Fastest Christmas celebration ever! Up, gifts opened, breakfast eaten, dishes cleaned, kids played, ornaments off the tree, tree placed on the side yard, bid adieu to grandparents and then the packing began.
In a fantastic role reversal, James was much more creative than me this trip. He created a logo for us and made water bottles, journals and bag tags and gave them to us for part of our Xmas!
I put together the Travel Binder and the Potty on the Go Kits (an idea I snagged from an Amazon review of toiletries) and the Toiletry Kits.
If you read our final posting from our previous trip then you know we track data, like footsteps and likes and dislikes. That data is tracked daily in this binder. It is also where our confirmations exist in paper format, and where we place tickets and curiosities along the way.
Potty-on-the-Go Kit: roll of toilet paper travel sized, pack of flushable wipes, pack of toilet seat covers (non existent in Europe on prior visits), pack of Purell hand wipes (we wiped our trays, arm rests, and monitors on the plane), and paper soap sheets.
2 weeks worth of travel sized toiletry Kits. We toss half at the end of one week and start new the second week (yes, two toothbrushes and toothpastes each - they get kind of gross after 1 week in our experience).
4:30pm McGehee's Packed!!!!
4:30pm McGehee's Packed!!!!
We used space saver vaccum seal bags without needing the vacuum. Just push air out. And this gives us 4 rolling bags for 5 people each just under 50 pounds + 2 duffle bags for bringing gifts back and dirty clothes.
Packing was a day late and a dollar short. To be fair though, last time we flew out the day AFTER Xmas and I had all day every day to plan, prepare and pack (this luxury is no more now that I am working too). This time, I clearly took the relative ease of the prior experience for granted as I was still zipping up my backpack when our driver arrived.
Getting a driver to LAX from Corona is wise. The fees are much less than long term parking.
4:45 pm McGehee's Out!!!
8:03pm: We are not quite out of the USA but we are in international space (aka LAX International).
Getting all the way over to another country is no small feat, though we must have forgotten that as we stumbled through the 10 months of planning for this trip.
1:17AM Long Flight = Lengthy First Day Blog Post.
The most frequent question I have been asked when sharing our upcoming trip is, "How long ago did you start planning," following, "how many travel miles did you use on plane tickets?" Wonder no more. Here is our breakdown of savings and planning (Note: we are using more than our initial savings for shopping, food, excursions and additional modes of transportation while abroad, meaning this is not a full account of what it costs for a family of five to travel abroad for 16 days):
• Rewards used for flights = 187,355 points (yep, that gets you a 9pm flight, with a 4-hour layover in Paris, arriving at 1AM in Greece on the 27th (note we left on the 25th) checking in around 2:30AM - in time to take another nap, hoping to wake around 9AM or 10AM Greece time. It also gets you a direct return flight on Al Italia on the way home. But that's one less thing to pay for additionally so you suck it up.)
• Winter travel. We get the most bang for our buck traveling in the midst of the off season.
• We save coins. Coin jars are difficult to take from, so even if you convert cash to coin occasionally, coins really add up. Coin savings $900 = $180 each, or $300 per child (before Euro conversion). The kids use this money for souvenirs and gifts for friends.
• Auto Transfer Set It and Forget It Savings: $10,0000 over 3 years ($287 per month). (Former readers may recall that we had the kids help with savings. When they were little they earned half their age per week in allowances. By the time Madeline was a sophomore in high school, they were just expected to help around the house as part of being a family member. We no longer have set allowances for chores. Madeline gets $100 per month for gas. She can use it however she wants but if she runs out of gas money and gas before the end of the month she must walk to school - so she uses the Intuit Mint app and does pretty well budgeting. Nolan can earn extra money from tutoring sessions that goes towards engineering projects. Fischer can earn extra cash for getting involved in school activities.)
• Breakfast included. We only book hotels with free breakfast. (Avoid a hangery family in the morning. No need to search out a place to eat each morning. Having one meal taken care of is a cost effective stress reliever.)
• Flights booked Feb. 2019 (10 months in advance)
• Hotels booked April 2019 (8 months in advance)
• Private Cars September 2019 (3 months in advance)
• Trains booked October 2019 (2 months in advance)
• Added Unlimited International Travel Pass via Tmobile for $50/cell phone Dec. 13 (3.5 weeks in advance)
• Booked Italy Tours - Dec. 21 (1.5 weeks in advance)
• Booked Greece tours (Dec. 24 0.5 weeks in advance). (It went like this, "Hey babe, when did we book that Meteora Sunset Tour?" And James' response, "Uhm, I dont think we ever finished booking the tour or the train there and the private car on the way back.")
