again - if we went back to the op ------------- what exactly is 'lavish'
one can do a hell of a lot of travel for 50 k -
and if one just goes out and spends without looking at 'value' - takes 5 star places and first class and the like
it's been my consistent experience that one does NOT get the best and one certainly does not get the best experience
I ran an exercise here a few months back - I went and looked at hotel/bnb accomodation in the under 120 euro a night range
then, I went and looked with no budget set - didn't matter if it was 300 a night or thousands a night -----------
interestingly - the sub 120 range floored the higher price places - they were more interesting, they provided what one needed - not so much what one doesn't use but comes with 5 star.
It was also my experience in Australia - that 3 star places were in fact better than 5 star -
there's a few reasons for it - but, a couple are
1. that 5 star places have to have features ---------- people demand those features ---------------- BUT, they more often than not don't use those features - but, they sure bump the cost up.
2. expectation --------- when one goes 5 star - one expects great. It is very often NOT.
I still recall the worst plane flight I had ----------- Qantas - First Class
