Things never to skimp on when traveling with kids

Things never to skimp on when traveling with kids.

I like the points this article makes – it just seems to be more US centric than perhaps intended.

Ok, I don’t agree with the number one point, which is don’t skimp on the hotel. To me, that is a very American way to travel. In fact, ignoring  hotels has been the number one way that we can actually afford to travel. I would amend this point to “do your research on your accommodation – read the reviews”. Now that I totally agree with.

Perhaps it’s having flown so often between Australia and NZ but both of these countries have quite strict regulations about what food you can and cannot take off the plane. If you came laden with snacks, you can expect to have your bags searched by sniffer dogs (and yes, you will have to open your bag on the airport floor and everyone will see the underwear you packed).In fact the sniffer dogs know if you’ve had fruit in your bags anytime over the past couple of weeks, so even if you don’t have fruit currently on you, your bags can be searched. I speak from personal experience! You will be required to dispose of any fruit or dairy products before customs. Pre-packaged, highly processed and unopened snacks may make it through customs (you will of course have to declare them) but I don’t see the benefit in carting around loads of highly sugared junk. I’m still trying to think of an alternative.

Tags: Budgeting, Travel with kids

tripso: 10 ways to save when feeding a family on the road

tripso.com | 10 ways to save when feeding a family on the road.

Food for thought here! (Pardon the pun).

This is something we’re thinking about well in advance. Our local supermarkets sell cheap chiller bags for carrying home frozen goods. They’re light and they fold up easily. We intend to take at least one of these. Once we get off the plane at the other end, we’ll be looking for a supermarket to stock up on picnic supplies for our “car kit”. (If we can’t find a large supermarket, we’ll simply keep an eye out for an Ikea).

Our Car Kit List:

• Disposable Plates
• Possibly disposable bowls for breakfasts too
• Disposable knives, forks, spoons
• A cheap but sharp knife (ever tried slicing a tomato with a plastic knife?)
• Ideally a small cheap chopping board (see “tomato” above)
• Hopefully a thermos flask – filling up with hot water before you leave in the mornings can really save on the cost of hot drinks during the day.

Our accommodation will be a combination of one nighters, which will be hotels with no cooking facilities and cabin style for the longer stretches. It will be interesting to see if it is possible to do any baking in the cabins. I haven’t felt very inclined to do so before when on holiday, but whisking up a batch of muffins is a quick and economical way to feed a family snacks.

Something else we are doing ahead of time is thinking about the times when we will need to buy takeaways or fast food. For example, our flight into Manchester (UK) arrives at about 7 pm at night. We don’t know if there will be a meal aboard the plane (I suspect we will be sitting ducks for the snacks trolley). Therefore we’ve checked the airport website. A big thumbs up to Manchester Airport for their website! I’ve been able to see exactly what food outlets they have, when they are open, and a menu even for one of them (go Giraffe). While looking at their website, I also realised it would be a really good idea to stock up on some muffins and cookies and fruit for breakfast for the following morning. All of this saves picking up the rental car, driving out of the airport and going “right, where are we going to eat?” and driving around hopelessly lost when the kids are starving.

And speaking of saving money when feeding families, keptwoman and I are  currently engaged in a battle of the budgets!  We’re aiming to slash quite a few dollars out of our food budgets before we even get on the plane. You can check out our little competition over here at Bring on the Beans!

Tags: Bring on the Beans, Budgeting, Car trips, Food, Saving