Archive for the ‘Family Travel’ Category

Gateway to the West – Best Family Holidays on a Budget Style

If you want the best family holidays on a budget style, it is time to visit the Gateway to the West.

You may be asking yourself what does family travel on a budget style mean. Simply put, it is a long weekend or a 4 night/5 day family getaway for five hundred dollars.

For many of us, the thought of being able to experience a family vacation on $500 seems almost inconceivable but let me insure you that it can be done. The key to a family travel on a budget style vacation is planning, planning, and more planning.

St. Louis, Missouri is a perfect destination for a family travel on a budget vacation. It has a central location with easy interstate access. The modern urban metropolis is full of history, science, and art that are just waiting to be discovered.

St. Louis is now as the Gateway to the West. This distinction comes from the Gateway Arch. At 630 feet, the manmade marvel towers over the mighty Mississippi River making for some amazing riverfront views. The arch is set in a beautiful park like setting on the banks of a bustling city.

Are animals your thing? Then St. Louis is a great vacation choice. There are several chances in the area to get up close and person with many different species of animals. Not only do you have a zoo but also safari style adventures, petting zoos, just to name a few and the best part is they are all FREE.

With the free, quality family entertainment available in St. Louis, Missouri, it is easy to meet the “the best family holidays on a budget” of $500.

 

Best Family All Inclusive Vacations Deals

It’s that time of year again! The kids are out of school and parents are trying to plan a top family vacations and looking for best family holidays deals.

A good place to start searching online is at http://www.travelwithkids.about.com. This site has a lot of good recommendations about where to go and what to see when traveling with the whole family.

There’s a lot more than Disneyland and Disneyworld, although you can also get great family travel deals to these destinations. How about a vacation to a exotic resort that offers family oriented entertainment and activities along a pristine white sand beach bordered by turquoise blue ocean water, or maybe a family oriented cruise to a number of interesting ports of call?

If you’re not sure where you want to go or what you want to do, start searching internet travel sites like Holiday Hotel Booking for family travel deals.

Another good internet site to visit with good feedback and information regarding traveling with children of all ages is http://www.familytravelforum.com. This site has a lot of good recommendations as well as family travel deals, and a listing of kid-friendly resorts and vacation destinations, including events, activities, and accommodations available.

If traveling with children to Mexico, then an all-inclusive resort may be just right. Lodging, meals, snacks, beverages, tips, and taxes are included in one price, and at many all-inclusive resorts, children stay and eat for free if under the age of twelve. This is a great family travel deal, and many of these resorts offer something for kids and adults in a family friendly environment.

Travel sites have quite a bit of information available on all-inclusive resorts, and what types of activities are available to children. Many resorts offer on-site day care facilities and activities for kids of all ages, and they offer booking of family travel deals through their websites or through various travel agencies. A good source of information is the booking.com website.

And why not go camping? Camping today is not like you remember it as a kid! We recently considered a weekend at the beach or a camping trip in the maountains. Since it is high-season, a weekend at the beach would have cost us $250/night! And that was just for the room! That didn’t include the inflated costs of meals.

A weekend of camping at a state park, on the other hand, cost us $48. And that was for four days! Our total for groceries was $80 for the trip resulting in a net savings of $922 for the entire four days! And the state park campground had a lake for swimming with a clean, sandy beach, nice modern bathrooms with hot showers, and we as a family had a wonderful bonding experience camping under the stars,

Local travel agents can also make good recommendations about where to go depending on the ages of the children. They get a lot of feedback from other people with families and have probably traveled to many destinations themselves, so they can surely point vacationers in the right direction with lots of great family travel deals.

The travel section in the local Sunday paper is also a good place to look for reasonable family travel deals. There are lots of summer promotions going on right now too, so book early to get the best family holidays deal! Have fun and enjoy!

Last Minute Family Travel

We might all have some great daydreams about taking our family on the perfect vacation, whether it is to see Disneyland or on a cruise to the Bahamas, but more often than not, life intervenes. There might be accidents or problems and you might find that your plans get knocked for a loop. The important thing to remember is that you are not alone and that there are options for you. More people than you might believe end up doing some last minute travel preparations and even if you have the majority of the trip to plan and not much time to plan it, you will find that last minute family travel is not nearly as bad as you might think.


When thinking about planning some last minute family travel, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. First, make sure you know where you are going and why. Are you or your children (or preferably both) interested in it? Just because a destination is popular does not make it a good idea. Remember that there are no universally perfect vacations, just perfect ones for you! Speak with your family about it; you might be surprised by what comes up as being a great place to visit.


Remember that when you engage in last minute family travel that some methods of travel are more forgiving than others. For instance, there is a good chance that trying to travel by air will be difficult if not impossible. Unless you manage to luck into some truly stupendous deals, you will end up paying a great deal of money for your tickets. Investigate other forms of travel. Of course, driving is one of the greatest and most convenient ways to travel, but if you have the need for speed, you might be stuck with a plane ticket. If speed is less of a concern, consider taking a train. It’s roughly equivalent to the speed of a car, depending on where you are going, and you will find that you will have time to enjoy yourself.


