The Cost of Vacation, Part 5: Adding Everything Up

This week, I’ll be sharing various expenditures related to my recent travels to both The Billfold Live and the JoCo Cruise, and how I feel about them.

So how much did I spend on thirteen days of travel?

$841.43 on transportation

$32.93 on Wi-Fi for the SEA-IAH-LGA and EWR-FLL flights (so I could complete freelancing assignments while hurtling through the air, of course)

$337.53 on the Pod Hotel

$132.87 on feeding myself in NYC

$285.65 on drinking myself on the cruise

$71.90 on perfume and makeup

$14.99 on a Kermit hat to wear while I sang “I Hope that Somethin’ Better Comes Along” with Molly Lewis on the cruise

$12.98 for dinner at — you guessed it — the FLL Starbucks before flying home

Oh, and $2,524.00 for the actual JoCo Cruise

GRAND TOTAL: $4,254.28

It’s important to look at these two trips separately; the Billfold Live trip was assuredly business (I didn’t do a single tourist thing while I was there), so it’s a bit disingenuous to call the entire trip “vacation,” and for that matter there was a lot of professional-development-related stuff that went on during the cruise, too. (If you’re looking for a creative incubator, whether for your Kickstarter or your game or your music or your writing or your whatever, book yourself a stateroom on JoCo Cruise 2016. Seriously.)

But, for what it’s worth, I spent the equivalent of nearly one month’s earnings on a thirteen-day trip. Or, at least, one month of what I was earning last year.

Some of this spending is also in the form of debt that I will need to pay off, although it’s much more fun to think about it as an investment in myself and my career. Wouldn’t you make the same kind of investment, if the opportunity presented itself?

No, seriously. Would you?

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.