Taking a family vacation can be both fun as well as a nightmare. This series will help you get through the family vacation with both your budget and your sanity intact!

While some people plan a family vacation months or even a year in advance, if you are like me, you know when you can take your vacation but have been so caught up in the day-to-day routine that you have yet to decide where the family is going this summer! Here are a few steps you need to take:

:: Decide on a budget

With luck, you have been putting money away just for your vacation fund. In reality, you are probably going to pay cash for some and put the rest on the credit card. Please don’t get caught up in the idea of “well – let’s just take a great vacation and worry about paying the bill later!”. It is one week out of your life. There is no sense in committing yourself to paying for it for the next 30-50 weeks!

:: Decide on a Timeframe

If you only have 7 calendar days for your vacation and you live in Philadelphia, you might want to rethink Hawaii. Consider your travel time as well as any possible jet-lag time.  Let me tell you – I want to go to Hawaii as much as the next person, but there is NO WAY that I am going to do it with a 7-day vacation.  With almost 36 hours in just pure travel time, as well as any possible jet lag….if I am going to Hawaii, I am going to do it RIGHT and have more time there.

:: Consider the Ages of Your Children

We are in the middle of planning a vacation right now and really want to go to either go to Disney World or on a Disney Cruise.  There is no doubt that my 5 & 8 year old will love it, but my 10-year old is really starting to “age-out”.  Likewise, if we planned a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, my 10-year old would be in HEAVEN, but my younger children would be bored spitless. Of course, if you live on the East Coast, you can always fall back on a week at the beach (or as we say where I live “down the shore”), but if you are looking for something more unique, make sure that you do your research so that there are plenty of fun things for ALL your children (as well as Mom & Dad).

:: Don’t Plan An Aggressive Vacation

Before Brad and I had children, we would plan vacations where we got up at 6:30am, spend all days on tours and activities and not get back to the hotel until after 11:00pm.  Now that we have children, those days are GONE.  Children need downtime, whether it is just heading back to the hotel to swim in the pool or watching an episode of My Little Pony (or a nap).  Nobody wants to come home feeling like they need a vacation from their vacation!

:: Relax

It’s 1-2 weeks out of your year.  Don’t count on a vacation to solve all the problems in your life.  Vacations are a great way to have some downtime and refocus, but it is what you do the other 50-51 weeks of the year that matters most in your life.  Don’t put unreasonable expectations on this vacation or you will be disappointed!

What are your best vacation planning tips?

Taking a family vacation can be both fun as well as a nightmare. This series will help you get through the family vacation with both your budget and your sanity intact!

Of course, the easiest and fastest way to get to most destinations is by plane. If you are lucky enough to live in a major metropolitan area, you can usually score cheap plane tickets to the major family attractions. if you are choosing to travel by plane, here are a few tips for your travels:

Use Online Sites like Travelocity and Orbitz to check fares, but book directly through the airline

We learned this lesson the hard way.  When Brad had to suddenly bump up his trip to visit his dying father, the airline was willing to waive the change fee, but we got penalized about $60 because we booked through a third party.  In all likelihood, you won’t have to change your flight, but if an emergency arises, that $50-$60 fee can add up for a family of 4! Yes – you can find the best rates for your trip through those sites, but in most cases, the rate is the same when you just head to the airline directly to book your ticket.

Just pay the $25 to check a bag

I know that this doesn’t sound frugal, but it will save your sanity.  After too many trips of carefully considering and reconsidering every item that I put in to my carryon, then getting my boarding pass and finding out that I am in Zone 5 and needing to gate-check my bag anyway, I just decided to start checking my bag. You can still take a few carryons in your family and chances are that you STILL might have to gate-check your bag, but knowing that you don’t have to count out the exact number of socks and underwear in order to get everything to fit in a carryon will give you some flexibility in your packing.  To me, that is worth $25!

Arrive early at the airport

Unless you live near the most efficient airport in the country, plan on arriving at LEAST 90 minutes (preferably 2 hours) ahead of your domestic airline departure. You never know when one of the machines is going to break down AND 2 agents called out sick and before you know it, you are standing in the Security line for 2 hours (30 minutes past your flight time) and then traipsing through the airport trying to get reticketed and end up arriving at your destination 5 hours later than you planned.

Ask me how I know this…..I can’t imagine what it would have been like with my entire family in tow!

Pack snacks and make sure the electronics are charged

Of course, you can’t pack juiceboxes and bottled water, but you can pack granola bars, trail mix, fruits, etc.  Did you know that a small can of Blue Diamond almonds costs $8 on the flight, but just about $3 at the grocery stores? Pack some snacks to take to avoid having to pay the airport or in-flight prices

As for electronics, the only thing that saved me when I took a 6 hour flight with my boys was that the iPad and their DS’s were charged.  Make sure everything is completely charged before you leave the house (and don’t forget the chargers so that you can charge them before the trip home!)

If your children are old enough to read by themselves, stock the Kindle, iPad, Android or laptop with free Kindle downloads and let them read for a while!

Remember that not everyone loves your children as much as you do

Flying these days is tough.  Everyone is stressed about how they herd us like cattle in to a metal tube and then shoot us through the air at a kajillion miles per hour.  Add to that a baby crying for 3 hours and you can guarantee that you will be getting the stink-eye from more than a few people.  This is not to say that babies and toddlers don’t get cranky and babies DO cry.  But you need to have a contingency plan for when they do!  Yes – you have a right to take your child on a plane for your vacation…but the other 200 people on that flight have the right to take a plane ride without listening to your little Jeffrey and his mom!

What are your best trips for traveling by plane?