When you are thinking about last minute family travel, this does not mean that you can skimp on calling ahead to get hotel rooms. Some places will even allow you to make reservations online, so make sure that you have a plan on where you will spend the night. You never know when a convention or a local sporting event will tie up every hotel room within 10 miles, so make sure that you have a good idea of where you and your family are sleeping. Even if you are calling less than 24 hours in advance, you will still beat out the walk ins who show up after your call.


As you can see, there are plenty of ways to make sure that your traveling goes smoothly, no matter when you have planned it. There are always options open to you, no matter where you are, so to get some great ideas and solutions, head to last minute family travel [http://lastminutefamilytravel.com] and see what other fast ideas and swift savings you can find!


Top Family Vacations Destinations

Planning a family beach vacation? Looking for destinations with family resorts that have fun sports and activities for the whole family, all inclusive resorts where meals are included and kid clubs? Here are some of the most popular beach destinations for families to unwind and relax:

Mexico

Mexico, especially the Cancun area, and Mayan Riviera, an hour’s drive south of Cancun, is a popular place for family beach vacations. The Mayan Riviera is one of the regions of Mexico – and the world- which offers the richest variety of landscapes and archaeological treasures including Mayan ruins, coral reef, snorkelling lagoons, and eco-theme parks such as Xcaret. Hotels, resorts, restaurants, and attractions throughout Mexico welcome families with open arms.

Jamaica

Jamaica is considered by many to be the most beautiful of all the Caribbean Islands and is one of the top family-vacation destinations in the Caribbean. Many of Jamaica’s resorts offer supervised children’s activities, babysitters, family discounts, and kid’s meals. Jamaica has an abundance of top all-inclusive chains including: Sandals Beaches, SuperClubs Breezes resorts and Club Med.

There are also many other family vacation options such as the Franklyn D. Resort in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, where families have their own vacation nanny during their stay.

Turks and Caicos

On a 12-mile stretch of satiny white-sand, Beaches Turks & Caicos is one of the premier family resorts on the island.With separate programs for infants, toddlers and teens, each is designed to give each age the activities they love. So when you’re off doing your thing, they’re off doing theirs. There are many other resorts to stay at this idyllic family beach destination

Bahamas

Home to the Atlantis Bahamas resort and many other excellent family resorts, there will not be a dull moment on your Bahamas family vacation. Blessed with the perfect location-less than 100 miles off the coast of Florida, the perfect climate- averaging a little over 75 degrees, and the perfect surroundings-crystal clear turquoise blue waters and pearly white beaches, the Islands of the Bahamas is the perfect destination for your next family beach vacation.

Hawaii

A Family Hawaii Vacation has it all. Beautiful beaches, world-class golf, surfing, shopping, swimming, top notch hotels, condominiums, eco tours, national parks, warm weather, and cool ocean breezes. The four islands that are popular for a family Hawaii Vacation are Oahu, Maui, the Big Island and Kauai.

Florida

Florida is a popular family beach destination because the climate is warm year round, it is easy to get to, it offers good value for your money, there are endless options for sightseeing and attractions for you family depending on what area you are in, and the beaches in Florida are numerous.

In addition to beach destinations and of course Walt Disney World, there are tons of other family outings including Universal Studios, Sea World, Bush Gardens and many more.

Don’t Forget Family Cruises

This is a very popular family vacation option and my personal favorite. Cruises with kids offer great value, choice and freedom! There are a lot of misconceptions about cruising such as it is only for older people and not suited for families, it is too rigid, there is nothing to do, you’ll feel trapped, you’ll get seasick, it’s too expensive! All is these statements are false and could not be further from the truth. Bring your kids along on almost any cruise and they’ll have the time of their lives.

Here’s hoping you’ll have top family vacations.

Family Travel on a Budget

Who says that you can not travel with a family on a tight budget? All it takes is it a little creativity and a lot of planning and that family vacation can happen for under five hundred dollars. Yes, I said it FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. Okay, so you may have to be willing to sleep under the stars and pack a lunch but the time that you will spend with the ones that you love will be worth it.


Our first vacation experience will be the Great Smoky Mountains with all of its magnificent views, abundant wildlife, and endless tourist stops. The Smoky Mountains’ are home to numerous camp sites, hotels, and other forms of lodging. A campsite in the Great Smoky Mountains’ National Park is $14-$23 per night according to the official website. There are approximately 20 campsites within 20 miles of the national park. As for hotel rooms, there are thousands. The cheapest hotels are to be found in Pigeon Forge, the new found tourist Mecca of the Smokey’s. Out of season rooms can be commonly found for $19.99 a night so sleeping under the stars does not have to be the only option.


Hint, if you do splurge for a hotel look for one that offers a complementary breakfast or in the least has a mini fridge and microwave. This will save tremendously on the food budget. And while we are on that subject, remember restaurants are usually cheaper at lunch then dinner. So, opt to eat lunch as you main meal and eat at the hotel out of the cooler or the mini fridge for dinner.


Now, you have to keep the natives active because we all know that kids will not be content with just sitting back and enjoying the fresh mountain air and some quality time. So, what do we do now that most of the budget is gone for gas, lodging, and food? Free entertainment of course. And yes, it is out there. You just have to know where to look and how to find it.


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