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Hello and welcome to NerdWallet Smart Money podcast where we answer your money questions in 15 minutes or less.

I'm your host, Sean Piles.

This episode, I'm joined once again by Sarah Rathner, Travel Nerd Extraordinaire.

Hi, Sean. I'm happy to be here.

I'm so glad you're here, Sarah.

If you don't mind, can you do the honors of reading this episode's question?

I'd be delighted. So this question is from Marcia in Los Angeles. What tips do you have for families traveling during the holidays?

It's already hard to budget for the gifts I buy for my family and friends. My husband and I are both from the East Coast.

So the cost of flying across the country with our young children every year leaves us financially wiped out by January. What can we do? Oh boy, this is the toughie here. Sorting out family holiday travel is always tricky because not only do you have to balance family priorities and personalities, you also have to sort out how much money you're going to spend and who's going to be spending it.

Throw kids into the mix and the equation can get even more complicated and expensive.

Travelers with children definitely feel the squeeze.

Our 2019 holiday travel study found that Americans traveling with partners and kids are spending a lot on flights and hotels.

Around $1,600 to $1,900.

And that's before you buy any gifts.

It's enough to make more than half of survey respondents say they'd prefer to skip holiday travel and visit family during a less expensive time of year. Yeah, and I don't blame them,

because while having family together for the holidays is really nice and it looks really nice

...