• Airport Shuttle (okay private car, James has PTSD from a previous Shuttle experience where stopping 8 times to pick up others was beyond his greater value for time over money). Dec., 2019 (Initially 2 weeks in advance, then the driver cancelled on Xmas Eve. So, less than 24 hours in advance).
Tip: Planes, trains, and automobiles open much earlier than hotels, and hotels open for booking far earlier than tours and excursions (that's part of how we ended up "smoking off" the rest of our planning until the very last minute - a hint for all our readers who aspire to travel with kids....learn from our hindsight, add reminders to your calendar for when to book tours and excursions, save yourselves unnecessary stress).
1:45AM And now time for a slightly turbulent nap.
Packing was a day late and a dollar short. To be fair though, last time we flew out the day AFTER Xmas and I had all day every day to plan, prepare and pack (this luxury is no more now that I am working too). This time, I clearly took the relative ease of the prior experience for granted as I was still zipping up my backpack when our driver arrived.
4:45 pm McGehee's Out!!!
8:03pm: We are not quite out of the USA but we are in international space (aka LAX International).
Getting all the way over to another country is no small feat, though we must have forgotten that as we stumbled through the 10 months of planning for this trip.
1:17AM Long Flight = Lengthy First Day Blog Post.
The most frequent question I have been asked when sharing our upcoming trip is, "How long ago did you start planning," following, "how many travel miles did you use on plane tickets?" Wonder no more. Here is our breakdown of savings and planning (Note: we are using more than our initial savings for shopping, food, excursions and additional modes of transportation while abroad, meaning this is not a full account of what it costs for a family of five to travel abroad for 16 days):
• Rewards used for flights = 187,355 points (yep, that gets you a 9pm flight, with a 4-hour layover in Paris, arriving at 1AM in Greece on the 27th (note we left on the 25th) checking in around 2:30AM - in time to take another nap, hoping to wake around 9AM or 10AM Greece time. It also gets you a direct return flight on Al Italia on the way home. But that's one less thing to pay for additionally so you suck it up.)
• Winter travel. We get the most bang for our buck traveling in the midst of the off season.
• We save coins. Coin jars are difficult to take from, so even if you convert cash to coin occasionally, coins really add up. Coin savings $900 = $180 each, or $300 per child (before Euro conversion). The kids use this money for souvenirs and gifts for friends.
• Auto Transfer Set It and Forget It Savings: $10,0000 over 3 years ($287 per month). (Former readers may recall that we had the kids help with savings. When they were little they earned half their age per week in allowances. By the time Madeline was a sophomore in high school, they were just expected to help around the house as part of being a family member. We no longer have set allowances for chores. Madeline gets $100 per month for gas. She can use it however she wants but if she runs out of gas money and gas before the end of the month she must walk to school - so she uses the Intuit Mint app and does pretty well budgeting. Nolan can earn extra money from tutoring sessions that goes towards engineering projects. Fischer can earn extra cash for getting involved in school activities.)
• Breakfast included. We only book hotels with free breakfast. (Avoid a hangery family in the morning. No need to search out a place to eat each morning. Having one meal taken care of is a cost effective stress reliever.)
• Flights booked Feb. 2019 (10 months in advance)
• Hotels booked April 2019 (8 months in advance)
• Private Cars September 2019 (3 months in advance)
• Trains booked October 2019 (2 months in advance)
• Added Unlimited International Travel Pass via Tmobile for $50/cell phone Dec. 13 (3.5 weeks in advance)
• Booked Slovenia tours Dec. 15 (3.5 weeks in advance)
• Booked Italy Tours - Dec. 21 (1.5 weeks in advance)
• Booked Greece tours (Dec. 24 0.5 weeks in advance). (It went like this, "Hey babe, when did we book that Meteora Sunset Tour?" And James' response, "Uhm, I dont think we ever finished booking the tour or the train there and the private car on the way back.")
• Airport Shuttle (okay private car, James has PTSD from a previous Shuttle experience where stopping 8 times to pick up others was beyond his greater value for time over money). Dec., 2019 (Initially 2 weeks in advance, then the driver cancelled on Xmas Eve. So, less than 24 hours in advance).
Tip: Planes, trains, and automobiles open much earlier than hotels, and hotels open for booking far earlier than tours and excursions (that's part of how we ended up "smoking off" the rest of our planning until the very last minute - a hint for all our readers who aspire to travel with kids....learn from our hindsight, add reminders to your calendar for when to book tours and excursions, save yourselves unnecessary stress).
1:45AM And now time for a slightly turbulent nap.
So exciting!! Hoping you are able to get some rest once in Athens. Can't wait to read about the next step in the journey! Love you all!!
ReplyDeleteHappy travels!
ReplyDelete