Post by Contributing Author, Vanessa from Bible Beer and Babies
My husband and I have always been avid travelers. In our first years of dating and marriage, we enjoyed a major vacation every three to four months — and thankfully had the income to do so. Even after our son was born, we still managed to get away as often as we could — taking him to Hawaii when he was six months old and on an Alaskan cruise when he was 18 months old. We had to slow down a bit, though, when it was more than just two plane tickets.
Hint, flying isn’t cheap! Once the kids hit that magical age of two, air travel expenses can become too great for most families. They certainly did for us.
And so we’ve had to get a bit creative and smart about our travels. Now with school winding down and summer approaching (even though my winter coat is still being used here in Wyoming), we are looking to squeeze a family vacation into both our calendar and our budget.
I’m betting we’re not the only ones. So here are six of our secrets about keeping your family vacations affordable — and still fun!
1. Drive It
Air travel — as I said — gets pretty spendy, pretty quick as you start welcoming kids to the family and those kids get older. While you may be able to snag some sweet deals on tickets, sometimes the most affordable way to get to your destination is to drive it. Plan your trip with fun stops along the way. Enjoy the freedom of packing your own food and drinks and stopping as often as you like to stretch your legs (especially nice if you’re pregnant while traveling).
One note about budgeting for a road trip, though — you’ll want to take into account more than just the cost of gas. All those miles on your vehicle mean future maintenance down the road, but you can estimate this cost using these standard mileage rates. It will still likely be cheaper than three or more airline tickets.
2. Pitch It
The next biggest expense on vacations is likely lodging. More power to you if you like to visit family — and more so if you actually enjoy staying with family. Now, I love my family, but despite my talkative nature, I am an introvert and prefer to have my own space, especially when trying to relax on vacation. So while it may be cost effective to stay with folks, I’d rather book a room. This isn’t always an option, budget-wise, though, so this is when we’ve opted to pitch our tent, instead.
We got a family-size tent for a good deal. That was several years ago, and it’s still going strong. Camping can range in costs depending on the location, with national and state parks usually costing a bit more than other areas; however, it’s still a bit more cost-effective than a hotel… and you can use your own linens. Plus, for those who aren’t necessarily the outdoors-y type, many campsites are equipped with showers and bathrooms.
Just don’t forget your flip-flops.
3. Pack It
Eating out on vacation can run the travel budget down faster than bacon disappears at our house. We combat this by packing meals, snacks and drinks. Pack your road trip cooler with sandwiches, fresh fruit, crackers and cheese. Stuff the nooks and crannies of your checked luggage with granola bars, crackers and Tupperware containers of favorite non-perishable snacks. Once at your destination, take advantage of grocery stores rather than hitting the drive thrus. Opt for picnics at local parks rather than stopping at the restaurants. Bonus — kids love picnics! Who doesn’t, really?
Side-note, though, if you plan to pick up some canned goods or you’re packing them in your car — don’t forget you’ll need to open them, so ensure they have a pop top, or pack the can opener as well. Packing a few utensils and such isn’t a bad idea, either.
And if you heed #2 above and plan to camp — remember, a gas stove is portable. Don’t think you can’t take it with you when out and about sight-seeing.
4. Hike It
Vacations don’t have to include expensive excursions and activities. Some of the best travel adventures and memories can be enjoyed by simply getting outside and experiencing nature. Hiking doesn’t have to mean strenuous, up-hill, workouts — unless that’s your thing. Check your destination for good hiking trails or nature walks that suit your family’s abilities. If hiking isn’t really your thing, there’s always just playing at local parks, hanging out at the beach, or simply finding somewhere outside to relax and enjoy the time with your family.
This secret helped us afford vacations where most of the budget went toward air travel — such as our trips to Kauai, where we spent most days enjoying various hikes.
5. Tour and Taste It
Now, maybe outdoor adventures aren’t your cup of tea. Don’t worry, though. There are plenty of affordable — and even free — activities for you. Check the area you’re visiting for factories, breweries, wineries, and the like that offer free tours — and possibly tastings. As a home brewing family, we love to tour breweries, but beer isn’t on everyone’s list of loves, and that’s cool. Note there may be chocolate factory tours, winery tours, coffee plantation tours. But it’s not all about food. I mean, it can be, but it doesn’t have to be — museums and attractions may be free or at least more affordable than you might think!
Again, in Kauai we used this secret, alternating between free hikes around the island with free rum tours and tastings at the distillery and free coffee tours and tastings at the plantation. Sure, I didn’t like coffee back then, but it was free. And I like free.
6. Budget and Enjoy It!
Don’t forget to let yourself have a little fun when you’re traveling. I recommend picking one must-see or must-do and building your budget and your plans around that. This may mean deciding to spend the majority of the budget on tickets for a family cruise — and then not spending money on any extras (still, totally worth it and fun, by the way — I love cruises). Or perhaps you spend a bit extra to fly across country to escape your land-locked state and hit the beach. Maybe your family is dying to visit Disney World, or you want to check out the zoo, the ballet or the museum. Maybe there’s a resort you have your eye on or a spa treatment. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but allow yourself one travel splurge… even if it’s just one trip to a coffee shop for an overpriced latte.
