SD only gave me half of ppm for Europe trip. What to do?
Background: SD and I have known each other for 3 years. Seen each other weekly-ish mostly, had long monthly gaps throughout that time due to family things. We lead totally separate lives and really don’t communicate unless getting together. Have always met at his house for dinner/sleepovers.
So SD and I went on a trip to a popular European city for 8 days(I’m not including travel days). We didn’t discuss payment beforehand because I figured it would be similar to our last trip we took a few months ago in the Mediterranean. Context:
For the Med trip he said he would just pay me my regular mid xxx ppm plus some shopping (ended up only getting three clothing pieces, pair of sandals, handful of small souvenirs from tourist shops). He said he’d cover my phone roaming charges which I figured that meant in addition to ppm. Got a uti from sex on the trip and I had to pay for a doctor’s visit and medicine, he said he would cover that too.
After the trip I texted him asking if he can cover the phone and medical expenses. He texted back saying he already gave me the amount (meaning my xxx ppm) but he’d go ahead and send over the extra money. Ugh I was so annoyed he thought my ppm was going towards those expenses.
So for this current Europe trip we did museums, monuments, restaurants, one theater show, shopping (got ten clothing pieces this time around lol, couple skincare items, pair of headphones, items weren’t luxury or wildly pricey).
When we get back home and I check how much he sent me, it’s only half of our regular ppm. I thought he would send the full ppm and then ask how much to send for the phone charges on top of that because I figured he learned his lesson from the last trip. I also had to pay for an expensive uber on the trip since his phone died when we were a few towns over from the city center, he said he’d reimburse me. Once again I assumed that meant in addition to my ppm not deducted from it.
I guess on this trip we did more activities/tours than on the Mediterranean trip? More expenses for him I guess? But I feel like that shouldn’t matter, he’s the benefactor. He definitely has the money. And it’s not like I wasn’t putting out, it was basically twice a day every day save for a couple days it was once a day. Way more than we did on our last trip.
Like I’m def not trying to keep count of how many times we have sex but this is work for me. This vacation is not the same for me as it is for him. Like ugh, so many factors I feel like he’s oblivious to. I was sleep deprived from travel and then sick and then more sleep deprived because of his snoring. Still had sex with him even though I didn’t want to/felt sick, but I felt obligated so I did. Had so much (bad)sex with him my cooch was sore and out of wack by the end of the trip. I had to always try to be ‘on’ and put together. He never gave me any alone time on the trip. I had to put up with his short man ego. He doesn’t even fart so I had to hold mine in too, like goddamn😭. Etc…
I’m grateful to have had the experience but after reading some threads on here about vacation pay I feel like I’m def being underpaid considering our arrangement dynamic. Only HALF of my mid xxx ppm for all of that and being away from my life/work at home for 10 days feels like such a slap in the face. I feel like it’s a net negative with the costs I had to put into before and after the trip. He never spends any other money on me otherwise when we’re at home, no restaurants, no shopping, no gifts, we only cook dinner at his house and stay in, so why so cheap?
I understand this should have been discussed before the trip, but again I guess I assumed it would be similar to the last one. Is he stingy or am I ungrateful? Do I bring this up to him? If so how do I go about it? How do I get across to him in a tactful way that I’m basically on the clock and want to be compensated fairly for that?
Should I just let this one go and wait until maybe he offers another trip and then lay down my pay preferences and reference the previous trips?
Posted Mar 5, 2026, 4:53 PM UTC