What High-Low Travel Isn’t
Before we dive into a strategy my family consistently uses to craft truly unique travel experiences, we should first discuss what it’s not.
The terms “high” and “low” are not referring to “peak” or “off” times to travel to specific destinations, rather, this is a way of referring to how you can maximise your travel budget by defining “high” and “low” cost options within your travel budget categories.
I know, I know…I opened with that word, budget-oof.
But don’t x-out right away!
I know the “b-word” isn’t exactly everybody’s favourite, but in my opinion it’s just misunderstood.
(If you want to know how wonderful I think budgets truly are, and how I see them as a noun-not a verb-or, if you’re thinking “say less” and are ready to fully embrace the b-word I can teach you how to develop a full-on-tailored-to-your-family’s-needs budget, I’ve got you covered with my Freedom course)
Let’s start by clearing up some misconceptions. I’m here to reassure you that “low” doesn’t mean “low-rate”, “bottom-of-the-barrel”, or “shoddy”.
Most importantly: when it comes to the concept of high-low travel, the word, “low,” isn’t a negative one.
Low travel simply includes creative ways to incorporate genuine, destination-specific experiences into your family’s next holiday.
3 Tips for Applying the High-Low Method When You Travel
When you are planning your trip, your travel budget is a major factor in determining where you’re going, how long you get to stay there, and the activities you get to partake in.
So it’s really important to implement one for your upcoming trip.
Just remember: budgets aren’t some restrictive killjoy.
It’s simply a detailed plan that will help you avoid expensive unknowns popping up during your next adventure – the actual killer of joy.
*Okay, all the disclaimers I can think of aside, let’s get started!*
The first thing you need to do is assess the value of each dollar within your overall budget, determining exactly where that money would be best spent.
You’re not looking for the best value for your money, this strategy highlights the intentions behind each purchase or booking, so you can accurately prioritise, resulting in a vacation well spent.
Here are the Three Things to Sort Out in Order to Make High-Low Travel Part of Your Travel Planning:
1. Understand your goals for the trip
Work out a clear set of priorities; what are you and your family hoping to experience while on this trip? Why did you choose this particular destination?
Those should be the categories that receive careful consideration regarding the budget.
2. Speaking of your budget, your plan should include working with a clear total budget
You’ll need this explicit information as a guideline to determine how you’ll balance your spending between the high and low experiences, so you can come back from your trip without debts incurred.
3. Prioritise what’s most important for you and your family, using those anchors as a means of allocation within your total travel budget
Decide as a family which experiences you are most excited about and allocate funds towards those areas within your budget first.
This will give you a better idea of where you will need to balance out those costs by supplementing other areas with low-cost options.
Will Utilising the High-Low Travel Method Diminish My Family’s Experience?
Quite the opposite!
Implementing this method of categorising and establishing your budget will actually afford you and your family the perfect blend of adventures that are authentic to the culture and location of your destination.
You’ll also be peppering in some of the luxuries we associate with “getting away from it all” when we go on holiday-so no worries!
I promise that using this method will not make for a lesser travel experience for you and your family.
Utilising high-low travel has been the ideal strategy for our family. It helps us optimise our travel budget so we can combine authentic, cultural experiences unique to the specific destination, while also indulging in the luxury, high-end elements we crave.
In short, this method of allocating travel expenses helps us have quality time, one-of-a-kind experiences, and enables us to focus on the highlights/unique offerings of the destination.
Here’s a few of my family’s most recent fav high-low swaps:
- Cooking/prepping meals at our Airbnb, so we can splurge on a local high-end restaurant we couldn’t experience anywhere else.
- Buying food at the local grocer, and packing our snacks and lunch on a theme park day, and then splurging on a character restaurant for dinner.
- Taking advantage of free hikes available through the mountains/local scenery of Tasmania, but then going all out on scenic luxury accommodation.
