Airline Tix and Food Budget for Family of 5

Shana, first of all, your family has to eat at home, as well. So you could take your food budget for the two weeks and add perhaps another two thirds to it to compensate for higher prices and eating out, or maybe double it. Depending on where you go in Europe, it is not too hard to find lodging with breakfast included. It is also relatively easy to pick up provisions for a nutritious and filling lunch or dinner - lots of fresh fruit, bread, cheese and cuts of luncheon meat in grocery stores and markets and relatively cheap take-out. The water is safe to drink pretty much all over Europe (even though Europeans really go for bottled water but tap water is free.)I would supplement restaurant meals with cookies or pastry, chocolate or fruit from the store as dessert or between meal snacks. All that walking you'll probably do will make you hungry and also burn up the calories.

Thanks for the input. I've been checking with FareCompare for 2 months. That's why I was so surprised to see this great deal today. It's just so hard to "commit" to such a big amount of money! Anxiety!! (I have enough saved for the air tix, but not enough yet for everything else (even though I'm on track/budget for April) it just feels "scary" purchasing the tix when I don't have everything else planned out yet!)

I like the idea of using my usual family food budget to gauge what amount I'll need for food. I don't have a problem eating thriftily, however, my husband definitely loves his food!

Still need to figure out rental car, tourist attractions, etc...
We have friends in London. Want to stay there approx. 3-4 days and spend the rest of our time in Italy...Rome/Venice/Florence. Hoping to get an exchange on our timeshare, but I'm on a waiting list for that....

Onr of the posters here - Randy - just returned from a 5 week trip with his family of 5. He has a pretty interesting blog at
http://www.lee-reid2010.blogspot.com/. He blogged almost every day while travelling and worte up his budget in one of the last posts. YOu might find this helpful.

Shana:

What's your actual objective? If it's London, Let me just stay that it can be quite expensive to eat out there. Hotels will generally be pricier than you can imagine.

If you are flying to London just because it's cheap and you hope to get to the continent, it's much easier to fly out of Dublin on a cheap carrier like Ryanair - no need to put up with expensive London or getting out to Stansted Airport, etc. Ryanair flies right out of DUB. We found crazy cheap fares from Dublin to Brussels and Cracow on Ryanair last year and found some excellent deals on Dublin area hotels as well.

I'm seeing $740 SFO to Dublin on certain dates with US Air during April.

Are you looking for flights from Sacramento or San Francisco? I have found that it is often cheaper to fly from Sacramento, but if you are hoping for a non-stop flight you will need to fly from SFO. If you fly from SFO you will need to factor in the cost of transportation and the extra time it will take. Personally, I would prefer a 2 hour layover and fly from SMF, than to have to drive to SFO.

You might consider renting apartments in the locations you choose. You will have more room and the ability to not have to eat out for each meal. Often apartments are less per night, especially since with 5 people you will probably need two rooms. Hotels are typically not set up the way we are used to, with 2 double or queen sized beds. I have seen triple rooms and quad rooms, but never a room for 5. How old are your children?

If you are planning on both London and Rome by all means look into purchasing open-jaw tickets rather than a RT to either.

Elaine, thanks for the plug!!

Shana,

Yes, we are a family of 5 with children age 14, 11 and 7 and we did return from an extended stay in Europe - "on-the-cheap" so to speak. I would be delighted if you would read some of the blog Elaine referenced. It includes pretty detailed costs near the end.

Starting with airfare; I would jump on it right now if I were you and if you already have the money saved. True, it might not ultimately be the absolute best price between now and April. But I'll bet that it IS within $50-100 of the best price, so why risk the wait? You will benifit immensely from locking in ASAP and starting to look into those hard to find economical lodgings for 5. Given plenty of time to plan (knowing your dates) and lock in the best value lodgings, you will more than recoup any possible savings you could expect by waiting on airfare.

As for all other costs; Of course that depends entirely on where you intend to stay, for how long, in what kinds of lodgings, with what kind of food and with what level of comfort. For example; Our stay in London three years ago (again, on-the-cheap) was about $375/day for all of us. Our stay for 5 days in Bavaria this year (in relative comfort) was about $175/day. Overall this year, our non-airfare costs totaled $290/day. If you are interested in more detail, feel free to read the blog or send me a Personal Message. I would be happy to help. I love to see families with younger children making trips like this - and making it "on-the-cheap" :-)

Edit: Just to clarify, the costs I refer to are NOT just food, but EVERYTHING except airfare.

Wow! You guys are so awesome! Thanks for all the wonderful input! I'm gonna check out the other blog for the budget.

Also, what is "open-jaw"??
If that's one-way, I already checked into that and it's much more expensive.
I was planning April 3rd to April 20th, 2011. Most of the time in Italy and 3-4 days to visit our friends in London. (We may be able to stay with them while we are there. And it looks like it will be cheaper to round trip from the U.S. into either London or Rome and just catch a "smaller" round trip from Rome to London--or vice versa.)
Also, I'm hoping to get a week at our timeshare thru the exchange, which will only cost $164. If I can't get the exchange that will obviously jump up my expenses quite a bit.

If you can't get the exchange, I'd still recommend getting an apartment. You can search here on the helpline, or post something on "To the Boot" to get recommendations on apartments in Rome. It'll cost about the same as a hotel, sometimes less, and you can eat in if you want (or keep a stocked fridge for picnic lunches).

