If you’re smart enough to be living on a budget you are probably saving for a family vacation. You can save less and take a short trip close to home, or save more and take a big trip. Obviously with shorter trips you can do them more often, but the tradeoff is not getting to see the world farther from your front door.

Depending on where you live the cost of a big vacation often includes hotel rooms, airfare, cruise tickets, food, tips, and miscellaneous transportation costs. Once you add in souvenirs and pictures you’re often looking at several thousand dollars. For many this seems like too much money. But think about this. We get one life to live. There’s a higher number of unique places on the planet to see than you have time for. It’s healthy to break out of the rut and do something spectacular once in a while. Life is about the experiences and if you have saved up the money then you should spend it on more experiences.

It’s been 6 years since we’ve had a big cruise vacation. We’ve had several smaller trips in between, but nothing that took us off the grid, out of the country. For our upcoming trip we’re debating about another theme park experience or taking the plunge and getting on a big ship for a week. As we’re deciding I’ve attended Relay for Life events which have reminded me about how precious life is. Life is important. It’s also not guaranteed. If you’re healthy and able, get out and enjoy what the world has to offer while you can. Yes, it costs more, but in the end you have a wonderful experience to remember and hopefully lots of pictures.