FAMILY VACATION PLANNING SERIES

Planning a trip can be so stressful! Add kids to the process, and everything gets just a little bit more complicated.

That’s where I come in!

Hi! I’m Emily, the face behind A Mom Explores. I started this family travel blog to show others that not only is it possible to travel with kids, but it can be such a joy and a way to make beautiful family memories.

I have 4 kids, and I’ve worked as a family travel blogger for 5 years now. Our family of 6 has road tripped all around Florida, the Midwest, and around the USA. We have done beach vacations, international trips with kids, mountain getaways, National Parks trips, and city breaks. I teach families how to fly with babies, toddlers, and kids, and how to survive road trips with my creative road trip activities.

How I can Help You Plan Your Next Family Trip

This series is designed to streamline the process for busy moms who don’t have time to figure it all out on their own. I’ve also created a Family Travel Planner that will help organize your research and trip details so that you don’t constantly feel like you’re forgetting something.

STEP 1: How to Budget and Save for Your Dream Vacation

This step starts long before you even book a plane ticket or choose your destination. In order to travel as a family, you’ll need to have some money set aside.

For some families, this is no problem at all. For other families, like us a few years ago, it means being very intentional about your monthly budget in order to afford to travel more.

I’ll walk you through the steps we took when we were a young family living on one teacher’s income in order to afford the occasional family vacation or weekend away.

STEP 2: How to Choose the Perfect Destination for Your Family Vacation

In this step, I’ll share with you how our family chooses where to go on our next family trip!

So many families make the mistake of choosing a destination and dates before booking their flights, but our family chooses our destinations a bit differently.

You’ve heard this before, but the key to being able to travel more as a family is FLEXIBILITY. Don’t worry. Even if you’re stuck on a typical school schedule, you can still use flexibility to your advantage when planning a family vacation!

My husband is a teacher, so I know all about working around a school schedule and still finding good travel deals!

STEP 3: Tips for Finding Affordable Flights for Traveling Families

We have 4 kids, so I know finding cheap flights is the most important part of a family vacation! No matter how cheap the flights are, it’s still a big expense when you multiply it by 6!

I’m going to share with you how we managed to fly our family to Las Vegas for $1309 TOTAL for spring break, and to Costa Rica for $1623 TOTAL for all 6 of us for a summer trip.

I refuse to fly somewhere as a family unless we can find flights under $400 per person, otherwise our entire budget is blown before we even go on the trip!

STEP 4: How the Find the Perfect Accommodations on Your Next Trip

We travel with 4 kids, which means finding hotels or accommodations has become a little bit tricky.

We need to find rooms that are family-friendly, and that sleep more than the standard 4 people.

Our family is always on the hunt for family-friendly hotels and vacation rentals that are reasonably priced and convenient for travel with kids.

So where do we start? How do we find good deals on hotels for kids? Great questions. Head on over to the post to read more about our process.

STEP 5: Tips for Planning your Family Travel Itinerary

Ok, now that you’ve saved for your family vacation, you’ve chosen your destination, booked the flights, and scored a great hotel or vacation rental, what are you going to do once you get there?

I can help with that! Now that we have kids, I always make sure to have a loose itinerary planned for each day of our vacation so we’re not sitting around trying to entertain for kids in a cramped hotel room while simultaneously figuring out where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.

I have a process for getting the most out of your trip and planning it logically, for finding the hidden gems in an area, and for grouping together activities that are close together geographically.

Head on over to this blog post to read more about my process!