That Traveling Couple (Part 2)

Baby-free...those were the last words of my first post on this topic. (see below if this is the first of these posts you've seen.)

Many assume that the reason we travel is because we do not have children. While it is easier to travel and certainly easier to afford to travel with no children, it most definitely isn't our desire. We would trade all our travels for the opportunity to become parents.

There are a few more realistic reasons why we travel. First, we read some wonderful advice many years ago that every couple should travel at least one weekend/year. If you have kids, you should aim for one weekend with kids/year and one weekend without. If you can afford a week or a longer weekend, that's all the better but even just a weekend to look forward to is beneficial. We believe it brings a couple closer together and a family as you pull away from the monotony of daily life. Breaking away from routine allows for our second reason to travel: to admire God's creation.

This is where I need to clarify what my perception of a vacation is. It can be anywhere...camping in a state park, on Maui, or at the beautiful oceanfront Hotel Del in Coronado where we stayed last Memorial Day. I get excited for all three types of vacations because I can't wait to admire God's creation...whether it's the first time I've visited a place or the 5th time...which leads me to my third reason: Photography. I can take hundreds of pictures of God's creation. (Thank goodness for digital cameras now...I use to buy so much 35mm film!) I also love to take pictures because I never take it for granted that I will be able to come back. Each time I go to Hawaii, I take pictures as if it will be my last time to ever go there. We don't know what the future holds in store for us and at least we'll have pictures of the memories.

We don't take our trips for granted. Each time we have a desire to travel, we pray and ask God to provide a way if He will allow it. We always save for our trips ahead of time...don't go into debt for memories. When we went to Maui in 2007, a year prior, I went to AAA and got a free map of Hawaii. I stretched out the map and tacked it up on our bedroom wall. We prayed about it for several months and were thankful we were able to go for Walt's 40th birthday. Along with prayer, we always make sure to give the Lord our tithes first. Not to say that doing this will bring about travels but we honor Him first and pray for those things we wish to do with the remainder of the money He has instructed into our care.

A practical tip for affording travel is to have a travel budget. I know that in the season of life with young children, that portion of the budget is more of a diaper, formula, daycare, clothing fund. Be on the lookout for other ways to save for travel. I can't remember the last time we've ate fast food in town. We just don't use our money to eat out much. We eat out twice/month on a fixed amount. We would rather save that money to travel. We also don't have elaborate cell phone plans. We have pre-paid cell phones for truly rare circumstances and save that money for travel as well. A co-worker used to tease me about brown-bagging my lunch everyday. When he'd bring his $6-10 lunch into the office, I would say, "cha-ching, that's going into my Mexico fund!" (We went to a beautiful all-inclusive resort in Mexico for our anniversary that year!) Some drink lots of lattes, some buy lots of clothes or expensive hobbies...look at where you spend your money. A budget is imperative and only a small percent of the population can say that they truly don't splurge anywhere at anytime...do you go to Pampered Chef parties? There are always places to find cash if not now during a busy season of raising young children, then it will be soon when the diapers and other baby expenses have passed.

One of our favorite and most used tips is to travel during the cheapest times of year. This varies depending on where you're traveling too but it usually is when kids are in school. One couple on our cruise last fall had kids and Walt asked if they took their kids out...being that it was October. They said that their school was having half-days all week for some reason that escapes my mind so taking their kids out this week would only result in missing 2.5 days. This particular week for the cruise was such a HUGE sale, that we could see why they chose to take their kids out. (We shop for travel like we do our grocery shopping...more on shopping for travel later.)

Hawaii is cheapest April-June. Traveling over the winter holidays or in the summer when kids are out of school will be more expensive but you could still figure out which week is the cheapest and save hundreds. If flying, departing on a Tuesday or Wednesday will be cheaper than a Saturday departure. Some places like Vegas are cheaper Sun-Thurs than Friday and Saturday. It pays to do your research. Once you figure out where you want to travel, how much it will cost, then determine how much money you need to budget for how long.