Affording to live and flights home....

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if some of you find that you don't go home very often due to cost of living here combined with cost of travel to the US.  We haven't been back to the States in 1.5 years and my son keeps asking to go.  I just can't see how to afford it, but I feel so guilty....

Just really sounding off and wondering if anyone has the same situation at times.

I dont go back to the US very often, but that because I dont WANT to go back.

My mother is British and we were raised in the US. We would come back to the UK every other year, though my Grandparents always paid my mother for my sister and my tickets, so thats how she was able to come back as often as she wanted to. Maybe that could be an option for you? That is, if your parents can afford it..

Its terribly hard! My daughter and I just came back from the States because my son graduated high school and I couldn't miss it. We could not afford for hubby to go too though. I'm also not sure when we will be able to go back. Between every day living and saving up for ILR...its probably going to be a while. 

We can't really afford to go either. (and I totally hear you on the guilt thing)

I've been in the UK since Nov 2010 and I've only been back to the US twice - one was for a company trip (they paid for the ticket) and the other one was when my US family pooled their money together for a plane ticket.  Both times it was just myself who went as that's all we could afford.  DH had to stay home.

Saving up for future visas is definitely a big contributor, but it seems airfare has just gone up since I first started my LDR.  When we first started dating, we could afford to see each other about 4 times a year (me to UK twice, him to US twice).  Now, we would be lucky if we could afford one ticket to the US.  Plus, it doesn't help that most people have the most free time during the summer and ticket prices just skyrocket around then.

I've found that the best way to get cheap tickets is to try and travel during really dead times... not during holidays, not during the spring/summer, choosing odd days to travel on, odd times to travel, utilizing discount websites, etc.

My family keeps asking when we'll come back to the US to visit them, and it's sad but true that we just can't afford it for the foreseeable future.

I guess we're all in the same boat.  My parents, when my Dad was living, used their miles for us to fly there.  We would pay the taxes and it wasn't that bad. 

Now, we're buying a new house so we can have a nice garden for our son ( and trust me, I'm not talking an expensive house....) , but I feel like we've chosen house over travel with the funds we have available (or don't as the case seems to be!).  It's so hard ...

I've been here over 5 years and haven't been back once.  We simply can't afford it with all the visas and citizenship expenses.  Now that is all done we are hoping to visit in 2013.  We certainly can't afford to buy a house either! 

We sort of chose the travel over the house, but even if we hadn't haven travelled houses in our area are so totally expensive we wouldn't have been able to afford one anyway. 

Haven't been back for 7 years... nor can I afford to buy a house/flat.  I have just about zero disposable income... every penny I make goes toward paying one bill or another.

I am going back next week to see my parents for the first time in 7 years, to attend their 50th wedding anniversary party.  The only reason I am able to go is because my boyfriend paid for the tickets, and doesn't expect to be paid back.

We go back to the states twice a year, usually I spend a month there in the summer while the kids are out of school. I wouldn't have moved here if it was something we couldn't swing. I couldn't be living here if I wasn't able to go home. We usually pay for one trip, and my parents treat us to the other. My parents usually come over here twice a year also, I wouldn't be happy living here if I didn't get to do my twice a year trips. We would beg, borrow, or steal.

I've been back twice in nine years and that's more than enough. I'd rather save my travel money to go to more exciting places and places I haven't been to before.

We always find something new when we go.  I haven't been to so many places since I was a kid.

We went to Shenandoah Nat'l Park this time.  We saw bears and I almost stepped on a rattlesnake.  But it all depends on what you are looking for.  

This has inspired me to plan the next trip.  I am hoping for walking in Portugal.

We go back every year, normally for xmas, I'm in the US 2-3 times a year, and I'm in Austin every October for a conference, so although I appreciate that we're able to go back so much...I kinda would prefer if we didn't but I'm not going to be annoyed about it because you know I'd rather be in that situation than the opposite and also we always do different stuff when we're out there, take trips, eat different foods, etc. It's normally pretty fun and it's not stopped us from other trips.

We don't have a house, we pay extortionate rent instead as we want to stay pretty flexible about our lives right now, and the idea of getting the deposit needed for the kind of house we'd actually want to buy, is some ways off.

We usually go for Thanksgiving, but we just went back for a wedding a few weeks ago. 

Sometimes it does feel like we are doing the same stuff, but this time was nice because it was the summer (ish). My husband had never seen fire flies. 

I think our plan is to visit every couple of years... but who knows if we'll manage or not. My mom makes me feel really guilty about it, saying that she'll never see me again and that she'll never know her (thus unborn) grandchildren. But there's not much I can do about it... she can't afford to visit or bring us to her either. Maybe she'll get some better internet for Skyping...

We've gone back once a year in the time I have lived here. Because we were able to stay at mom's instead of getting a hotel, it really cut down on cost. We also managed to borrow a car every year except last year, and then dad paid for half of the rental of it for us.

It is a big expense to go back, but we don't have a lot of expensive bills, and rent isn't so bad in Blackburn. Now that we are headed back, we will be making our trips here for our visits home.