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!

Just a few updated family photos

I know I have more of these pictures, but I can't find the flash drive they are on...so for now, these are the ones I had saved to my laptop. Enjoy an updated view of our family.

Berlin!

We had 2 half days in Berlin based on transportation to our conference and then flying home. We used our time well!

For our first half day, we went and visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church that was bombed during WWII and has stayed in its ruined form as a reminder of the war.

Around the church was a Christmas Market, so we did a bit more looking around and we visited the Kathe Wohlfahrt both here at the market and a block away at the actual store.

Inside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, you can see how beautiful it was prior to the war.

A statue of Jesus that survived the bombing.

Found a super cool man hole cover...Sissi wishes we had a plain t-shirt and some paint and she would have taken a rubbing of it.

A closer view. Really neat with all the highlight buildings in Berlin.

Sissi had been saving all year to get a doll at the Kathe Wohlfahrt store. This is the one she picked out and purchased.

I love these things...and this one was huge and outside, right in the middle of the Christmas Market.

The church right by our hotel.

Getting some lunch, also right by our hotel. A great Turkish doner stand with some noodles, also.

On our second half day, we took advantage of the late closing at Museum Island on Thursdays (open until 8pm) and went to see the Neues Museum. It's actually pretty old, but it was closed from WWII until just 10 years ago due to the destruction from the war. It holds most of their Egyptian artifacts and some German history as well. The picture above is actually the Berlin Cathedral, which we have actually never visited...next time, maybe?

This is the Altes Museum.

And, finally, the Neues Museum.

I won't describe all these pictures, but needless to say, the Germans rival both the French and the British in the number of Egyptian artifacts they have studied and accumulated over the years. I am so glad we are studying Ancient History this year with the kids for school, and Krypto has been taking a Biblical Archaeology class as well. This whole trip had so many highlights to take in and relate to our studies.

Even the ceilings in the Neues Museum had history and a story to tell. The audio guide as you went through the museum told you about the exhibits, but also described the rooms we were walking through and what was able to be saved after WWII and what wasn't. They also had original pictures of the rooms so you could get an impression of what it used to look like almost 80 years ago.

A few of the original wall mosaics that they were able to save, on one wall...the other three walls in this room were ruined in the bombings.

Original papyrus pages from the Book of the Dead.

Original mummies of three siblings that died young, a couple thousand years ago, during the Roman period.

Ruins from the museum...most of the very valuable stuff was boxed up and stored during the war, but quite a bit of the collection was left behind and was destroyed.

Part of the find at what they believe to be Troy.

Krypto reading about Schliemann's Troy.

We were so excited to find this one, we had studied it in our Khan Academy Art History course.

As close as we could get to take a picture of Nefertiti's bust...you can't take pictures in the room, only from the outside.

Again, some original paintings that remain on the walls from the 19th Century.

What a great crown!

And, I had to take a picture of this door. It was awesome!

That night we returned to our favorite burger place, right by our hotel....Prince Wilhelm's Burgers. Amazing, huge hamburgers and sweet potato fries. The place is run by Turks as well, and they are so nice. Oh, be prepared if you visit, cash only!