This month I’ve joined some of my fellow family travel bloggers on a blog hop. Each blogger has provided their top family travel tips, so you can jump from blog to blog and read all of our expert advice.
Family Travel Tips:
Let’s face it. Traveling with kids is not easy. These tiny people run on their own schedules. They need a mid-morning or afternoon nap, regular feedings, constant supervision & a suitcase full of diapers, toys or books.
But even with kids, the world can still be your playground. It’s just different, slower, and far more rewarding. It’s an amazing feeling to see your child’s face light up while gazing at the twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower, to watch them scarf down fresh conch salad on a Caribbean island, or to hear them say “hello” in a foreign language.
All you need is a bit of extra planning and a whole lot of patience, and you too can travel with kids.
1. Set a treat & souvenir budget. Prior to departing on your trip, discuss with your kids how much money Mom and Dad will spend on treats and souvenirs. $25 for the week? $5 per day? Let kids know in advance that anything over that amount will be on their own dime. This is a great lesson in money management, helps cut down on the “I wants” and forces kids to choose their trinkets more carefully.
2. Bring Wet Ones. When was the last time the tray table on the airplane was REALLY cleaned? Have you seen your child’s face after eating ice cream? I carry Wet Ones packets in my purse and in our travel backpack, so they are always on hand.
Escargot anyone?
3. Try local foods, but keep kid favorites on hand. Let kids experience local foods. My kids always try a bite of local cuisine whenever we travel. Nine times out of ten, they like it. For those times that nothing is available they will eat, keep favorite granola bars, animal crackers or other easy to pack snacks in your travel bag. This is also helpful if you get stuck on a bus longer than expected and need to keep the hunger monster at bay.
A stash of lollipops or other treats can also be a life saver to head off a meltdown or allow for a few more minutes of peaceful dining.
4. Agree to have one parent activity and one kid activity per day. Before you jet off, research the areas you plan to visit as a family. Discuss with the kids all the things you want to do, and help them pick out places they want to see. Each day, plan one parent activity and one child activity. If the kids know in advance that after visiting a museum they get to go to the cool park with the dragon, the museum is usually more bearable. They know what to expect, and might even enjoy looking at all the those paintings.
5. Teach older kids history, but make it cool. Make the places you visit come alive with fun facts. Play up the battles for boys or explain to girls how other kids dressed “back in the day.” Ask if they would want to wear those types of clothes. Make history interesting and avoid the drone like tone of your high school history teacher.
Family travelers may have more luggage and may see less at each destination than a solo traveler, but the memories made together as a family are priceless. Who knows – the love of travel you help instill in your child at an early age, could open new educational and career doors for them in the future.
Don’t forget to visit these blogs for more great tips:
Shannon at 100 Routes Across America
SJ at Chasing the Donkey
Kimberly at Stuffed Suitcase
Keryn at Walking on Travels
Tamara at We3Travel
Francesca at The Working Mom’s Travels
Allow enough time for you to get from pace to place.
Allow extra time so you can get out and stretch and explore
My best family travel tip is RESEARCH! I can’t stand not having a plan. I like to know where we should eat, visit, avoid, etc in our vacation destination. Being informed makes for a better trip!
When going on an extra long car ride, stop somewhere with a playground to eat and play.
Have plenty of snacks and wipes.
Plan for some down time between activities
Don’t forget to schedule some rest and down time between activities.
My best tip for traveling with kids is to be flexible and don’t get too stuck on doing every single thing that you had planned on doing/seeing. Just go with the flow because the kids always seem to have a blast even if all they do is go to the beach every day.
Plan out stops along the way (if driving), snacks, entertainment, something to remind littles of home.
Travel light.
they have travel games we use those as well as great music and you have to have snacks and pillows and blankets
My tip is to let the kids bring along what they want to entertain themselves, whether it is a book, iPad, iPod, coloring book, etc.
Bring snacks and a lot of patience to deal with the kids fighting in the back seat.
These are all very good tips, but for me the really important one is bring anti-bacterial wipes. My daughter got REALLY sick the day before we flew back home from England. She was sooo miserable on that long flight back. Take wipes and use them!
