Going on a family holiday can be stressful, and one of
the most stressful things about it is worry about the cost. In this article, you will find a short list
of simple ideas that can help you save money when traveling with your family.
- Visit
scenic locations rather than tourist traps
Some destinations are a lot better than others, but
that's never truer than when you're travelling with family, and especially with
young children. While you may be getting nagged to visit the obvious places
that families tend to go, the thing to keep in mind is that many of them are
designed to get you spending as much as possible, and they're not above
exploiting the easily targeted minds of kids to encourage you to spend even more.
Consider destinations that are just naturally
beautiful, like the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Yosemite, etc. These are peaceful, beautiful, and enjoyable
destinations that offer a fantastic experience without the high price tag. Just
imagine, with the money you save by not visiting a theme park, you could find a Fallsview hotel at Niagara Falls and enjoy a much
better stay, or you could enjoy better dining experiences than that bland, over-priced,
and usually unhealthy theme park food.
- Choose
to fly at less popular times
Flights that arrive or depart late at night or early
in the morning may be less expensive than other flights on the same route. While
arriving with your family in a strange destination late at night may cause you
to worry, it shouldn't, because you’ll have already researched and organised
exactly how you will get from the airport to your hotel well in advance. You
can also find that some days of the week may offer lower costs than others. So,
if you have some flexibility about what days you can travel, try to travel on
the less expensive days.
- Don't
forget about the time of year either
Seasonal changes can have a huge impact on travel
costs, as this report from The Telegraph shows
that even if parents had to pay nearly £1,000 in fines and court costs for
taking their children on holidays during term time, they'd still sometimes pay
less than if they went during normal school holiday times!
- When
booking your accommodation, consider a family
suite
Yes, big rooms are expensive and maybe sometimes even
more expensive than booking two smaller rooms, but they can save you money and
trouble. If your kids have a whole hotel room to themselves, you won't really
know what they're getting up to, and that is not just a safety risk, but can
also prove to be very costly.
- Consider
mailing souvenirs and gifts home rather than carrying them
If you're flying, the cost of carrying all those
knick-knacks you picked up while on holiday could be quite a lot. It's also a massive pain to struggle around
with extra bags and cases (and of course you may have to purchase an extra bag
or case to carry it all in). You could avoid all that by mailing things
home.
If you send by surface mail, which takes much longer
to arrive, you could save even more. Just make sure you don't send very
expensive items by surface mail as they may go missing or you might have to pay
exorbitant duties to collect them.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love hearing your thoughts, so please feel free to leave me a comment :)