Whenever you read a blog post or watch a Youtube video about how to find budget travel as a family, one of the first tips you will hear is to be flexible on your dates. This is a great piece of advice whilst children are little and I’ve said it many times myself. However, what happens when your children start going to school and you can’t be flexible?
Up until now, we have experienced the luxury of just pulling our kids out of the nursery, no fines, no questions asked. But, our eldest will be starting full-time school in September. This has led me to start researching, how we can maintain this travel lifestyle, and still allow him to attend school.
The option of homeschooling/worldschooling has crossed my mind multiple times a day. I’m still open to it, however, I think for us as a family right now, a mainstream school is our first option. Roman absolutely loves the social side of nursery and hopefully, that will continue in school. We will see!
So… How will we budget travel as a family and still attend school
Whether your children are already in school, or you are in a similar situation to us. In this post, I’m sharing with you some of the things we will be implementing into our travel habits, and how we are going to still find cheap travel with your school-aged kids.
Taking advantage of a weekend getaway
Sometimes when travelling (especially us), we get swept away by exotic long-haul destinations. We sometimes forget that we live so close to so many different amazing countries and cities.
A weekend getaway could be the ingredient needed to tie you over until that next holiday. Travelling after school on a Friday and returning Sunday evening gives a great amount of time to explore for 2 nights.
For local getaways, use a hotel booking site and have a look around your local areas to see where the cheapest places to stay are. It’s a great way to appreciate where you live. Alternatively visiting family and friends for the weekend is another great way to get out and travel.
If you live close to a budget airline hub, this is a great way to have a cheap weekend away. We are fortunate to live near Stansted airport, home to Ryanair. Look out for those £20 return flight sales.
Prioritise travel in the school holidays
In the UK we are lucky that schools do have quite a few breaks for half terms. 6 weeks in the summer and a couple of weeks over Christmas and Easter. No, they aren’t the cheapest times to travel as it’s peak travel times. However, if you use these times wisely.
For the cheapest travel deals have a look at which countries are in their low season. For example; the summer holidays in Europe will be at a premium for its great weather. However, this is the rainy season in Asia and usually the cheapest time to visit.
Travelling with a group of friends is also another way to keep the costs down. Splitting accommodation, transport and activities will save everyone money.
Booking travel in advance
Something I’m really going to focus on is planning ahead. We are notorious last-minute holidayers and have booked travel in the morning, for that evening before. I am beginning to notice that when it comes to travel during the school holidays, it isn’t the cheapest option anymore.
Last-minute deals used to actually be a deal, nowadays the best deals are around 6 months ahead of your travel. Free kids places and kids stay free spaces are some of the best ways to get a discount. These deals are normally on a first come first serve basis so keep an eye out.
Schools normally release the calendars a year in advance. This gives you a great opportunity to map out your travels, work out the cheapest destinations for each school break and then see how far your budgets can stretch.
Have you mastered budget travel as a family and still attend school?
We would love to hear any tips you have that we may find useful! drop us an email or DM us on socials with your life-saving hacks to travelling during the school holidays cheaply!
If you found this post useful, don’t forget to check out our other Budgeting Tips
