{"id":19,"date":"2025-06-15T10:21:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T10:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/?p=19"},"modified":"2025-08-05T08:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T08:36:09","slug":"5-ways-to-make-travel-with-kids-more-affordable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/?p=19","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Make Travel With Kids More Affordable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I was a single parent,\u00a0traveling with my son\u00a0was easy (and cheap) enough. We shared a plane seat and a hotel bed, he breastfed and\/or seemed to live off of crackers and what was my alternative to bringing him along on work trips, anyway? I certainly couldn\u2019t afford an overnight babysitter. Now that I have a partner and\u00a0another\u00a0kid, though, traveling as a family of four can feel a lot more complicated and a lot more expensive. But it doesn\u2019t have to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few tricks of the trade have saved me a lot of dollars when it comes to traveling yes, even internationally with little children in tow, and these tips can save\u00a0you\u00a0major money too. Here are five ways to make\u00a0travel with kids more affordable.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When You book and When you travel\u2014Matters.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With travel, timing is everything. This means plan ahead! Good things come to those who wait except\u00a0when it comes to\u00a0booking flights\u00a0and hotels, whose prices can skyrocket when you\u2019re in a jam and planning last-minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when you travel is just as important as when you book: Single mom travel pro\u00a0Crissy Whalin\u00a0explains that \u201ctraveling off peak\u2014especially for your first trip overseas\u2014is always more cost-efficient and usually more enjoyable for everyone involved. Don’t go booking a July\/August\u00a0vacation in Europe\u00a0when it’s extremely hot, extremely crowded, and\u00a0peak rates. It’s a recipe for disaster.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book a budget airline.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Traveling parents, lean in to budget airlines. Seriously, don\u2019t be scared of them! My family of four just traveled to Iceland on\u00a0Play Airlines\u00a0which has round-trip flights from Boston to Reykjavik for as low as, I kid you not, $269 dollars, and we had a really easy experience. Even the snacks were good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another flying-with-kids-for-cheap tip? While \u201cmost people know that children 2 and under fly free on most airlines\u2026don\u2019t sleep on child fares!\u201d urges travel writer\u00a0Tanay Howard. \u201cMany airlines offer discounted tickets for children aged 2-11. Take the extra step to call customer service when booking because these fares don\u2019t always show up online. The child fare is sometimes up to 35% cheaper.\u201d On Play, for example, children ages 2-11 incur a\u00a0standard child fare\u00a0that\u2019s even cheaper than the already-cheap adult seats\u2014and you can bring along a stroller and\/or car seat free of charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carry-on only.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I mean it. Checked baggage usually comes with added fees, and carry-on means you won\u2019t be too tempted to buy\u00a0too<\/em>\u00a0many souvenirs to squeeze into your baggage. \u201cPack as light as possible\u2014it reduces stress\u00a0and\u00a0costs,\u201d agrees Whalin. If we managed to get four of us through 17-degree Iceland for a week with two carry-ons only, then you, too, can re-wear your sweaters!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But aiming for few\/small souvenirs is not to say zero souvenirs. \u201cIf you love souvenirs, give each kiddo a cash budget and let them spend it as they\u2019d like,\u201d suggests Monty Hudson of\u00a0The Spring Break Family. \u201cIt keeps your budget fixed, teaches financial literacy, and kids of all ages love the opportunity to choose and spend on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seek out kid deals and alternative dining options.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many museums offer free admission for kids under a certain age. As for food, I love a good local food hall or cafeteria that has many options for lower prices than a restaurant\u2014in Reyjkavik we ate at the\u00a0VERA math\u00f6ll Gr\u00f3sku\u00a0food hall probably five times. Hudson is on the same page: \u201cI\u2019ve heard people say not to eat food on vacation that you can have at home. I disagree,” she says. “There\u2019s nothing wrong with eating a little McDonald\u2019s on vacation! It\u2019s usually cheaper than other options and sometimes has regional items you can\u2019t get elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the availability of these kinds of cheap and kid-friendly food options might influence where you choose to travel in the first place, and that\u2019s OK. You\u2019re not likely to find chicken nuggets in the middle of, say, the Serbian countryside, so maybe that\u2019s a trip for when they\u2019re a bit older (and more flexible eaters). Whalin agrees, urging traveling families on a budget to choose \u201cplaces you know your child has food options available at all times, and you feel comfortable navigating as a parent,\u201d says Whalin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rent an apartment.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This way, you can do laundry\u00a0and\u00a0save hotel fees. This is a go-to travel tip from both me and Hudson, who says: \u201cGo for a vacation rental instead of a regular hotel. It\u2019s usually a more affordable way to give everyone space to spread out. This is especially true for\u00a0blended families\u00a0that have step kids that may not feel comfortable sharing a bed or a room. Bonus: they usually have a kitchen, which also saves money on food!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, if you\u2019re a hotel diehard, get the most out of any included offerings\u2014many hotels offer daily breakfast and\/or happy hour, a fitness center, even tours or a spa. While we were in Reykjavik, I noticed there was no shortage of fancy and\u00a0expensive<\/em>\u00a0geothermal spas, but\u00a0Thingholt Hotel, for example, has a perfectly lovely one that offers included admission for hotel guests and even runs daily \u201cfamily hours\u201d the kids can enjoy too.\u00a0And what better way to end a beautiful\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0budget-friendly trip than with some well-deserved multigenerational relaxation?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a single parent,\u00a0traveling with my son\u00a0was easy (and cheap) enough. We shared a plane seat and a hotel bed, he breastfed and\/or seemed to live […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22,"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/22"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelscab.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}