re: Two trains of thought, which are you?

Fortunate enough to not have much student debt between my wife and I. Engaged at 22. Married at 24. Only debt at 26 was a house and one car. Kid at 27. I'm 30 now.

But together we've been to Europe twice, Napa, New York, Disney about 8 times (we own DVC), Oregon, Hawaii, North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, Maine, Tennessee, Washington, just to name the places more than a few hundred miles away. We've traveled in a variety of ways; varying lengths of stay; varying accommodations. We usually take a trip somewhere for our anniversary typically staying in B&Bs. My wife is also an avid runner whose goal is to run a marathon in every state so this helps force us into new experiences. The kid rarely goes on the trips outside of Disney.

We've always been an "experience over materials" couple where we'd rather spend our extra money on trips rather than items. We're in a moderate house driving moderate cars. And even if we didn't travel so much, we'd still probably live this way. We've been lucky not to have financial strain outside of last year's flood which means zero vacations this year. No complaints there though. 1 year off is a minimal sacrifice to help get us back whole thanks in large part to friends and family.