For many years we love going on our global travel adventure. We often get asked how we can afford to family travel twice every year. Most people’s first assumption is usually “You must be really rich”.
First things first, we are just like any other family. We have a mortgage to pay and the usual bills to take care of. Alfred works full time and Tara works (almost) full time. Our parents or family did not give us money to keep travelling (although that would be awesome). No airlines or hotels have ever sponsored us (although, again, that would be awesome).
In the beginning, it took us a while to get over that “I can’t afford to go on a family holiday” mentality. But we soon realise that family travel does NOT have to be expensive. That you do not need to be rich to travel. Just by doing a few simple adjustments we have been travelling twice a year for 10 years (20 holidays, 41 countries) – and counting!
Here is How we Afford to Family Travel twice every year:
1. We plan our travels many months ahead
Parents of school age children know too well prices skyrockets for travels during school holidays. So if your kids aren’t in school yet, travel outside the holiday season. Save money, avoid busy airports and tourist sites – Win Win Win!
Travelling with school age kids (like us starting from this year) you may have found cheap family travel is more difficult to arrange. So, the very first thing we did when we got our son’s school calendar: check the school holiday dates! This way we can plan and book as far in advance.
Consider leaving for holidays early before school holiday starts or coming back later by a few days, you will save thousands.
2. We don’t do staycations or long weekend getaways
It is so tempting to spend a long weekend at a fancy local resort – your friends are probably regularly showing off on Facebook. However the costs adds up.
For us in Perth, a few days trip down south to Margaret River will cost almost the same as flying to Bali. While a few days in Bali can easily add up to the airfares we need flying to Europe.
These little side trips will quickly eat up your family travel budget.
We do however highly recommend short getaways and weekend road trips for family travel newbie. It is a great test run for you and your little ones.
3. We talk to other families who also love to travel
We get a lot of money saving tips from other family travellers. For us Instagram have been a great way to meet amazing travelling families from around the world.
Don’t pay attention to Crazy Asian Travellers type or the “we only ever been to this one place and now we are expert family travellers” type. Ask other travelling parents on how much their holidays cost, how they book flights, hotels and what they would do differently to save money next time. Here is a link to our travel money saving tips post.
4. We stopped feeding our son to keep him short
Just kidding. But many places charge admission based on kids height or age. Consider visiting these places to get free entry.
Visiting famous places like Brussels grand place, walking along Thames river in London, cute houses in Rothenburg, trekking at Little Adams peak in Ella are all free.
Plan day trips that involve sightseeing rather than expensive attractions – it will only cost a train ticket.
5. We are not fanatical about airlines or hotel chains
Instead we subscribe to multiple airline newsletters. Timing of cheap deals will vary depending on destinations. There are great deals happening all the time. By subscribing, we will have great flight deals automatically sent to our inbox. Good websites such as Skyscanner can also be handy for comparing deals.
Same goes with our accommodation. We choose hotels based on their location and amenities. Not based on their brand names. Booking.com is a great booking site. You have the ability to book in advance with free cancellation. Check out how we get the best accommodation deals.
Before booking your flights, have some rough idea as to how much accommodation will cost per night. Don’t get caught buying cheap flight tickets and only later realising hotel prices are through the roof.
6. We change our travel style over the years
The first few years of our travel, admittedly we committed a lot of travel sins. Overspending what we can afford on souvenirs and shopping up to our luggage allowance – Hey, we grew up with Asian style travelling after all!
One time Tara did a very Asian thing and bought a designer bag in Italy. Only to realize that Louis Vuitton and Chanels are not good storage bags for nappies, water bottles and wet wipes at all! LOL.
So over the years our travel style has evolved we focus more on experiencing new things and appreciating different cultures.
By the way, remember one designer bag easily equals to return economy tickets to Europe for 3 people! Priorities.
7. We know how much we can spend for holidays
We set a fix $ amount we can afford for family travel each year and we would never go over that amount. Any savings we make, we always set aside for future trips.
8. We don’t go to this year’s “must visit” destination
Believe it or not we don’t typically choose our next family holiday destination. Destinations we have visited, are usually chosen by looking at specials we can afford at the travel expo.
We enjoy the luxury of not having to battle through masses of other tourists just to eat lunch or take a family holiday photo. And never underestimate the relief of not having to constantly doing currency conversions in your head because you are worried that everything is too expensive.
Another bonus is that you will likely end up visiting amazing destinations you may not have even considered visiting before. As for those glamour destinations, your opportunity will come. Like we managed to visit London twice on the cheap!
9. We work hard the rest of the year
We travel 4 weeks of the year. But the rest of the time we work hard! We are lucky to be passionate in what we do for living so we don’t consider it work at all. We use family travel as our motivation to work smarter and harder.
10. We eat at local restaurants
Rather than someone else’s must eat recommendations. We always avoid eating in tourist main streets. Instead we go one street further and dine where locals eat. Better food, better value.
Also bring along a water bottle. In places like the Netherlands a small bottle of water cost 7 Euros. If we paid this much every meal – over a week, we would spend more than our weekly groceries in Australia!
11. We don’t get poor before leaving for holidays
There are the things to avoid so you don’t blow your holiday budget before even leaving home. Check article link here “How to not blow your holiday budget before even leaving home”
If we do need to buy any travel essentials, we buy it online via: Ebay
12. Finally: We watch our recurring expenses – most important!
To afford family travel, try tracking your family’s recurring expenses over a period of one month to see what areas you can easily cut back on. For us, simply capping our monthly spend on mobile phones and car expenses, saves us thousands each year.
By delaying mobile phone upgrades or going with a cheaper alternative, you will save thousands during the course of a year. For example we are currently on SIM only mobile phone plans (even though we are eligible for phone upgrades). By delaying upgrades and sticking with our perfectly fine older model phones, we are saving $100/month which equals $1,200/year. Next time you see that advert for a $80/month phone plan, look at it as what it really is, a $1,920 two year commitment.
Also Alfred use to drive a new model European car which cost thousands every year to service and maintain. Sick of the expensive upkeep, we chose to trade it in for a more economical car. Money we saved from mobile phones and one car alone can help us afford family travel once a year European family holiday!
Stop recurring expenses you can easily give up. This include money spent on snacks, clothes, home phone line, pay TV subscriptions, movies, dining out and coffee. Hmmm maybe not coffee, parenting is challenging enough with coffee!
