An early April morning. I am standing at the coffee machine with a fellow student from my workgroup. ‘I would rather spend a thousand euros on something else than a week-long skiing vacation’, she says. A ridiculous sum for a week-long holiday indeed! Half is enough, and the saved few hundred euros will buy you an extra week of vacation. Two for the price of one. Enough to warm the heart of any true Dutchman, right?
How can you enjoy to the fullest with as little money as possible? Do cool stuff, but skint. You can be skint (broke), but you can also act skint, for example, by paying attention to what you spend on a vacation. According to economics theory: every extra euro you spend represents a reduced added value. Vacations are the ultimate empirical proof.
Sadly, they succumbed to their profligacy and took their holiday plans down with them
With borrowed cars loaded with second-hand skis acquired from Marktplaats, I drove to Slovenia with friends this winter. Skiing lessons were not needed; we have YouTube (€0) and each other. Moreover, experience is the best teacher (€0). Compared to Austria, you can buy twice the number of skiing days for the same money (Slovenian ski pass for 4 days: €85).
Some people derive more enjoyment from less vacation with carefree spending. I know some of these people in another group of friends with whom I almost went on a skiing trip. Sadly, they succumbed to their profligacy and took their holiday plans down with them. They started by booking an expensive trip to an indoor skiing facility in the Netherlands to ‘warm up’, which did not go too well, resulting in skiing lessons being bought. Now that this needed to be budgeted in along with the luxurious accommodations, the budget was insufficient, and the holiday was cancelled.
My advice: Grab the skintness before it grabs you. Attack is the best form of defence.
I admit, some comfort must be surrendered. The ski lifts in Slovenia were old, cramped and slow, and paused when there was too much wind. A disclaimer applies to a skint-cation: Saving money can be risky. We were driving an old car, which broke down in Austria. This would not have happened during an all-inclusive package vacation with all the bells and whistles.
On day four, we visited a different slope. The ticket salesperson told us there was a luxurious wellness centre at the summit. ‘Oh, they have luxurious wellness? But do they also offer skintness?’ I said.
Steven is a master’s student of Economy and Governance and enjoys playing squash. He is always open to a game of squash and a good conversation. You can reach him by email.
