Tips to Travel with Family on Budget
The person behind our yearly family travel for the past 4 years?
Since today is Mother's Day, I would like to dedicate this post to my Mom. Why? Well, because SHE was all the reason behind our yearly world travel for the past 4 years!
First, to tell you with 100% honesty, we are not rich. If you'd compare my family from Robert Kiyosaki's all-time bestselling book "Rich Dad and Poor Dad", I'd say we are the Poor Dad.
In the standard of living, we are just an average family — parents both depending on monthly salary with no other sources of income.
But that's not it... It doesn’t mean that only rich people can travel the world. Everyone can do it. Everyone is able to travel the world and so should be capable as well.
How will you be capable of travelling the world? Of course, you must take a leap to be able and capable to do it! And that's what my mother did.
But I’m not saying to take risks and travel the world with your whole family while you are broke.
Travelling, especially outside your country, requires money. It’s true. But not so muuuuch.
I’ll tell you how later in this post.
Klook.com
In the standard of living, we are just an average family — parents both depending on monthly salary with no other sources of income.
But that's not it... It doesn’t mean that only rich people can travel the world. Everyone can do it. Everyone is able to travel the world and so should be capable as well.
How will you be capable of travelling the world? Of course, you must take a leap to be able and capable to do it! And that's what my mother did.
But I’m not saying to take risks and travel the world with your whole family while you are broke.
Travelling, especially outside your country, requires money. It’s true. But not so muuuuch.
I’ll tell you how later in this post.
Klook.com
Everything started four (4) years ago...
Last four years ago (2017), if you’ve been reading my blog, I mentioned that we are traveling somewhere out of our country. It was actually my wish from my parents… a year ago before I turned eighteen (18)... that instead of throwing a party for my debut, I requested that if only possible we could travel outside the country.
Singapore was my first target country at that time since we already have relatives living there and my parents already been there as well. So I think it will be possible. And it was.
I was jumping around my friends that time, I can’t believe I am going to Singapore next year, that’s what I thought.
But… on this first trip, mommy only bought me, herself and my big brother a plane ticket.
I was a bit sad that we will be incomplete. But what my mom told me that time, she bought the plane ticket together with her other officemates. She wanted to try and observe first how her office mates travel out of the country.
I was able to see my favorite korean actors —Park Hyung Sik and Park Bo Young, all for free in Singapore at that time!
I was just so happy and it was all thanks to my mommy and her office mates that they changed our itinerary just for me to see both of them live (although still far from hand reach and the rest of the story will be posted on my next blogs).
Then we started to travel as a whole family...
November 2018 when we travelled outside the country as a whole family. My mom bought our plane tickets in advance (like 6 months or more). Mom planned to celebrate her birthday in Hong Kong with all of us. Not like in Singapore (which was my first passport stamp), I was not super excited from what my remaining siblings were feeling at that time.
But what I am feeling excited about is, I will be able to travel out of the country again! My second country stamp on my passport! And the feeling when you see your passports getting stamped by each country’s immigration, it was surreal.
And another country again, with the whole family...
Before the summer (May-June 2019) ends, our next destination was Cambodia-Thailand . It was actually the longest trip we have been. We were out of our country for a week! Spent three (3) days in Cambodia and four (4) days in Thailand .
Crossing the border between the two countries: Cambodia-Thailand was such a crazy experience for us! I will share our epic experience on my next posts.
The experience was like you are also in the Philippines (because of the hot weather, especially in summer) but with lots of fun activities and other cultures to explore!
Before lockdown, we are able to travel as a whole family again
While this COVID-19 pandemic was happening around the world, we feel blessed that we are able to (at least) travel before lockdown happens globally.
This year, January 2020, my mom planned to celebrate Dad’s birthday in Taiwan (and again, with the whole family). Actually, we missed our flight for the first time! But it wasn’t our fault, it was the company, so we didn’t spend any for rebooking our departure on the first day.
Trivia: What’s the downside of missing your flight, you’ll mess with your travel itinerary (but all our trip was DIY, so our trip was flexible ever since) and you’ll miss a day or so! So as much as possible don’t ever miss your flight. It was super hectic tho. And the rest of the story will be posted on the next blog.
It's a family & life goal to be able to travel out of the country with your whole family. It feels fulfilling to be able to make some of your family member’s wishes happen: To be able to travel outside the country.
Well, to tell you right now, nothing is impossible.
We, too, my family (especially mommy) never thought we would be able to travel a country, two, until this year.
So here are the top three (3) tips that might help you how you can travel with your whole family even you are not rich:
#1: Travel requires money. Yes. So plan your trip as early as possible.
So you will have more time to research and prepare yourself, your budget, your plane tickets and many more. Ideally, at least 6 months or a year before depending on your target budget (per family member). And now, do the math, how many months you can save to reach your target travel budget.
#2: Book your plane ticket early as possible.
Usually, my mom only plans which month to travel based on the ticket promo. If you are traveling with your whole family on a tight budget, you can do this. There are airlines who offer promo regularly. Grab that opportunity so you can avail their promo discounts! Trust me and my mom, it will definitely save your wallet. A lot. Since it saved ours too.
#3. Only if you are not confident to travel alone on your first trip out of the country: You can join your friends or anyone who you know that will travel out of the country.
So you can learn the basics and would be able to get tips from them on an actual experience. Like what my mommy did.
Why is it important to travel with your family?
