Transportation will always be a major expense and possibly hassle during your sabbatical.
The cheapest sabbaticals will almost always involve staying in one place the whole time. Every time you transport yourself and your family to a new location, there are new expenses. Not just for the obvious things like airfare or plane tickets, either. You will need to get from your current housing to the airport, then to the airport to your new housing once you arrive.
One of the biggest surprises for me when we traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto, for example, was the cost of the train there. It was over $100/person for a two hour ride. You may need to eat in the airport, and if you’re traveling frequently you will throw food out every time you change locations.
What are the options for transportation?
I highly recommend Rome2Rio for figuring out different options of how to get from one location to another. Their price estimator isn’t always exactly right, but it gives you some ideas.
Especially for other countries, there may be rideshare options that you’re not aware of. Blabla car, for example, in which people who are driving from one place to another post a “fare” if you want to join them on their journey. It offsets some of their fuel costs and gets you pretty cheap transportation. Not usually workable for our family of 6, but a great option for smaller groups..
It’s also great about listing options like ferries that you might not normally think about.
The usual travel advice also applies:
- Try to travel mid-week if you can. It’ll be less busy, the tickets will be cheaper, and it’s more likely you won’t be smushed next to someone the whole time. You may even win the airfare lottery and get a whole row to yourself. I can guarantee that won’t happen if you fly out on Friday afternoon.
- Book in advance. But not too far in advance (link) Use a platform like Google flights, Hopper, or Skyscanner.
- Set up price alerts on all those services. These alerts don’t just alert you to good deals. They also give you a sense of what the usual price is to a destination, so when you see a low fare you’ll feel confident buying it. Platforms like Hopper offer “buy now” recommendations also.
- Remember you can always cancel airline tickets for a full refund within 24h. If you see a great deal, just go ahead and book it and cancel it later if needed.
- Use the “anywhere” or explore options- you might find a great deal somewhere nearby that you want to check out for a few days before heading to your final destination.
- Look for discounts for kids. These do still exist: airlines like Copa, and many train routes give kids a half price fare.
- Kids don’t have to pay on many subway systems
- Factor in the cost of not paying for a hotel room when you book an overnight train or flight
- Use local ride options – they’re likely cheaper and more abundant than taxis. These may be tuk tuks, scooters, or bikes.
- Minimizing luggage as much as possible vastly increases your transportation options. You don’t have to pay the extra $30-50 for a bag on the plane, you can pile into a taxi or subway car with backpacks on your lap.
- Some countries have fares that are only for citizens of that country (Hello, Ecuador!). Google Flights consistently showed me the fare for Ecuadorians, and when I clicked through all the screens to buy my $250 tickets, it became clear that I’d need to pay twice as much as a non-Ecuadorian.
Renting a car
First, many places require an international drivers permit. It’s $20 through AAA, and you can either go to a AAA office or get two passport photos taken (or take them yourself) and mail everything in. The card itself is bulky and old fashioned.
Then you need to rent the car. Some areas have rental car sites that are specific to them, like Europcar and Autoeurope. But Booking.com or Kayak are fine places to start to get a general idea. Also keep in mind that renting cars is usually totally commitment-free, so if you see a good deal you should jump on it, even if you’re still working out some details.
Car rental insurance is always a question. Some credit cards will cover it, but the policy limits and terms vary. The Chase Preferred/Sapphire cards are probably the best for this.
Some credit card companies may also exclude specific countries. Ireland, for example, was not covered for car insurance when I went in 2019 by almost every major credit card.
Leasing a car
Leasing a car can be a great option for folks who will be in a location for several months but don’t want to deal with car ownership. You have the convenience of a car always available without having to buy one.
There are several companies that lease in Europe, like Citroen and Renault. For my family of 6, one company had zero vehicles available and the other had a quote of over $6000. If I had a normal-size family, it would have been $1851 for 3 months. The leases generally do come with 24/7 roadside service and other features.
Buying a car
Sometimes you can buy a car and then sell it for close to the same price, so it effectively just costs a little more than the registration fees. However, it may be a logistical hassle that’s not worth it, especially for trips of just a few months.
If you have to go to the equivalent of the DMV, can you navigate the system? If you get stranded on the side of the road, what will you do? If you hit someone and injure them, what coverage do you have?
It also may not be possible to buy a vehicle unless you have a specific type of visa in many countries, since you have to register the car via some kind of national identification number.
A note on manual transmission
I’m embarrassed to admit I never learned to drive a stick shift. I grew up in the suburbs and it never really seemed like a great time to learn. It’s probably worth taking some driving lessons or renting a stick shift for a weekend to get comfortable with it if you’re going to Europe or other locations where automatic transmissions are unusual. Automatics will be much harder to find and more expensive 100% of the time.
A note on cars and large families
In many countries, you will struggle to find cars that seat 6 or 7 people. When you do find them, they will be insanely expensive. I’m talking 2-3x the cost of a regular rental. And they’ll be harder to park in the tiny spaces and harder to maneuver in the historic districts with narrow roads. Driving a small bus with 4 kids in the backseat on cobblestone streets is a personal nightmare of mine.