Snow play at Club Med Yabuli
Traveling with kids is expensive. Much, much more expensive than traveling alone or as a couple. Not surprising really as having children takes a toll on a family’s bank balance every day. We travel frequently with our brood of five and keeping a lid on our travel expenses is a priority. The reason – travel with our kids is icing on the cake for us. We don’t want the expense of travel to put excessive pressure on our family budget that we will feel when we are back in the daily grind. Travel is an optional extra that we prioritise, but not at the expense of our routine household bills. Unfortunately though, without care it is too easy to be wearing the debt of an lll considered family holiday six months later. I don’t want our family to do that and I don’t want you to do that. No matter how fabulous a holiday it just isn’t worth it. Thankfully I have a few budget travel hacks up my sleeve to share that will allow you to reduce your travel bills substantially.
There are some obvious ways to do this – travel in the off season or during shoulder season, staying in self contained accommodation to save on the cost of eating out and purchasing air-hotel packages being a few. Let’s go further than these well known saving techniques to explore a few more though:
Think outside the box to achieve your travel objectiveI
We were living in tropical northern Australia and I dreamt of snow – every night. The idea of a ski holiday became an obsession for me. Factoring in the cost of flights to Sydney or Melbourne and the cost of a week at the Victorian or NSW snowfields I quickly realised a snow trip was outside our budget. With a little research I discovered a snow alternative; we could take the kids to China instead. Our snow holiday in China incorporated airfares, a week at Club Med Yabuli with food, childcare and lift passes included and an extra week in Shanghai. Overall the price was two thirds of what a week at the Aussie ski fields would have been- without the extras. Suddenly a snow holiday was within our budget with the added benefit of an amazing cultural experience – the result our best family holiday ever.
Before booking flights scope out the cost of accommodation
See a great airfare deal? Stop. Before you purchase it (no matter how cheap it is) research the cost of accommodation at the same time in the destination. I’ve passed on a number of amazing airfare deals because the cost of accommodation was through the roof at the same time as the travel dates (Darwin I’m looking at you).
Mystery hotel deals
I’ve shared a little about mystery hotel deals before. Booking sites such as Wotif will advertise accommodation, usually in 4 or 5 star accommodation at a significantly reduced price – the catch when you book you won’t know exactly which hotel or resort you are booking in. There are some situations when booking a Mystery hotel is a great idea (and will save you a pot of travel cash) and other times when it is not such a great idea. Have a read here to find out more.
Purchase travel insurance
I can’t stress this enough. If you are traveling internationally and you can’t afford travel insurance then you can’t afford to travel. If you become unwell when overseas and require medical transport back to Australia you should expect a bill in the tens of thousands of dollars. What you can’t afford a bill of $30,000? Me either. That’s why I always purchase travel insurance.
Take your own kid’s gear.
We recently travelled to Cairns. It was going to cost us $75 to hire a car seat for each of our children. It was also going to cost us $10 a night to hire a cot for the baby for a total of six nights. We took our own equipment and saved $285. Fortunatley Australian airlines don’t charge extra for these children’s items so our baggage costs didn’t escalate.
Pre-book airport parking
Getting our brood of five to and from the airport is a hassle and a significant expense. Typically it is $70 each way for a taxi (and we need two of them) or $120 for a driver to pick us up. By pre-booking parking at Melbourne Airport online we were able to park our car at the airport for around $50 for our recent week away. This represented a saving of at least $90 in transport costs.
Credit card travel insurance
We usually rent a car at our destination. Paying to reduce the car rental excess is a significant expense (around $50 a day). The solution we have a credit card now with travel insurance that covers car rental excess. On our recent trip to Cairns this saved us a total of $300.
Take personal protective gear with you.
Traveling to a summer holiday destination? Expect to pay a premium for sunscreen, insect repellant, and sun hats if purchasing these in a resort town. Taking these items with you will save you $30-50 if you have a family of four.
Beware budget airlines
I know, I know, airline tickets are so expensive, and budget airline prices bring travel within the means of many families that otherwise could’t afford it. The problem with budget airlines is that when things go wrong the airlines tend to cite their budget prices as the reason they won’t recompense travellers. Our most recent flights with Jetstar were purchased because of their excellent prices. The airline did however make a big boo-boo and change the flight time without informing me of the new time – the result we missed our plane. Consequently we are out of pocket a $200 change fee and the cost of a night in an airport hotel. To add insult to injury they sent me an email telling me how important punctuality for flights is and rather than acknowledge their mistake gave me a measly $50 voucher.
Traveling at peak times? Road trips are a winner
The cost of airfares escalates during school holidays (think prices 3-4 times those of off peak periods). This puts flying outside our budget during school holidays. Fortunately road trips even with my own wild boys can be managed. There are also cash saving tips for families on a road trip, such as driving off the main highway when over-nighting. On a recent trip to Sydney we saved $200 by giving Albury-Wodonga a miss and staying at a town a half an hour from the highway.
Got your own budget travel tip? Let us know in the comments section so that we all think you are a smarty pants, and so we can save money too.
Next time you’re dreaming of snow as your summer approaches, let me know! I would have gladly home swapped with you last December or February! 😉 Other than that, great tips. One thing we do that might come down to a wash is stay at rentals with full kitchens, so that we don’t have to go out every day. We buy regular food, that we’d buy anyway at home, and in exchange have a bigger place, with one or two bedrooms, instead of a single room.
Self catering is a must – I agree. So is space with young kids. We limit hotel stays to trips of 3 days or less. Thanks for stopping by Jolanta.
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