Travellistics

Save Money Visiting Historical Sites with your Kids

By Charles L Harmon

If you’re traveling with your kids it will definitely help if you can save money wherever you can. With children there are always unforeseen costs and its nice to have a buffer of cash that you don’t expect to have. When driving nowadays the cost of gas has skyrocketed that it has forced many to cut back on long trips in the car compared to cheaper gasoline costs in the past.

Where you now pay more for gas sometimes you can save on other things. One of these is being able to get into places at a reduced admission cost. Some of the historical sites offer discounts if you know about them.

A long-standing tradition in many families on car trips is to stop at historical sites. This encourages children to take an interest in the past. You can take time from any vacation to go to historical landmarks, whether your main travel is by plane, train, or boat. The trick is to find discounted admission fees for the kids.

The first order of business is to find out what historical landmarks are in the states you are going to visit. You can do this by going to the Internet site of the National Parks Systems. This site gives a thorough list of historic places of all kinds for all fifty states and for some nearby islands as well.

The National Parks site lists National Parks which are a network of natural and historic places, and National Historic Sites which deal with only one locale. It lists such National Memorials as Mount Rushmore, Klondike Gold Rush National Park, Women’s Rights National Historical Park, and many others but also some you may never have heard of. It also lists National Battlefields.

Once you have the name of an historic site you want to visit, you can search the Internet for that specific site. If there is a web page for that historical landmark, it may have offers for discounts or coupons you can print off to use there. If not, you may have to do a little more research.

One way to learn more is to go to a state’s Visitor’s Center. These are usually located as you enter the state on a major road or highway. Signs often give directions for how to get there if the Center is not located in plain sight of the highway.

The Visitor’s Center staff is usually more than happy to share with you all the information they know or have on local historic landmarks. If there are any discounts they will probably know about them. If there are any coupons, they will probably have access to them.

Sometimes, there is no one manning the center. In this case, you will have to sort through the brochures for yourself. This isn’t as easy, and you will not have the insider’s perspective. Try it anyway. It’s better than no information and you just might get lucky and find a local site you can visit at a discount.

You can also visit the websites of any of the different states’ tourism information. This will give a complete list of all the historic landmarks in the entire state. It often gives a brief description.

Sometimes the landmarks are listed under the city or area they are located in. This presents a problem if you don’t know where they are. Most states will list discounts and special offers along with each landmark. Some will have printable coupons.

Of course, the tried and true method for finding historical landmarks to visit is an easy one. You just travel along with your eyes open, looking out for interesting places to learn about the past. If this is your way of doing things, it is certainly a fun experience.

The trouble is that it is often hard to find discounts, special offers, or coupons when traveling this way. Ask anyway. Sometimes there are discounts that are available but will only be given if you bring up the subject.

If you are a member of an auto club you might try checking with them before you start your trip. They usually offer maps and can plan your route if you ask. Their many information pamphlets might indicate places where you can further check for potential discounts.

Another tactic I sometimes use is to pose a question to the Internet audience. I ask my question on Yahoo Answers and often get very good answers. Pose your question about places where you can get discount or low cost admissions to specific places you want to visit and see if you get a worthwhile answer. Sometimes you can receive information you never even thought of.

Your kids may be the kind that are bored with history and not want to bother seeing these bits of past history. However, if you expose them to history that they can see, touch, and feel, they will come away excited.

It might help to get them in the spirit of seeing these places if you allow plenty of time before your trip to get them a frame of mind to want to see the famous and not so famous places of the past. Remind them that when they grow up the things they do now will be far in the past once they are older adults. Finding discounts just makes it easier to visit more landmarks and leaves a good feeling of saving a little money in the process.

Copyright © 2007-2011 Charles Harmon

Charles creates websites and writes articles. Learn about Good Luck and gemstones. Charles also has a personal blog.