Day 1

After what seemed like eternity, we arrived last night in Prague. We continued to have our challenges as all of our luggage arrived except for one. However, Air France had already sent word to the Prague airport that they would be sending it o the next flight and we should have it by morning.

Right before our flight from Salt Lake we were notified by the people renting us the apartment, that the Mozart apartment we booked had water issues and they would need to move us to a different apartment down the street. Although this new apartment didn’t have the reputation of having Mozart staying there, it is a beautiful apartment and is much closer to Old Town Prague than the Mozart. The building was built in the 15th Century and has room for seven. The kids all slept in the main room where they combined beds to make a giant bed, while Michelle and I had the bedroom. It has a full bath and a large kitchen, which will come in handy and will save us on our food budget. If you are planning to stay in Prague we highly recommend www.pragueresidences.com. As we walked to the bridge last night we stopped at a Hostel just to compare prices. The cheapest, dorm style rooms with no privacy was only $3 per night, per person cheaper than our apartment.  $17/night/person compared to our $20/night/person. 

A few blocks to the left is St. Charles Bridge where you can get the most incredible view of the Prague Castle. A few blocks to the right is Old Town Square where we will begin our exploration of the city tomorrow.  Tonight we took a short walk to the bridge and to get acquainted with the streets around the apartment. Prague is lively, streets full of people, small shops tucked away in every corner. We can’t wait to discover some hidden treasures. 

When you travel, especially during the peak travel season you should always expect hiccups, changes, delays and even frustrations. We arrived at the airport two hours before our flight, which for us is incredible. You can imagine that with four kids we typically arrive at the last minute, running through the security and sitting down just as they closed the doors.  So this time we were pretty proud of ourselves. That is until we handed our passports and itinerary to the ticketing agent and he gave me that look. I have flown enough to know that look, either something was wrong or we were in for an adventure. Actually, no matter what it is the best thing to do is remain calm and just let them explore the options, which is just what we did. 

We soon found that our flight to Atlanta was delayed by over two hours. This definitely put a kink into our one-hour layover in Atlanta connection to Prague. While Curt, our agent was trying to figure out a better solution, Delta emailed me twice and called me three times letting me know something I was now well aware of. They had automatically re-routed us from Salt Lake to Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Paris and finally to Prague. Not the best solution in my mind. So we waited while Curt typed away like a teenager texting after drinking three cans of Cola and he came up with a much better solution, a non-stop flight to Paris and then a short flight to Prague. However, because this flight was so full, he couldn’t provide us with seat assignments. Hummmmmmm, new problem, new adventure. In addition, the new flight wasn’t until later in the afternoon, but to our surprise Curt provided us with $60 in food vouchers, which took care of our lunch and was a wonderful surprise. 

We finally got to our gate only to find out that coach was totally full. The only seats were the new Economy Comfort seats Delta sells for an additional $60.00 each, but they do have more legroom and recline twice as far as typical coach seating. To our delight, and because those were the only seats available we were all upgraded at no charge. 

In the end, the lesson learned was; Relax, count on a few delays. Also remember that the frustrations often turn out to be blessings. First, we were wondering what to do about lunch as there was no meal service on our original flight from Salt Lake to Atlanta and we had such a short layover. In this case we had a complementary lunch on Delta. Second, we were upgraded to better seating and a much more palatable itinerary. Yes we have had to spend a few unexpected hours in the airport but we received over $400 in compensation and had fun playing card games with the kids. 

Keep this in mind the next time you run into either a hiccup, change or delay on a future flight. Your outcome will largely be dictated by how you react to the adventure ahead of you. Tomorrow we will be in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and our adventure will not begin, it will just continue. 

For most families, school is over and summer has begun. Memorial Day traditionally is the start of summer, unless you live in our neighborhood where we woke up to snow on the 30th. So where does this summer take you? Most importantly, are you using the tips and suggestion you have learned from "Have Kids - Will Travel"?

For our family this summer will be a busy one. In just a few weeks we will be flying off to Prague, then Vienna and finally Italy where we will visit Venice, Florence and the Amalfi Coast. We have spent a lot of time planning this trip, but this is key to providing the best trip at the lowest possible price. We have realized a few things this time around; With the exchange rate and fuel prices up, they effect nearly every aspect of a trip and if not planned for they can cut into the budget a bit more. These are the unexpected costs that you just have to put an educated guess to. In the end, I believe it will only change our final cost by a few hundreds dollars, but still a cost that is always in flux. 

We came across a new website where we got our flights from Prague to Milan. They even beat out our old favorites, Ryan Air and Easy Jet. www.edreams.net searches all of the discount airlines across Europe and came up with a $47 airfare on an airline where we didn't have to worry as much about our checked bags, if we choose not to carry on. 

So far we have our airfare booked and paid for. All hotels and rental cars paid for and so with that, we are just under $2000.00 and we are left with food and fun. My guess is that we will come in somewhere close to $3000.00 for all 6 of us. Because we are moving around so much on this trip we are paying for a few more nights of hotel than we normally would. We created hospitality exchanges where we could and used our Marriott points for many, but there are a few places we just needed a clean comfortable bed and had to pay for them. 

If you are still looking for a bargin for this years family vacation, there is still room to join us on our China Humanitarian trip September 27th through October 6th. For more details and costs go to: www.havekids-willtravel.com/humanitarian-trips.html You can't beat this price anywhere for what it includes. 

