D wants to apply to a very selective school, I asked her “have you cured cancer?” She said not yet. I asked if she was gong to cure cancer. She said probably not.
I found myself in awe with some of kids on CC and D’s scholarship circle, than jealous. D is the same way. One of her friends whom she met on scholarship trip got interviewed by TedTalk, ABC and met the President due to her invention. In a way, I am rooting for those kids as they are our future. I am glad that D has them to motivate her to improve.
On the material stuff, I ignore that. Everybody lives the way he or she wants to. And there is always a catch or fine print somewhere.
I agree that travel is “doable” for just about everyone. The mileage programs are pretty fantastic -if you are running all your expenses through a card that gives you miles you can easily accumulate multiple tickets every year. I don’t remember the last time I paid for an airline ticket. I might upgrade it but my flights cost very little.
Inexpensive accommodation is readily available due to sites like VRBO and Airbnb. Last year my girlfriend’s daughter went to the Bahamas with 3 other girls in January. They found a 2 bedroom condo one building in from the beach for $105 per night on VRBO. If you divide that by 4 that’s quite a bargain. I saw pics from FB and I was really surprised how nice it was. Traveling economically is more about research and planning – and to me that’s half the fun.
There are also hostel options if you are on a budget and many can be quite nice. Or camping. My kids travel quite a bit on tiny budgets. There are ways to make it work if you want to. To me, it’s more about the destinations, sightseeing, and experiences than fancy hotels.
If you are a planner and a saver, use those skills to your advantage and use them to plan out a fun trip on an affordable budget. Finding little ways to cut the budget and save for it can turned into game.
Even $1000 (or $500) extra cash for a vacation could be out of reach for some. Really, you don’t know how little some may have extra for travel with other life expenses.
I’m hopeful that this thread hasn’t turned in a FB bash thread - no need to be proud that you aren’t on it- it’s fine - but no need to bash those who are. People on FB are still smart, educated people who have other interests in life.
But perhaps this thread is a reminder for those are are blessed with the resources to have all the bells and whistles in life - from a fancy car, to multiple trips, to lavish meals - all the time - to think about your circle a bit and give some thought to your posting and to sometimes JUST post about your cute pup picture.
Sometimes I take a look at my own page - my timeline - and view it like someone looking at it would see it. It can be eye opening. Try it - how do you “read” to others? Well rounded? A bragger? A downer? Just think about what your do put out there over time and decide if that’s “who” you want to be.
You can post anything in a way that makes it look oh-so-fabulous. I don’t post much, it’s public, after all. They don’t need my brags or humble brags, afaiac, and certainly not our losses. Anyone close enough to us personally can get a private message, email, text, or (whodathunkit?) a phone call. My biggest winner is usually whatever tree I think is the most vibrant, every fall. Evvveryone thinks the whole northeast looks like that one tree. Usually, Not.
Interesting discussion. I never talk about my health stuff on FB. I did keep the college stuff off of FB when the guys were applying, and while if someone asked where they were going, I said so, but I didn’t post with pics when they got into their favorites. As they’ve gotten older, I don’t post many pics of the guys, either, unless it’s a family shot. One is FB friends with me (but blocks me form a good bit of stuff), and the other doesn’t FB with any adult relatives. I’m trying to respect their online privacy in the hopes they will continue to share offline.
I do post travel pics, but anyone who knows me IRL knows I’ve been a shutter bug since I was ten. We have been lucky to do some big overseas trips, but we know how to do them inexpensively (and thank G-d for FF miles). We’ve also done a LOT of camping over the years and gotten to see amazing things on those trips as well. As I’ve posted elsewhere, with my medical issues, we don’t know how long I will be healthy enough to do these things, so we are of a mind to make memories now.
Travel and college are the two splurges in our life. We scrimp on a lot of other things to make these things happen. I feel pretty darned fortunate.
The original topic of this thread is an interesting and important one. It is so hard for most everyone to be truthful about or come to grips with the reality of negative emotions. In our current world of being bombarded by media images that tend to show what some might consider “optimal,” whether it is on Facebook, any news or magazine website, Pinterest, or even what some people post here, it is easy to believe that there is a correct, step by step, way to live and do just about everything. On top of that, many of us live lives that are quite insulated from human suffering. When we are hurting or experiencing other negative emotions, it isn’t always so easy to share that.
Interestingly, on this website, when a poster is really struggling with something, shares it here, and is looking for some advice, that is when many of the most positive compassionate and helpful postings occur.
I like FB. I “like” posts, but never submit my own personal stuff. My elementary school friends share photos of weddings and births. My cousins post engagements. My friend, a retired physician, posts news about medical issues and how Medicare may be dismantled. I’m very interested. I also like travel pictures, as I don’t travel but like the scenery.
