to do/buy for my house:
- Finish basement
- Deck
- Fence
- Hardwood floors
- Crown molding
- Paint
- Dining room, basement, and office furniture
- New laptop

Vacation is meh. I enjoy going places and all, but I'm perfectly happy at home as well.
Click to expand...

So if you got hit by a bus on the way home, what would your dying regret be (aside from not waiting to cross the street)? Would it be "I wish I could have installed that hardwood floor" rather than "I wish I could have seen the Pyramids" (or whatever)?

I travel whenever I have the chance.
Click to expand...

Not to be "that guy" just to argue with you, but yes. I wish that my house was in a more finished condition so I could theoretically live out the rest of my days in it than seeing something.
 
Possessions, they last a hell of a lot longer than vacations. I'm not much of a travel to new places person anyway.
 
(most foreign destinations) > (a few domestic destinations) > (stuff) > (the rest of the domestic destinations)

Took a trip to Japan a few years ago and it was incredible, looking forward to some more international travel in the future. That being said while I enjoyed my road trip down to Austin I think I would have rather picked up a PS3.

I'm a navy brat though so I've already seen a lot of the US. My fiancee is from Hawaii and had seen very little of the continental US and she seems to value any travel at all over stuff.
 
I love things and vacations. I can't afford much of either, but that's what credit cards are for, right? 😀

So, I have accumulated things (and debt) and gone on vacations. Like others have said, it kinda depends on the vacation/travel experience. Some are great, some not so much. I do believe that Americans need to get out of the country more and experience other cultures. I've spent lots of time in Norway over the past ten years, and it's just so cool how different things are. The people, the thinking, the culture, everything. It really opens your mind to new ideas. Most people in the states know the American way and that's it. They can't relate on a global scale. I'm loving Europe more all the time, and if my wife gets that job when she graduates, I'll probably move somewhere in Europe.

There's a lot to see and experience out there folks, and it's not something you can get from your computer or TV, no matter how big the screen :roll:
 
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