spending 1,500 on a vacation before starting med school

[StarTrekDoc]

Getting up to the Canadian Rockies is a lot harder as time passes vs Yellowstone is more centrally located.   Our trip to Lake Louise was quite memorable even after nearly 25 years.   Also said, Crater Lake is out in BFE and would be worthwhile trip in the summertime if it fits your bill.   I'd hold on the Tetons/Yellowstone for another day where you could hit --  Wyoming/Utah on the GC-YS-Arches trip.

take the trip whatever it is.

We also did a group backpack trip between Step 1 and 3rd year to Europe--started planning after 1st year with cohort of friends and it got us through 2nd year slog.  Those were memorable times!

 

Enjoy it.  GoPro is your friend.

[Arkad]

Go for it.  I would imagine few on this board would say spending some money on an experience that will be hard to duplicate for many years is not worth it.  In my mind, you are making a good choice on an experience that you will remember for many years.

[Hatton]

I spent some time on the Outer Banks of NC prior to starting med school.  I spent 2 months in Europe at the end of med school.  I had a eurail pass and $2000. No itinerary at all.  I say go for it and have a great time.

[The White Coat Investor]

I'm smelling a guest post coming out of this $1500 challenge.

[Strider_91]

I wouldn't mind doing that. I was planning on keeping a journal anyway.

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I’m smelling a guest post coming out of this $1500 challenge.

Click to expand...

If only guest posting paid $1,500. He could take the trip for free!

[Strider_91]

Well that would be a amazing. Would be the best ************************ guest post he's ever had if that's what it paid lmao. I am applying for the scholarship though so I can probably recycle some of the same material.

[DMFA]

Do it. Life can really suck in med school.

[hightower]

Absolutely do it!  You're hitting up some of my all time favorite spots.  A couple of suggestions since I've been to all of the places you're planning on visiting...Spend an extra day at Mt Rainier and do the hike from the Paradise Visitor Center to John Muir Base Camp.  It is absolutely the coolest hike. You get to go up to 10144 ft and you can see all of the major peaks in the cascades from up there.  I'll never forget hearing the sounds that the glaciers make up there.  Plus, on the way back down you can usually bring a sled of some sort and glissade the whole way back.  It was so much fun!

Also, if you can squeeze extra time into Glacier, I highly recommend the hike up to Grinnell Glacier.  It's got some of the most spectacular scenery in the park.  You can jump in the freezing cold glacier melt water at the top to cool off before hiking out.  Take the ferry from Swift Current lodge.  It cuts 2 miles off the hike through mostly dense forest and makes the whole trip much more pleasant.

 

Enjoy and don't worry about money.  You won't regret it.

[Strider_91]

Wow thanks for the input. You're the second person to recommend doing the hike to grinell glacier. I will most likely do it because it seems quinticential to the park, almost like angels landing or the narrows at Zion.

Is it an extremely crowded and easily accessible hike like the first half of angels landing and the narrows or is it a bit more rugged? I am looking forward to some solitude and back country on this trip courtesy of my backpacking gear and don't want to spend too much time doing the touristy things that aren't MUST SEE.

That ranier hike sounds epic. Looking foreward to it!

[The White Coat Investor]

hightower wrote:

Absolutely do it!  You’re hitting up some of my all time favorite spots.  A couple of suggestions since I’ve been to all of the places you’re planning on visiting…Spend an extra day at Mt Rainier and do the hike from the Paradise Visitor Center to John Muir Base Camp.  It is absolutely the coolest hike. You get to go up to 10144 ft and you can see all of the major peaks in the cascades from up there.  I’ll never forget hearing the sounds that the glaciers make up there.  Plus, on the way back down you can usually bring a sled of some sort and glissade the whole way back.  It was so much fun!

 

Click to expand...

I just did that. The hiking is definitely more interesting above Muir, but that "hike" is best done on backcountry skis. Pretty sweet turns on that 5000 vertical foot run, even with a 50 lb pack on.

[VagabondMD]

PhysicianOnFIRE wrote:

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I’m smelling a guest post coming out of this $1500 challenge.

Click to expand…

If only guest posting paid $1,500. He could take the trip for free!

Click to expand...

If you could get my group to let me off and my wife to let me go, not only will I pay you $1500, pay $1500 for Strider, do my share of driving, and pay WCI $1500 for the privilege of writing the guest post.

By the way, don't miss Crater Lake, if you can work it in. It's awesome.

[Strider_91]

Would I need to be bringing crampons and an ice axe for this in July? I have never ski'd a day in my life thanks to living on the east coast and playing a winter sport. Something I def need to change.

@vagabondMD that comment had me cracking up. Just bring a laptop with 4g and read images while drive from place to place!

[CM]

Do it.

I took an entire year between college and med school to do something I loved. It pushed my career back by a year, cost me untold compound interest on savings--and it was the best decision I ever made.

[Donnie]

As everyone says, you should do it. Individual decisions like this don't really matter. There is almost no chance that what you do with $1,500 now will make a difference in your life as long as it is one off. The danger is rationalizing all spending that way. It is the repetitive excessive expenditures (vacations beyond means every year, new car every other year, expensive house payments, etc.) that are damaging to creating wealth.