“How can you afford to go away again?” This seems to be becoming a standard question these days when we book another trip away. Want in on the big secret? Want to know how to save money while travelling with children? Read below to find out how we do it.
1. Travel off season
This is our top tip! If you want to go away more often and save money while travelling with children, you’re going to have to be open to travel off season. We have visited places in the heart of winter for rock bottom prices. We travelled to Poland in January when flights cost £85 return for three and paid £100 for 3 nights in a hotel. Don’t get me wrong it was absolutely freezing, but we had the right gear for that sort of weather and we just made the most of it. On the plus side there was very little tourists about meaning no queues!
2. Use a travel card
We find this a great way to save and budget for our trips away. We use Revoult, and put away any spare money we have each month. Just before we go we convert it all into the correct currency and spend until the money runs out. If we are lucky sometimes we have some left for our next trip. Converting the money into different currencies is so easy and fee free! We don’t use credit cards while away, and try where possible not to use our own debit cards, avoiding all those hefty non sterling charges the bank like to add on. Using a pre-paid card also avoids poor exchange rates.
There are many others as well as the Revoult, have a look at the T&Cs of different cards before you decide what one to use.
3. Research and book smart
Don’t always go with the first deal you see. Research, research and research some more. We spend hours with pages of papers scrawling details of routes and dates.
Always look at flying into a regional airport, not just international ones. A common flight price for our family from Dublin to New York would be around £1,300. A bit of research and we flew into Newburgh Stewart for £527.30! Yes a family of three from Dublin to New York for £527 return, same dates same city – just a different airport!
Off course we were asked how we could be bothered with the hassle, what hassle? We got off the plane, walked through the smallest airport we’ve visited, onto a waiting bus and straight into the heart of NYC in under 90 mins, sometimes it takes longer to get your bags in JFK. The best part, we saved around £700 and that covered our spending money. Not much hassle there!
4.Eat in
This is a great way to save money while travelling with children. We have got very good at this over the years. Megan likes to sit about, watch TV and chill in the morning before we head out exploring, so to save money we eat breakfast in.
As we have started to stay at air bnb’s more and more, this is perfect. We also try to bring some of Megan’s favourite foods and snacks with us to save having to buy in the shops. After a good big breakfast we will sometimes skip lunch and eat again late afternoon or dinner. If we have had a full on day, we will often just come back to our air bnb with a pizza, or cook some pasta and chill out – why struggle with tired children in busy restaurants and pay a fortune for it!
5. Bend the truth
This one isn’t for everyone we know, but when visiting a tourist attraction the price for a child ticket can sometimes be nearly as expensive as an adult. Some places offer free entry to children under a certain age, so if Megan is around that age we sometimes try our luck and get her in for free! Everyone does it (maybe?! Our parents certainly did!).
I will never forget telling Megan “if anyone asks you’re four” when the entrance fee was $40 for five and over. On leaving Megan asked how much we had saved and followed with, “What you going to buy me with the savings?” Just have them prepped, we all know how important age is for young kids.
6. Pack smart
We have now got to the stage where we refuse to pay extra for a check in bag and have become masters at packing light and travel hand luggage only. We travelled for for 5 nights in New York in winter, and 2 weeks in Canada. With a little organisation and planning it can be done!
Packing cubes are brilliant for organising your packing. We tend to only pack enough to cover us for a few days, and then we either wash in the air bnb we are staying in, or find a local launderette and leave our washing in for the day. Don’t forget kids get carry on as well, and generally carry less so if you need room put it in their bag.
This also saves on waiting around the baggage reclaim carousal hoping and praying your bags made it!
7. Use public transport
Public transport can be very daunting while travelling with children. Getting on a bus or a train and not really sure where you have to get off and when, can be stressful. Sometimes it can just feel easier and quicker to get a taxi – but also much much more expensive, and where most people are likely to blow their budget.
Again research is key here. We do a lot of research before we go, and use travel blogs like ours to get lots of free tips and advice on how to get about. A Taxi or a much cheaper Uber is a last resort on our trips. We have had some wonderful experiences using public transport. It has pushed us out of our comfort zones and adds to the adventure not to mention saving us a absolute fortune while travelling. Also, check for free transport to attractions.
8. BYO
I have already mentioned how we bring some of Megan’s favourites with us. We also bring our own travel size toiletries and sun cream. We always find buying sun cream especially a lot more expensive in a foreign land. Always check if your are staying in hotels or air bnb’s as sometimes shampoo and body wash are provided, and for a few days will do!
9. Eat local
Once while in Nice we fell for a tourist trap and ate the most horrible meal in a beautiful setting. We have never been caught out since. We now try and eat where the locals eat. Normally it’s a fraction of the price of what tourists are paying a few streets away. We also like to look around for the cheapest beer – it’s become a bit of a holiday mission to seek out and sample the cheapest beer to be had.
If you do have your heart set on a certain place, or type of food look out for offers or happy hours. Sometimes you can save a lot of money by eating of special set menus, or on set days. Who doesn’t love happy hour, right?!
10. Gifts and souvenirs
If like Megan your child has been given spending money and been warned they are to get themselves something (and not let mummy and daddy use it for practical things like food). Check prices online before you let them buy that Lego friends set that’s half the price on amazon, order it and promise them it will be there when they get home. Then treat yourself to a beer for a job well done, with the money saved and buy the children an ice lolly.
Or come prepared…we recently travelled to Canada and knew from previous trips that Megan had her eyes on a travel barbie complete with her own suitcase and neck pillow. So before we left we seen it in our local Asda, bought it and packed it. When Megan asked for it in the airport we popped it out of the bag. She was delighted and we were £10 better off!
11. Hunt out free things to see and do
Sometimes we try too hard to entertain, and think that spending money is the only way to have fun. It’s so easy to say “sure we are on holiday” before forking out for entrance fees, day trips etc.. It can just as fun to seek out free museums, parks, street entertainment, parades .
Also, be prepared to head away from the tourist traps! On a trip to New York we headed to Brooklyn to do the Brooklyn brewery tour, which was completely free. It was a great afternoon and brought us to a different part of New York that we otherwise wouldn’t have seen.
12. Does it have to be fancy
Ask yourself if staying in a fancy hotel with pool, breakfast and a view of the city is really going to make your holiday. If yes, go for it. If like us it would mean not being able to travel anywhere else that year, then get researching.
We have stayed in hostels, hotels, air bnb’s, guest houses, outside the main town centres, in different boroughs. Fancy hotels in town centres aren’t our priority, we are far to busy getting out and sight seeing to pay for a deluxe room we are never in. Nowhere is ever to far away by train or bus, and you’ll find us spending all that extra money we saved on our next trip….
THAT’S HOW WE CAN AFFORD TO GO AWAY AGAIN!!!
Doing these type of things helps us travel further and more often. Give them a try on your next trip and let us know how you got on. A little less luxury, a little more travel!!
Thanks for reading our post on How to Save Money While Travelling with Children
The Lewis family.