I enjoy FB. It never occurred to me to be jealous about what I saw on other FB posts and when an occasional article on this topic crossed my path, I assumed that it was a made-up topic because the writer had to post about something. Guess I was wrong and that it really is a problem for some.
I esp like that I can keep up with family that I rarely see due to distance. And frankly, some family best kept at a distance - so this works very well in some cases.
These past few months have been rough on FB due to the election and I sincerely hope that this calms down by the end of the year. Other than that, I’m a happy FB camper.
Rough in more ways than one. See the recent NYT article about targeted “dark posts” on FB. It’s called “The Secret Agenda of the Facebook Quiz” and how they may have definitively influenced the election. Now, I know we’re all too smart here to fall for these things…
“Even $1000 (or $500) extra cash for a vacation could be out of reach for some. Really, you don’t know how little some may have extra for travel with other life expenses.”
Of course. Some people can’t afford the luxury of internet, so they don’t even look at Facebook. Many people can’t even afford to retire, and are struggling to attempt to continue working, while choosing between food and medication. I think most people realize that. Obviously when we are talking about cheap travel we aren’t offering suggestions to people who are completely impoverished, and for whom travel is not an option.
However, there are many out there who don’t realize how very inexpensive it can be to travel. That one can potentially spend even less on the road than they do at home. There are many ways to game traveling on the cheap, and seriously, it can be rather fun. Some countries are very cheap to travel in, hotels may offer large free buffet breakfasts, and you can really get some great deals. For some reason, many of us in the airline industry really like to travel for next to nothing. We want 4 star experiences for 2 star prices (or free). Love Happy Hour, 2 for 1 specials, free upgrades, free club service, how about free drinks at the Managers reception? How many days will that bowl of change on the counter take you? It really is a game, and it’s amazing how many deals there are out there. I can watch that timeshare presentation, and they aren’t gonna sell me a thing! However, I do have the security of a credit card, that I can use for what I need, if I get in a spot or get sick of being el cheapo.
Once, me and my husband spent $700 total for two weeks in Germany/Switzerland and Austria. It was a long time ago, but it was awesome!
thepointsguy.com rocks. His site has made us thousands of dollars a year in credit card rebates and free gift cards. Basically enough to fund two foreign travel trips a year, if we wanted.
^^^ @busdriver11 , you should start a new thread on ways to experience “cheap travel” - seriously! I think it would be very interesting and informative to hear tips and ways people like you have to share for inexpensive travel. I’d love to hear more!
“^^ @busdriver11 , you should start a new thread on ways to experience “cheap travel” - seriously! I think it would be very interesting and informative to hear tips and ways people like you have to share for inexpensive travel. I’d love to hear more!”
Funny, abasket, I was just thinking that! It really is like a fun game, and I figure, the cheaper you do it…the more of it you can do, right? There are probably so many people out there with great ideas.
Airline people are really cheap, honestly. We like to get that free upgrade to first class (free food and drink), go to the club (more free food and drink), get discounts everywhere, and God forbid we ever pay for a newspaper! You see that airline captain back there looking like he’s helping clean the cabin? Or is he looking for change and a free newspaper? Just kidding, though we do joke about it.
I have not yet seen anything on fb that I am jealous of, however, I don’t really frequent it much. My husband used to show me fb posts of some of his friends doing exotic vacations, saying, "Wow! Those guys are divorced now, so I don’t know if they will remember those vacations as kindly.
I could see feeling jealous if I saw people bragging about the amazing job their kid just got. My youngest has been looking for a tech job for a little over a month, has some interviews lined up, but it is stressful and worrying. I just don’t want to worry about it any more, and I could probably feel jealous (though happy for the other kid).
Truth is…we are homebodies and we are very tight with our money. Period. We plan to do some travelling, choosing carefully and spending wisely. But, no, I can’t say I’m the type to be envious. I am very blessed that I am not.
FB travel posts don’t make me jealous. They can be inspiring, they can make you think, “ooh, I have to ask them for recommendations some day if I go there”, or they can be really tedious if the person posts 50+ photographs to slog through. And it’s your MIL and you feel obliged to slog through them. :-?
Honestly, you can clean out your garage and make people jealous with a before and after photo.
“Honestly, you can clean out your garage and make people jealous with a before and after photo.”
Ha! I think that would do it for me.
I kind of get frustrated when family and friends take a trip and don’t post photos. I like to armchair travel.
What I do get a little jealous about are a few Facebook friends that have all their kids living their adult lives close by and they have a lot of family time and big dinners and celebrations together. Throw a grand baby or two in there and I’m wishing it was my life. Throw in the large group family portraits where everybody has their eyes open and its a nice, good looking shot of each one even though there are dozen in the photo and I start to get a little jealous.
Just kidding, though we do joke about it.