I like your tip of having kids experience local cuisine but keeping backup snacks on hand just in case. My tip is if you plan on visiting specific attractions buy advanced tickets if you can! Many museums (especially in Europe) have timed tickets and you can only enter during a certain window (like 11:00am – 11:30am). The further in advance you can get your tickets, the better chance of picking your entrance time and you also can avoid what can sometimes be hours waiting in line for tickets or just to enter.
Be organized so that you don’t mix and lose things! Pack plenty of snacks, and for entertainment on those lose road/plane trips, download as many movies, games, books, etc. into your electronic devices.
Plenty of snacks & music if it’s a road trip!
groupon, let kids help plan the trip and don’t fill the whole day with things to do. Down time is also very important.
DVDs are a great way to entertain kids while they are riding
Make sure the kids are well rested and don’t cram too much into a day
Make sure you bring your phone charger
It is always good to have a flexible travel itinerary.
A car trip has to have plenty of movies to watch!! AND Busy toys. I always create a bag full of games, activities and toys for each kid. They don’t get to peek in the bag before the trip. So everything is new and exciting!
Excellent advice – we love learning history through travel and living history places are especially fantastic.
bring lots of snacks to keep the kids happy
Know where the hospitals are in case of an emergency or accident
I always, ALWAYS bring one “emergency” outfit for each kid and adult, I pack them in gallon sized ziploc baggies so that any accidents or messes are contained once you have the fresh clothes on. This has proven a lifesaver on more than one occassion and saves the trouble of digging through the luggage when you need a quick change due to mishap or adventure.
Always have a buddy system so that no one gets lost.
Don’t try to do too much in one day.
My tip is be organized and ready to go and RELAX.
My best tips are to always have snacks and activities on hand. They are often key to avoiding meltdowns!
My tip would be to pack healthy snacks for the trip. I know whenever I’m on the road, I tend to eat a lot of unhealthy junk food so having healthier snacks already with you could keep you from buying that bag of chips or burger and fries.
My best family travel tip is to have a schedule but be flexible. We stopped buying tickets to attractions for a pre-set time and date. Nap times change, kids get burnt out or bad weather happens. Don’t waste money booking everything in advance only to have to cancel and do something different!
Don’t pack so much to do into your vacation that you need a vacation from the vacation!
My best tip is to pack a lot of snacks for the ride and activities for the kiddos!
Planning ahead is so important, but it’s also important to be flexible. It’s great to have a plan but you have to be willing to stray away from it depending on the kid’s moods/interests!
make EVERYONE potty again right before you walk out the door
My tip is to be flexible, and not to overschedule.
My best family travel tip is to have healthy snacks, lots of water and books, games, etc. to keep the kids entertained when they get bored.
Don’t forget the drugs. It’s always a good idea to travel with some children’s Tylenol (or whatever you prefer) so that you don’t have to worry about tracking down a drug store in a strange neighborhood
Family tip- have a gps on your phone as well as the car.
bring plenty of snacks!
Let everyone pick 1 activity they enjoy
When ever we go on a trip we always set aside a small amount for souvenir or trinkets. This way we stay on budget..
We usually pack a cooler with drinks and snacks when driving to our destination. It’s easier and less expensive.
Great tips! My best tip when traveling with kids of all ages … end the day with ice cream. It’s amazing how long we can enjoy a museum or historical sight when the kids know we will end with ice cream or gelato or another local treat at the end of the day.
Include kids in the planning.
Traveling with kids is always an adventure and seeing things through their eyes is magical even if we’ve seen it all before.
We tend to skip worrying about wet ones and sanitizer unless it’s overly dirty-build that immunity! However we did have to have a discussion that there is no “5 second rule” for things that go on the floor when we’re in Mexico, lol.
My best tip for family travel is to let everyone get involved in the planning and each person picks one event the family can attend.
Wet ones are a must! (and sanitizer) I love the suggestion of setting an adult thing and a kid thing for each day. Can I tell you that my daughter first tried escargot on a trip and she liked it way more than her dad and I. Now she likes surprising waiters by ordering it!
Ha! Hopefully she will enjoy it so much she will continue to enjoy eating the “adult” foods.
The waiters also get a confused look when my daughter orders salmon with veggies off the kids menu instead of a burger or nuggets.
I love that idea of the one parent activity and kid activity per day – genuis!
Thanks! Trying to limit our day to one parent and one child activity seems to keep everyone happy without overdoing it with the kids.