Fourteen Tips for Travelling with Kids
/A twinge of jealousy that you get when everybody gets to go on holiday is not one that you should have to feel. In fact, if you have your own holiday booked, you may not feel anywhere near as jealous because you're already feeling excited about something for your family to do.
A lot of parents like to avoid taking their kids on a long vacation or on a holiday abroad because they're worried about how to travel with them. Traveling with kids can be a lot more work logistically and it’s not as easy just to pack your stuff, wake up for a flight and go. You have to think about how the kids are going to react to those early starts and how they're going to feel about the trip in general.
Every shape and size of family can get on the road or head to the local airport and get on a plane if they have the planning down. Parents often are more happy when they are on holiday because they're not having to try and parent and deal with work at the same time. Travelling with kids is much more of a pleasure when everybody involved is taking a break.So feeling like you are able to take your holiday is important. As a parent, you want to make sure that traveling with kids is going to be as much of a pleasure as it would be travelling on your own, and we've got some tips below to make sure that that's the case.
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1. Be as organised as you possibly can. The first and probably most important tip that you can have as a parent travelling with children is to get your organizational hat on. You need to make sure that you've researched everything from flight costs and accommodation options to Airport Car Parks pricing and length of time. You want to be able to rock up at the airport with your whole family, excitedly get on a plane and have everybody calm and happy the entire journey. For that to happen you need to know that everything has been pre booked, prepaid for and is ready for you to just turn up to. That takes an awful lot of stress out of the situation, especially when you're travelling with children.
2. Let go of some of the rules. The whole point of a vacation is to have fun, and that doesn't just stretch to the children, but to you. If you allow the rules to slack during vacation time, you're going to be a much happier individual. A couple of days or even weeks are not going to do much to undermine your regular parenting. Don't stress about bending rules. Let them have ice cream during their breakfast buffet and let them stay up later so that they can go to the cabaret shows. Of course, this advice only applies to kids where they'll be able to cope with that kind of change. If your children have additional needs or require routine to stay calm then absolutely stick to that routine. The point is, do everything that's going to make your life easier and not harder.
3. Look out for as many freebies as you can get. There are some holiday booking companies that will give you the opportunity to have kids go free on a trip. There can be freebies when it comes to entertainment too. Sussing out anything that has freebies or perks for kids such as free meals, play areas or kids clubs included is definitely something that should be included when it comes to booking. Some hotels abroad allow kids to eat and stay for free because the adults are paying a premium price. That in itself is a great option when you're travelling with kids because then you know that they're going to be well entertained even without your input.
4. Don't forget to book their meals on a plane. If you book a child's ticket, it doesn't mean you're going to be assigned a child's meal when you're on a plane. Make sure that you request a kids meal when you book online because if you're dealing with allergies or severe dislikes from picky eaters, specify that as well. Always, always pack snacks as a backup too so that you can be ready for anything in case your kids don't like the meals on the plane and it's a long flight. Flying with kids is hard enough, but flying with hungry and angry kids is worse.If you make sure that you've thought ahead and bought the kids meals on the flights, you're going to be a lot happier as a result.
5. Download entertainment. It's not always conducive to children to be able to sit still and try to figure out an airplane TV set. If your kids have tablets or iPads, then download apps so that they can play without the Internet. They may well settle with some headphones on and some cartoons or a Disney film on the plane, but when it comes to boredom, a movie is usually enough time for them to become bored. If you download some playable apps that can be played offline, then they're going to be happier.
6. Book hotels with adjoining rooms or go for an apartment. There is nothing worse than having a two week vacation where everybody is sharing the same room.If you're travelling with family, friends and their kids or extended family, when there's a lot of you, ask for family rooms or interconnecting rooms to maximise time with loved ones without having to sleep on top of one another. If you're travelling with a partner and your children, then there's every chance that you and your partner would like some alone time during the holiday, and that means not having kids in your bed if you can avoid it.
7. Be smart about your holiday planning. Another consideration is that you shouldn't try to pack everything into one trip. There's every chance that you're going to want to try and maximize as much as possible while you're away, but you want to come back rested, not exhausted because you've done so much. Think about going to one destination and exploring one place in that destination, rather than trying to go to several destinations and see everything.
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8. Pack together. One of the best ways for travelling with kids to be stress free is to know that you have packed with them so they've not forgotten anything. This is especially the case if you have older children who would pack in their own stuff if you can ensure that they have packed everything needed and then you've double checked everything that they've done. Nobody's going to be turning to a complete meltdown because they don't have the right pair of jeans or the right swimwear.
9. Don't forget to check your passports ahead of time. Make sure that you've checked your passports expiry dates so that nobody is going to get turned away at the airport for not having enough time on theirs. It's so important that you are all able to travel together, so make a point of checking all the passports and any visa requirements in advance.
10. Think about starting your holiday a day earlier. If your flight is early in the morning, then book an additional hotel for the night before the flight. That way your holiday begins a day earlier and then everybody is settled and there's no massive rush to the airport the next day.
11. Bring a medical kit with you. When you're travelling with kids, it's inevitable that they're going to get over excited, run around in the airport and fall down. If that happens, you're going to need to make sure that you have a medical kit with you at that time. Make sure that you have their favorite flavor of pain relief medication and you have some band aids to keep the blood at bay.
12. Bring a change of clothes with you. When you get to the airports, even if your kids are older, have a change of clothes in a spare bag. Even older kids can spill and accidents can also happen on the road. If you're not flying, you're going to be on a road trip and there's every chance that somebody's going to get messy. Take a change of clothes for everybody so that you know that when someone gets sick or spills their drink, they can be switched over.
13. Check the car seat rules. If you're going to a foreign country, there's every chance you can't bring your car seat with you and you'll have to hire one when you get there. Different countries have different rules when it comes to car seats for children, and you want your kids to maintain their safety as much as possible, especially if you're hiring a car.
14. Don't forget to bring snacks. As soon as you arrive, load up on stacks for the kids at the local supermarkets. You'll save a fortune rather than having to try and bring your food from home.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.
