Bird and I are heading up to Duluth today for a little one day getaway. We’ll be hiking around on the North Shore and checking out Split Rock Lighthouse. I’m pretty sure most of the leaves up north are well past their peak color (if not already off the trees), but maybe we’ll get lucky and see some beautiful fall foliage. Later tonight, we’ll be taking in a performance by the Duluth Orchestra. It should be a nice day to just relax and have a little fun.
Duluth is approximately 150 miles north of the Twin Cities, so I’m expecting I will have to pay for gas, as well as two meals today in Duluth. Fortunately, we received free tickets to the orchestra.
Not too much going on in my life at the moment. Money comes in, money goes out. Markets go up, then they go down. It’s all just a part of the circle of life.
I’m taking the day off from work tomorrow and using the long weekend to head up North for another mini-vacation. Bird, myself and friend, T, will be heading into the northern Minnesota wilderness for some relaxation and grouse hunting. Hopefully, I’ll get a few birds which will cut down on food expenses for October. Bonus.
I know it was two weeks ago, but I’m just now getting around to recapping my short little vacation to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota.
On Friday the 12th, I woke up at 3:30 am because we were planning on leaving around 4. As things always seem to go, we didn’t finish packing up the van and trailer until about 4:45. We were off to a slow start. Eventually, we got on the road, picked everyone up and then had an uneventful 4-5 hour drive.
The weather was beautiful Friday and we had a great time canoeing, fishing and generally relaxing. We spent most of the day on the water except for the time it spent to set up camp. When we arrived at our site, there was a nice big pile of bear poop waiting for us on the path. Not exactly an encouraging sign, but I’m pretty sure it was the last open site on the lake. So we just hung our food high and hoped for the best. (ps. We had no bear visits that we know of, though two of our group did see a wolf!) As the sun began to set, Bird and I took a romantic canoe ride:
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That night we had a great fire and there were a lot of laughs. Eventually, the boys went off to catch crayfish and frogs. You know, boy things. The girls sat around the fire having girl talk.
That’s me trying to catch one of the biggest frogs I’ve ever seen, but he was very quick.
Anyways, Saturday morning came and we had more gorgeous weather. We continued to not do much of anything and love every minute of it. We came in off the lake for lunch and just as we finished lunch, it began to rain. It never stopped. It rained through Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday morning and then we left Sunday afternoon. But we had rain gear, tarps, and a good tent, so we stayed dry and still had a lot of fun. I’m hoping we’ll get to do it again next year.
Remember how my friend was putting everything on his credit card and we were all going to settle up when we got back. Well, he billed me the other day for $78. That was much lower than my original estimate and therefore, I am a very happy camper!
I’m packing up right now for the big camping trip this weekend. Tomorrow morning at 4 am, we’ll roll northward to the Boundary Waters for a few days of awesomeness. I have not been this excited for a very long time! It’s going to be so much fun.
Financially, I have no idea how much this trip is going to actually cost me. My friend is putting everything (equipment rental, food, supplies, etc.) on his card and then will bill the rest of us when we get back. There are six of us going so that should help spread the cost of the trip. We’re taking my parent’s minivan so that we don’t have to take more than one car. That should save us some money as well. We opted to rent three canoes rather than try to haul one or two up there and while it will cost us a bit more, I’m happy with that decision because it is such a convenience and will save us some headaches in the long run. All in all, I don’t think it will cost too much. I’m thinking somewhere between $100 and $150. I’m mostly just excited for the chance to get away and relax! Back to packing!
My roommate, T, left for Sweden last night. I could have been sitting next to him on the plane, but instead I’m sitting here at my desk.
It was about six months ago, when he first asked me if I wanted to go with him. My first instinct was to say no because we all know trips to Europe aren’t cheap. T probably knew that my inclination was to say no, so he sweetened the deal by informing me that his cousin was living there and would be happy to provide a place to stay. It would still be expensive, but that was one major expense out of the way. Another swaying factor was that T didn’t have anyone else to go with.
It’s not like he gave me puppy-dog eyes, but I had heard that he didn’t have anyone else to go with. Here’s some background: T is Swedish, he took Swedish in college and he’s sort of all-around enamored with the place. (I don’t think he’d mind if he found a girl there, either). Anyway, I felt slightly obligated to participate in the trip because it seemed as if it might not happen if I didn’t. I’m not inclined to let my friends (or even my feelings) push me into spending a couple thousand dollars on a European vacation, but that wasn’t the only factor. I do like to travel, I do love Europe, I am part Swedish…all of these played a part in me saying: Yes, I’ll go with you. Because we have free lodging. Because I miss Europe. Because you have no one else to go with. I will create a travel fund and begin saving now.
