He told me “Do what you do best, find a way to travel.” That’s what my husband told me when I started to feel down about my lack of prospective travel. I felt I couldn’t travel anymore because I had a baby now. It’s much easier to travel when you have 2 people bringing in income, however, once I stopped working, my spending on luxury items and travel also slowed down. Before I could delve deeper into my own abyss of ‘pseudo depressed non traveling state of mind’; he told me to make it happen. He reminded me that I had found a way to travel around the world to different continents on a full-time college student budget. So, I began doing some research…this time the only caveat was I had Baby Bear tagging along with us!
Here are some things I learned about budget family travel:
Maximize on your rewards and credit card points. I have a JetBlue Rewards credit card and a Citibank credit card that are both connected to my rewards accounts. I was able to purchase 2 round-trip flights to Puerto Rico for only $22.40 total (that was the price of the tax) [Infant Perk: Infants under 2 years old fly free if seated on your lap]
Look into other types of places to stay besides all-inclusive resorts. Yes, resorts can have everything you need and MORE but it can become quite pricey depending on the location and type of year. We stayed at a quaint Bed & Breakfast that I found on
AirBnb, in the outskirts of San Juan in a safe gated community. There was an array of restaurants walking distance as well as a Walgreens, which became our go-to spot for inexpensive everyday items, like Diapers. Baby Bear had caught his first cold just days before we were to board the plane to Puerto Rico, so Walgreens was a must go-to location.
Buy local foods at local supermarkets and/or restaurants. We went to restaurants that the locals frequented and was able to eat authentic affordable food during our stay. It was also helpful to grab a case of water and some juices for our room so that we didn’t have to keep spending on drinks for each meal. [Infant Perk: 3 months old are still breastfed so, his food prep was very low maintenance]
Car Rental- Keep Searching for a good price when it comes to car rentals. You can used Triple A, if you have it, plum benefits from your employer or Expedia.com or any other travel search engines until you find the best price. If you are willing to use an unpopular car rental service or are willing to travel with the shuttle to a local car rental company, then you will save much more money. [Unless you are getting flight rewards by using a specific car rental service, try to stick to one].
We decided to rent a car because we had an infant and wanted to travel around the island. If you plan on staying and exploring one area, forget the car rental and walk, take public transportation, or Uber and really see the country!
Be flexible on travel dates and travel locations. We were blessed to be able to travel the week before the Holiday Break and that saves us so much money on everything from flights to accommodations. This is not always possible as a school teacher because our breaks all coincide with the busy travel seasons–but whenever you can, it will save you a lot of money $$.
What other ways have you been able to travel on a budget?
Please Share!
-Medinah
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