When you think back to your childhood, one of the most vivid memories is often the family vacations you went on. Some may have been as simple as going camping or to grandma’s house. While others may have been that trip of a lifetime to Disneyland or some exotic location. 

Family vacations are still just as import to the lives of our children as they were to us. The dilemma today is the financial cost to a family. This past summer I heard an ad on the radio from a local bank encouraging families to take out a home equity lone to pay for their summer vacation. Has it really gotten that bad? Even camping or a trip to grandma’s can be out of reach for some families considering the price of gasoline these days, and have you ever looked at what it would cost to fly a family of six to even a close location?

Our family loves to travel, but with four children we were only able to take small trips usually within our state or the states around us. My wife loves to do what she calls dream travel. That is, she collects and drools over travel brochures and magazines. One day I came across some incredible airfare to London during the off season. I told my wife wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had a Charles Dickens Christmas? Even though the airfare was very low, she quickly reminded me that there are many other cost like hotels, food, transportation and seeing the sites, and even with cheap airfare, it still isn’t in our budget. 

Well I’m not one to give up. I knew there had to be a way to make this dream a reality. I started to study and research. What we found was amazing! Not only do we now take our children on incredible family vacations all over the United States, but we have also spent over three weeks each in France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, England and Italy. This summer we will add the Czech Republic to our list. So how is this now a reality when at one time it was only a dream? The difference is now we don’t pay for any airfare, hotels, car rentals, or many of the places we see along the way. In reality, any family can travel anywhere in the world for just the cost of fun and some fun. 

How is this done? How does a family of six travel all over the world for a month for about the cost of going camping, and much less than the cost of visiting Disneyland for a week? The trick is knowing how, and be willing to spend some time planning. We actually have found multiple ways to travel cheap, but we will share with you our most commonly used ones. First of all, free airfare – We started by changing the way we pay for things. Every airline has a credit card which is a “partner”. These are found on the airlines website. It is best to choose the one that will best suit your needs and provide you the most options to your desired destinations. If you are just traveling in the US smaller discount airlines might be your best choice, but if you are planning a trip overseas then one of the major airlines would be better. Sign up for their credit card and use it for everything you buy, food, clothing, house wares, furniture etc. The trick is to never carry a balance. For example, if you go to the grocery store and write a check for your groceries, use your point’s credit card. Then when you get home, write the same check you would have written to the store to the credit card company or go online and pay it off. If you do this for each of your purchases you will accumulate the frequent miles points but never have a balance or interest when your bill comes due. When you combine these points with other “partner” points offered by the airlines and with a trip now and then you will accumulate tons of points. We accumulate every year enough points for all six of us to fly to Europe for free. This alone saves us around $9,000.00 on our vacation. 

The best way we found to avoid the cost of hotels while there is to exchange. We belong to three home exchange programs. These are families just like yours all over the world who are looking to come to your neck of the woods while you stay in their home. You negotiate the time and duration and all other details. Often they will exchange cars which eliminates the cost of a rental. Home exchanges are very common in Europe and are become more so in the US. Go to any internet search engine and search for “home exchange” and you will find many to choose from. 

So now you have flown free, you are staying free and if you played your cards right you are driving around seeing the sites for free too. These are your largest expenses, and just eliminating these you can travel anywhere for just the cost of food and fun. 

Once you are there many of the most incredible places to visit are free. Even museums have free days for kids and because you are staying in a house with a kitchen you can buy and cook your food, eliminating the high cost of eating out. It can be done, but it takes some planning. This kind of travel has changed our children’s lives and created memories that will last a lifetime. We hope you too can enjoy this world as we have.