Traveling with big families

United States
July 17, 2007 2:23pm CST
Recently my family went on our first vacation in three years. I have a husband, four kids, and we had an extra kid (cousin). We are always working on a very tight budget - we just don't have a few thousand sitting around every summer. Often I will plan for us to camp wherever we go, though we didn't do it this time. That allows us to save on room and board. The problem I have is that sometimes we need to stay at a hotel, but hotels generally won't recognize more than 4 or 5 people per room. Nor do I particularly want to break us up into two rooms with younger kids who need mom and dad in earshot. Do any of you out there have any suggestions for how to save on hotels when you are with a big family?
2 responses
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
20 Jul 07
Camping with a large tent or several different tents would be your best option. Maybe it would be possible for you to all stay in a youth hostel. We got a family room in a youth hostel when we went to the Isle of wight. Some youth hostels have rooms, dorms and camping available. You could also stay in the cheapest guest house that has space free. How old are your children? You could have a cot or camp bed put in your room for the youngest two and the oldest two could share a room next door.
• United States
20 Jul 07
This sounds good, but where do you find a youth hostel? Are there any in the USA? We have a big tent that we use often, but sometimes we want to stay in "fancier" accomodations. My oldest is 14 and the youngest is 6. Thanks for your response.
@butterfly39 (3904)
• Philippines
18 Jul 07
Yeah...but we pay the exists for additional. So it's really hard sometimes if you have a big family.