How To Travel With A Family On A Budget – Our family loves to travel; This is one of the experiences we cherish the most. But as a family of six, we often face challenges that smaller families don’t have. And while the word big family can be interpreted in many ways, we define it as a family that doesn’t fit in a standard hotel room.
Finding ways to save for travel can be difficult, but the challenges go beyond finances. Despite the challenges, our family has been fortunate to travel regularly, creating lasting memories and strengthening our relationships. It’s possible to plan great trips for large families, whether you’re staying close or traveling far.
How To Travel With A Family On A Budget
Here’s a look at some of the challenges many large families face when traveling, how we solved them, and how you can start saving for your next trip.
Navigating Family Travel
Paying for a family vacation with points and miles can be difficult, but not impossible, for large families. For several years, we have been able to pay for most of our travel expenses (excluding groceries) with rewards earned from credit cards. However, remember that points don’t pay for everything. Although we have miles on most of our flights, we still have to pay taxes and fees on each ticket.
The main expenses we try to cover with discount codes are flights, accommodation and car rental. If we could pay for these expenses with points and miles, we’d happily pay for everything in cash.
There’s no secret to using points for great family outings – it’s just math. The more people travel, the more points and miles you can save. That’s not to say there aren’t ways to increase your earnings. Here’s how you can make money and use rewards to fund travel for our family of six:
While most of our travel expenses are paid for with awards, other expenses are paid for in cash. Additional costs include food, entertainment and conference tickets, souvenirs, and more. We use points for major trips and to pay for weekend trips and short car trips on a budget.
Awesome Travel Websites You’re Probably Not Using
Traveling with a large group is expensive. We’ve had a hard time paying for vacations in the past until we created a separate travel budget. We finance the money for the trip every month and transfer it to a special bank account. That way, it doesn’t feed into daily savings or other savings goals. In addition, we can see our progress by tracking it online or through a finance app.
By organizing travel expenses, we ensure we have money set aside to book our trips without draining our daily budget.
If you’re struggling to fit into your current travel budget, you should look for other ways to make money. A part-time job or part-time job is all you need to fund your extended family vacation. Think about the skills and talents you have that you can use for money. Before going full-time, freelance writing was my biggest hobby. We used most of my writing money to pay for many family outings. The list of good side hustles is almost endless.
Tax refund checks and work loans are great ways to quickly build up your travel budget. If your current job is part-time, why not work extra hours a week to pay for future travel?
Family Road Trip Fun
Sometimes it’s easier to pay for a trip than to plan a trip. This is one of the biggest travel challenges for our family. We have four teens in public school and my wife is a teacher so we can’t go as much as we want. We have some travel dates during the school holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, Spring and Summer. Of course, these are the busiest travel times of the year.
We also work to involve our children in extracurricular activities such as sports and music. We try not to make these things a priority on tour, but the reality is there’s a lot to do.
Although we haven’t completely solved the programming problem yet, we’ve been working to make it work better today. Here are two ways to navigate busy work and school schedules:
We outgrew the standard hotel rooms years ago. We love staying in hotels but sometimes our options are limited depending on where we are going. Some hotel chains offer suites that can sleep more than four people in designated areas. Many also have a kitchenette or kitchenette, which helps us save money on groceries and a short trip to the grocery store.
Traveling Around The World With Children: Airtreks
Some of these hotels allow you to book a suite with points, but it’s often a godsend. Sometimes it’s easier (and cheaper) to book a vacation rental through Vrbo or Airbnb. In addition, a larger space contributes half the journey and everyone wants a smaller space.
Most family flights are operated with Southwest Airlines. The flights are cheaper than most other airlines. But there is no space allocated in the south.
Combining seats on airplanes is a bigger problem than when our kids are little. Now that they’re teenagers, we like that they’re not around. If you have young children this is definitely not an option. Depending on where and when you fly, it can be difficult to find multiple seats next to each other. Here are some things you can do to improve your relationship:
Some airlines offer early departures to families with children. Check with your airline if this is an option.
How To Plan A Stress Free Family Trip
Traveling as a larger family means more luggage. The last thing you want is to add expensive baggage fees to your travel expenses. This is another reason we fly Southwest – we allow two free checked bags per person.
There are a number of ways to avoid airfare, including signing up for airline credit cards, purchasing a discount, and avoiding taxes.
We usually rent a car for tours and flights. That means renting a compact car or SUV that seats up to six people. Depending on where you travel, car rentals can be expensive. We’ve already discussed these two approaches:
5X points on select Lyft rides and rides through Chase Ultimate Rewards; 3X points for eligible restaurants, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases; 2X points for travel; and 1X points per $1 on other eligible purchases
How We Travel Carry On Only As A Family Of Four
10X points on Lyft rides and Chase Dining purchases; 10x points on hotels and rental cars booked through Ultimate Rewards and 5x points on flights booked through Ultimate Rewards (after spending the first $300 on travel purchases each year); 3X points for travel and food; and 1X Mark for everything else
9x points per $1 spent at Hyatt hotels; 2x points per US$ spent on eligible travel, dining and health purchases; and 1 point for every $1 spent on everything else
5X points per dollar spent on eligible airfare (up to $500,000 per calendar year, 1X thereafter) and eligible hotel purchases, plus 1X points per dollar on all other Buy it right.
The Sapphire Preferred offers a great sign-up bonus, great cashback, and 25% off your points when redeeming for travel through Chase. Chase Ultimate Rewards gives you $50 in credit for hotel stays on your annual bill.
Travelling With Your Family
The points you can earn with this card can help cover major travel expenses for your family, including flights and hotel stays.
Sapphire Reserve offers a $300 annual travel credit and your points are 50% more valuable when you redeem them for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. This can help you extend your points when paying for flights and hotel stays.
You’ll also get free Priority Pass access to the airport lounge, which is helpful for families wanting a break from the busy terminal gates. Many airport lounges offer free meals and drinks to members. Cardholders and authorized users can bring up to two guests for free, but each additional guest will be charged $27.
The World of Hyatt Credit Card is ideal for families who enjoy staying at Hyatt hotels. It can help you earn valuable Hyatt points on your purchases by providing a free points night for stays at Hyatt category 1-4 hotels each year. As you earn enough points, you can pay for additional award nights, reducing the cost of your hotel stay.
Family Travel Statistics & Trends (2020 2021)
The Amex Platinum is a premium travel card that offers $1,400 in annual rewards. Most of these credits can help with common travel expenses, including ordering food or paying for hotels.
Receive exclusive access to Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy. And while this card gives you complimentary access to the Priority Pass and Centurion Lounge, you can bring one guest with you for free. Optional services should be included.
Prepare for your trip as soon as possible. Find a trip fun for the whole family and book a hotel or vacation rental that fits your family size. When a
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