5 Tips for Traveling With Kids
Your Guide to a Stress-Free Family Adventure
Traveling with kids can be so rewarding and an amazing way to build lifelong memories as a family. It may also come with some rough challenges if you aren’t well prepared.
If you have kids, you know they can be unpredictable. Things can go from fun to crazy quick, regardless of where you are. But before you go and close out of all your Google Chrome tabs & give up the vacation of your dreams, be encouraged that traveling with kids is not just “doable” — it can be one of the most amazing experiences ever!!
Here is your guide to creating an awesome, memorable, and epic vacation with your kids that the entire family will enjoy!
1. Plan Ahead
Having a plan is an essential step in making sure family trips go smoothly. Make sure to book your stay ahead of time and plan out your daily itinerary. There are lots of online itinerary platforms out there but I use TripIt! It’s so nice because it syncs to your inbox and adds your travel details automatically using confirmation emails. Then, you can customize and share your plans with anyone in your travel party!
When planning your trip, you can start researching locations and accommodations as early as 12 months in advance. It’s important to get a feel for how quickly your desired destination fills up so that you can book far enough in advance to get your preferred choices, especially when you’re looking for a kid-friendly vacation for a larger family group (like ours). Some resorts/vacation homes may fill up a year in advance while others can be booked 2-3 months before your trip. Just be mindful of this. In general, the sooner you start planning, the better!
When it comes to laying out your itinerary, I like to stick with only 1-2 activities per day as our kids range from 1-7 and they can get overstimulated with a jam-packed schedule. It’s important for my family to have some down time (especially for my toddler) but if your kids are older and fine with a busier schedule, you can always plan more! Just don’t fill your schedule 7-10PM with things because you will all need some time to rest and the ability to change up plans as needed!
2. Be Flexible
It’s always great to have a plan but keep your expectations in the right place and go into your trip knowing that some of your plans will inevitable not work out. There are many factors that can change how things go; weather, flight cancelations, forgotten items, etc. Throw in kids, and things can be even more unpredictable. It’s important to go into your trip knowing that the schedule may need to be tweaked along the way and that is totally ok! Sometimes the little quirks that happen during a trip can often be the funniest and most memorable experiences later on!
3. Pack Light & Pack Smart
Packing for kids can be overwhelming — especially when you wait until the night before to start throwing things into bags! Not going to lie, this is a struggle for us. But I find that starting a packing list at least a week in advance helps us so much, mentally, when packing day rolls around and I have so many other things on my mind. Think through the weather, where you will be staying, the activities you plan to do, and whether or not you will have access to a washer/dryer. All of this will help you start your list and, if you start it in advance, you’ll have plenty of time to add things as you think of them up until travel day! In general, it’s always better to pack lighter and smarter! Traveling with less always makes maneuvering bags so much smoother.
4. Prepare for Travel Day
Long trips can be rough on kids, especially if they’re confined to a plane or car seat for hours. But bringing activities to keep them entertained and excited definitely helps! For road trips we bring activity books, library books, tablets, headphones, fidget toys, and plenty of snacks. I like to collect a variety of things around the house before we leave. I add them to a bin which I keep in the center of our minivan to have ready for the kids when they get bored and need something to help pass the time. For plane trips, you can bring the same items above — just think a little on the smaller scale since you don’t want a huge load to carry on board.
5. Capture the Memories
Don’t forget to document your adventures with photos & videos! Not just of the kids — be sure to get yourself in some too! These will make the best souvenirs to have later when you get home! We love creating photobooks of our adventures using Mixbook!
Good luck on your next adventure & safe travels!!!
Mad Journey Squad 