Family Travel Adventures

There are many travel programs that profess to offer discounts but I have not found most of them to be that helpful.   A few that we use regularly are the Entertainment hotel discount card, GoCardUSA and our AAA discount card.  All are easy to use and seem to save enough money to make them worth the effort.

The Entertainment discount card comes in the Entertainment coupon book which is available for a variety of cities (you can find it to order online or for sale at many retailers such as Walgreens).  The discount card is available for hotels across the country, regardless of which city’s book you purchase.  We have saved 50% off the rate at several very nice hotels through this program.  It is definitely worth calling to check.  Sometimes it is even worth buying the Entertainment book for whichever city you are travelling to because there are great coupons for attractions and restaurants inside.

GoCardUSA is a program we had heard of through the years but didn’t ever check into the specifics until a trip to California last year.  With GoCardUSA you purchase a card for a specific area which gets you into a variety of attractions in that area for a set amount of time.  We used one for Southern California and saved about $50 per person on all of the activities we already planned to go to.

If you have a AAA card, don’t forget to use it for discounts!   Many hotels offer a special AAA rate (though sometimes you will find this isn’t the lowest rate available).  Some activities also offer a AAA discount;  it is always worth asking!

When we are traveling we like to look for small ways to save money, so we can spend our travel budget on doing more and splurging on a few activities.  One way we have found to save money on our food budget is to pack each person their own lunchbox.  We fill it with nutritious snacks (and some fun treats too);  usually a sandwich, piece of fruit, chips, and some small snacky items like granola bars, fruit snacks, and a Hostess treat.  We also include a juice box or two, plus some small bottles of water.  I purchase the items in the months before our trip at sale prices, so what we bring often depends on what I’ve gotten a good deal on!

We stop at parks or rest area picnic spots for light meals along the way.  The kids are each in charge of their own lunchbox;  deciding how hungry they are at each stop.  This saves us the expense of restaurant meals and is easier on little tummies while travelling.

Even when we are travelling to a major destination like Disneyland or the Grand Canyon, we are sure to explore some of the lesser known attractions along the way.  Some of our fondest memories are of small attractions not usually found in travel books.  These attractions are usually not expensive or busy, so we can really get to experience it without crowds or worry about budgets.   One of the best ways to find these little treasures is to watch the signs along the highway.  Often there will be a small sign noting a nearby tourist attraction.  Or visit websites like www.familyfriendlyamerica.com or local tourism departments to make a list of attractions before you leave on your trip.

We have found another fun way to remember our family vacations.  On each trip we are sure to take at least one family photo at our favorite attraction.  This is sometimes a photo of just the kids or other times we will ask an employee at the attraction to take a photo of the whole family for us.  Some larger attractions, such as Disney Resorts and Sea World, have preset photo taking areas where you can get a photo in front of a fun background or with a character for a small fee.  These work great as they really capture the attraction and are easy to include the whole family in. 

Upon returning from vacation, we have the photo made into a jigsaw puzzle (you can order them at most photo developers and they are really inexpensive).  Pull out puzzles during the cold, winter months and relive the happy memories!  The puzzles also make a fun Holiday gift for grandparents!

When the children are grown and out on their own, we will be able to give each a puzzle or two from their favorite trip so their family will be able to enjoy it.   Just another way to get more enjoyment out of your family’s travels!

One fun thing that keeps our children entertained along roadtrips is to make them a ‘travel passport’.  Get each child a small notebook and have them prepare their passport before leaving on vacation.  Designate 2 pages for each state you will be passing through (you might leave a few extra pages for your destination state).  They can write details about the state (such as population, capital, state bird, etc),  research attractions and draw the state flag.   This is a fun way to sneak a little education into your vacation too!  They might even research a few interesting facts about the state and include those in their passport.

