Now to address another major money draining problem of mine: fancy foreign beaches. I remember almost all of my family vacations. And the overwhelming thing I remember is how unhappy I was compared to my normal life: despite being ‘on break’ from school, work or any other responsibilities. Despite being with various family. I have always been significantly more unhappy with life while vacationing. At first I just thought it was the company: people I avoid on a regular basis so a week in an isolated location (no matter how beautiful) became hell on earth. But now I’ve realized it’s more than that.
This ridiculous vacation was only possible because Emirates sent out a special offer for their First Class Suites for a third of their usual price. When my mom sent me a nonchalant email mentioning this and that we should look out for that deal when we plan this trip sometime in the future I emailed back only: “LET’S DO IT!” And I am so happy she listened. That deal has not been seen since and it’s been two years. This was the closest I’ve come to paradise. The flights to and from these islands were as glamorous if not more so than the actual enormous overwater bungalow where we stayed.
It was actually interacting with our personal butler that made me finally realize why I dislike this lifestyle. In the background there are always servants, attendants and commandeered land that make all of this ridiculous luxury possible. When we asked our butler about his life in the Maldives he responded honestly that he sleeps near our bungalow in a bunkbed with barely any windows so the guest won’t be exposed to the servants’ less than ideal lives. How they work here to take the ridiculous amount of money we spend on a night’s stay and send it to their families at home.
This actually reminded me of my times at sea. Specifically my first real cruise which I took with my family a year ago. All of the attendants were there, away from their children and families because these cruise lines could offer them enough money that they valued it higher than time with their young children. And they accepted the jobs so they could send the money back home. It made me question everything. A lot of these breathtaking beaches make me think of pain and suffering and the people that should own them and be able to enjoy them. And with that weighing on my mind I would almost rather be looking at pictures. I will admit that I have seen beautiful things and enjoyed a few of these vacations when it was just my mom and I, but when I look back I was just as happy at home hanging with her in our pajamas as on an exclusive, faraway beach.
The cost and weirdness of these expensive places aren’t worth the extra money and weirdness to me and since what I really value is time with my Mom I’ve been trying to convince that if we do travel we should go places that are not exploitative of its workers where workers have humane accommodations and are compensated fairly.
As of now we have reached a compromise. I even got her to stay in an AirBnB and live like a normal local as opposed to a queen. To further offset the costs of travel we have amassed a large number of airline miles, including those I’ve collected from credit card rewards recently. Instead of paying full or even a discounted price for flights, going forward we are going to use travel hacking to allow us to visit the world, even in First Class, for virtually no money out of our pocket.
I’m glad that I had time to reflect on what it is about a lot of fancy vacations that I don’t like: the company and exploitation of workers. I’ve eliminated one by saying no to vacations (the company) and am working on the other. I’m going to vote with my dollar and only pay places that fit my criteria.