Family travel can be an amazing way to make memories with your kids. It can also induce anxiety and stress at the thought of being far from home with your little ones. This summer my husband and I embarked on our first big family trip involving plane rides, shorter road trips, and lots of fun.
Traveling with my kiddos wasn’t the easiest thing I have ever done, but it was totally worth every penny, extra trip to the bathroom and hold up.
Here are 14 things I have learned about traveling with my kids:
1// When flying, everyone carries on and also brings a backpack
Save yourself the trouble of checking luggage and waiting for it on the other end of your flight. We decided this trip to all carry on and it made airport check in a snap. If at all possible, we will travel this way from now on. You can read more about how to do this HERE.
We also each carried a backpack, and each person was responsible for keeping up with the contents of their personal backpack. Talk about giving Mom a break!
2// It was worth carrying a booster seat through the airport to save $30 on our rental car
I didn’t want to pay $10/day for a rented booster seat so we took ours with us. This may not be worth it to some, but that’s a whole meal out for us!
My husband was able to strap our daughter’s booster seat to his backpack and we slid it under the seat in front of her on the plane. Technically, she could have sat in it during our flights, but it really wasn’t necessary and it fit so well under the seat that it wasn’t a big deal. I would totally do that again.
3// 4-wheel suitcases are awesome and everyone should have one
My daughter was the only one among us who had a 4-wheeled suitcase and let me tell you the rest of us were all too eager to offer her a helping hand. It was so easy for her to push, pull and maneuver through crowds in the airport! Not to mention she was able to push it down the center aisle of the plane rather than trying to carry it like the rest of us.
For Christmas I am asking for my own 4-wheel suitcase (hint, hint).
4// Banning screen time isn’t the end of the world and I’m glad we did it
Look, I’m not here to tell you what to do. You know your family better than me. But nixing screen time for 98% of our trip was one of the best travel decisions we could have made. We talked and listened to one another. The kids played in the back seat rather than zoning out in front of a screen.
5// I need to teach my kids how to sleep in the same bed
Or plan far enough ahead to get a hotel room with two queen beds and a sleeper sofa (at least). Looking for a room with three beds at the last minute was a nightmare I never want to relive.
This was the hardest thing about our trip, because no one wants to travel 2,500 miles and not sleep for 4 days. Next time I would like to have more time to plan in order to avoid this fiasco.
6// Always have snacks
My kids are always hungry. Always. Even when they aren’t hungry, they will eat.
I made a point to purchase snacks at home that I knew we would all eat, and I know it saved us hundreds of dollars. The trick was to purchase solid foods like granola bars, fruit chews, and cookies. No liquids.
It all went through security without a hitch!
7// My North Face backpack is a lifesaver
Look, moms know that family travel = you hauling all kinds of everyone else’s stuff around no matter how hard you try not to. I put so much stuff in that backpack!
The thing that saved me was the support strap system. I clipped the support strap around my waist and another one across my chest and it took all the weight and pressure off my shoulders. #lifesaver.
You can get the backpack I have right here!
8// My kids are troopers
I have to give my kids credit for their abilities to keep up in the airport, ride in the car without complaining, and wait when Michael and I needed to converse about our next plan. I seriously can’t get over how mature they were, especially the night we were trying to find a hotel room that didn’t resemble a crime scene at 9:30pm (11:30 our time).
9// Everything they own will touch the plane floor, the bathroom floor, the airport floor, and the hotel floor
So gross. Bring backpacks that can be washed, and toys that could be tossed if necessary. Pack all the individually wrapped Wet Ones. Good luck and godspeed.
10// Let them pack their own activities
I used to plan out elaborate activities packs for each of my kids when we traveled and they would play with/eat/use about half of it. Now I don’t plan anything for them. I just give them suggestions about what they could pack and let them make the final decision.
With that being said, I don’t allow them to pack heavy or bulky items because 1) I don’t want to hear about how heavy or cumbersome their backpacks is and 2) I don’t want to end up carrying aforementioned cumbersome backpack.
11// Don’t worry about balancing every meal
Nobody is able to eat as healthy as they want to when they travel. Try not to beat yourself down with mom-guilt over all the junk your kids are eating. It’s just a few days, and when you get home you can reinstate your mandatory veggie rules. For now, just have fun.
12// Saying ‘yes’ a lot is really, really fun
It’s not that we say no all the time at home. It’s just that on our family trips we relax the rules a bit and Michael and I indulge in saying yes more than usual. This means that in the airport convenience store we totally bought our kids neck pillows and candy. At a souvenir shop we let them pick out something they wanted. At restaurants we might splurge on dessert.
The point is not to spend a lot of money, but to enjoy giving our kids good gifts. And one of those gifts is the gift of yes.
13// I am currently in the golden years of parenting
My kids were so easy to be around! They are passed the ages of needing to be held (as if I could hold them now anyway), and I trust them not to lose their minds in public places like airports, parking lots and restaurants.
I couldn’t believe what a cinch it was to make plans on a whim and go for it. The kids were insanely easy going about everything we did and it made our trip so much more fun and memorable (in a good way).
Plus, they want to be with us. All the time. I’m fully aware that these years probably won’t last forever, so I want make the most of them while they are here!
14// It’s harder to travel with kids than without them, but totally worth it
Don’t let having young kids stop you from exploring the world! My kids won’t be 9 and 6 ever again, and I’m glad we made the sacrifices necessary to make memories with them this summer. They are old enough now to tag along and keep up, and I want to make the most of these years before they are gone!
Where have you gone with your kids? How do you manage to travel and keep your sanity with littles in tow?
When we travel airports or to other crowded places with our kids, we plan their clothes based on 1) matching and 2) color brightness. First, I may not like to plan intensely ahead of time, but I like our photos to look good. Matching/coordinating clothes May sound superficial. But, it is also so much easier for me to keep up with my kids. I can count heads and see them in a crowd so much easier when they look similar. Second, and more importantly, bright colors (like their fluorescent yellow North Face Ts that say “Get Lost”) draw attention to them. I don’t want any crazy, evil person attempting to take my kids. So, I want them to NOT blend in. Plus, this helps me in places like Disney keep a watchful eye on them.
Those are great ideas, Liz! Thanks for commenting!