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| Sydney - November 2009 |
We leave for Australia and New Zealand in less than a month! To say I am excited would be a HUGE under statement. I haven't been home in almost two years and while we did fly my brother here last summer it is really difficult being away from home for so long, especially with the earthquakes in Christchurch. I would give anything to be there for my family!
Anyway, this holiday has been in the works for months. We bought tickets five or so months ago and got a great deal on them - buy early and on sale! It ended up being cheaper for us to hit two countries and three cities than just one city and country! Deal! And to make it even sweeter, we paid for them in CASH! A huge thing for us, we have some serious debt that we accumulated during the long distance portion of our relationship. Vacations are not an option if they are going to add to our debt, there's nothing relaxing about that!
In fact, everything has been paid for in cash. It hasn't been easy. I have sold almost everything not nailed down (that we don't use anymore, I didn't sell my kid's bed, don't worry!), put in extra hours at work, sewn extra items to sell, done more surveys than I usually would, budgeted and cut back on unnecessary spending. A vacation like this does cost a lot, especially for those with kids over 2 (when they pay the adult fare) but there are ways to save a lot of money!
Airplane tickets - know when tickets are cheapest. Tickets are cheapest at least 60-90 days away from the travel date, except for last minute deals. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are said to be the best days to buy tickets and I found that to be true. The difference between prices on say Friday and Tuesday was anywhere between $100-$400 total for the three of us! Also consider the airline. Continental is who we generally fly with and while their prices were in line with another airline, the other airline does NOT charge for checked baggage while Continental charges $25+ a pop. Huge savings for families!
Car rentals - we used to rent from the big name companies; Avis, Budget, Hertz. We would shop around a little and compare prices to save a bit but nothing like we do now. Up until our last vacation in 2009 we didn't even know we had any other options. Now we rent from smaller local companies. They generally do not have desks IN the airport but they do offer free pick-ups and drop-offs from their offices which are usually within 5 minutes of the airport. The cars aren't quite as new, but they drive, are very reliable and clean and get the job done. Start out by googling for example 'Sydney Car rentals' and visit the websites of companies you do NOT recognize. We are saving at LEAST $1000USD by doing this.
Vacation homes vs. Hotels - the difference between the two is huge! Hotels are expensive. Even motels in certain places are expensive! And you don't get a whole lot for your money size and facility wise. This might be OK for childless couples but when you have little ones you really need more than a studio unit and a mini fridge and microwave, especially if you're looking to save money (and your sanity!) in other areas too. A quick search for 'holiday homes in ____' generally returns a lot of websites. If we were to go with a fairly nice hotel in the area we're staying we would be paying at least double what we are for the holiday homes we have rented. And we would only have one room and a microwave. For a week. Madness. For 50% less we are getting 100% more space, full sized semi-stocked kitchens so we can cook most of our meals to save even more, laundry facilities, free parking, free internet, extra beds for family (and no need to rent a cot for P) AND even a little backyard space for our very energetic little boy! Our holiday home in Australia is just steps away from the beach... and as an added bonus, sometimes holiday homes come with their own in built wild entertainment...
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| Feeding Rainbow Lorikeets - Sydney, Australia 2009 |
Spending Money - this can be a bit of a doozey.
Everything else falls into this category for us; food, sight seeing and activities, souvenirs, petrol and other travel expenses;
Food - this is a tricky one because we LOVE trying new food and have favorite restaurants in New Zealand that we head to whenever we visit. Portion sizes are smaller and prices MUCH higher down under, a single glass of coke as an example can be anywhere between $2-$4 and refills are NOT free. Here's how we'll save a bit of money while away;
** Flying Food - We're taking our two larger stainless steel lunchboxes with us, one with as many bananas as it will hold and the other with smaller snacks for P - cereal, raisins, gold bunnies etc as well as a couple cartons of rice milk for my little eczema monkey. Airline meals are never big enough to keep you satisfied even on international flights. I have a few heavy duty protein bars stashed away for me that I got on sale from Kroger. Then when we get to where we're going the lunchboxes will be used for our packed lunches on day trips! We may or may not be able to bring drink bottles on the plane for P but we'll definitely bring them with us anyway, empty in our check luggage to save on bottled water.
** We're
bringing the more expensive things with us; gluten free organic cereal and single serve cartons of organic rice milk for P, protein and granola bars, shampoo and conditioner in travel sized bottles, deodorant, shaving cream, razors, lotion, all natural sunscreen and bug repellent, toothpaste and toothbrushes.
** Make a
meal plan the first day we arrive and hit the local supermarket for ingredients for all breakfasts, lunches and some dinners. We are foodies at heart so we'll allow ourselves to eat out probably once a day but a filling breakfast and lunch will save a lot! I'm considering bringing my favorite cook book and a bag of our most used herbs and spices with us so we can make a big pot of spaghetti etc to eat on for the week we are in each city.
Sight seeing and activities - as much as I would love to see everything in each city we're going to have to prioritize. Chances are that we will be living in either NZ or Australia soon enough and will be able to see everything in time. Tickets for the three of us for Australia Zoo (the Crocodile Hunter's zoo) will be $150+ just there. I think we will end up choosing one or two attractions per city and then just wonder and see what kind of free or cheap entertainment we can find - which is part of the fun I think! A lot of places let you buy tickets online to save a little money so we're going to look into that and plan ahead!
And I did find out that Neil Finn (of Crowded House) will be in Perth when we are so that's going to have to be worked into the budget!
Petrol and other travel expenses - petrol is pricey in the southern hemisphere! We are renting the smallest, most fuel efficient car that will fit all our luggage and P's car seat in it (which we are also bringing with us to save money on a rental - it's a safer seat too since he still rear faces). It looks like we will not be renting a car at all in Perth so a small amount will go towards public transport and we will get a lot of walking in. A good thing because I plan on eating. A lot.
So there ya go. Am I missing anything? How do you save money when traveling with little ones? Or big kids? I'm off to write a list...
