I want to thank Shereen from the aptly named Shereen Travels Cheap for sharing this wonderful post on being budget minded while travelling:
Traveling
For the Budget-Minded Parent
Travel will never be classified as inexpensive
and family travel is even further from making it onto that list, but if you
think sitting at home is the only way to save money, think again. Summer
vacation is coming up fast. Keep your family and your wallet happy with some easy
tricks that can help you stay within your budget and have a great time doing
it.
Skip the hotel and look for a vacation rental. On average, vacation rentals are three to
five times larger than a hotel room, so if you have a bigger family – four or
more – then opt for a rental instead of a suite or several rooms. Even if the
rate is more, you will save money by being able to cook your own meals and also
stock the fridge with snacks and drinks. Other pluses include having separate
eating and sleeping areas, not having to put things away and clean up before
the maid gets there and often there is a washing machine right in the unit,
which brings me to…
Pack light and plan for laundry. Packing light is a challenge even as an
adult, but make room for all the extras your little ones want to take or
require by packing as few clothes as possible. Five tops and three bottoms will
make over two weeks of outfit combinations if you pack coordinating colors.
This helps you limit your shoe selection as well. Shoot for one carry-on per
traveler. If you have toddlers in tow, you can pack the majority of their
clothing in someone else’s bag and put them in charge of carrying a backpack of
appropriate size with all the things that will keep them busy in transit. Doing
laundry will take up very little of your vacation time and will keep you from
paying hefty baggage fees or hurting yourself trying to haul big bags around.
Avoid the kids’ menu. If you want your kids to eat healthy and also
save some money, split a main entrée with them or between two of the kids to
stop them from eating chicken nuggets for twelve meals in a row. Not only do
they have very little nutritional value, they are overpriced. And if your child
only eats two bites before saying they are full, you won’t have wasted money on
a separate meal.
Look for street food. Food trucks are all the rage and can have some
of the best local cuisine. Usually, where there is one food cart, there are
many. Order something for everyone’s tastes and save over traditional sit-down
restaurants, because you are basically just paying for the food, not the high
overhead to keep an eatery open and the staff to run it.
Mix free activities in with paid ones. There are always free or super cheap things
to do at any destination. Stretch your dollars further by adding several of
them to your itinerary and keeping a list for “emergency” situations. You’ll be
surprised how much fun you can have by spending almost no money at all and how
much time you can spend doing them.
By keeping a few handy budget-friendly travel
tips in your back pocket, you can certainly save a good chunk of money on your
trips and also pass them on to your children to teach them that saving money is
not only cool, but enables you to save for other things in life, including more
travel.
Bio: Shereen is a self-proclaimed budget travel enthusiast and expert discount fun-finder. If savings can be found on
some aspect of a vacation, she'll find it, and you can too! Her blog, Shereen
Travels Cheap, will show you how to stretch your travel
budget to go wherever you want with budget travel tips,
current deals, packing tricks, destination overviews and suggested
websites and products that can save you money, get you to your desired
destination for less and allow you to do more than you thought. You can also
follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