Taking a family vacation can be both fun as well as a nightmare. This series will help you get through the family vacation with both your budget and your sanity intact!

Oh please – make it stop. I can think of fewer things that I like less than a 14 hour car ride with my family. Needless to say, after several…ahem…”discussions” (where discussions = “I am flying and you can take the kids”), we have worked out some guidelines that finally work for us!

:: Reconsider car trips lasting more than 18 hours each way

With the price of gas these days, and unless you have 2 weeks vacation to spend, consider the cost of travel time, gas, wear & tear on your car vs. the cost of a flight. If your kids are young, you and your spouse may be able to get through a “marathon” driving session, switching off, but if your kids are older, you are going to need to pay for a hotel room. It always seems like driving is the cheaper option, but when you factor everything in, it just may not be!

:: For car trips lasting more than 10 hours, think about driving through the night

Every year, we pack our 3 kids (6, 9 & 11 now) in the car and drive to Savannah, GA or Kokomo, IN to see family. It’s roughly an 11 hour drive. We usually end up leaving at about 7:00pm and taking “shifts”.  The important thing is, we drive, the kids sleep through 75% of the trip and when we wake up, we are officially “on vacation”. The first day kinda stinks for Brad & I (because we are tired), but we get through it!

:: Pack activities for the kids

Books, video games, travel board games…this is not news to most people.  But think of new games that you can play with your children:  the license plate game, the rhyming game, etc

:: Consider a portable DVD player system

If your car doesn’t come equipped with a DVD player, you can buy a portable DVD player with screens that hook on to the front-seat headrests. If your children can agree on a movie, it can give you 1.5 – 2 hours of peace and quiet! We actually have a 2003 minivan that has a VHS player (yes – that’s right…I said VHS), but we have a $50 DVD player that we can plug in the to dashboard that plays DVDs through the overhead screen

:: Buy the “coffee cup charger“

If your children are old enough to be using DSi’s, iPads, laptops, etc…this can be an invaluable item.

:: Set clearly defined guidelines about when you will stop for breaks

A 2-4 year old who is just learning to be toilet-trained? Yeah – you stop whenever they SAY “I need to go” (unless the say that every time they see a green sign on the highway, which is a WHOLE other story).  If one of you just wants to “get there” and thinks that a hot dog while pumping gas is a perfectly acceptable meal, and the other wants to go in to a restaurant, sit down and be served a meal….then figure that out BEFORE you leave the house. Does he like to stop at every outlet mall and you want to stop to see the World’s Largest Ball of Twine?  Plan your route beforehand, along with any possible diversions and agree on them before you hit the road!

:: Think about making the ride the main part of the vacation

If we got in the car, pledged to spend a certain number of hours each day driving in any direction, then a day there, then another few hours driving, then another few hours in a new city…I bet we could see some amazing parts of the country.  I’ll never forget the time that Brad and I decided to come home from Savannah by way of Atlanta (where we spent about 30 hours, did the CNN tour and ending up being in a live audience of one of the shows just hours after the USS Cole Bombing), wound through the south then took the Skyline Drive as we made our way home.  That part of the trip was as much fun as anything else!

What are your best tips for traveling by car with the family?

Taking a family vacation can be both fun as well as a nightmare. This series will help you get through the family vacation with both your budget and your sanity intact!

Sometimes the best solution to your vacation-planning problems (whether they be lack of time or money) is the simplest – consider a Staycation! The term “staycation” has really only been around for a few years, but people have been doing it forever. Simply put, a Staycation is finding things to do (preferably on the cheap) in your own area.

So how do you find inexpensive ways to make your Staycation memorable?

Check out Groupon for local deals: this will depend on your area, but I can always find fun activities for the family on Groupon. Everything from discounted go-kart rides to pottery painting to cheap tickets to local museums and zoos. Just make sure that you check the expiration dates of your Groupon deals as well as any exclusions.

Google “Free Things To Do” for your town as well as surrounding towns and cities: this is going to be “hit or miss”, depending on where you live and many will be outdated, but you might find

Head to the lobby of your local hotel: in most cases, there will be a rack SOMEWHERE in the lobby of brochures for things to do in your area. Some will be expensive and some won’t be, but I bet that you will find some things to do in your area that you didn’t realize existed!

Plan on 2-3 Big Fun Days and the rest of the time being low-key fun: My husband gets 3 weeks vacation per year and our budget won’t allow for 3 out-of-town vacations. We ALWAYS do at least 1 of those weeks as a Staycation. One day we may just take the kids fishing (well, actually, Brad takes them fishing…I don’t do that), the next may be a day at Hershey Park (with a coupon code, of course). Another may be heading to the Rennaissance Fair…and yet another may just be having a water balloon fight with the neighbors!

Check out state parks and local wildlife preserves: many state parks have great websites detailing all the trails, upcoming activities and ideas for you to enjoy the park.

Look for hyper-local blogs for your area: Where I live, we have 2 great blogs (Chester County Moms and Montgomery County Moms – they also happen to be run by a friend of mine) that keep a watchful eye on everything to do in the area. They even have a great calendar of events that list everything from wine-tastings to library events in the area. Google “[Your county or state] Moms” or “[Your county or state] blog” and there is a very good chance that you will find a new resource not just for your Staycation, but for the rest of the year!

Subscribe to local magazines or newspapers (or go their website): Many of the events listed in their “community happenings” section are paid ads, so they will also be on the website as well. In the summer, you will find strawberry festivals, peach festivals, (name your local produce) festivals, but you will also find details on local historic tours, restaurant events and more!

What are your best tips for a Staycation?