How to Travel to a Hockey Tournament
Youth Hockey requires travel and sometimes lots of it. However, if you do it right you can do it efficiently and for less money. First of all it is important to carpool with as many other players and families as possible. Of course this is only if the trip is within driving distance. Next, find a vacation home with as many bedrooms as possible. This way, you can fit quite a few people into one house and typically pay about the same amount for the whole house per night as one hotel room, only the hotel room only fits about 4 people comfortably.
For example, when we used to travel to a hockey tournament in Phoenix, AZ. We would only take about 4 cars total. We would also rent a Vacation Home in Phoenix Arizona that would house about 10 - 12 people. We saved a lot of money just by doing these two things. On one occasion we were able to trade our Vail Home with a family in Phoenix.
The next big expense is eating. Hockey players like to eat a lot, but usually are not too picky about what they eat. Therefore, we would go to the buffets where the kids could get all the food they needed to keep up with the energy their body was using.
If you can save money in these three areas, you will save quite a bit of money on these typically expensive hockey trips. Of course some expenses like hockey equipement and trips to the dentist are unavoidable!