Traveling abroad is more accessible now than it ever has been. With quick access to flight deals, family travel blogs, and Airbnbs all over the world, planning a trip is accessible and can be a lot of fun! The more we travel the more we want to help other people travel and have amazing experiences together.

We understand that not every family has the means to travel to exotic places around the world. However, we think that there are some awesome adventures likely in your own backyard that you can enjoy anytime! Just getting outside together is going to create lasting memories and build stronger relationships.

For those families who want to travel more frequently and to places that are further away we’ve created these realistic steps to help you set some big goals and make your travel dreams a reality. Some of these steps may take weeks or months but they will get you to your goal if you stick with it! These go along with our guide: How to Plan a Family Trip Abroad which you can download for free here.

Make a destinations list

Don’t hold anything back here. Write down all of the places you’ve dreamt of visiting. Dream big! Your list may have 5 destinations or 50, it doesn’t matter. 

Next to each destination write down the reasons you want to visit. You could even take some time to look up sites to see at each destination. Look up these destinations on instagram using hashtags to get ideas!

Choose your top 5 places

Now you’re going to do some research as to what each of these locations would cost you. Are you staying in hostels, hotels, airbnbs, rentals, etc.. What type of activities are available and what do they cost? How much are round trip flights approximately to these destinations? We highly recommend using Skyscanner to research flights. You can search flights over an entire month and see which days are the cheapest to fly. You can also compare the cost of flying into different airports within a country or region. Skyscanner has very helpful search tools! We’ve booked all of our flights using Skyscanner.

Calculate how much each trip would cost you.

Write down exact expenses for each location. Things you’ll want to research and record are car rentals, food, activities, flights, and accommodations. Come up with a rough number for how much each location would cost you.

Decide on a trip budget and choose which location would fit best 

Deciding on a budget is going to help you choose which location is best for your next trip. Look at the places you’ve calculated the costs for and decide on which place to travel to.

Plan travel dates

Look at your calendar and choose which dates might work for this trip. It may take some planning to get time off work as well as getting kids out of school but planning in advance will help with that. Try to set travel dates within 1 year. If you are working your way out of debt setting a travel goal will be great motivation for getting out of debt.

Make plans to pay off debt and start saving money

Having your travel goals and dreams in mind is really going to help you pay off your debt faster! We have shared about how we got out of debt in our blog post here. We know it might seem impossible but you can get out of debt way faster than you realize if you set your mind to it! The faster you get out of debt the sooner you can start saving for your trip. We highly recommend using the Dave Ramsey method for paying off debt.

Take another job or increase your income with your current job

When we decided to pay off more than 100k in two years Mike and I both took on more work. I was teaching piano students and took on more students. During those two years I had 45+ students. We also started selling books on Amazon and doing extra photography projects. Another thing we did was sell both of our vehicles and bought cheaper vehicles with cash. This saved us a lot of money and we didn’t have any monthly payments on our cars!

Create a savings account specifically for travel

As soon as you finish paying off your debt you can start saving for your trip abroad. This is the fun and exciting part! We recommend putting money towards your trip every month. Having a separate savings account will be really helpful! It’s your dream big travel account!

Find ways to save money and get serious about saving for your trip

• Buy groceries and go out to eat less often

• Use and reuse the clothing you have, don’t go shopping 

• Find free activities to do instead of spending money at the movies or other activities that cost money 

Start researching and planning your trip

As your trip gets closer you can start planning your travel itinerary. If you need help planning your trip you should check out our How To Plan a Trip Abroad with your Family guide. Everything you need to plan your trip abroad is in this guide!

Happy Travels!

Check out the rest of our family travel tips here.