Get it in the budget and don’t guilt yourself over it.
It is vacation, after all! Enjoy it!
This blog really got my attention because I think it is soooo important to take family vacations. I really believe vacations help with family bonding and also getting your family away from work, school, phones, TV, etc. We’ve used most of your tips: driving, camping, packing food, etc. but we’ve also enjoyed some more elaborate trips involving hotels and airfare. I write a travel blog and wrote an entire post on how to save and earn money for your vacations. Maybe you’d like to check it out at http://www.postcardsandpassports.com/how-to-save-enough-money-to-travel/
I think it’s important to do a mix of the more thrifty getaways while budgeting for the more elaborate Auber-relaxing ones when you can.
I think I’m coming from a bit of a different place than you, though I don’t want to break the bank either! I’m glad you’ve found what works for you. But for us (my husband is a hard working pastor and we have four boys ages 7 and under), vacation needs to be a break from at least some of the daily burdens. I would rather save in other areas during the year to take a vacation that truly feels restful. Camping, doing all of the cooking, doing a lot of driving – no thank you. 🙂 On our best vacation, just our family, we stayed in a cottage near Lake Michigan along the Michigan side. This was the Fall, so we did some activities, like picking apples and beautiful walks. But we also brought borrowed movies to watch, favorite games to play, and just enjoyed extra family time. And then we could comfortably put all the kids to bed and enjoy extra mom and dad time. It was wonderful. We did a combination of cooking simple food in the cottage and eating out a few times. Being in a tent…trying to get everyone settled in a tent, mosquitoes, sweating, hiking back and forth to a port a potty throughout the day and night, oh, that does not sound restful! Again, so glad you have found a way to vacation that you enjoy. But not for us.
My recommendations for young families would be: 1. Stay somewhere that allows everyone to get the sleep they need…suite in a hotel, cottage/cabin, motor home with ac. … and allows others to enjoy themselves while little ones are getting that glorious sleep. (Think, do I want to be playing cards in the hotel bathroom after putting my little ones to sleep by 8 or 9?). 2. Consider visiting family – built in baby-sitters so you can get a few dates in, maybe parents will help with the cooking/dishes/childcare a bit. I find that I enjoy vacations to visit family more now than ever because I am so thankful for the help. 3. Consider attending a Christian family camp. Activities are planned, food is planned, cost is reasonable, cabins are available often. And it may be spiritually restoring and encouraging – added bonus!
Oh definitely, Katie. I probably should have pointed out that we rarely employ ALL of these secrets in one vacation 😉 I definitely agree with your number 1 — find what works for everyone’s sleep. We’ve had good experiences finding deals on hotels — or family will help pay for the cost of hotels. On number 2, a good point that visiting family doesn’t necessarily means staying with them. 🙂
On the camping — keep in mind, we’ve only actually done it with our first when he was younger (pre-potty-trained) so it was MUCH easier. We are planning to try it with all 3 this year, but who knows! I may change my mind on it.
My husband and I travel from Nova Scotia to Ontario every summer (to visit family) and we’re really hoping to save up to buy a van (we *have* to get a van now that we have another little one on the way), and then a pop up trailer. My parents have a tiny pop up trailer and they travel through the United States (gas is cheaper and the highways are better… and no English speaking person wants to travel through Quebec). Some of the Walmarts in the US have spots in the parking lots where you can “camp.” So they just pop up their trailer and stay there overnight.
That’s what we hope to do. I also hope my husband gets more than 2 weeks vacation a year soon, because then we don’t have to be in such a hurry to drive there and can take 2 nights rather than one. And we can go drive somewhere else for vacation too. My dad had a pop up trailer when I was a kid and I remember going all over hte place with that thing. I remember stopping at the side of the road in the Blue RIdge Mountains for him to just pull out the side propane stove on the trailer and cook a can of beans.
Those things are super convenient.
On our first anniversary we camped in South Dakota and made grilled cheese sandwiches for every lunch/dinner — puling out the propane stove on the side of the road wherever we were.
The trailers and RVs were very popular for travelers when we were in New Zealand — though on that trip, we went all out and paid a lot for everything 😉 very expensive trip.
I have no idea why we didn’t buy a pop up sooner. We’ve enjoyed several very inexpensive vacations in ours and they have been the most restful trips to date. Our family and friends also have campers and we’ve enjoyed a few joint trips together and have another planned this summer. I love having all the amenities of home and the linens are ours. We know who’s slept there. We can leave wita little more than packing clothes and food. Everything else we would ever need is on the camper. It’s something our family has fallen in love with.