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Planning to take your family on a trip abroad, the big question
is, "How much is all this going to cost?" You might worry that a two week vacation abroad will cause a financial meltdown. But it doesn’t
have to be that way, and going abroad can be comparable to a car vacation
or summers in the U.S. |
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First, think how much you typically spend in the summer on
your kids. If you send your kids to day camp that might run anywhere from
$150 a week per child, to $400-$800 a week per child for residential summer
camp. If you take a family vacation in the U.S., a hotel in a metropolitan
area costs upwards of $100 - $200 a night for four people. Then there are
all those meals out. Domestic plane tickets have no discounts for kids over
2. Tickets to DisneyWorld are over $200 a day for two adults, two kids.
If you're taking a car trip, how much will gas cost? Start with the budget
you might spend in the U.S. and apply that to your trip abroad. |
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When you travel abroad, the cost of plane tickets is often
a gasp, but it shouldn’t be. The longer the flight, the more free meals
and free places to sleep (all be it, rather uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.)
Kids under 12 typically pay less than full fare for international travel. Does someone
in your family wrack up those frequent flier miles? Cash in your miles,
get those tickets. Or, does someone in your family get a business paid ticket?
Use that ticket as a "freebie" and when business is done, join
the family travels. |
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There are less expensive places to go than Europe. It used
to be that Europe was cheap, but now, it’s right up there in the expensive
category. In the summer, prices can double for almost everything. There
are plenty of fabulous places in the world that have a cheaper standard
of living, so your hotel and food bills can be less expensive than the U.S.
On this list are countries in Central America and South America, such as
Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru. India is amazingly cheap for food
and lodging, but plane tickets are a chunk of change. |
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Pick a place that you and your kids want to go. Then figure
out a way to do it, one that fits your budget and style of travel. We have
an open-ended view of travel, where we might end up in basic accommodations
one night, and go "palatial" the next. Or in Paris, the kids eat
cereal in our hotel room (if breakfast isn't included), sandwiches in the
park for lunch, we stop at cafes inbetween, and dine in a good restaurant
for dinner. |
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But "how can you afford to stay home" is really
about time. It’s about how little time there is to discover the joys
of traveling with your children. It’s not just for your kids but for you. To leave home is to leave your daily responsibilities in the
dust. It’s a rare chance to experience the world-at-large with the
excitement that kids bring, and small joys that we adults might miss in
our haste to see something "important." When I travel with my
kids, I‘m the "fun mother," not the nagging "Is your
homework done" mother but the "We’re sailing on the Nile
today" mother. It’s my chance to fly kites soaring into the
sky over Pushkar, mingled with the sounds rising from hundreds of temples,
and I’m delighted I'm on the rooftop too. |
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There's no time like the present to start planning your next
trip. Travel for Kids has plenty of choices for where to go and fun
things to do. Once you've mapped out some ideas of where you'd like to go
and what you'd like to see, you can start hunting for the best plane tickets
and places to stay. Use our Trip Planner –
all the links our staff uses to plan our own trips. |
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Elizabeth Young |
