Friday, July 25, 2008

Cheap Family Vacations

Cheap family vacations are a necessity when you are on a tight budget.

There are many different ways that you can save some money. Here a few money saving vacation ideas. One thing you can do is to stay flexible when planning your trip.

Most people travel on weekends so shifting your plans to fly on a weekday will save you money. This can also help with car rentals.

By traveling on a weekday, you thenare vacationing on the weekend and car rentals are typically cheaper on weekends.

Flexibility is important when it comes to timing your vacation. The more popular vacation spots will usually cost you more during peak season.

Do a little research and find out when the off-season is. Then plan your holiday for when the rates are cheaper.

Don’t get fixated on one particular destination. If you want a tropical beach vacation there are many different choices. Again a little research will go a long way. Don’t rush off to the one that everyone is raving about.

Find an out of the way spot and you will do your vacation budget a big favor. Planning ahead is the key to achieving cheap family vacations. Waiting until the last minute will force you into going with the more expensive vacation costs.

For you single parents, Quality Time Travel is a company that will help you cut your costs. They can find you resorts that offer single occupancy rates and excellent children's programs. They can match you up with other single parents and help you both save.

Another way to keep that vacation budget in line is to use travel clubs. Travelers Advantage, Vacations To Go and Moment’s Notice are three popular travel clubs. These clubs are an exception to the rule of planning ahead. For people who are willing to travel on short notice they offer discounts on unsold airline tickets, cruises and vacation packages.

Maybe you would consider a home exchange for cheap family vacations. It’s not as out-there a vacation idea as you may think. Lots of people are doing it. There are a number of companies that will help you find another family to exchange homes with. This can be a unique and very interesting way to save on hotel costs and maybe meet some new friends in the bargain.

You can travel cheap on Amtrak by purchasing discount promotional coupons on eBay. Many of these are "buy one get one free" deals. These are seats that Amtrak discounts for various reasons and you can pick them up for a song. If you are flexible with routes and travel times then this will help you achieve your cheap family vacation plans.

To make the best of your cheap vacation ideas, you need to keep your travel expenses down. The best way to find inexpensive air flights is to spend some time researching on the internet. yes, it’s a hassle but it is time well spent. To help you out, here are some sites that specialize in helping you find airfare deals and discounts.

  • Goo Flight, Sky Scanner and Apple Fares are low cost European flight search engines.
  • Fare Chase, Qixo and Opodo will help you search U.S.A. flights.
  • LowCostAirlines.org and Attitude Travel will provide you with a list of the cheapest fares on flights.

  • How about a cheap vacation idea combined with the opportunity to actually help out a community somewhere in the world? GlobalVolunteers.org have a volunteer service program that has arranged volunteer vacations for thousands of couples, families, groups and individuals. You live with locals and work on community development projects. It's a great way to get away, get involved and get tremendous satisfaction from your vacation.

    Some other cheap family vacations ideas are...stay local rather than flying across country…..Camping is an inexpensive vacation idea. Try a camping trip to one of our great National Parks……A canoeing vacation is a wonderful family vacation idea. It’s relatively cheap and can provide a real family bonding experience.

    Put some money aside each week during the year, plan ahead and, most of all, just have some plain old-fashioned fun.

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