How I Ditched US Summer Camp and Took my Family Abroad (on a Budget, While Working!)
I’ve made a comprehensive 2026 summer guide with kids' programming, money-saving tips, and more
The moment of truth arrived when I began calculating the costs of camp for the summer of 2025. Our five-year-old twins were now on a public school schedule, which was a blessing to our overall childcare costs, but meant we had three kids (my older son was turning 10) to keep entertained for 10 long weeks of summer.
For years, I’ve been writing about America’s broken system of summer care, and how it got so logistically complicated, competitive, and expensive. In 2024, I wrote a very popular post about how other countries handle summer with kids, and surprise! A lot of other places have figured out systems that support working families. In fact, to quote myself from the original article, “I was not able to find any other Western country that has the combination of long summer breaks, no mandated paid vacation time, minimal subsidized options, and a dominant cultural belief that kids need constant supervision, especially in public places.”
Because my work does not take a summer break, like many of you, I felt like I had no choice but to keep camp spreadsheets, set calendar reminders to compete with my friends and neighbors for camp spots, fork over a lot of money, and spend hours filling out forms. And for what? Programming with limited hours, daily packing lists, and instructions that make you want to laugh/curl up in the fetal position, all so halfway through the summer my kids could complain that they are bored and are tired of whatever camp I so thoughtfully signed them up for? All while we all sweat in landlocked Durham, NC, when it’s 100 degrees.
When I realized the privilege of sending my three kids to North Carolina day camps was going to cost $10,800, plus a week-long vacation stateside, I knew there had to be another way. It felt like an excessive amount of money for something the kids were indifferent to, and I literally got nothing out of it other than the opportunity to work.
So I hatched a plan to relocate the family to Costa Rica for five weeks, working remotely while we sent the kids to a MUCH more affordable day camp. My goal was to pull off this trip and keep our overall summer costs the same as they would have been had we stayed home and sent them to 9 weeks of day camp in North Carolina and took a modest one-week local vacation.
While my husband and I are experienced travelers, our kids had never left the time zone, and the only resource I had to start figuring out how to pull this off was my years of training as a journalist…… and Google. However, after probably hundreds of hours of researching locations, camps, rental houses, rental cars, travel, and activities, we managed to pull it off. Going in, my husband and I kept our expectations modest about how it would go. While there were hiccups, of course, and we were all ready to go home by the end, we both agreed that it was the best thing we’d ever done as a family. The nature adventures and lots of beach and pool time made for some of the most fun we’ve ever had with our kids. It was CERTAINLY the most I’ve ever relaxed on a trip with my children, and was the most extended feelings of peacefulness I’ve had since the kids were born. My husband and I slept great. We relished all the time outside, simple logistics, and a slower pace of life. I loved having less stuff and fewer choices. We felt like we had a psychic break from the shitshow of American politics. The kids learned how to surf, picked up some Spanish, learned how to eat in restaurants without acting like wild animals, and absolutely rose to the occasion of some brand-new experiences. I’m proud of them.
Since we’ve gotten back, I’ve gotten many questions from both friends and readers about whether we’d do it again (YES!) and how I pulled it off. I realized that I have a lot to offer on how to plan an international trip like this on a budget while working remotely, more than I can share in a paywalled post or two. That’s why I’ve put together this comprehensive 30-page guide, which could save people countless hours of research. I have included a range of money-saving strategies (some of which I’ve never seen discussed elsewhere) that could help save hundreds or thousands of dollars. I personally use the tactics I share, and they have enabled me to reduce international trip costs by thousands of dollars. I hope this guide will help make an experience like this financially and logistically accessible to more people.
Here’s some of what you can expect from the guide:
My personally curated list of programming/camps all over the world for kids in summer 2026, so kids stay entertained, parents can have a break, and most would allow both parents to work remotely. (most programs cater to ages 4-12, with some good teen-specific options included)
Ways to save BIG money on flights, house rentals, rental cars, luggage, and food that big travel companies don’t want you to know about.
A customizable, budgeting Excel sheet! Easy and clear to use, even if you aren’t a spreadsheet nerd.
The HOLY GRAIL of travel savings
How to save money on summer camps and childcare for the part of the summer you’re at home.
Recommended travel products for adults, kids, and remote work, plus my universal packing list recommendations.
I know this type of trip isn’t for everyone, and having the ability to work remotely, take a longer trip, and hold a US/Canadian/EU passport, along with having any budget for a trip like this, is a privilege. Even if you aren’t sure if you can pull a trip like this off this year, but you have an interest in doing something like this in the future, I’d grab the guide at this price. (It will never be this cheap again!) There are a lot of seeds you can plant and ideas for groundwork you can start on to make a trip like this possible in the future.
Double Shift members and purchasers of this guide: Join me on Wednesday, Jan 28th at 1 pm EST for our monthly hangout where we talk all things summer!
Let’s gripe about summer camp signup, share ideas for camp opt-outs, tell me what trips/programs caught your eye from the guide, and AMA about planning an international adventure with kids! (You don’t have to be actively planning a trip to join in-- just wanting to talk about all things summer with kids!)
(Members and purchasers of the guide will get a Cal invite and reminder email!)
If you have any questions about our trip or the guide, ask them below!
Purchased! TY and can't wait to read it