My son has played on travel teams(AAU) since he was 10 and the cost was never that great. Always under one thousand dollars. Sometimes under five hundred dollars. Now that my son is 17 and a Junior in H.S. we have commited to a travel team that will cost over two thousand dollars. But this is a one year thing. He will get exposure at the big Ameteur tournaments in front of all the Major League teams and a lot of college coaches. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money on travel ball when the kids are younger.
In New Jersey, we would travel to Connecticut or Maryland or New York every year but only once did we go to Florida. But Florida was a big expense and the baseball was the same.
Now, if you want to talk expensive, try gymnastics. Two hundred a month and that was just for starters. Year round workouts and only six or seven meets a year, including states. Three grand a year minimum and that was when my daughter was only 7 years old. Mercifully, she stopped when she was 12 years old.