Sounds Great, but I’m Not Sure Exactly What High-Low Travel Means
All high-low travel really means is looking at your travel budget as a whole, and then prioritising the things you want to do, see, experience, or really go all in on as far as indulging – those are the highs.
Then? You use this information to create space in your travel budget for those priorities by supplementing it with less expensive options.
So, let’s say your travel budget has to include:
- Accommodations
- Food
- Tours/sight-seeing
- Rentals
- Contingencies (this could be any number of things such as, souvenirs, tips, emergency funds…)
That’s a good start, yeah? So then you take your buckets and you prioritise them.
Are you staying somewhere well-known for amazing food, or is more of “tours and attractions you cannot miss” type of location?
Is there a castle or some other incredible and possibly once-in-a-lifetime option?
I mean, if you go somewhere, and there’s a chance to stay in a massive tree house instead of a hotel? That’s a pretty solid example of identifying the high/must-have experience in my book.
When you’re considering all of the trip’s possibilities, where will you get the most bang for your buck-the best possible in-the-moment experiences?
You know – the kind of experiences destined to result in memories you share as a family for years to come? Right, those. Those are the gold.
It’s also important to throw the law of averages out the window when it comes to this method.
For example: when you’re looking at your entire travel budget, don’t consider the accommodations portion of it and then simply divide the total out among the number of nights you will be staying somewhere.
Seriously. Don’t.
That’s utilising the mid-range method (which I discuss in-depth in this post that spells out–specifically-why we don’t use a mid-range strategy).
Just remember: mid-range = meh.
Need Me to be Even More Specific? No Problem.
If I calculate the average available money within the budget for hotels across the entire trip and it comes out to $200/night… I’m NOT going to try and find ONE hotel/lodging/chalet to book for that many nights, at that rate each night.
Instead, I’m going to look at a variety of lodging options and perhaps spend $300 per night a couple nights at a swanky hotel, where my family and I can indulge a little and then a couple other nights find a chalet at $100 per night.
Sure, the $100/night option isn’t as luxurious, but those are the evenings where the money saved in the accommodations bucket means more money toward attractions or food/cultural events.
And besides, do you really want to spend the entire trip in the room?
Nope.
Not even the swankiest of hotels beats the adventures you’ll have immersing yourself in somewhere new.
Finding ways to take out of one bucket and spill it over into others is exactly what high-low travel is – and it’s genius.
Actual Examples of the High-Low Method My Family and I have Recently Used
Still not sure and need some real-life examples from a few of our more recent holidays?
Don’t mind if I do!
- Eating at the inexpensive, hole-in-the-wall restaurant owned by locals three streets back from the tourist strip, instead of the five-star restaurant highlighted in all the travel brochures. You’re likely to eat amazing food, dining alongside local people, all while enjoying a true cultural experience.
- Walking the streets of a city, visiting the local market and then enjoying a picnic with your family in the park while watching a local basketball game, in lieu of spending money taking the usual hop-on-hop-off tourist bus and eating at the Hardrock Cafe.
- Taking a private helicopter to land on a glacier in New Zealand and watch the kids touch snow for the first time, while also camping in a tent for $7.00 just down the road.
The Moral of The Story
If it isn’t obvious by now, I’m a nerd for a great budget, especially when it’s for family travel.
These take some time to truly sort out and learn how to implement comfortably and confidently, but once you find your flow, you’ll be so impressed with yourself!
…not to mention, amazed at how much more you enjoy the actual trip knowing you’ve got it all covered!
Wrapping It Up: How-To Implement High-Low Travel
There she is! My whole ‘not-so-secret’ formula for making the most out of your next family vacation!
Did you manage to catch the budget-creating bug after reading this post?
Can’t blame you there…
And if you want to learn more about exactly how I can help you develop a tailor-made money plan for all the spheres of your family’s life, I happen to be obsessed with helping other mums do just that!
The maths on that one are pretty simple: more control over your money plan = more trips!
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