How we travel

"How do you do it? How do you travel like that on a limited budget?" are some of the most common questions I get asked. So, I'll answer those questions and hopefully give you some ideas in the process, knowing full well, that two of the major advantages we have in our family travels might not be options for most of my friends.

Our first advantage...We live overseas already and for some strange reason, airline tickets are sooooo much cheaper for us than they are when you are starting or ending your trip in the US...AND, we always combine our family travel with work travel so that we are only having to purchase one set of airline tickets; and that purchase is from our work funds, not from our personal funds. So, please understand, I am only having to save from our family budget for lodging, food, and activities...and sometimes some inter-country rail travel, but those are much smaller bills than airline tickets.

In addition, Indy served over 20 years in the US Air Force and retired, so we are able to take advantage of so many discounts at places that many people want to go (like Disney and their 50% discount for example.)

Aside from those two things, I think there are still numerous ways you can keep your travel expenses down to a manageable amount by making a budget and planning in advance.

Let me back up a little bit, many years ago...seriously, like 20 years ago...Indy and I were on a road trip and we made a list of places we wanted to go and things we wanted to see. We updated that list about 15ish years ago when we started having children and homeschooling and we lined up educational trips with what we were studying in school. We didn't know if we would actually be able to do it, but we were dreaming!

That list got put away for years and just recently (in 2015) we mentally pulled it out (the real list is in storage in NC) and started trying to create some of those educational experiences for our family. We aren't big gift givers, so we budget each year for travel and experiences over gifts. I plan a year or more in advance, I do my research and keep a folder with the numbers and then divide the number of months I have to save into the projected budget and we save that money each month for our trip.

So, the first thing we do is have a family meeting...Where do we want to go? What do we want to do? Where is our next conference being held and then we find stuff that is nearby that we're interested in doing. Everyone gets to pick an activity or two so there is buy-in from all involved! We're all excited and looking forward to the trip.

I spend a day or so doing research. I read reviews on Trip Advisor (top 50 things to do in Paris, etc.) and I read reviews on Booking.com for lodging. Since we want to get the most out of our trip, we tend to leave our lodging right after breakfast and we don't return until bedtime. We're only sleeping and showering there, so we lean toward staying rather cheaply, two or three stars max. I just want clean and basic and good location for public transportation...oh, and we always make sure there is a free breakfast so we can fill up and save having to spend money on one meal each day. I also look for "genius bookings" on booking.com and have saved quite a bit reserving some of those locations in advance.

As for places to go and things to do; our family loves history and museums. I know that not all kids do though, so you'll have to take that into account. For us, we try a mix of free and paid activities. There are sometimes discount cards tied to public transportation, those aren't always the best deal, it truly depends on what you want to do, so run the numbers!

Food can be harder, it's a very malleable part of the budget though. I am a big proponent of hitting a local grocery store and getting sandwiches and salads and fruit for a meal. We also like to do street food and keep the cost down. If we do a sit down meal at all, it will be dinner, at the end of the day when we have more time and aren't rushing to fit in another hour at the Louvre.

The key to starting is to get your Google maps up on your screen, pick your city, then make an efficient travel plan based on what your family wants to visit (ie...visit things that are close to each other in the same day...of course this also needs to be based on opening and closing times, so sometimes it is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to get the most out of your day.) You'll start seeing a pattern of where you need to go, what public transportation lines you'll need to use, and then you can pick your lodging based on that. I can usually get a budget and tentative itinerary plus a lodging plan going in a day and then put that work away in a folder for a time and just start saving for the trip. A couple months out, I will revisit my work...has anything changed...review the reviews...opening and closing times the same...everyone still want to do the same stuff?...Ok, then let's start buying tickets for things that are more popular and we don't want to stand in line for them and use up some of our time.

Really, that's about it...plan in advance, make a budget and stick with it...lodging, transportation, activities, food...and then cover it in prayer and go have fun! It is doable, it can wear you out, but our memories are something we'll keep much longer than so many other things we could be spending our limited cash on. I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!