France Finance

Time for an awkward topic: MONEY. We all need it. We all are able to choose what to do with the money we have. Ever since our first trip to France together eleven years ago, Jeff and I have dreamed about taking our kids there someday. During our early years of super-snug-budgeting, that day felt very far distant. Then stars started to align. We moved into an affordable rental house in Sunnyside and began adding nearly quadruple dollars to our savings each month than we previously had managed. A year later, our state passed legislation funding significant statewide teacher pay increases and our school district negotiated a whopping mega 17.5% raise for local teachers. Suddenly our dream family France trip was very possible and closer than ever before.


Last year we began crunching numbers, researching prices, and mapping out savings in earnest until we discovered that we would be able to take our kids to France during summer of 2019. Last September, I combed the internet for flight deals, landing a spectacular fare that was over $300 per person below my initial estimate. Once I had the flights locked in, I scoured Airbnb and narrowed hundreds of darling apartments and cottages down, consulting and debating with Jeff over locations. Before long, our lodgings were reserved and our trip began to take shape.

We will be spending four weeks in France with 3 adults and 3 kids--Jeff's mom Leslie is coming with us. Since her presence required us to rent more expensive, larger lodgings and vehicle, Leslie is paying for 1/3 of the costs of our accommodations and rental car, plus all of her own plane ticket. We will be staying in three locations and all three Airbnbs we reserved are 3 bedroom 2 bathroom homes (2 apartments, 1 house). We reserved hotels on either end of the trip to make airport access easier. For our family of five to spend a month in France, the total out of pocket trip cost is $7,500. BOOM. Since food and gas are the only estimated expenses that are not already locked in, the margin of error is slim. Our initial trip budget was $10,000. We will probably spend more on food than my estimate, but that will be ok because we started out significantly under budget. It does my nerves a WORLD of good to have that generous plush financial cushion around us for our travels.

For reference, one week at Disney World staying on location (and assuming flexible park tickets) with a family of five is right around $6,000 not including food.

I love hearing about my friends' travels. It makes me so happy! But the topic few people talk about are the finances behind the travels. That leads to the myth that travel is expensive and unrealistic for average people. Not true! It's perfectly fine not to share all of the dollar details behind trips, but I wanted to share our numbers for two reasons:

1. To show that travel does not have to be out-of-this-world expensive. Travel is accessible! All it takes is a disciplined savings plan and serious research to find deals.
2. I am a wee bit proud of the fine piece of budgetary prowess that I pulled off for this trip.

Planning trips is one of my hobbies. I love to sit down and completely plan out dream trips, figuring out costs and time frames, places to stay, and sites to visit while also creating spreadsheets and packing lists. Planning is nearly as fun as traveling. The planning is a RUSH! So I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process of planning our family France trip. Our trip plan represents hours and hours and hours of painstaking research and calendar rearranging. It was a blast! When the planning was done, all we had to do was sit back and wait another EIGHT MONTHS so we could actually go on the trip!

Now the wait is OVER. We are leaving for France this week. It is going to be epic. Cultural. French.

I'll probably weep over the remains of Notre Dame in Paris.

Amber will probably beat us all to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Rose is excited to see Monet's water lilies.

Jay wants to see the skulls in the Catacombs.

Grama Leslie hopes she can keep up.

Jeff can't wait to show the kids his missionary stomping grounds.

from the archives: 2008, a magical night in Paris on our first trip to France together.