The Second Best Vacation

Last week I took on the highly contentious topic of the best vacation spot and asserted beach vacations are the best for families.  I’ll gladly defend my position! If the beach is the premier family vacation spot, then what is the second best?

For me, if I can’t make it to the beach with my family, traveling internationally is definitely the way to go. And for a very special vacation, traveling internationally to a beach is the absolute best!

I made my first trip overseas to Germany while still in college as part of required Army ROTC training. This was a recurring theme for much of my adult life. Serving in the military offered several opportunities to work and travel overseas. This week’s featured pic is from a getaway to Australia in 1999 while stationed in Korea.

Over 24 years of service, I spent 8 years either living overseas or deployed! Of course a few of these international trips weren’t so pleasant. But they were learning opportunities just the same. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel internationally frequently on Uncle Sam’s dime. It was certainly one of the factors keeping me in uniform!

Everything is exciting when traveling abroad. I think this is what made the first few years of me and my wife’s marriage so special. My wife and I dated long distance for nearly two years as is common for many international couples with one member serving in the military.

I was stationed in Germany when we decided to tie the knot. For US Soldiers living in Europe, there is no better place to get married than Denmark! Due to its less restrictive regulations, even many Europeans will travel there to get hitched. Some might call it the “Vegas” of Europe, at least in the context of quick weddings!

As if getting married in Denmark is not exciting enough, just about every weekend that I wasn’t on training exercises during the first two years of our marriage, we would take weekend trips. We saw a majority of Western Europe in those two years. We now refer to the first couple of years in our marriage as our “honeymoon” season.

When we moved back to the states and started a family, the frequent international travel came to a screeching halt. Over the years we still made time to visit our extended family in South Korea and even took our kids to Thailand once. The wife and I have gotten away on a couple of overseas excursions, but we haven’t travelled internationally as much as we would like to.

But beyond the romanticism and excitement, why travel abroad? I’ve been fortunate to have an opportunity to earn a Bachelor’s degree and two Masters, but some of the best educational experience I’ve encountered has been during international travel.

Beyond experiencing the rich culture, foods and significant sites of foreign lands, traveling abroad and interacting with the populace broadens our perspective on so many things.

First and foremost, I think traveling abroad helps us realize that, despite some flaws, we’ve got it pretty good in the U.S. Traveling outside our boarders helps us be thankful for the things we have.

Additionally, while there are some commonalities, most countries have very different views on the common things in life (and I am not talking just food).  Personal finance is a notable area where most Americans have a unique perspective compared to many nations. By talking to citizenry abroad, Americans can learn firsthand about what popular concepts such as universal medical care and education really entails.

If you’ve read my blogs, you know I am a proponent of living the “be frugal” financial truth. Isn’t traveling abroad contradictory to a frugal lifestyle?

If budgeting appropriately and applying some clever life hacks, such as using (and paying off) a credit card for daily expenses to build travel rewards, international travel can certainly be within grasp. Considering how much we spend on the theme park or beach vacations here in the United States, one may find that international travel actually costs only a little more.

Although it pains me to say it, I would even recommend skipping a beach vacation with the family for a couple of years if it would mean saving up enough for a two week visit to Africa, Asia or Europe. Everyone should experience international travel at least once!

The lessons learned observing and just talking to the populace while traveling often provides a better education than anything we can read in a book. Make it a priority to travel abroad. It is one of the best and most enjoyable ways to pursue lifelong learning!

Interested in personal finance? Check out my new book “Millionaire on a Worker’s Budget: Five Financial Truths to Build Wealth” is available now on Amazon in e-book or paperback BUY NOW!

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