[godelski]

Googling it, looks like the trip costs around $6.5k for 2 people for a week. Expensive, but not out of reach for most Americans.

I mean we're on HN... if anything we're more likely to be in a wealthy bubble here. On average. There's plenty outside Silicon Valley but this place is a bubble too.

[Arainach]

The US doesn't mandate any vacation or sick leave days, so a huge chunk of the population can't even get a week off work, much less afford $4k per person.

[godelski]

I live in the US and I've worked minimum wage jobs for half my life. By minimum wage I mean where they only give you 29 hrs a week to avoid risking you become full time and you have to work two.

Yet, I've always been able to take time off if I really press for it.

You're absolutely right that it's not easy and harder than the average crowd here but it's far from out of reach.

Also, you hiked up the price by 20% by rounding in the wrong direction. While Americans don't have mandated vacation most Americans have access to PTO. You don't need to exaggerate problems to be able to discuss them. It only makes them harder to discuss and easier to dismiss

[Arainach]

How often can you get that week off? Most people I know working in the service industry have to fight to get that even once a year. Hopefully someone's OK not going home and seeing their family in a year to take a vacation like this. Hopefully they don't get sick and need the week for that.

To the cost: $6500 for two is low. Just getting there will be a significant amount, especially if you don't live in a major travel hub like LA or NYC.

"My Galapagos excursion took place on a boat with over a dozen other travelers."

Most ships are significantly more than $4000 per person, not including travel to the area: https://www.galapagosislands.com/cruises/ship

The absolute cheapest is the 100-passsenger Galapagos Legend at $2000 per person for 4 days, 3 nights - but a flight to Baltra Airport from, say, Pittsburgh will add another $1800 per person, and even from Chicago it's $1500 on a mix of airlines.

If you want a small ship with only a dozen others it will be significantly more expensive. If you want a week on something of that size you're looking at $4700 per person and up - plus travel. https://www.galapagosislands.com/cruises/catamaran/tiptop-ii

[sokoloff]

I would imagine the set of people who would spend $4K per person on a week in the Galapagos does not contain very many people who don’t have 3 weeks of vacation per year (or are retired).

[hunter-gatherer]

That's definitely out of reach of most Americans. I live in rural America, and am pretty active in my community. I can thing of 2 or 3 couples besides myself who could make a trip like that reality. We are all remote-workers working in software.

[hiddencost]

Uhhhhh yeah that's out of reach for a huge fraction of Americans, probably 80%.

[godelski]

According to the Fed

  - Median bank account balances in the U.S. range from $5,400 for those under 35
  - ... $13,400 for ages 65–74

So yeah, in range.

Does it require saving? Yes. But most Americans go on vacation each year. Give up the cost of a few years of vacations and you have this one.

I want to stress "not out of reach" doesn't mean easy. It explicitly doesn't mean one doesn't have to reach. I'd have said something very different if I meant most Americans could easily go on that trip. I specifically mean if it's something they really wanted to do, enough to save over a few years (or more) then that's something that could be accomplished.

https://www.investopedia.com/how-much-does-the-average-ameri...

https://www.statista.com/chart/31152/share-of-us-respondents...

[MrJohz]

I would suggest most Americans and most people on HN have a tremendous amount of privilege, do they not?