Hello fellow travellers!

I’m Melissa, the editor of Thrifty Family Travels which I created in 2016 to share my love of travel with other families.  While these days I travel with my family, like many young Aussies, I started travelling around the world as a solo backpacker and so have years of experience in stretching my travel dollar.

If I’m not travelling, I am daydreaming about where we should visit next or already planning the next adventure. Planning trips and creating itineraries is as exciting as travelling itself for me! I love nothing more than researching various destinations around the world, reading reviews on hotels, restaurants, and places to visit, learning how to navigate around a city, and discovering exciting activities. I have so much passion for this that I love to help out my family and friends too and plan them their dream holidays and trips around the world – which is why I started this website in 2016. The website immediately took off and so I decided to turn it into a full time career, leaving my 17 year career in the legal profession in 2017.

I started travelling when I was 18 when I took both my first plane trip and my first solo trip 90 minutes away to Sydney to visit my older sister who had recently moved there for work.  While my sister spent her days at work, I spent my days wandering around Sydney, developing a rather serious case of the travel bug! It was not until 5 years later that I took my first overseas trip to the USA and from there, there was no turning back. I have now travelled throughout Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Europe, visiting 34 countries.  Many countries I have visited multiple times and much of it I accomplished backpacking alone.

Since having my daughter Myla, my travel style has changed a lot. I have gone from backpacking and moving quickly during each trip to sleeping in private rooms and staying put in the same place for longer periods. However, my love for travel has never faded and now I’m lucky to get to share it with my family.

Right now, my goal is to help people fulfil their dreams of travelling by providing them with tips, tricks, and itineraries to ensure affordability, value for money, and an unforgettable time!

To get the most out of this website, I recommend you start by choosing one of the destinations from the drop down menu above and use the various links throughout the articles to start planning your trip.

Happy and safe travel!