About eighteen years ago, we were in a Sunday morning class with some other newly married couples and some very wise teachers (thanks Jan and Jerry) told us that if we wanted to have the choice to stay home with our kids, and do the things we wanted to do when we were older, that we should do what we had to do to live on just one salary now and save the rest. We did that, and about five and a half years later I stayed home when we had our oldest, Krypto. We also made a list at that time of historical places we wanted to go visit and take our children, I still have it sitting in storage back in America. One of those trips just occurred!
Family shot, in front of the library at Ephesus, Turkey!
I think it matters how you mentally prioritize in life. We always tell our kids, "People are more important than things" and people includes the memories you make with them, the time you spend with them, and the words you say to them. Our experiences, the people we meet, and the history we learn will stay with us much longer than the things we purchase and so we've made a point of budgeting less than the average American family for gifts for things like birthdays or Christmas (but I must note that my kids have very generous family and friends and so they have not gone without, I can assure you.) Things can break, get lost, and lose importance as we get older; but, our memories together, we have those with us for many years to come.
Trying out the more than 50 different inventions that have been built and housed in the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Venice, Italy.
Waiting outside to see St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy.
Standing by the old columns, with the Philippeion in the background, at Olympia, Greece.
I will also admit that I am a researcher, that I spend a good amount of time planning and finding the best way to do something...both for efficiency and cost.
So, this trip we just took, it was amazing and a much needed time of refreshment for our family, and I thought I would share some of the many ways I made it happen so that it was affordable for us.
We are blessed that we live overseas already and so that makes plane tickets to and from Europe just a fraction of what they would be for someone to fly from the US over to Europe, literally a third to a half of the cost. Also, we always take our family vacation time in conjunction with conference travel, so we only need to get the tickets one time, not twice. Note: for military or retired military families, taking a hop might be an option if you can add in some extra time to your schedule, and be flexible when you travel, just in case you don't make the flight you want to make. Once you get to Europe, train travel as a family is incredibly inexpensive.
Some of the ancient Minoan ruins at Knossos, Greece.
In front of the Parthenon, in Athens, Greece.
Seeing the excavations of the Terrace Houses in Ephesus, Turkey.
On the northern part of the city walls of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
A view of the steep city walls in Dubrovnik, from across the way at Fort Lawrence.
The cable car up to the Napoleonic era fortress above Dubrovnik, Croatia.
For lodging, I am a big fan of hostels and finding one that has rooms for 5 people and then booking the whole room as a family so we don't have to share with anyone, or finding an apartment to rent using websites like booking.com or hostelworld.com so we can cook and save money on eating out. Another great thing to do to save is to use night trains across Europe, they then double as your transportation and lodging and you don't waste a day in travel - you wake up in a new city, all ready to go!
How did we pick a cruise? Well, we knew we wanted to visit many of the old Ancient and Biblical cities and after running the numbers, the cruise (for lodging, food, and transportation) was the best deal. It helped that the cruise we chose had a stop in Turkey (Ephesus) and with security concerns, many people were staying away from booking that particular cruise, so we got a pretty good deal. We felt confident in our choice and were comfortable with the ports of call, knowing that our safety is in our Father's hands and bad things can happen anywhere, at anytime.
Outside of Ephesus, we were able to visit a co-op that keeps the skills of Turkish carpet making, by hand, alive and well. They showed us how they get the silk from the silk worms and even taught Sissi how to make Turkish knots in the carpets.
A good friend (thanks Rachel and Justin) gave us a Rick Steves guide book to all of the Mediterranean ports of call and I read that thing, pretty much cover to cover. I knew I could lead my family on all the historical tours we wanted to take with Rick Steves' help, so there was no need to pay extra for that. I love maps, and so I planned our time and itineraries for each port, and had the kids do mini oral reports for each of our destination cities before we left. This way they knew what we were looking for and what were our highlighted points of interest.
We took a gondola ride in Venice and one of our highlights was seeing the house that Marco Polo lived in for a time.
Now, anyone that has been cruising knows you may get a great deal to go on the cruise, and that usually the cost you are paying is just covering your food and lodging...where the cruise lines make their money from you is in all the "extras"...so you do have to be careful once on board. With our booking, we were given a few hundred dollars in "on-board room credit," meaning you have credit, but cannot use it until you are on the ship. We used that to pay for one shore excursion, to get to Knossos and see the Minoan ruins since it was 2 hours away from where our ship docked. Otherwise, we didn't buy any pictures or shop on board, we didn't attend any shows or go to any of the specialty restaurants (the main dining room was fabulous, so there really was no temptation,) we didn't buy drinks or have them wash our laundry. Instead, I brought a piece of paracord and hung it in our bathroom and every 3 days I would do laundry, by hand in the sink, and hang our clothes to dry. Even taking that hour or so every few days was worth saving the $4-5 per item of clothing they wanted to wash our laundry for us. Note: We were not impressed with the children's program on our ship. So, that is something to look into it if you are counting on using it during your trip. It was mostly just barely monitored free play time and our kids were disappointed in how the workers handled conflicts. The couple of times they went specifically for activities, during the sea days, that had been scheduled on the sheet we got in our room, those activities didn't happen. For us though, it wasn't much of a problem because our children wanted time with us and didn't want to miss any of the port cities we were visiting.
I tied the paracord to the bathroom door hooks and across to the towel bar. It works as a modified clothes line perfectly. You might ask, "Why do laundry at all?" To make it easier to travel, we only take a carry-on roller suitcase and a backpack per person, so we limit ourselves to maybe 7 outfits per person. It's much easier to get around and travel by train when your luggage is smaller and able to be handled by the kids.
This trip is something we'll be talking about for years, I'm sure of it! And, next year is our "see as much of America as we can see" trip because the next time we'll be back in the US, and guaranteed that all five of us can travel together, will be to graduate Krypto from high school and settle him in college...can you believe how fast time has flown?! So, as we work our way around the US to speak and share with our family and friends, you'll see us also taking in some famous American landmarks and checking out colleges with our children (yes, it's true, we have a list of colleges we're going to go visit next year.) In late February we'll be heading south to Atlanta and then work our way around the Gulf side of Florida and then back up the Atlantic side, with a quick stop to see Ft. Sumter since we're studying the Civil War next year, before being back in North Carolina. In May we'll be up in DC and then head to Philadelphia and NYC before coming back down to North Carolina. Then, in June we'll be heading to Springfield, MO and then down into Texas and back up through Albuquerque into Colorado and then on to Wyoming to see Yellowstone and back across South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore before heading back to North Carolina in late July. I'm counting on another round of fabulous memories and stories that we'll share with each other!
Gelato in Thessaloniki, Greece!
