This weekend CB and I traveled to the absolutely beautiful city of Boston and had a grand ol’ time walking around, meeting up with friends, and eating. Lots and lots of eating.
All this eating has turned into quite an expense. We were in Boston for three full days – in those three days we had:
- 3 dinners, including a grand lobster dinner at Legal’s Sea Food
- 5 brunches/lunches (picture on the left is of the crab cake benedict at Stephanie’s on Newberry. They cost $18 but was 100% worth the price. I can tell that it’s all crab, no filler. Thank you to Saving My Bacon for introducing me to this restaurant!).
- 2 coffee breaks
- 1 donut run (can’t pass up Dunkin’ Donuts, can we?)
The total cost of all our meals for two hovered around $350, or around $60 per day, per person. That is much higher than we normally spend, but I tell myself it was a vacation.
What is your philosophy when it comes to eating out on vacations?
Forget the budget and satisfy the senses – after all, it’s a special occasion
OR
Keep the wallet in check to avoid a spending hangover after the trip
I’d like to think I maintain a healthy balance between the two, but when it comes to food and touristy experiences (Duck tours – $65 for two tickets, anyone?), I veer on the side of it’s a vacation! I did stay in one of the cheapest options I could find in Boston ($140/night hotel), so I gave myself a little more leeway to enjoy the culinary delights the city had to offer.
Related posts:
Splurge! RT @WellHeeledBlog: Most comments say "live it up!" when it comes to eating out on vacations:
A little of both, but definitely more towards satisfy the senses. But I rarely go to places beyond the budget I'd go to at home. It's nice if you can go a little cheaper for breakfast and lunch, then have a better dinner (or some similar strategy favoring lunch!)
Especially for local food and experiences!
Glad you had a blast!
nedtotomosticased September 14, 2011 It’s kinda like fish tacos … only with BBQ sauce haha! Makes total sense!
I hate it when people go on vacation on a budget. I service those people and it drives me nuts. They are not frugal, they are cheap. It's one thing to bring bottled water and some snacks, but they bring in rice cookers and hot plates! When I go on a vacation I make sure to budget another thousand for anything we want, especially good food. Food is one of our biggest pleasures while traveling. I can tell you two are foodies too so I'm sure it was well worth it.
After hearing about that Duck Tour accident, I'll never do one.
BF & I are foodies, we love to eat out. We've been eating out every day especially on the weekends. We go to a lot of nice restaurants, but on vacations I tend to stick to "safe" places, or if we've been to other states then we'll go to the restaurants we liked there. If I have time, I do research online and see what others say about local places.
Actually I'd like to cut eating out and just eat out Friday-Sunday. It gets really expensive eating out every day, when you're on vacation, I do think that's the time to splurge. I remember going to NYC in 2001, before 9/11, and going to the WTC and eating at the restaurant Windows on the World restaurant. I was really adventurous on that entire trip.
You know I do think vacations are a time to try new things, so why not splurge if you have the money and its not putting you into debt?
Depends. Is it an outdoors laidback (beach/snow) kind of trip? Then I hold back – plus there don't tend to be much in the way of eateries there.
If it's a city getaway, then absolutely.
I plan for eating great food on vacation, so I do it up! Planning my dining excursions is one of the first things I do once I figure out where I'm going. I also never eat at chain restaurants when on vacation. I can eat at Cracker Barrel anytime! I'm glad you had a good time in Boston. Isn't it a great city?
I miss Boston already!
I do a combination of both – if I want to go to a great restaurant, I go for lunch (cheaper and easier to get a table). I don't normally eat breakfast out when I'm not on vacation, and it doesn't change much when I am. I go to a nearby grocery store – get instant oatmeal, a piece of fruit and with free coffee in the room, I'm good to go. I'd rather spend money on experiences while on vacation – meals definitely count towards that, but so do museums, exhibits…so I agree with not spending much on the hotel. It's not like you're spending much time there anyway!
