Traveling the World
I have an exciting trip with my husband quickly approaching. I studied French for three years in high school and really enjoyed learning some about the culture and history of France. Since then, which was a realllllly long time ago, I have dreamed of visiting France. Traveling can be relatively expensive. We are a seven person household on a single income. That sounds like I'll never get to France, right? But guess what? On April 20 we embark on the journey of a lifetime. I get to live my dream and travel to France. And since we don't know when we will be able to go back, we also managed to squeeze in day trips to London and Scotland as well.
Let me tell you a little bit about how we afford to travel. First of all, we aren't taking our kids. As much as I would love for them to experience this, that would be way out of our budget. So instead we are paying a neighbor to babysit them while we are gone. It's a chunk of money, but much more affordable than traveling with them.
We use our tax return for our traveling. So I set a budget on what we felt was reasonable based upon what we are getting back from the government. I realize that not everyone has the tax benefit of five kids, but it works well for us.
I bought our flights and hotel as a package deal. At times you may be able to buy these separately for a good price, but I found it much cheaper to book them together. I looked at several websites, and ended up booking this trip on travelocity. We aren't staying in the fanciest hotel in France, but we are staying in a 2 star that has very good reviews, seems nice and clean, and is located close to all the things we want to do and see.
We always use public transportation when we travel. Large cities are equipped for easy and affordable travel. It saves us from having to find parking and from having to drive in unfamiliar places. Also driving on the other side of the road would be challenging, I imagine.
Next I did an obscene amount of research. I scoured the Internet for information about what to do, and how much things cost. I spoke with everyone I know who has traveled to where we want to go. I wrote things down so I would remember the information that I was gathering.
During this research process, my husband mentioned wanting to go to Scotland. I already had a hotel booked for the whole trip in Paris. I realized after I had already made our reservations that you can book a hotel for only part of your trip, which would give you more flexibility to travel around. But for us it was too late for that. So I looked into taking a train to London and a train to Edinburgh. Then I started looking at flights. Flying between countries in Europe is very inexpensive. It was cheaper to fly than to travel by train! In the end we this is what I came up with:
an early morning flight from Paris to London, that night a flight from London to Edinburgh, one hotel night there, the next day spent in Edinburgh, with an evening flight returning us to Paris. All those flights only cost $200 total for my husband and me.
After deciding where we were going and on which days we would be there, I started research for an itinerary. I found a website that helped me plan each day out. I have loved using it to plan my days and figure out the order in which to do all our activities. The website is:
I also did a budget on a spreadsheet to make sure we can afford all the activities I have planned for us. Another helpful thing is an app on my phone that does currency conversions. That way as I am researching I can easily see the amount something costs in dollars.
So in 46 days, but who's counting, I get to embark on the trip of my dreams. Me, just an ordinary Mom, with an ordinary life, and an ordinary budget. You can take the trip of your dreams too! I hope this information is helpful in achieving that dream. If you have traveled and have tips and ideas, comment and share them. If you have any questions about traveling, comment and ask me!
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