The Best 10 Family Vacation Tips for Traveling with Young Children (#3 is the most useful)

For family vacations to be great and memorable, you need effort, patience, and planning. The more you indulge in such holidays, the more efficient you become at handling sticky situations. But these 10 family vacation tips for traveling with young children will put you on the right track. The rest of the journey is all on you!

As a mom, I get why people don’t want to sit next to toddlers or young kids during travel. And you can’t go about changing such an outlook. Instead, what you can do is control everything that is in your hands. So let’s find out how to do that, shall we?

10 Family Vacation Tips for Traveling With Young Children

These are not like a magic potion, they don’t eliminate inconveniences completely. But they do make the whole experience meaningful and memorable.

It’s like having to go through the trouble of doing tons of laundry despite getting the best laundry detergent. The product doesn’t wash the clothes for you, but it makes the process easier. This might sound like a pretty horrible example but at least it helped me make my point.

So let’s get started!

#1 Carry $1 bills

When on vacation, the hotel bellhop, rental car driver, or skycap do a lot of your work. So at such times, generosity goes a long way. You want to be remembered that way and not as the family that caused a nuisance. Plus, it’s always a better idea to have those extra bucks lying around in your wallet.

#2 Opt for curbside check-in

Instead of struggling with your kids and bags once you reach the airport, you can check-in your luggage curbside. Take everyone and everything to the check-in counter at the curbside. This is where you get the opportunity to unload all the bags before heading to the terminal.

#3 Travel light

Give me one logical reason why you think you need to carry all that excessive, unnecessary stuff. More often than not, there is none. This is the most helpful point out of the 10 family vacation tips for traveling with young children.

Please don’t forget that you’re going to be staying for a few days and not months. So pack as light as you can.

#4 Fit the smaller bags into the bigger bags

What if you’re a family of say seven members? Does that mean you need to carry seven whole bags? Not necessarily. When you travel light, you make use of small-sized bags. And if that’s the case, you can always shove them into the bigger versions. It saves space and tons of effort, doesn’t it?

#5 Book your car rental early

The goal is to get the best deal possible. And the only way to achieve that is to browse through different websites well in advance. If you book the rental car a month prior to the vacation, the chances are you might end up paying only half the price.

#6 Load up on snacks beforehand

When you decide to fill up your carry-on with snacks, do that before reaching the airport. Fruit snacks, crackers, gum, and granola bars are excellent options for young children. Such a habit contributes to saving money at the airport.

#7 Keep the phone away

Traveling with toddlers means having to deal with a lot of inconveniences, right? In that case, you’re better off with your phone tucked away. It means no texting, no Twitter or Facebook, no work emails, etc.

Now, this does sound like an impossible task. But remember that your world will not fall apart just because your phone is away from you for a few hours.

#8 Bring books for long flights or layovers

Most parents usually opt for an iPod or iPad to keep their kids entertained during such times. Not that this is a bad idea, but the aim of the vacation is to let your child’s mind explore, wander, and create. And watching Netflix or playing video games in the hotel room is not going to help achieve the goal. So the best alternative is books but of their choice.

#9 Pick a song

Music is magical and mysterious, isn’t it? It adds meaning to life, especially when on vacation. All you need to do is pick a few favorite tracks and play them every single time you’re in your rental. So whenever your kids hear those songs in the future, they will always be reminded of the memorable family vacation.

A family trip without a song is like making iced tea without an iced tea maker. Even though you can prepare the drink without the appliance, it doesn’t come out as refreshing as it should.

#10 Dress airport-friendly

Airports are fun, but security lines aren’t. And when you’re traveling with multiple kids, it can be quite a nuisance. So the best thing that you can do to deal with the situation is to make sure that you and your children have put on comfortable clothes and shoes. For example, slip-on footwear, but don’t forget those socks!

So these are the 10 family vacation tips for traveling with young children. Did you go through them all? If yes, then it’s time to conclude.

That’s About It!

Traveling with young children is not always a hassle. It can be a wonderful experience too only if you keep up with these family trip tips.

The mission should be to pay attention to your child’s needs. And don’t forget to strike the perfect balance between activities and rest time.

The process may not be easy at first. But as you keep embarking upon such journeys, you’ll get better at it. Trust me.

If you have any helpful advice to offer, please don’t hesitate to do so. The comments section is right below.

I hope the article provided you with enough useful content to help you get started! If yes, then do share the post with fellow parents and visit again soon.

Have a fantastic trip!

Sources:

1. http://www.parents.com/fun/vacation/ideas/traveling-with-kids-ultimite-guide/
2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justin-ricklefs/12-family-vacation-tips-for-traveling-with-young-children_b_6883174.html
3. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2008/jan/20/8