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Money comes and goes, and when you consider the fact that more than half, or 58%, of all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck, saving becomes as important as ever. This usually starts with cutting down on unnecessary spending.

To find out what people can do without, Redditor u/gejiw94601 made a post on r/AskReddit earlier this month, asking everyone, "What's the biggest waste of money?" Since then, it has received over 2.6k comments, prompting a discussion on our budgeting, spending habits, and everything inbetween. Here are some of the most popular answers to their question.

#1

Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Weddings.

Crazy expensive day. Guaranteed at least one relative will kick up a stink. Massive pressure to be The Happiest Day of Your Life. Everything doubles in cost if you say its for a wedding (dress, suit, cake, venue)

Just do the quick registry office paperwork, have a surpise party and run away for a long honeymoon with the money you saved.

PinchAssault52 , Photos by Lanty Report

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Bernd Herbert
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

who did come up with the saying that this is supposed to be the "happiest day of your life" anyway? I can think of a dozen other days immediately which are far more life-changing. Come to think of it, does anything really change when you get married? Your daily life just goes on as it did before.

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    #2

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Buying ridiculously expensive clothes to flex.

    PinkLemon4 , Valentin Angel Fernandez Report

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    Loverboy
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    People who are really rich don't dress like it. Designer clothes usually aren't the best quality anyway.

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    #3

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Those that are donated to house of worships, for pastors to buy private jets & catholic priest to play dress up

    hhempstead , Clay Banks Report

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    Loverboy
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Just give to the needy yourself. I feel like they donate more because of the religion and less because they actually care.

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    #5

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back War...what is it good for.......?

    Bladerunner2028 , Pixabay Report

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    LK
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    What is it good for... raising the profits of the war industry. Thus raising the wealth of a few individuals. What is it bad for .... I don't have enough time to answer this question.

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    #7

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Giving your money to the Catholic Church. You’ve got to be f*****g kidding me.

    Differentdog , Channel 82 Report

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    Gabriele Alfredo Pini
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm not in accord with this. I have plenty to say against my late priest as he didn't have time for his seminarists, but he always donated everything he could to the poors. Everyone who need something and went to his door got whatever he had, to the point that the local Charitas had a discussion with him because often he was tricked by conmen. The same Charitas help a lot of people, often people that didn't want any help to maintain the appearance, so they are helped in secret. A falling tree makes more noise than an entire growing forest

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    #8

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Donating to rich twitch streamers. I’ll probably never understand why people do it.

    dring157 , Fausto Sandoval Report

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    David Wambold
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Like donating to Trump for court cases. Why, he's a fricking billionaire isn't he? Have him pay for his own lawyers.

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    #9

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Gambling for sure

    snazyfragz , Kaysha Report

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    LK
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My husband and I fairly often bet. But only with each other, and only with kisses. One of us wins, but the other doesn't lose. :o)

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    #10

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Donating to politicians.

    __Arty__ , Andrea Piacquadio Report

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    K W
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In the US, before Citizens United made corporations people and allowed them free reign to donate everywhere, it did matter where people donated their money. There have been some amazing grassroots campaigns funded mostly by actual citizens.

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    #11

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Buying pro-grade stuff you don't need is wasted money. My dad once told me to not spend excessive money on tools at first. Buy them for dirt cheap, learn which tools you really need, and when they break, replace them with quality ones.

    HarlequinSyndrom , cottonbro studio Report

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    #12

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Coronations and monarchies in general.

    Fife_Flyer , wikimedia.commons Report

    #14

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Twitter verification.

    Ev_anaga , Brett Jordan Report

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    K W
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    For only 8 USD you can affect the stock market with fake tweets. I think it's absolutely horrible but that seems like an extremely cheap way to advance your supervillain career.

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    #15

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Cryptocurrency.

    ImAnAgentOfChaos1322 , Behnam Norouzi Report

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    David Wambold
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It is fake money and only has value so long as people believe in it. It has become a way to scam people out of money. Incidentally values have dropped from about $3 trillion to about $1 trillion. So someone other than investors is getting rich. Also does not have the regulations of stocks.

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    #16

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Celebrity meet and greets.

    I have a friend who is not very well off financially, and is complaining about money to me once a week. Yet she always seems to have money to pay for a celebrity meet and greet at least twice a year. Some of them are only a couple hundred dollars, but some can get really expensive, really fast. For what? A picture next to a famous person? They neither know you, nor do they care about you.

    PuddlesRex , Thirdman Report

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    #18

    Overdraft fees. Like, the bank should know better than anybody that I have no money. So what are you trying to take?