One month after this talk, he asked if it would be OK if his sister came along; something had happened that she could now go (he had asked her before). I don’t know his sister very well, but I’m sure she’s very nice and we would have no trouble getting along. However, this instantly took away those feelings that I had to go with him so he wouldn’t be alone and it also made me feel as if I would be the third-wheel. I began to ride the fence and declared myself a maybe.
T is a free-spender as is his sister (granted, she can afford to be). I began to think that a trip planned by the three of us might start to be more expensive than I was willing to participate in. Even though we had free lodging (it turns out it was only for a couple of days), the plans for the rest of the trip were to stay in pretty nice hotels and eat at pretty nice restaurants. The overall trip wasn’t an expense I could justify at this point in my life. So I decided that I was out and he would go with his sister.
But cost wasn’t the only deciding factor. I’m not dying to go to Sweden. I’m sure it’s a lovely country and I will get to Scandinavia someday to explore my roots, but right now, it’s not at the top of my list. Thinking of where I would like to go has got me thinking of priorities and I’ve come to the conclusion that I have somewhat of a delayed travel plan.
Which leads to some deeper thoughts; please bare with me here. Sometimes I like to think that I’m holding off on my world travels until I find someone that I really want to travel with, i.e. my future wife. I know that traveling with friends or on my own is fun; I’ve done it plenty and will again. But I can’t help thinking that it would be a better (and what do I mean by better? I’m not sure) experience if I was traveling to a place I truly wanted to visit (not just cause my friends were going there) with someone I truly love (not that I don’t love my friends) and if I wasn’t that worried about the money.
Wouldn’t I rather save now and be able to take a really great trip someday rather than scrimping while on vacation because I didn’t have the money to do the trip justice in the first place? I remember the last time I was in Europe when I was a poor college student and I wasted the smallest amounts of my limited time in Europe by looking for the cheapest postcards I could find. How dare I spend 50 cents on a postcard when there might be one for 35 cents around the corner? What was I doing spending my time shopping for a postcard of a cathedral anyway, when the cathedral was just up the street? If I had it to do over again, I’d do that part differently.
All that to say, as savers, aren’t we a bit of risk-takers? Are we denying some instant gratification now to hopefully be gratified in the future? That’s the point, I suppose. But we’re not guaranteed that future - does that bother anyone else? It’s a risk, but a calculated one, I guess. Yes, the odds are with us that we will survive to retirement or whenever and then we will have the last laugh. They say youth is wasted on the young; are they right? Will I have the vitality to travel the world when I’m retired? How hard is it to even think about retirement when you’re in your twenties? Do you ever feel weird because you just got into the workforce and you’re already considering your exit plan while your friends are out spending their paychecks like there’s no tomorrow?
And further: if we’re savers now, won’t we always be? How will we know when we’ve saved enough? When will we start our spending? For me personally, I have no idea. That bothers me. I don’t like not knowing.
Does anyone else think about this stuff???
When another friend heard that I had backed out on Sweden, she asked T if she could go. I know basically how much she makes and how much she complains about not having any money so I was surprised that she could just up and consider a trip across the world. T basically asked her straight up how she could afford to go and this is what she said:
My philosophy is to take these chances when they come. When I get older, I’ll have a family and won’t have the opportunity or the money to take trips like this. I don’t have the money right now either, but I’ll worry about that later.
That’s pretty much exactly the opposite of my plan. I’m trying to save and invest as much as I can now and put my money to work so I can retire and have both the money and opportunity to travel wherever and whenever I want. All I have to do is make it to retirement…and hopefully, an early retirement at that. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you know about compound interest and the idea that the earlier you save the better off you are. Do we take our financial knowledge for granted? Do you think this is an overall concept that people my age (20s) just don’t have a clue about? I think that might be the case with my friend. Or maybe she’s just completely different than me. Different strokes for different folks, right? I guess it all comes down to priorities.
Wow, this post is all over the place. All apologies. I’ve just been thinking about a lot today as T touches down in Sweden and I deposit money in my retirement account.
On a complete aside: I really, really like this song. A lot.
But I’m bummed their little snippet doesn’t have any words!
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