subject: Making Family Travel Affordable Again [print this page] With the economy in such a precarious state and unemployment levels so high, more people are searching for ways to make family travel more affordable. There are actually tons of really great things you as a parent can do to cut your vacation costs, from what you pack to what you bring and what you choose to do during your trip.
Overall, the number one thing you can do to cut costs with family travel is to plan ahead! It is never too soon to start coming up with ideas and writing them down. Once you have your destination in mind, you need to get on the Internet and write down different places there you want to go to and different activities the family is going to want to do. This is because our first tip here is to try to stay in a hotel or accommodations that are near those activities and points of interest. No one wants to spend their vacation traveling some more after they have reached their destination! Not only that, but when you are centrally located you will not be spending extra money on public transportation fees or for tons of gas for the rental car. At the end of a long day of sight seeing, your hotel should be a short distance away to limit aggravation and fatigue.
Speaking of accommodations, instead of a traditional hotel or motel, you may want to consider a hotel apartment or an apartment rental. At first thought, you may not understand how that would cut your family travel costs. First of all, it is better for everyone in the family when they are not all cooped up in a single room. And here is where the money saving comes in: Instead of spending $150 a day on eating out for the whole family, with an apartment you are going to be able to go to the grocery store and prepare casual meals in the kitchen for a fraction of the cost of dining out.
Heres another suggestion for saving money: set up a budget before you leave. You have to break it down by the day or even by the attraction to make sure that you have plenty of money for all of the things you all are going to want to do. Find out what the admission prices are for attractions, set money aside to use for gas, and although you might be staying in an apartment with grocery store food, you can still budget for a really nice dinner on your last night before coming home. Make sure that you budget for boarding the dog or cat too, if applicable so that it does not detract from your vacation when you suddenly remember during your family travel that you are going to owe the boarders $200 for Fidos care for the week.
