If you’ve read my previous blogs you will already know that the high cost of travel during school holidays was one of the reasons that we took the leap into touring.
Keeping the cost down whilst touring is surprisingly easy.
Entertaining them in the car
For travelling to sites we knew we’d need in-car entertainment, so we purchased portable TV/DVD players that attach to the car headrests. For flexibility we went for ones that could play separate DVDs as well as the same on both screens as due to the age gap between our two boys, they often want to watch different things. It’s a pricey outlay at first but worth every penny to stop the age old “are we there yet” two minutes after starting off. Being portable they can also be removed from the car, and used in the caravan. Our eldest often enjoys sitting in his bunk bed of an evening watching a movie. Means we get to watch our own shows on the main caravan TV!
Entertaining them on site
On the topic of keeping the little ones entertained whist on site. This can be challenging at times. It is much harder than popping them in the free kids club at an all-inclusive hotel for example! Most sites offer a playground, and there are usually lots of other families around for the kids to make friends with which is great, but ensuring there is plenty to do in and around the caravan is essential.
The modern world offers a variety of high-tech solutions but we’ve yet to source a reliable option for Wi-Fi when touring so we don’t tend to take anything that’s reliant on internet connectivity.
We do have a TV in the caravan, but we currently only have it set-up for terrestrial Freeview through our caravan aerial. We recently picked up an Amazon Fire Stick in the Black Friday sale so once we figure out a Wi-Fi solution we will use that to expand our viewing to streaming services. Any recommendations for caravan Wi-Fi please do DM me on Instagram!
Outdoor games are obviously a must, we have the classics Swingball, Boules, Hoopla and that retro sticky ball game where you catch the ball in the Velcro covered paddles - I have no idea what its officially called! All picked up for a few pounds in supermarkets/toy shops etc. I’m also hoping to add a pop-up badminton set for this upcoming season. I’ve seen them around on sites, and they look great fun. Hoping that Aldi might come up trumps as they’ve had them in the past.
For the inevitable wet caravan days you cannot go wrong with jigsaws and board games. Our favourites are Scrabble, Pass the Pigs, Guess Who, and Yahtzee. Many of which are games that I played in my childhood on camping holidays!
Entertaining them with days out
Another great way of keeping the cost of entertaining kids down is to book a touring site close to the beach. Pack a picnic and a bucket and spade, and weather permitting you can enjoy long days of sun sea and sand.
We love to explore the local areas when we travel, and we try to do this as cost-effectively as we can.
Once you’ve got all the equipment cycling can be a great free activity, and is something that we tried last year down in the New Forest, we loved it and it will be a regular activity on our trips now. Its so easy to pack up a lunch and head off on an adventure, most campsites will have guides to the best cycle routes locally for you to try, so just ask the wardens/site staff.
We have a family National Trust membership, and we always use this on our trips at least once. Its great value, and you can’t beat a nice slice of cake and cup of tea after a sunny walk!
Other memberships we are considering are English Heritage, great if you love exploring castles and historic houses (who doesn’t!), and also the Merlin Annual Pass which gives you access to Legoland, Chessington, and loads of other great places.
If, like us, you are a creature of habit and enjoy returning to the same places again and again, then it is worth looking to see what annual passes are available. The initial outlay can sometimes be expensive, but once you have them you can return as many times as you like without having to worry about entrance fees. We purchased Longleat passes last October, and will be doing day-trips there during our New Forest stay and Dorset stays this summer, as well as staying at the Longleat Caravan and Motorhome Club site next October half-term.
One of the best ways to get a free entry is if you shop regularly in Tesco then utilising the Tesco clubcard voucher scheme, you can double/triple the point value and exchange them for the cost / part of the cost of entry to so many places across the country. Previously we used them for the Sealife centre in Weymouth, Whipsnade Zoo and a few of our entry days to Longleat Safari Park.
Above all for us touring is about family time, so some of the best times away are just chilling at the caravan and that costs nothing!
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