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Five Top Travel Tips for Iowan Families on a Budget

The middle-class family has lost a lot of buying power in recent years. Nowadays it can be exceedingly difficult to support a family on a single income, meaning both parents need to work more often than not. This cuts into family time and can have many families feel disconnected. Travel is the best cure for this. It can help you all bond together, have fun together, and can help your kids grow up to be strong, independent, and curious adults who have a love for life. Don’t let your budget get in the way of this, either, and instead follow these top five travel tips:

  • Choose Budget-Friendly Destinations

Go to Paris, and you can expect to pay high prices. Go to London, or Rome, or any capital in the world, and you can similarly expect to also pay high prices. You can, of course, travel to these top destinations even on a modest budget, but to really make your money go far, you will need to go to alternative destinations.

There are so many great, budget-friendly places out there. Not only can you do a lot on very little, you can also enjoy more authentic, unique experiences. With fewer tourists and lower prices, going to a lesser-known destination is the perfect solution for absolutely any traveler. You can see so much of the world once you go beyond bucket-list destinations.

Rather than Rome, for instance, Catania, Turin, and Bari are beautiful locations which are also a lot cheaper than Italy’s capital. Of course, another way to limit expenditure is to stay outside expensive destinations and travel in. This is true for Kyoto, an expensive Japanese city, which can be counterbalanced if you stay in Otsu and travel in each day (with the train only taking 30 minutes).

  • Use Comparison Apps to Choose Best Options

Regardless of where you choose to travel to, your next step will need to be picking the most competitively prices flights and accommodation. Thankfully, with today’s technology, this has never been easier. You can quickly search through every provider and secondary website for the best price. You can then take this one step further by searching for the best prices by day. Flights, in particular, can fluctuate wildly in price, allowing you to save hundreds just by switching your dates by a few days.

  • Find Deals on Deals

Choosing the best days to fly and the best provider to book your hotel is a great first step, but it should always be followed up by searching for further discounts online. Expedia.com hotel coupons can put fancy hotel rooms into your family’s reach, or they can help you stay within budget comfortably. Either way, it’s a fast (and free) way to save money.

  • Pack with Purpose

In order to take advantage of cheap transportation tickets – from flights to trains, to even buses – you will need to learn how to pack light. Even big name flights now offer budget airfare, where you forgo the bells and whistles and instead fly like you would on a bus – with a carry-on, no seat assignment, and no in-flight meal. You will be given a seat, of course, but chances are you won’t know where it is until you are on the plane. You will most likely not be sat beside your friends or family either. If you can handle this, then opting for the budget option is the best way to fly cheaply.

This means that you will likely need to wait for your children to outgrow their stroller. Before then, try visiting more local destinations that you can get to by car or with a quick train. You won’t have to deal with luggage restrictions, and can be back home in bed by the end of the day.

  • Take Short Trips Outside of School Holidays

Though it isn’t ideal to travel during term time, it is the best for travel deals. Simply contact the school and your child’s teacher beforehand so that you can make the necessary arrangements. Missing one or two days of school isn’t a big deal, especially if your kids have the work they will miss with them. By contacting the school, you can also ensure that you won’t be traveling during any tests or deadlines.

Try to work with long weekends as well. A long weekend in the States, for example, is a good time to fly. Go somewhere that long weekend doesn’t exist, and you can enjoy fewer crowds, great deals, and minimize the amount of time your children will miss from school.

Traveling is how Iowan families can break out of routine, see new sights, make some great memories, and enjoy the world and all it holds. By following this guide, you can do it on even a tight budget. Simply save if you need to, and use all these tips to reduce the cost of travel from the get-go.

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