If you're still in the planning process for this summer here are a few tips.

1) Based on the trends, travel is up. Start looking for airfare early. Use miles when and where you can, but begin the process as early as possible. With fuel prices high, demand high and inventory low the price can only go up.

2) check for airfare late at night. Around midnight seems to be best. Business travelers tend to book during the day and inventory is moving quickly. Late at night can save you hundreds of dollars on a flight. 

3) Clear your internet cookies. If you search but don't book, the search engine will remember your search and they will only let you see higher fares if you search again. Go to your internet browser and clear your internet cookies. 

4) Look at nearby airports. An example of this was a flight from Salt Lake City to Dallas for $450.00 on Delta. The Delta flight from Boise was only $290.00 saving $150.00 per ticket. The return flight stopped in SLC where you could just walk off with your luggage and not complete the flight to Boise. You will need a cheap Southwest ticket from SLC to Boise one way for just under $50 to start off your trip but you still saved $100.00 per ticket. A family of 6 can save $600.00 and a larger family can save more. 

5) Look for home exchanges and hospitality exchanges and save thousands on your accommodations alone. www.homespunhospitality.com 

Have a wonderful summer holiday and please let us know what you did to save on your family vacation, email us at havekidswilltravel@sisna.com 

We have begun to work out our accommodations for our Prague. We will be in Prague 3 nights and have decided to stay in a beautiful apartment perfectly located near old town and near Charles Bridge. It is reported this is the house where Mozart stayed when he was in Prague and where he wrote the opera Don Giovanni. This is a great place for less than a hotel which sleeps 6, has a kitchen an wifi included in the $95 a night price. That is cheaper than a hostel. (Hostel - $20/night per person times 5) We have also booked our hotel in Vienna. We decided on the Marriott Courtyard. We will stay three nights and the total cost? $0.00. nada, nothing. I love the tips in Have Kids - Will Travel, http://www.havekids-willtravel.com/ on how to get free hotel nights. We are in the final stages for our accommodations in Italy, but it will include a hospitality stay in the Amalfi Coast.

Can families really travel the world?

We hope as you read our blogs you will get a sense of how absolutely possible it is for families to travel the world. We have been traveling like this with our family for over 10 years now and the difference it has made in our children's lives is incredible. Our favorite quote is from St. Augustine - "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." It truly is our goal to help families realize how affordable travel can be if you know the right travel secrets and are willing to invest a little bit of time. 

We would like to take you along, by words now, on our next family vacation and explore Prague, Vienna, Milan and the Amalfi Coast of Italy. Right now we are in the middle of planning so check back for the changes we make as we book the trip of a lifetime for the cost of going camping. 

Why Prague? How do we get there?

First of all, I'm the reason we are going to Prague. My wife and kids have pretty much dictated our past vacations to destinations they wanted to go. Our oldest daughter has always been fascinated with France. So much so that her minor in college is French and I believe she has been there every summer since she was 13. Second, why not Prague? It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Untouched by the wars that ravished Europe and full of so much history, it would take years to take it all in. Un fortunately we have only a few days this time around. My hope is that we get enough of a taste to lure us back many time as other countries have. 

As our children get older it becomes more and more difficult to schedule these family trips. Both of our sons will have to miss this adventure. One will be beginning his MBA at the University and the other is in North Carolina for the next 2 years. So our oldest, married daughter quickly let us know that her and her husband would gladly fill in for them. So there will be five of us traveling. Since there are no gas stations or roads for that matter from the U.S. to Prague, we opted for the quicker more conformist mode of transportation, the airplane. After a few hours with the airline figuring which route would be the best we booked our flight in to Prague and out of Milan Italy for only $98 round trip for each of us. Ok..... wait you are saying.... Did he just make a huge typo? let me spell it out so there is no confusion... ninety-eight dollars and zero cents. Total. Air, taxes, fees. 

Now up to this point you were probably thinking this was going to be a cute family blog on how some rich family flew to some exotic European vacation and how jealous you would be as you lived vicariously through their words. Well, I think I have your attention. We don't travel like a normal family and the thing is, anyone can travel this way too, if you know the secrets. These aren't some weird join some time-share or travel club that you will never use type of secrets. They are time tested, every day, any trip kind of secrets you can use too. Now the point of this blog isn't to go through all the nuts and bolts of how we do this, because that would be way too boring and not everyone is going to do it the same way each time. There are many different ways to get airfare like we mentioned and one might work better for you than for someone else. So the best place I can send you to read all about how this is done is to visit our website, http://www.havekids-willtravel.com. there you will be able to get a copy of our book and read how you too can travel like a King for the price of Disneyland or less. You can also attend one of our one day seminars if you want us to walk you through each step of the process, http://www.learntotravelcheap.com. 

But I digress for a moment, I'm sure that price was just too good to be true and I had to let you know where you can get flights like that too. 

Currently this is where we sit with our trip... Airfare, done. Still looking for a place to stay and as always starting to plan out the adventures. This we do know. My wife found out that Vienna is only 3 hours from Prague and has always wanted to go, so we will spend 4 days in Prague and 3 days in Vienna. We are looking for the best and least expensive mode of transportation now along with accommodations. In our next blog we will fill you in on how those are coming along. We hope you are enjoying this, your mouth is watering and you want to go with us. - May all your travels be Free -