    Dominion_23 Report

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    Billy Harrelson
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And some banks charge an extra $5-$10 everyday your account is in the negative. This is why I switched to a credit union. The overdraft for mine is $12, but they won't let you get into the negative to begin with and sometimes they'll forgive the overdraft.

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    #19

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Third-party delivery i.e. DoorDash/Uber Eats/GrubHub

    The fees + tips are exorbantly high, and a normally affordable fast food meal becomes the price of a sit-down restaurant meal or more.



    This is from first hand experience lol

    aylubb , cottonbro studio Report

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    BewilderedBanana
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You have the option to spend time to get the food yourself, or spend money to have someone else get it for you. So it depends on whether you value your time more or less than your money

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    #20

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Playing the lottery.

    Jon__Snuh , Waldemar Report

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    Helena
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    For a couple bucks you can daydream about what you would do if you won the lottery. It is cheap hope you can get occasionally.

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    #21

    Starbucks - bahhhh

    katy_sable Report

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    Gommaus
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    As an italian no starbucks for me. To be fair I thought it ended like Domino, opened here and closed in 6 months.

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    #22

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Unnecessary plastic surgery

    No-Independence-6842 , cottonbro studio Report

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    Loverboy
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Some people struggle with body image and feel like they need to, and while it is a waste of money, you can't really get mad at them.

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    #23

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Gold Food, or more accurately food that are covered in something called gold leaf. In my eyes, food are worth buying if they provide a great amount of nutrition for considerably good prices. After all, you probably avoid paying 50 million dollars just to buy a few molecules that are useless to your health and needs

    And then there's gold leaf food, sure the food looks fancy but at the cost of ludicrous amount of money! And with the gold having no usable nutrients at all, it just not worth it to buy such expensive food for relatively small amount of nutrients

    For instance, Industry Kitchen(hopefully that's the name of the place) at NYC serves a pizza with a gold leaf covering for a whopping price of $2000. While at my home country which is Indonesia, Domino's serves an American Classic Cheeseburger Pizza(idk that's a thing) which is the most expensive pizza I could find on the website costs around $7 which is just baffling to me

    ScopeRicrit , Dani Rendina Report

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    Donkeywheel
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    An entire gold leaf (8x8cm or 10x10cm) costs around 1 euro/1 dollar. The small part used to decorate a cake, a pastry or whatever in a dish costs only a few cents. You are definitely not paying for the gold added. And stop with the b******t about nutrition, it’s purely a cheap (yes cheap) decoration, it’s not about feeding you. Then if you’re stupid enough to buy a $2000 pizza you’re a moron, it’s not about the gold leaf.

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    #24

    iPhones.

    UnitedSteakOfAmerica Report

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    Daria
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    After getting an iPod back in 2006 I decided I'd never spend a buck on anything made by Apple. No Android device has ever failed me.

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    #25

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Cod points or any other online game currency bs. Yeah its cool at first but meh after you realize you spent $20 for basically nothing.

    ididtrybutijustcant , Axville Report

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    OneSoulHero
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Ugh. I feel for this recently. And am not proud to admit it. A stupid mobile game no less. But the chests were so tempting. And it made my character stronger. Sigh.... I spent about 200$... :( lol

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    #26

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Bottled water.

    Mhyra91 , Francesco Paggiaro Report

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    Weasel Wise
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Go to anywhere in central America, most anywhere in SE Asia, Flint Michigan.....drink the water from the faucet and then come back the next day (as your guts bubble and you struggle not to shít yourself) and mention how useless bottled water is.

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    #27

    Pod style coffee makers

    LOUDCO-HD Report

    #28

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Fireworks, i love them, but it's like 50$ per second for the good ones.

    endisnigh-ish , Zuza Gałczyńska Report

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    Weasel Wise
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Traumatize and terrify your pets, the war veterans in your community, and all the wildlife nearby for just $50/second!!!

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    #29

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Any dating apps subscription - like find out who liked you now for only a billion dollars!

    tonyhawk101 , Tim Mossholder Report

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    Barbara
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A friend of mine paid on Tinder to see who liked him. That's how he met his now wife.

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    #31

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Credit Card interest

    DweeblesX , CardMapr.nl Report

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    Weasel Wise
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yeah, it's stupid to pay interest if you have the cash to pay the whole bill at once. But a business charging someone a monthly fee for using money that isn't theirs is pretty legit. And if you can't repay what you borrowed...you shouldn't have borrowed money in the first place.

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    #32

    So called beauty products, makeup, expensive clothes and purses, most things marketed towards women.

    MuchPizza9911 Report

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    K W
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sorry but I love my lippies. I don't do it for anyone else but me because it makes me feel good. Also I do like dressing up and expensive can be relative when you're looking for something that fits and is gonna last. I definitely can't imagine spending thousands on shoes but the difference between shoes that last 10 years and those that last under 2 is often a hundred bucks.

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    #33

    Settlements to pay victims of police brutality and civil rights violations added to the paid vacations given to the the police while they pretend to investigate eachother and allow eachother to continue to work and brutalized innocent people, and violate people's civil rights. Police budgets continue to be increased and so do lawsuit Settlements paid by that taxpayers over and over again because the police face no repercussions.

    packagedparts Report

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    WonderWoman
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Pay all abuse settlements from the police pension funds - you will quickly see the abuses stop. But their unions are more corrupt than the worst mafiosa.

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    #34

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Buying cheap [stuff] you have to replace.

    coinkeeper8 , Oxana Melis Report

    #35

    The required classes most colleges make you take the first year. I was forced to take Finite math. I never use it. It doesn’t make any sense to have general required courses when you already know what you want to study. And if they actually care the classes would be about living like an adult-especially since usually it is the first time young adults are on their own.

    littlp84-2002 Report

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    K W
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A lot of nursing majors were pissed they had to take an "unnecessary" Native American history and culture class at my college. The largest minority population in my state is Native people. They will literally be working with and treating them. College students are not always great at being aware of what classes will be useful. Although I do kind of agree with finite math. If it's not a prerequisite for other math classes students need it really makes more sense to have practical math. Like stuff related to calculating home and auto loans, banking, budget, retirement stuff or whatever.

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    #36

    Lawn care companies. Paying someone money to make your yard toxic to children, birds, dogs and other animals because you want your grass to look like green wall to wall carpet…meanwhile, all your yard does is burn fossil fuels (mower) and deplete the soil. Make it make sense.

    Mrs_Evryshot Report

    #37

    Brand new cars

    WicketTheSavior Report

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    George Comas
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Problem here is subscription. Used to be when you bought a car, you bought a car.

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    #38

    Gift wrapping paper, ribbons etc

    Missxilent Report

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    BewilderedBanana
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    technically correct, but i think it's worth it just to see the expression on the recipient's face when they unwrap the gift. sometimes joy, sometimes disappointment... still worth it :D

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    #39

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back organic and "clean" products. a big freaking marketing joke. Paying for a feeling basically

    nancellal , nrd Report

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    Aileen Grist
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You're paying for a lack of pesticides and other sprays which may (or may not) damage your health

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    #40

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Rent.

    Some_Stoic_Man , Karolina Grabowska Report

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    BewilderedBanana
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    you can always live in a box. were the people who came up with this list on drugs? Not everyone can afford a house and rent is the only option in that case

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    #41

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Alcohol

    KatCaul33 , Michael Discenza Report

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    K W
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How will I feel like a viking if I don't drink my mead?

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    #42

    Shoes. I don’t understand why people spend so much money on them.

    Snufffie Report

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    BewilderedBanana
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This needs to specify whether it's the super expensive fancy/collectible shoes or just shoes in general... coz the latter are kind of essential in most scenarios

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    #43

    Someone Asks "What's The Biggest Waste Of Money?" And 30 People Don't Hold Back Insurance!

    Upstairs-Scholar-275 , Andrea Piacquadio Report

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    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    are you insane? NO. Insurance is what I buy before food. If you crash your car, or your laptop is stolen, you are ROYALLY SCREWED without insurance. You won't be able to get to work in many countries, nor would you be able to do your work (if a knowledge-worker). So No. Absolutely you need it. In many countries you have mediocre healthcare offerings (I'm not talking about UK/EU). Meaning health insurance helps you get access to a better quality. Same for life insurance. If you have a family to support and no pension fund, you better have life insurance so that if you die, your family is not left destitute. This post is extremely irresponsible.

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    #44

    Industrial-scale tourism.

    I can't fathom paying a small fortune to get stuffed into a giant aluminum tube with 300+ (rude) strangers for hours on end only to be harassed and groped by airport security at my destination.

    I'm not even talking about visiting some landmark with a battalion's worth of people jostling to take selfies.

    They say people should buy experiences, not things. Well I'd rather have a roof over my head in my old age than fond memories of bad wine from a tourist trap vineyard.

    Thanks but no thanks. I'll just wait for the invention of VR tours.

    Car_2537 Report

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    BewilderedBanana
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This sounds like someone who only ever went on an organised tour once in their life and thinks that all tourism is the same. Unfortunately, to get to most places, you do need to be stuck in an aluminium tube of farts for a few hours. But once you reach your destination there are so many things you can do to discover another country/city/etc while staying away from the crowds

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