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  1. #1
    bisous is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Default Help me come up with ideas for unforgettable AFFORDABLE vacations?

    I realize that all travel requires some money. But there have to be ways to forge unforgettable family experiences and stick to a budget! While I would love to go to DW or Hawaii, I don't know if we can afford to do that before DS1 leaves the house and still stay on track with our financial goals (which include things like paying off our own student loan debt and trying to buy a house!)

    What have you done that has been really amazing and surprisingly inexpensive. Maybe it is coughing up the money to fly somewhere that has a low cost for expenses? I'm thinking of how Europeans regularly travel to 3rd world destinations. They cost a bit to get there but end up not being too expensive because accommodations and meals are cheap?

    Or maybe it is just National Parks! We love Yosemite. I'd love to see Yellowstone. Maybe we bite the bullet and get really great camping equipment so that is more pleasant and we can stay cheaply wherever we go?

    Got any great tips that you've encountered?

  2. #2
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    Default Help me come up with ideas for unforgettable AFFORDABLE vacations?

    If you can get cheap tickets to Iceland, you can do it relatively inexpensively if you cook for your family and avoid restaurants. It’s super amazing if you like the outdoors. It’s very kid friendly. We flew Iceland Air.

    For super cheap, you could drive to a National Park.


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    Last edited by georgiegirl; 09-19-2019 at 02:55 PM.
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  3. #3
    jgenie is online now Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Some of my favorite memories with my kids are just being outside so I would road trip from where you are. My kids talk most about fun out of the ordinary things. Getting to have ice cream for dinner or going to a local grocery store and checking out the snacks we don’t recognize from home and getting to pick a few to try. Stopping to check out the tide pools or waterfalls without being rushed along to the next thing on the list. Visiting local toy stores and picking something small to take home. You don’t have to spend a fortune to make memories.
    Last edited by jgenie; 09-19-2019 at 03:12 PM.

  4. #4
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    nfceagles is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    I would go camping in Yellowstone and/or the Grand Tetons. Island Park, Mesa Falls, Earthquake Lake near there are also amazing. Or Yosemite is even closer to you.


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  5. #5
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    nfceagles is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    Renting a cabin for a week can be not too bad if you don’t have high expectations. Consider too that you’ll save spending several hundred dollars on camping equipment.


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  6. #6
    Mommy_Mea is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    Definitely national parks. We just rent a low-cost cabin/rent accommodation when we go, dealing with packing camping equipment is expensive and a headache (unless you love camping!)

    We did Yosemite after a family wedding in the area. Stayed at the Housekeeping Camp, rented linens and cooking equipment. We just did Acadia. Because it was last minute we ended up with a VRBO, but didn't spend much money beyond that, just hiking, biking and swimming (ok, and ice cream). We had an amazing vacation at Arches, stayed in an inexpensive hotel in Moab that had a kitchen. My favorite vacations are this way!
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  7. #7
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    We were on a very tight budget for the first 10+ years we were married and our only vacation was an annual road trip. Even though we started taking vacations involving flying somewhere, my kids still love our annual houseboat vacation to a nearby lake. I think the novelty of being on the water and staying in a houseboat is memorable, plus the kids have a great time fishing, napping, reading books, inner tubing, etc. We get the cheapest houseboat ( a "6 person" model which is really just 3 beds so perfectly fine for a family of 4. They have high-end "14 person" houseboats with hot tubs, but ours is more bare-bones (has a bathroom with hot water for a shower, a stove, and a fridge, which makes it better than camping in my book!).

  8. #8
    SnuggleBuggles is online now Black Diamond level (25,000+ posts)
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    Would the Disney tickets be free at WDW? If so, road trip it and rent a house when you get there.

    Otherwise, National Parks for sure. But you have to book EARLY for most. Olympic National Park is pretty cool!

    Have you done the drive up the CA coast? Even if you only get to Redwoods National Park, you'll see so much diversity as compared to where you live. We've done Bay Area to San Diego before (with stops in Yosemite, Monterey, Big Sur, Santa Barbara, and Anaheim).
    Last edited by SnuggleBuggles; 09-19-2019 at 04:17 PM.

  9. #9
    sariana is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    If you love Yosemite, you will like Sequoia/Kings Canyon, too, and they are less crowded. I think they also are a bit closer to you, but geography is not my strong suit. You can base out of Visalia if you want to avoid the high costs of the in-park hotels.

    If you haven't been to Lassen, I highly recommend it. It's a bit farther (though not as far as Yellowstone!) but well worth the trip. Bumpass' Hell (yes, that's the real name) is unforgettable. We stayed in Red Bluff for our trips there. We were planning to move to a motel in a small town (maybe Susanville? not sure), but there was a fire, and it lost power and shut down. So we stayed the whole time in Red Bluff, which was supposed to be our "on the way" stop. When we went back a couple of years later, we just planned to stay in Red Bluff from the start.
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  10. #10
    bisous is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by georgiegirl View Post
    If you can get cheap tickets to Iceland, you can do it relatively inexpensively if you cook for your family and avoid restaurants. It’s super amazing if you like the outdoors. It’s very kid friendly. We flew Iceland Air.

    For super cheap, you could drive to a National Park.


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    That's the kind of thing that I think might be completely unforgettable! But I feel like others were posting that it was expensive once you were there? I want to go to the hot springs there!

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