veganerd wrote:
Experiences are superior to objects. Travelling is a great way to spend money.
I have a male acquaintance that worked as a male model. Somehow, he ended up working for the family that owns Abercrombie and Fitch. I think he served as a steward or something. He flew with them everywhere they went on their private jet. He didn't make much money, but got to travel a lot and stay at 5 star hotels and resorts. He was telling me that he felt bad because he wasn't making a lot of money and that it wasn't much of a career. I reminded him that people work and save all of their lives so that they can travel when they retire, but he was getting to do it while he was young and could carry the memories for the rest of his life.
I spoke with a couple of years ago and he had met a girl and gotten married, and was looking for a job that didn't require travel.
Two years ago our family decided that instead of buying a lot of gifts for each other, we would take a family vacation after Christmas. We went to New Orleans. We didn't take another trip this past Christmas, but that was somewhat because of the emotional toll that hurricane Michael took on us - we just weren't up for planning another trip. But, next year and beyond we will do that.
We still talk about NOLA, but I can't remember hardly any recent discussions about the gifts we gave at Christmas other than the car I bought my wife.