Last year in Ireland, we averaged $150/day for our family of 4 (plus a couple of my sister's kids) outside of Dublin, $225/day in Dublin, including accomodations but not rental car. That's with eating in almost every night. But the fare in Ireland doesn't compare with that in Italy!

You don't need to fly round-trip. When you are looking at flight options it will ask if you want round-trip, one-way or multi-city (or a variation of that). Check multi-city. That would allow you to fly from CA to London and from Rome to CA, or the other way around. Then you would only need a cheap flight between London and Rome. Trust me, this will save you money and time. I have done this on all my European trips, except Ireland.

It is possible that multi-city could cost a little more than round-trip to London, but you save yourself the time and expense of the round-trip from London to Rome.

If you are waiting to find out about your time share you might want to hold off on your airline tickets so you know where you will be staying.

Multi-city (open-jaw) flights can be a great option if you are determined to see BOTH London and Rome on the same trip. Sometimes the cost is roughly the same as in & out of the same city. We once even saved a few $ on the open-jaw option, but only after searching a wide variety of dates and picking the one odd, less expensive option. It seems like your dates are not too flexible.

Generally speaking, however, I would caution you not to try to do too much on one trip. You only show 17 days (really 15 after you subtract flights). If you take a "budget" flight from London to Rome, then you really have 14 days. Personally, with only 15 days, there is no way I would consider seeing anything other than Italy. We will likely make that trip in a year or two with our family and it will be 4-5 weeks for us, without considering seeing any other country.

If I had friends who lived in London, I would look into ways of talking them into coming to Italy to see us while they were there. Remember, that cheap flight from London to Rome would be available for them, too. You could rent a house in Tuscany for a week with an extra bedroom and THEY could stay with YOU (& maybe share some costs).

London is a great city, and certainly having friends there makes it better, particularly if you can sleep there. But, culturally, it is a million miles from Italy and even a cheap ticket on a flight means $300-$500 (or maybe more) for a family of 5, plus most of a travel day, and quite a bit of hassle, etc. etc.

You could rent a house in Tuscany for a week with an extra bedroom and THEY could stay with YOU (& maybe share some costs).

That's what we did to meet up with my brother whom I hadn't seen for a couple of years. And that week in Tuscany was the best part of our entire trip - and the cheapest as sharing the larger space reduced the cost per person even though we had much more room and a pool. And a traditional stone oven in the garden to make our own true Italian pizza. The ingredients cost a few bucks, the experience was priceless ;-) Here's a picture

Some general thoughts:

Italy and London are among the most expensive places in Europe. We do London only if it's part of a business trip and hotel cost are covered. Germany and France (outside Paris) turned out to be our cheapest trips. We also did Central Europe very cheaply like Randy but that was many years ago.

Renting appartments has always been the key for us to make family travel affordable. That way, even Switzerland was possible for us. We paid USD 600 for a week accommodation, prepared 75% of our meals there and opted for a rural location outside the main tourist destinations where a full meal with drinks for the 4 of us in a sit-down restaurant came to USD 75 - you'd never get that in Lucerne.

Some of the best deals can be had if you look into programs offered by the youth hostel association. We spent a week in a castle overlooking the Rhine for a mere USD 170 per day for the 4 of us TOTAL (accommodation in 2 rooms, all meals, Rhine cruise, medieval programming for the kids).

www.google.com

Hi Shana,
JUMP on those fares! I looked for 6 months (from Boston to Rome) and couldn't find anything less than $1000/ticket.
I will agree w/other posters about London. It is REALLY expensive. We went a couple of yrs ago w/our 2 children. Pound was out of control against the dollar but has gotten better.
Not sure about London but in Rome it is very difficult to find a hotel room that will allow more than 2 people. Look into Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO), homeaway.com, and cyberrentals. These are sites where actual owners post their properties (mostly). You will likely get a better deal, can cook there and will have some space for a little separation time :)!
We just came back from Italy and 2 weeks with the family 24/7.... Was REALLY happy to be in a apartment and not a room!
We actually did a house swap, something I would highly recommend, though you would need to really get moving.
Just curious... How old are your children? Found London/Paris easier than Rome to entertain the kids....
Good luck!
Good luck!

Wow! I am overwhelmed by all of the great advice from everyone!!
Much of the info. has confirmed what I have already researched. ie: VRBO and other apt./house rentals. It seems like that will definitely be the way to go if I don't get my timeshare exchange. I've looked into car rentals as well. I was just having a hard time figuring out food & sight seeing budget.

I LOVE Randy's blog!! What a big help! So informational!!

My kids are 18, 17, and 10 years old. My 2 older kids have already saved enough for their own airfare & "fun money", which is the "deal" I made with them.

I'm concerned about my London plans after considering all of the input. I will talk to our friends in London to get their thoughts. I just thought it would be nice to get a "tour by the locals" while we were there....(I've been to London many years ago and wasn't very impressed, but my family hasn't been to Europe at all.)I know it will be a "whirlwind" trip, but it's really all the time we can spare right now--due to jobs, school, etc...

I'm going to start checking the multi-cities air...
Still, the $731 RT San Fran to London and a smaller flight over to Rome seems to be the cheapest, however, I see the importance of travel time cutting into our trip...

My biggest problem really, is trying to surprise my husband with all of this and how to deal with his employer/time off work.... :)

Shana, you should think about joining us for our Sacramento Area meeting on the 21st. If you are interested, PM me for more information. We met for the first time last month and it was great and full of good information. We are hoping to make it a monthly thing.