Tea at Trianon: When You Can't Afford a Summer Vacation

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, June 2, 2019

When You Can't Afford a Summer Vacation

From The New York Times:

Summer vacations can be expensive. A two-week trip to Yellowstone, Disney World or to a fancy resort can easily approach five figures for a family. Indeed, a survey by the Travel Industry Association of America released this month found that prices for airline tickets, fuel and lodging have risen a combined 7.1 percent since December. The association also said its affordability index, which measures perceptions of travel costs, fell 18.3 percent in the second quarter, showing there is a greater concern among consumers that travel has become expensive.

Still, parents often have a hard time saying no to a grand summer vacation, even if they can't afford it. The children are young only once, parents figure, they really want to see Mickey Mouse, and credit cards make just about anything obtainable. So why shouldn't you?

Well, don't. There are ways to afford a summer vacation when you can't afford a summer vacation, steering clear of both credit card debt and grandma. Travel experts say there are many strategies a family can use to have a memorable, but affordable vacation, and financial planners say there are ways to reduce a vacation's financial impact. (Read more.)