[cmrdporcupine]

Could possibly be. I didn't get on a plane til I was 17 and that was a domestic flight. And didn't get overseas until I was 19 and my grandparents paid for it, and we had family overseas. It just wasn't financially possible for a (reasonably financially stable) working class family like ours to fly.

Now this kind of travel seems routine?

[nekopa]

Not knowing how old you are, or where you hail from, but I was able to travel a lot when I was a young teen during the 80s (in the UK), just by having a different priority on my money than my friends. My mother was living on disability, so I got all my money from part time work.

But I saved like a madman to travel. Looking back on photos from when I was 14-15, you can see that most of my clothing was old and out of fashion, I never had the latest music, or went to concerts or other things that my friends did, but all my cash went on travel (and computers :)

Granted, most of my early travel was just by bus, ferry and thumb, and being next to Europe helped too.

[martinald]

The main thing is that airfare is really cheap. Firstly, it's got cheaper because of efficiency savings and economies of scale.

Secondly, people's incomes have risen way quicker than the cost of airfare. It's reasonable for someone in the working class - making say $20/hr - to be able to afford a $400 round trip to another continent. Many destinations are really cheap when you get there, too.

[totalrobe]

In my experience, $400 in airfare from the US will get you about as far as mexico.

[dagw]

Depends how far in advance you book and where you're flying from. Poking around www.google.com/flights I found plenty of flights from New York to various cities in Europe in October for less than $450

[matwood]

Of course it is cheaper if you live in a hub. NYC, ATL, CLT, all have cheap flights. My guess is that most people do not live within easy driving distance of those places and have to pay the local airport premium.

[totalrobe]

Yep, NYC to EU isn't too bad but from the DC area $700 roundtrip to europe is a great price.

[matwood]

I live in the Southeast and would love a $700 round trip to Europe. Even offseason is still close to $1k and in season is more like $1500.

[martinald]

Really? In the UK from LHR on MAN you can usually get to most countries (except perhaps Australia/NZ).

Definitely have seen it as low as £250rtn to Japan; for example. I have flown to SF for about £300rtn recently.

[gambiting]

If you live in Europe and plan couple months ahead you can buy international flights with Ryanair or any other budget airline for as little as $50, round trip. So it's perfectly possible for a student to go for a weekend in Paris or London, staying at youth hostels or AirBnB locations. If you don't mind taking a bus it's even cheaper, my friends just booked a bus to London(from North of England, so not quite international, but still) for $7 because they booked it 4 months in advance and the bus leaves at 1am so it's not very popular.

[nikofeyn]

i honestly don't understand how people afford it. i just joined okcupid, and you would think it was a dating site hosted by the travel channel.

[matwood]

The biggest boon to my traveling was a) go to cheaper places b) AirBnb c) off season or shoulders. Croatia is amazing and inexpensive, although I would make sure to go in the summer to experience the beaches. Hungary is the same and is nice in the fall/spring. Slovenia is a beautiful country. Even Prague can be affordable on the 'shoulders'. Flights are still pricey, but even they are cheaper if you avoid the 3 months of the summer.

I have even touched on SEA which appears to be the younger persons favorite inexpensive place to go.

[J-dawg]

Oh man, you brought back a few memories of when I tried internet dating. So many posed photos next to world landmarks. Look at me! I'm well travelled! Look how interesting and fun I am!