How (and Why) I Travel Overseas with Four Kids

I’m Haley. Book midwife (editor), author, and single mom of four. Consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support my family and gain access to exclusive content:

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Traveling with my kids is at the top of my list of favorite things. I’ve traveled with all four of my kids to France and with at least one of my kids to Belgium, Germany, England, and Scotland.

And I spent the weekend recovering from an illness and sitting in bed with my laptop and coffee, putting together a spring break itinerary for another trip (the details of our next trip below!).

Whenever I share something about one of our adventures, I always get asked about travel hacks and especially how to travel with kids affordably. So I’d like to make my little pitch for prioritizing travel and then offer some of my best hacks for making it work on a budget.

I have always been an “experiences over objects” kind of mom. I didn’t grow up in a big travel family (we did a summer trip to my grandparents’ house in NC and that’s about it). But my parents did prioritize experiences: game nights, hosting friends for dinners, going to see performances (music, dance, theatre, etc), picnicking at state parks or gardens, the occasional day at the beach. This is something I really wanted to emulate in my own parenting.

But I’ve also always had the travel bug. I just didn’t get to scratch that itch for most of my life. When my four kids were little we did some camping, short trips to stay with friends, and even one big road trip across the country. But most of our travel was between where we lived in Waco, TX across I-10 to visit family in Florida. But—excepting the misery of the long drives—my kids love experiencing new places and I did, too. But there was so much I was longing to see.

What I wanted to see most was Europe. And I mean YEARNING to walk down cobblestone streets and see beautiful cathedrals and sit in cafes and stroll through museums. I wanted to see the places I had read about my whole life. But that simply was not in my family’s budget. I had mostly come to terms with that when I was delightfully surprised with opportunities to travel. In 2021, I got to go to France. In 2022, I went to England and Scotland. I was hooked. And what I wanted more than anything was to share these experiences with other people—especially my kids!

When you travel with your kids, whether on a weekend camping trip or an overseas adventure, those experiences shape your family culture. You build memories. You experience those waves of gratitude—those “I can’t believe we’re here!” moments. You learn about history, you taste new foods, you marvel at what you’re seeing. And because I love travel so much, sharing those special places with my kids is one of my life’s greatest joys and I am more than willing to make sacrifices in other budget lines to prioritize those experiences.

That being said most of my children’s lives, it simply didn’t matter how much I wanted to prioritize travel—there was no budget line I could cut. We were just getting by. I know what that’s like and the last thing I want is to make anyone feel like if they’re not organizing trips around the world for their kids all the time that it makes them a subpar parent. BY NO MEANS. You know your budget best and you can craft great experiences with your kids that don’t cost an arm and a leg!

So, travel is not an essential. Food and shelter and filling up the care with gas are essentials. (I was 35 before I traveled to Europe! One can survive without spending money on travel!) But if you are wanting to prioritize travel with kids and instead of Christmas and birthday gifts or eating out you want to earmark some money for a trip, I do have suggestions for making it as affordable and delightful as possible. So, I give you a single mom of four’s travel hacks for overseas adventures beginning with FLIGHTS. (In future installments: accommodations, meals for four kids on the go, traveling with neurodivergent kids, recovering from jet lag, balancing needs of older and younger kids, passport basics!)

The question I get asked the most is how the heck I find flights to Europe for so cheap. I only paid $385/ticket for our Paris trip last year! Cheap flights are not necessarily hard to find, but there are some hacks and I’m going to share every trick I know with you: