Taking Advantage of Last-Minute Family Travel Deals

last-minute-family-travel-deals

Traveling is such a great experience!  Family travel creates such great memories and traditions with your kids, it is often hard to pass up the opportunity to get away.  It is not impossible to do last minute!  Need a break from the daily grind?  Keep on reading for some tips on how to take advantage of last minute  travel deals with kids!

How to take advantage of great last-minute family travel deals

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Pack Your Bags: If you have your luggage packed, you can leave quickly.  Of course with kids, this may be a bit more difficult.  You can at least have all the laundry clean and pack only for the time you will be away.  You can add the daily essentials at the end.

Plan: Everything.  Schedule boarding for your dogs, someone to come and feed the fish and the cat (and to make sure the cat hasn’t fed himself the fish).  Maybe you want to make it look like you are home, so leave some lights on your have your friend stop by,  even if you don’t have any pets that need looking after.

Groupon: If you haven’t downloaded this app yet, go do it now.  It’s fun to just browse, but if you are looking for some great last minute family travel deals this is the place you want to be!  I had looked around Christmas for some getaways for my husband and all the expiration dates were 12/31/2014.  So this is definitely a great place to look for last minute deals.  I have a friend who recently traveled to Italy off of Groupon for $1,500 and she only paid for food.

School: This is where it gets tricky! If your child is in preschool or kindergarten, missing a few days may not be the end of the world. Older grades move at a very fast pace, though. You may want to take advantage of family travel deals during “down times” at school. The last days of school after final report cards are in, those few days before a holiday when attendance is already lower, and so on. Make sure you get all your child’s work. Have them start before you leave and work on the plane. Once you get to your destination, set aside at least an hour or so a night for school work, otherwise they’ll be scrambling to get it all done right before they go back!

Be Open: If you are too specific in your destination, you will have a harder time finding a good family travel deal.  Browse all options for location.  You may end up someplace fabulous you may have never thought of before!

Off Season: This might mean that you have to travel when no one else really is.  That makes it more fun!  Less crowds and better deals.  Again with the school work.  Depending on your kids’ ages this may be ok.  Of course you want them to miss as little school as possible, but it is typically not a problem if they can keep up.
You will all come back relaxed and refreshed (you might possibly need a vacation from your vacation, but that is to be expected).  Look back on all the moments you captured on film (that’s what we used to say, I really mean your smart phone).

Have you ever taken advantage of last minute family travel deals?  Traveled with kids?  We want to hear your experience!  Post your deal finders and tips below!

25 thoughts on “Taking Advantage of Last-Minute Family Travel Deals”

  1. The planning is the hardest part for us especially for last-minute travel and tours. The budget occupies a huge chunk of our concern. This includes budget planning for accommodation, food, transportation, and souvenirs.

  2. I had some of the most amazing vacation, for the one’s that’s out of the blue. Thanks for the great tips and I’ll be sure to use some of these tips.

  3. We have yet to travel anywhere of long distance with our youngest. But I have flown across the country with my oldest two. Not the best of memories.

  4. great info – and yes off season is still one of the best – I was fortunate as I ran Church Conference Centers – and my best times to take off were off season – no crowds, which is so much better!

  5. We recently took my kiddo on his first actual trip (we went to the beach for the weekend) and he was so excited that he fell asleep. We had stuff all packed up and ready to go and he used none of it. Passed out almost immediately in fact.

  6. I have a friend who also uses Groupon for her and her kids. These are really great tips to keep in mind for traveling last minute. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about this yet as I don’t have kids.

  7. I’ve seen the groupon deals before for vacations, but I’ve never thought of actually using it! I really need to because they have some awesome stuff!

  8. We haven’t travelled much. We went on two family vacations and did take advantage of some deals for those trips… The next one we go on I’ll be looking into more deals and savings! We have to plan though there’s SO many of us last minute isn’t really ideal!

  9. My boys are still young enough that last minute travel isn’t such a pain, but when they finally get into school, I know those days of just picking up and leaving are going to be far fewer.

  10. I recently packed mine up and moved across state lines. I had to go through all of this–including the issue with school. We use Groupon to get great deals on things to do in our new state. :D

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