As you pass through each state “stamp” or write the date on the appropriate page.  They can add extra details that they learn along the journey, or record their personal experience in the state.  Years later they will enjoy reading their thoughts and what impressed them most about a certain state.  For example, while looking back at my children’s reflection of a drive through Nebraska many years ago, the older ones shared details of activities we had stopped at such as some historical sights.  One shared how she loved to say the name ‘Ogallala’ (a city in Nebraska).   But one of my son’s favorite locations gave us a giggle.  His favorite memory of Nebraska was the rest area we stopped at soon after entering the state.  There was lots of room to run around and a picnic area….and we were attacked by mosquitos while we had our picnic lunch.  That had made quite an impression on him.  Reading through their passports allows them to experience the trip again and again!

My husband and I are big photo takers.  Each vacation we have several cameras with us and they get lots of use!  Though we had lots of wonderful photos of our adventures, we realized that none of them really showed the trip from the perspective of our children. 

So, we now give each child a disposable camera for the trip.  The kids get to capture the moments that mean the  most to them.  It is always so much fun to see what they have chosen to take photos of (usually much different than the photo opportunities we as parents have chosen) .  They are so proud of their developed pictures!  I enjoy seeing how their photography skills have developed over the years as we look back at the early shaky photos and compare them to more recent photos with great lighting and composition!

Make extra copies of each child’s prints for siblings to have as well.  Then, each child can put together a scrapbook using the variety of photos– what fun for each child to have a momento through the eyes of themselves and siblings.

We like to use our time in the car creatively.  It seems the more we are chatting and thinking, the faster the time goes.  One fun way we interact with the kids and keep them entertained is with a story round.  What’s a story round?

A story round is a story that everyone particpates in telling.    Mom or Dad starts a silly story then lets each person have a turn adding a few lines.  You can make the story go on for as long or as short as you would like.   Each of our children adds their own twist to the story and it tends to get sillier and sillier as it goes!

If possible, record the story and let the kids enjoy playing it back.  This is really fun.  The kids are often so caught up in the moment of telling the story that they don’t really hear the story.  Using a small pocket recorder, we record the story and the kids listen to it over and over.  One ten minute story round can sometimes keep them entertained for an hour as they rethink how they would have changed the story and re-record new versions.

One way we help the kids build memories of our travels is to buy them each a postcard from each attraction we visit.    We encourage them to write some of their favorite memories of the location (little ones can draw a picture) on the back.    After the trip we can attach them together with a keychain clip for a memory book.  (You might want to laminate the postcards for durability.)  Or we purchase a small photo album for them to put their postcards in.  This is an inexpensive way for children to have a souvenir of each of their travels.

While at the souvenir shops of an attraction, it is so easy to blow your budget on little trinkets and t-shirts.  Especially when there are kids begging for this and that!  With five kids, we realized how easy it would be to go broke as we bought a little something from different shops throughout Disneyland.  To solve that problem we decided to set a specific souvenir budget. 

We have tried to do this in several different ways but our favorite has been to set a souvenir budget for each child then let them decide what to buy.  It’s amazing the great choices most kids make when they have to budget.  Suddenly, they weren’t begging for everything they saw.  They knew how much money they had to spend and were very careful to spend it wisely.   You could let them earn some extra spending money by helping prepare for the trip (researching tourist attractions, packing their own bags or helping pack the car) or encourage them to save their allowance if they think they will want to buy a lot of souvenirs.

Many years ago we decided to start a collection so we could remember our travels.  We didn’t want to choose anything expensive or space-prohibitive.  And we wanted to be sure it was something that is easily available at most attractions and easy to display. 

So, now we purchase a magnet from everywhere we go.  We have rarely found an activity that doesn’t sell a magnet and they usually cost $3 - $5.  They hold a place of honor on our fridge.  Besides being a constant reminder of our fun travels and all of the places we have been as a family, the magnets get lots of comments from friends and family who visit our home.  Our guests enjoy exploring our travels by viewing the magnets and it gives us a chance to share some of our fondest memories with them.