Having kids is the most rewarding thing we’ve ever done.  Watching them learn, grow, explore, and experience life is amazing.

On the flip side, it’s also expensive.  Suddenly there is another, or in our house 3 more, mouths to feed, cloth, send to daycare, etc.  Not surprisingly this additional expense also extends to airline flights, hotel rooms, tickets to events, and the list goes on.

We absolutely knew travel would be more expensive after we had kids.  So the change in expense wasn’t a surprise.

It was motivation to learn how to travel the same or more for less.

Camp

When travelling through Utah and the western United States we often camp.  This cuts down on both accommodation and food costs.  Camping tends to be cheaper than hotels and you can eat breakfast and some lunches or dinners at your campsite.

State parks are particularly awesome places to camp.  Often you are off the grid, they have additional activities and are usually cheaper than “branded” campgrounds.

On a trip to Fremont Indian State Park, we were able to greatly cut down on cost.  The campground had full hook-ups and amazing dark skies for stargazing.  We were able to hike in the park, check out the petroglyphs, and attend a ranger led program.

Hostels/ Hotels with breakfast

Stay in hostels.  Really?  As a family?  Yup.  Do your research first, but you can find hostels with private rooms and bathrooms at a fraction of the cost of hotels in the area.

We did this a couple times in England and the experiences were mixed.  On the upside, the hostel at the Eden Project was incredible. The beds were comfortable, the room was new, clean and quiet, and the breakfast was good.

On the downside.  We stayed in a private room in a hostel in Bath.  It was clean albeit noisy due to the room’s location.  By paying a little extra, we were to be able to have breakfast and the breakfast was surprisingly good. Since Bath was particularly expensive, well over $200/night for a pretty basic hotel room, what we gave up in quiet we more than made up for in affordability.

Also consider bed and breakfasts, Air B&Bs, or low to mid-range hotels that include breakfast.  Similar to camping they reduce both accommodation and food costs.  You can either cook your own meals or save money on breakfast.  If you’re up for it, you can also prepare a lunch to go and cook meals “at home” if you are in an Air B&B.

Points

Use your points!

Most, if not all, of us have credit cards where we rack up points.  Then hoard them.  They don’t do you any good unless and until you use them.  You can get great deals on flights and hotel rooms that really help to reduce travel cost.

We have a credit card that provides us with companion airfare once per year.  For the first few years we didn’t use it.  When we realized the value we were giving up by not using this perk we quickly changed our tune.  2 for the price of 1 seats anywhere in the continental USA once a year?  That’s a huge cost savings we were just throwing away.

We’ve all been there.  You’re buying your flight tickets and the question comes up.  Would you like to buy insurance to protect your flight?

But, here’s an even more important question.

Do you have health insurance to protect you on your trip?

What if you or your children get sick?  How will you pay for it?  What is covered?  Where can you go if you are sick or in need of help?

In our travels: we’ve been in emergency twice, been seen in a doctor’s office once, had a travel doctor come to us once, and lost a prescription.  Luckily we found the prescription or we would have had to figure out a replacement in Dominican Republic.

The scariest time we’ve had while traveling was standing in the emergency room in Victoria, BC with our 5-month-old infant who was crying…. I mean screaming uncontrollably.  As a parent, you are already worried that you don’t know what’s wrong with your baby.  As a traveler, you likely aren’t familiar with the procedures at the hospital, bill payments, etc.  As a person, you are stressed to the max.

We had to pay $800 to see the doctor out of pocket.

Luckily our own insurance reimburses for out of country medical visits, however, we were out the money until we were reimbursed.

Since that experience, we double check all insurance coverage and documentation before we leave to ensure we’re covered.  We also keep a float of money in our account just in case we get into this situation again.

It turned out he had an ear infection and the plane ride irritated it so he was in a lot of pain.  On the whole scale of things that can go wrong it’s pretty mild and was easily fixed.  It was an excellent reminder of what could happen if something big went wrong.

Wait.  I thought you said this was practical stuff about planning travel.

Travel is awesome!  Why are we talking about boredom?

As a parent of 3, I’d be lying if I told you every activity we choose that keeps a toddler happy keeps me enthralled.  By the same token, museums and historical sites don’t always get them excited either.

In part 1 we touched on how to best plan travel so everyone feels like they get something they like.  So what happens during those times when it’s not your turn?

We’re in Kyoto, Japan standing in line to see inside one of the temples.  It is the 3^rd or 4^th temple of the day.  Our oldest son looks at me and says: “What ride is this?”

It hits me.  He stands in lines this long only if it ends in an amusement park ride.  I start to chuckle.  “Sorry buddy there’s no ride, we’re here to see the temple.”  His face twists into an expression of complete confusion.

Why would you wait this long to look at art and pictures?  He’s been patient most of the day and there’s still more day to go and more temples to see.  How are we going to keep him patient and interested?

Think through the lens of a toddler.  Life is a game!  And it’s game on!

We play games with him as a distraction.  Some of our favorites are:  I spy history version, guess the animal, tour guide where he takes us on the tour, and many others.  Making museums into a game seems to work for our kids, especially when they were toddlers.  They learned some history and were happy to keep exploring.