Five Things that Will Bust Your Travel Budget in a Hurry

In a previous post, I gave you some ideas for amazing trips that can be done on an average family vacation budget.

But here's the catch----the numbers can inflate dramatically with a few missteps.

Here are five rules to live by in order to make these unbelievable vacations attainable.

Rule #1: Only eat out once a day...if that.

To be honest, I find eating out to be a lot of work. You research the restaurants, find a menu everyone can agree upon, realize it's too expensive or far away or closed....find another restaurant, go there, wait for a table....scan the menu again, order, wait some more....

(Yes, I know that the drawn-out version of cooking can sound equally horrible. But I still contend that restaurants are more work.)

So, we've come up with a pattern for eating that suits our budget and avoids the aforementioned food drama. It looks roughly like this:

• Homemade breakfast at the rental house or free breakfast at the hotel

• Packed lunch, usually made up of local specialities from the grocery

• Coffee and gelato break in the late afternoon ($2 for a gelato? $1.50 for coffee? I think I can splurge.)

• Dinner out at a medium-priced restaurant or homemade dinner using a new local recipe (taken from the internet, friendly Airbnb hosts, or travel blogs)

Food costs can vary wildly by country but vary even more widely by person. How much do you eat? Where do you eat? When do you splurge? These are the choices that will determine whether you can take that dream trip now or if you need to save a little longer.

Rule #2: Don't go overboard on activities.

Activities are where trip pricing really goes downhill (or rather, uphill).

Opting for a boat tour around Mykonos or a guided tour of Pompeii can set you back hundreds of dollars. Especially if you're multiplying the trip out for a family.

How do you know what to do and what to hold off on?

Here are a few things we try to consider before booking activities:

What do I even like to do?

Know thyself:

If you don't like boats, don't book the sunset cruise just for the Instagram post.

Don't go museums because the guidebook told you it was a "must see."

Don't go to the seafood boil if you hate seafood.

Yes, stretch yourself. That's what travel is for. But don't overextend your finances only to be miserable. It's not worth it.

(Photo: My son making his own fun at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris.)

Do we all need to go?

On our first big family trip, we did everything together.

Every museum. Every tour. Every souvenir shop.

By the end, we realized that too much of a good thing (bonding) can be a bad thing (bickering).

We also realized that we had spent money for people to see things they didn't actually care about:

My daughters don't play soccer. Why do they need to see the FC Barcelona stadium?

My son doesn't like to cook. Why does he need to go to the pastry class in Paris?

My husband doesn't speak Spanish. Why would he want to see Lion King live in Madrid?

It seems obvious now, but at the time, we were nervous to separate. We often only connect one of our phones abroad, so communication and logistics can be tricky. But our parents managed for years without cell phones. We could certainly manage a rendez-vous with only one cell phone.

The second time around, we split up in more logical ways and saved tons of money. We even instituted the "special thing" policy (super uncreative name courtesy of my kids). I'll post more about ideas for this later, but the idea is that each kids gets a surprise activity tailored just to them.

My daughters on their special "accrobranch" tour in northern Italy.

Will I remember this?

I have a horrible memory.

I lose my phone 20+ times a day. I can't remember entire swaths of my childhood. My teen years are a total wash.

And yet I keep paying for guided history tours whose dates and figures go in one ear and out the other. Why?

Get the free audioguide, read the panels, or peruse the venue's pamphlet and you'll usually understand the basics of what you need to know.

There are a few occasions when you really do need more information in order to truly appreciate what you're seeing. The Paris Catacombs, the Acropolis, and Pompeii fell into this category for me.

But if it's a choice between going with guides or not going at all, definitely go and opt for the self-guided tour.

Is there a cheaper option?

Before you book, shop around.

If you are booking through TripAdvisor or Viator, search for coupon codes or wait for promotions like the Black Friday deals they often run.

Check the venue's website to see if tickets are actually cheaper buying them directly from the source.

For example, booking a longboat in Thailand through a tour operator can often cost $115+ per person. If you go directly to the longboat operator's website, you can book a similar tour for $180 for a party of 6. If you risk it and wait until you get there, you can sometimes book onsite for even cheaper. (I wouldn't recommend this in high season or in super-tourism locations like Paris, but it can work for many locations.)

If nothing else, booking directly allows more money to stay in the local economy. Many tourist destinations like Thailand are still reeling from the effects of COVID, so any extra money can make a huge difference to local families.

Check for free dates and times. The Royal Palace in Madrid, for example, has designated free entry hours and also offers discounts to students and teachers. In the US, many states are now offering free museum entrance on Martin Luther King, Jr Day as well as one designated day per month.

Free day at the Indianapolis Children's Museum

Can I cancel if I'm too tired or find something else I want to do?

If possible, only purchase activities that have a generous cancellation policy. Travel can be taxing and jetlag is no joke. Leave yourself wiggle room so that you can adjust your plans to fit your mood on the day of the event. This is one of the major benefits of booking through Viator or TripAdvisor. Many times, they will have more generous cancellation policies than other sites.

I'll have more on Rules 3-5 in a later post, but here's a preview of what else you can do to keep your travel budget in check. It's totally possible and can actually add to your trip instead of taking away from it.

Rule #3: Don't plan every minute of your time.

Rule #4: Stalk your flights (or have a company do it for you).

Rule #5: Don't go fancy on accommodations that you won't be in much anyway.