8 Tips for traveling on the budget when having large family

Many people with large families (3+ kids) are asking me this  question frequently: How can we take vacations as it is so expensive and unaffordable?

It is possible to travel with 3+ kids on pretty much any budget. We personally traveled with 3 kids when we had super tight budget. We go to beach resorts, cruises, world exploration trips and ski getaways. I have so many clients who travel with 3+ kids starting at budget as low as $2.5-3K . Here are just some tips.

1. Choose more budget oriented destinations (e.g. road trip to Myrtle Beach instead of Caribbean).

2. Stay at regular rooms having 2 double beds and a rollaway bed (for family of 5 , for family of 6+ you might need bigger suite or 2 rooms).

3. Fly with stopovers. I am sorry , but when people say it is impossible with small kids, I want to say that it is not true in most cases! If you are on a tight budget, you must consider this as an option as you might spend saved money for additional experience or better accommodations .

4. Plan your vacation far in advance. By booking 8-11 months in advance not only you might save up to 50% +/- but also you might get more convenient accommodations and better flights.

5. Fly to destinations that has flights on budget airlines. For example, Norwegian Airlines has flights to Martinique, Scotland, Rome and so on.

6. Take vacation off season, especially when your kids are small. Until our oldest daughter went to high school we traveled to Caribbean in early December that usually has the lowest prices. I always hear the arguments from parents that kids never can miss school. It might be true for older kids, but when you say this for kids 5-11 years I don't buy it in most cases. If the budget is low , it is one of the easiest way to save.

7. Use credit card points. There are so many options for this. You should spend time on research and be super disciplined. You can save a lot of money doing so! There are credit cards that give you bonus miles when you open them . It can be 50-100k bonus. If you open 2 cards , one for wife and another for husband you can have 100-200k points/miles that might be sufficient for your tickets and hotels (or at least partially). We do this all the time and travel around the world using these points. And I know many people who do the same.

8. Be flexible with dates, destinations, and types of experience . If you go with kids , you can still enjoy your trip even if you stay in lower class accommodations, if you stay 6 nights and not 7 and so on.

As usually you can always contact me at info@familytc.com as I have personal experience with these challenging problems  and I own a travel agency Family Travel Concierge that helps people like you EVERY SINGLE DAY!