How to Travel with the Kiddos | Tips & Tricks
The kids are getting to an age where I would like them to experience more of the outside world. I want them to be exposed to different cultures and see people in different settings so that they may gain a more worldly and accepting view. After discussing this with my husband, we decided that our New Year’s resolution for our children would be to travel more.
While traveling with kids may sound good in theory, it can be a total nightmare if you don’t plan ahead. As soon as we decided to travel with our kids I applied for a no foreign transaction fee credit card, as I knew I needed to be fully prepared when going abroad with kiddos. As much as we may love them, kids are ultimately unpredictable and you don’t always know when the next hunger attack or tantrum may be thrown. Just like the rest of us, they wake up in a bad mood from time to time. Unlike the rest of us, they generally don’t have the acquired coping mechanisms needed to deal with it and move on.
To make traveling with your kids easier, consider using some of the following pieces of advice the next time you choose to travel:
Pack Snacks
Kids can get hungry on a whim, and when traveling, finding great nutritious snacks isn’t always an easy. To make life easier for you, be sure to pack snacks for the long car ride or the wait in the airport.
Bring Boredom Busters
If you know that you will have to keep your kids sedentary for a bit, whether it be in the car or while waiting for your plane, you need to bring some easy to carry toys for them to occupy themselves. If they are old enough, consider crosswords and books – or even a mobile device with gaming capabilities if you own one. If they are still young, keep a rolling list of ways you can interact with them to keep them occupied.
Plan for Stops Along the Way
If you’ve got kids, you know that they can’t stay put for too long. If you are planning on embarking on a long road trip make sure to bring that credit card 5 cash back so that you can stop at local amusement parks, zoos, and museums along the way. These stops will let your kids blow off some steam, keep them tamer in the car, and will be sure to create a few great memories.
Traveling with kids is a highly rewarding experience, but it is by no means easy. If you want to successfully travel with your tots, you need to not only be prepared, but also be prepared to throw out your own agenda. Forcing an agenda on kids will only make your trip more stressed, and keep you rushing along only to miss out on some otherwise great memories.
Good luck Morgan! We are taking a 16 hour road trip with a 4 year old and a 16 month old. I will let you know how it goes LOL
Very good tips. I am a new mom and I am not looking forward to traveling when my little one gets older. Hopefully these tips will come in handy!
Great ideas! We also make sure to have some games installed on my tablet or movies they can watch on it.
Both of my 4 yr olds take their mobigo games with them, and my 10 year old never leaves home without his 3ds. When they get tired of that it does help that we have a built in dvd player in the car. With that and easy to eat car snacks we haven’t had any issues.
Being in the military we live about 12 hours from family and we take a two day trip when we go home. For us what has worked wonders is a dvd player in the car! Like you said snacks are also a huge hit! I have never attempted flying with the kids yet! Also when I just had one I would take the trip alone but now with 2 I am too afraid!
Thanks for the tips! We will be making a trip this fall to NC from NY with our little ones!!
good tips, esp taking breaks along the way.
Thats quite a drive with 3 children!! and alone!!
Thanks for the great tips!
I drove home from the East Coast this summer with my 3 children, all by myself!
I took 3 days, and 2 nights so we could take it easy, stop often, and do fun things with them.
It was more like an adventure! :)
this is wonderful thanks :)
those are some good tips. when we go down state to visit family, it is a 2.5 hour trip. we make sure its at a time that z our 2 year old, will fall asleep haha.
Good tips, I always pack snacks, and they like to fill a bucket of toys before we leave
Whenever we get something in a goody bag or at a fast food restaurant that they play with for a bit and then forget about, I put it away in a box to take with us on the road. They think it’s all new and fun, and it’s free! :)
Snacks are totally key! My kids love apple slices with almond butter for dipping!
Correction it should be “TO FLIGHTS TO AND FROM” not a flight from since we have made the flight several times between actual duty related and personal travels to see family
Great tips! I feel I should add bring security items with you. Change and unfamiliar places can often be overwhelmingly scary for children, especially smaller ones, so a security item such as a blanket or special stuffed pal can often ease their fears. My husbands military so we have had to make many long trips over the past 5 years that ranged from car rides between GA and NY to a flight from the US to Germany (one of which took us through 3 airports and a 5 hour drive afterwards). This period of various travels began when my oldest was 1 and my, now middle child, was 8 months old and will end in one long trip with a 6 yr old, a 5 yr old, and a 20 month old. The one thing that made all the trips much easier was a item they felt most attached to.. Pictures are also a great help! Once I had to fly from Atlanta Ga to Stuttgart Germany 5 months pregnant with a 4 & 5 yr old in tow by myself, it was the worse trip ever because my 5 yr old kept asking for her daddy who had to fly ahead. In the past pictures of him have managed the situation but since we hadn’t planned on the last minute flight change that made him have to fly a day prior without us I didn’t have any to show her and she really wanted them. Good luck and safe travels to all!
lovely ideas we usually travel during night so the kids sleep most of the way
Take kiddy pit stops in stride as an opportunity to see more along the way.
As always, ask if they need to go on both arrival and departure.
We also bring kid friendly CD’s & sing for a good portion of our trips. The kids love the silliness of this.
This is a great idea! I love your suggestions
I loved traveling when my kids were younger and was never really disappointed because i always tried to remember not to have any expectations on how it was going to go
Great tips thank you for sharing.
Thank you for the tips. With my boys the number one is always bring snacks :)
Very good tips. I’m traveling alone with my son next month and needless to say I’m freaking!