I love traveling! It’s seriously one of my favorite things. I love experiencing unique places and exploring new cultures. I love roaming the streets, shopping from street vendors, and trying new foods. Want to know what I hate most about traveling? Doing so on a shoestring budget. I loathe flying somewhere and then not being able to do much of anything because you’re pinching pennies.
“Hey, wanna go to the…. Guess not, it costs money.”
Or “Maybe we could… Oh, it’s not free?”
It’s like having a piece of cake and not being able to eat it. Now that Emi is older, Tyler and I are trying to think of where to take a mini vacation. We have decided that we’ll try to take one family vacation every year. There are plenty of places we would love to visit, but our destination must meet the following criteria:
- Inexpensive
- Warm
- Kid friendly
- Cheap
- Within four hours of our home
- Almost free
All sarcasm aside, while doing research for our upcoming vacation, I came across some fabulous websites and wanted to pass them along.
Travel Savvy Mom is a network of moms from all over the world. They review family friendly hotels, travel gear, and destinations. They also often include videos from their travels.
Another great resource is Trekaroo. It is a website that, in addition to giving great travel advice, provides a forum for parents to ask other parents their take on places and topics that Trekaroo is not yet covering. The site also has search filters that make it easy to find activities and places to stay based on prices or a particular age range.
Delicious Baby is probably my favorite website/blog. Debbie Dubrow of Seattle, a mother of two kids under 5 years old, is responsible for this top notch guide. When I clicked on San Francisco, it produced rental companies for baby equipment, itineraries, kid friendly restaurants, local event websites, and numerous activities. I urge you to bookmark this site.
Packing for Emi always drives me crazy. It seems that no matter how efficient I am in the packing department, Emi’s things always dominate the suitcase. Say hello to Babies Travel Lite. They will send all of your baby travel needs, such as diapers, bottles, wipes, and formula, to your destination. This is somewhat of a luxury, but the service will save you space in your suitcase. Still don’t think it’s a great idea? Check out their website. Courteney Cox Arquette endorses it, so it must be amazing, right?
If we can’t find a destination that meets our criteria, perhaps our new tradition will be to lie around the house in our robes for a few days. Emi already seems to be a pro. Plus, it is free and relaxing!
-Kacey
We traveled all the time when I was young. I always loved it.
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Lots of great tips, let me know if you find a vacation that is nearly free!!
I love your ending.
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You can go camping in your own backyard!
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Awesome information Kacey! Thank you. I’ll be sure and send people to your post. I know lots of moms out there that would probably really appreciate this information.
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I hate to travel…even to the next town. LOL
But this is great information to have for when my hubby does drag me on a trip.
Thanks:)
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Wish I could convince my husband to travel but he thinks it would be easier to built a pyramid from scratch.
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Lying around in my robe—that sounds like the best vacation ever!
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I love traveling as well, exploring new places to eat and relax. Quaint and cozy is my thing so I love Bed & Breakfasts the most!!!!! The Babies Travel Lite site sounds great!!!!!!
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Oh my gosh..thank you so much for the tips! I want to have “little getaways” with our kids at least ONCE a year! We have five kids ages 5-12, so you can see where that could be a challenge! But, they are easy to please, and anywhere besides home would be great for them!
I’m going to bookmark those sites now!!
Thanks!
Alicia
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With two heading off to college in a few months, our money will travel with them! Is there a website to tell me how to make sure my money has a good time:)
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GREAT tips!! We always go to Disneyland. My kids love it and so do I!!
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It is hard to travel on a budget! We now live far from grandparents and extended family. It seems that all of our travel time is spent visiting them. But we want to start doing a yearly family vacation that doesn’t involve a 14 hour drive :S
I am looking forward to browsing through the sites you mentioned! The Family Fun website has travel tips and info on some places. Not everywhere, but enough to get some great ideas.
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I love traveling too! I so want to move to Spain!
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B.C. (before children) we went everywhere. Now we make a biennial trip to the East Coast. We’ve started doing some travel with the kids in the past few years. I find now that hotels just really don’t work for us. We stay in timeshares or suites that have some kind of a kitchen.
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THE KIDS HAVING SCHOOL OFF IS THE BEST VACATION FOR ME, NO HOME WORK, NO CAR POOL LOL
THSNKS FOR STOPING BY AND YOU SARE WELCOME.
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Thanks for the tips! We also love to travel. I love the robe idea though, she looked soo comfy! I have tagged you girls on my blog! Check it out for the details!
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Thanks for the great travel information! I’ve already checked out all of your website suggestions, and I KNOW I will be checking them again and again as we plan future vacations!
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Thanks for the ideas! I have a two year old so this is very helpful. Also, as a side bar, I used a pic of Courtney Cox as my Facebook profile pic.
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Traveling with just me and my husband can be a pain, so I can only imagine doing it with lots of little ones!
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Hey, THANKS Kacey!
Travel Savvy Mom is also a place for moms to post hotel and vacation rental property reviews. We have a handy “Write a hotel review” button for just that purpose.
Everyone please stop by and write up your favorite place to crash with kids.
Finally, we’re building a network of moms all over to write hotel reviews. Must be comfy with words, photos, and video. It’s unpaid, but the hotel stays are comped.
Email me if interested, jamie@travelsavvymom.com.
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The planning of a vacation is often half the fun, isn’t it?! I like to roam the internet looking for nice places to go, and almost feel a bit lost when everything is settled and I don’t have to roam anymore.
Thanks for you lovely comment! You brightened up my day!
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Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, I don’t get much traffic and truly appreciate it. I love your vacation criteria! I should have thought of that!
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Seriously though, some of my BEST finds while traveling were when I was too poor to do the regular stuff. I found the most amazing foods and sites that I never would have experienced if I’d had the money to do other obvious things. Of course that’s all in hindsight. So I’m giving you my hindsight!
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Just bookmarked the delish baby site. With three kids under 6, we don’t travel as much as we’d like. We are always looking for kid friendly activities in the City.
Loved the pic…I always loved those two lone bottom baby teeth!!
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I could go for lying around in my robe for a couple of days!
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Sometimes those home vacations are the best! Though I must admit traveling across the globe has its moments. For cheap, make friends with people who have time share points they have to use up every year. We’re constantly trying to figure out how to use ours up, and the condos are wonderful for family stays.
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OK Three bay b chicks. I tagged you in my blog for some random tidbits of information about yourselves. Now before you roll your eyes and delete yourselves as followers of my blog, go over and check it out. k?
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BTW, I love to travel with or without my kids. It is always best to know people in other city’s…especially fun city’s. That way, maybe if your kids are good, they will invite you to stay a night and save on hotels. ya, that doesn’t usually happen to me but, It would probably work out for you. I see you are in SF…that is a GREAT city. wink wink.
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Ahhh travelling! I usually end up forgetting something major like – pull ups or you know, clothes. But I LOVE to travel. I much rather pack everything to GO then to unpack it when We’ve returned… it seems like such a bigger job when you’re unpacking
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I hope you find the most amazing spots to travel to and from. The journey of getting ready and getting there is half the fun anyway.
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Drive to the next state/province and explore. I loved roadtrips as a kid.
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I’ve always love to travel even before I got married and become a mom. Traveling with a baby then a toddler surely is not easy and I still have the near-to-a-break-down-moments just before I travel with my now 3 years old boy but it’s all worth it in the end because we always had fun no matter how we ‘get’ there LOL. Thanks for the links, will surely check them out.
Maureen´s last blog ..Sippy Cup oh Sippy Cup
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