In our experience money is one of the biggest reasons why people don’t travel overseas. Especially for families.
We understand. Truly.
We have two kids, 4 and 2 at the time of this writing, and our grocery bills alone are obscene.
Kids at this age also grow out of clothes and shoes every few months. Like many other Americans, we have a mortgage, a car payment, insurance and utility bills, and many other costs included with our chosen lifestyle. We like to buy the occasional new toy, or get ice cream or takeout for dinner. We also like to visit family and friends within the US and that isn’t cheap either.
Now take the cost of flights, lodging, transportation, and fun activities of travel and it seems hopeless. But fear not!
We’ll be sharing what we’ve learned both on the saving side at home and from the traveling side. Maybe some of our personal philosophy will sneak into future posts but our goal is to share all the practical tips we follow (or at least try to follow).
We work in education and behavioral health so we know what it’s like to be careful in how and where we spend in our travels. The pictures above show activities that are free, 8 euro ($9) ticket, and a 65 euro ($75) round trip ferry ride from another beautiful Greek island. Santorini was gorgeous but I doubt we’d ever go back. Sometimes once is great, but enough. It may be counterintuitive but some of our best memories were among the least expensive things we do.
We’ll cover more on budget in future posts but to get one of the most common questions out of the way…
“Around how much is does it cost?” It really depends. Destination. Duration. Timing/season. How many people. Ages. Interests. Dietary restrictions/imperatives (for us gluten and dairy for the former, gelato for the latter).
Don’t let the following intimidate you in any way but one quick example of a long term plan would be if you could save $200 per month; leaving you with a $5000 vacation every other year. So far, this has been a goal of ours in order to accommodate our interests and style of travel. We’ve gone over this (Greece), and under this (Paris).
If it ever stops being a major consideration for us, we’ll let you know:). Otherwise, hopefully you can use our experiences for reference when planning your next trip.
Talk soon,
–Dan & Betsy
Family Conversation topic: What are some easy, and not-so-easy, sacrifices they family can make to begin saving for a trip to _________________ ?
(Designating a specific destination, even if it changes, makes a big difference. Less takeout is inconvenient but is its worth getting closer to… “London,” “Buenos Aires,” or “Sydney”?)