I usually manage to get much better hotel deals for what I paid on this trip (~$150 per night), but I guess it's the absolute high season for Boston, so everything else I looked at was $200+ inside the city. The go-at-lunch tip is a great one. Usually the portions are a little smaller which also works out, as you can't really get food to go on vacation.
It depends where I am. In a place like Boston, I'd be likely to splash out a little more because there are some uniquely Boston (and/or East Coast) specialties that I just can't get here in Colorado (or at least not done well). Read: Seafood.
However, when I'm traveling internationally, I almost always opt for cheap, cheap, cheap.
My husband and I honeymooned in NYC, and I was soooooo miserly in terms of food, and I regret it a bit now. On one hand, my frugality led to some really great experiences, such as hanging at a dive-bar simply because they served free hot-dogs with every drink order, or having AMAZING Afghan food on our last night in town. But I also convinced my husband that we should skip the fancy steak dinner at Tom Collichio's restaurant because it would cost too much. I mean, how often are we in NYC? Not Very. And how often do we have an opportunity to eat at a celebrity chef's restaurant – one my husband LOVES? Not very.
I really regret that one.
If I'm in a new city or somewhere that I don't feel like cooking that much, I definitely eat out a lot more than I do at home, and will sometimes spend more than I would at a restaurant than I would at home. It's definitely the special occasion kind of thing.
Where did you end up staying? You had some really nice weather this past weekend, so you definitely lucked out!
I stayed at a place called Oasis Guest House right off the Green Line. If there's an interest I can do a review on it.
YAY Boston. It's one of the few US cities I have not explored. But I shall one day. Anywho, I splurge on vacations. Most of my money is spent on shopping and drinking though and not so much "nice" meals. My vacation budget includes money for food, shopping and incidentals that way I don't feel like I'm restricting myself. I just keep saying IT'S VACATION.
Glad you enjoyed my city! I try to be sensible and effeciant all around. Although, recent trip to Toronto was the cause of a series wallet hangover (food and taxes eek!)
I love your city. Especially the low sales tax – I think it's around 6% in Boston? In my neck of the woods, CA, it's almost 10%.
I definitely indulge in food on vacation! I don’t go out to eat often anyway, so it’s definitely something I always plan on doing while on vacation. The foodie in me always wins!
I refuse to cook on vacations unless it’s helping a friend make a meal which I am always glad to do.
I tend to be on the spend-it-up side of this conversation too. Especially if you are visiting somewhere where the cuisine is unique. But in the past, when traveling on a tight budget, I would find a happy medium by eating a nice dinner and skimping on the other meals.
PS: Glad you had a good time in Boston! I was lucky enough to call it home for two years of my life. I miss it
It's pretty much sky's-the-limit for me and BF when we travel. I mean, we're not going to 4-star restaurants every night, but for the most part if there's a place we want to go, we'll go. On our recent trip to LA we ran the gamut–from In N Out Burger to a few meals that cost over $100 for the two of us (including drinks). You only live once. Back home, we eat out only on weekends, in general.
Good to hear you enjoyed your time in Boston! I'm coming up on five years here and have enjoyed it very much, but nothing beats home (So Cal!).
Splurge, definitely. Not necessarily all 4 star restaurants (like Bonnie says), because that's not always the best measure of quality. We vacation with the intention of eating. (That's one reason I LOVE the SF bay area.)
In Boston I always hit up Tamarind Bay in Harvard Square. Indian food doesn't get any better in the US than it is in Boston. I've also been craving Bi Bim Bop (in a stone bowl!) for quite some time. The Korean restaurants I've been to elsewhere are either too fancy or focused on barbeque.
I LOVE eating on vacations, so I would definitely spend less in other areas to be able to afford the food experiences
Cheap hotel, fine with me. Random flight times, sure!
Here's my take: If you plan and budget accordingly, then eat out all you want. If that is how you want to enjoy your vacation, then do it! However, if you have to use credit cards and borrow the money to eat out, then have some discipline and visit a local grocery store!
We generally always end up eating out on vacation and I am definitely not the kind of person that likes to be counting every penny while I am trying to enjoy myself. I do try to spend within reason, but try as hard as I can to budget enough for a little extra fun and food.