Our family mantra after all the countries we have been through so far was,
“Travel while you can”
Traveling is not just all about expenses. You can always earn money, but the opportunity to travel ―especially with the whole family is very rare.
I once asked my mom, why does she always include us (their children) from their supposed to be parent-travel-only. She told me, it was my Dad’s request that if they can support us, they’ll travel with the whole family. But most of the expenses were shouldered by my Mom from Day 1 up to now.
And so, because of them, we are able to experience this rare opportunity, to travel outside of our country ―socialize with foreigners, explore and learn their cultures.
I once asked my mom, why does she always include us (their children) from their supposed to be parent-travel-only. She told me, it was my Dad’s request that if they can support us, they’ll travel with the whole family. But most of the expenses were shouldered by my Mom from Day 1 up to now.
And so, because of them, we are able to experience this rare opportunity, to travel outside of our country ―socialize with foreigners, explore and learn their cultures.
Before I end this, my mother told us that Taiwan 2020 will probably be our last trip as a whole family because she said it will be hard for us (who already graduated college and already working) to be able to find time to travel with them. I kinda lost my heart when she said that. Well, she has a point. We are already growing up and it will be harder and harder to find time for the family as we will become busy to live our lives
So I would like to thank my super Mom, for letting us experience this as a whole family. I hope someday, I’ll be the one to treat you and the whole family for a trip for another country. Who knows?
Right now… my mom is planning for another trip for next year… but unsure if we are able to be travelling as family. Let’s all see what will happen then.
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To travel and wander... where to next? Plan your next destination!
New to a place? Have no idea what transportation to take? Where to buy tickets? 12Go offer booking services for all kinds of public transportation worldwide. You can now book flights, transfers, taxis, trains, buses and ferries anywhere you are!
To compare airlines, dates and prices all in one place, you can use Skyscanner. You can also book in advance on Klook for train tickets, rent a car and airport transfers; or book your flights, hotels, trains, cars and tours all-in-one with Trip.com.
Discover and experience all amazing things to do on your trip!
My family and I usually do DIY travels outside our country. This made it much hassle-free, fun and exciting, and it was all thanks to GetYourGuide and Klook for being our travel companion.
Klook and GetYourGuide have a lot of great activities you can include on your travel plan at exclusive prices! You can also book transfers, rent a car, buy train tickets, WiFi and Sim Card all in advance; or save up to 50% on combined prices for admission to must-see attractions with CityPASS!
Get up to 80% off hotel deals for your travel accommodation!
We always book our travel accommodation in Agoda or Airbnb because they are very easy to use and has a lot of options to choose. They have guesthouses, hotels, resorts, hostels and more at affordable prices with high-quality services.
If you are looking for your next travel accommodation, Agoda have more than 2M listed properties worldwide. Search here your next destination and get up to 80% off exclusive discounts on selected hotels for your next accomodation.
You can also book your stay and find the best deals at Hotels.com; or use the promo code: STAYMORE7 to get 42% off sitewide on OYO Hotels! Valid until December 31, 2020 only.
Don't forget to travel with travel insurance!
Travel insurance is your protection against illness, injury, accidents, thefts, travel delays and more. So, if you are planning to travel make sure sure to get one! I've been using SafetyWing —the world's first insurance for digital nomads, for a while now and it's incredibly easy and affordable.
You can get insured for as low as $9 per week starting today to get covered wherever you go and get access to a qualified global network of hospitals and doctors for the fortuitous events!
New to a place? Have no idea what transportation to take? Where to buy tickets? 12Go offer booking services for all kinds of public transportation worldwide. You can now book flights, transfers, taxis, trains, buses and ferries anywhere you are!
To compare airlines, dates and prices all in one place, you can use Skyscanner. You can also book in advance on Klook for train tickets, rent a car and airport transfers; or book your flights, hotels, trains, cars and tours all-in-one with Trip.com.
Discover and experience all amazing things to do on your trip!
My family and I usually do DIY travels outside our country. This made it much hassle-free, fun and exciting, and it was all thanks to GetYourGuide and Klook for being our travel companion.
Klook and GetYourGuide have a lot of great activities you can include on your travel plan at exclusive prices! You can also book transfers, rent a car, buy train tickets, WiFi and Sim Card all in advance; or save up to 50% on combined prices for admission to must-see attractions with CityPASS!
Get up to 80% off hotel deals for your travel accommodation!
We always book our travel accommodation in Agoda or Airbnb because they are very easy to use and has a lot of options to choose. They have guesthouses, hotels, resorts, hostels and more at affordable prices with high-quality services.
If you are looking for your next travel accommodation, Agoda have more than 2M listed properties worldwide. Search here your next destination and get up to 80% off exclusive discounts on selected hotels for your next accomodation.
You can also book your stay and find the best deals at Hotels.com; or use the promo code: STAYMORE7 to get 42% off sitewide on OYO Hotels! Valid until December 31, 2020 only.
Don't forget to travel with travel insurance!
Travel insurance is your protection against illness, injury, accidents, thefts, travel delays and more. So, if you are planning to travel make sure sure to get one! I've been using SafetyWing —the world's first insurance for digital nomads, for a while now and it's incredibly easy and affordable.
You can get insured for as low as $9 per week starting today to get covered wherever you go and get access to a qualified global network of hospitals and doctors for the fortuitous events!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links and ads. Read my full disclosure policy here.
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