Tips When Planning to Travel with Children: Overview

Planning to travel with children?

Traveling with your whole family for the first time can be a wonderful experience. But it can also be pretty overwhelming. Most especially if you are planning to travel with your children for the first time.

It definitely gets easier the more you do it. But you’ll surely run into challenges any time you travel with children.

These challenges don’t have to hinder you from making memories with your family. This is why it pays to be prepared before you travel with your family and children. When you know what you are getting into, you’ll find that family travel can go pretty smoothly.

So, without further ado, here are our top tips that we think are most useful for your next travel with children.

Top Tips for Traveling with Children

Traveling with our kids is a big part of our growth as a family and their growth as individuals.

Here are our top tips for traveling with kids in order to make your vacation a pleasant, enjoyable, and memorable one.

Whether your children are infants, toddlers, or high school kids, these tips will be helpful for any travel you may have with your kids.

1. Just Do It!

Some people find themselves dealing with analysis paralysis. What if the kids are too noisy on the plane? What if they get motion sickness? What if we don’t enjoy the trip? So many what if’s!

While the idea of traveling with children, especially for the first time, maybe daunting, remember that you will survive.

Plus, what’s a little chaos to add to the excitement and adventure of your trip?

2. Take it slow

When traveling alone or with friends, we can oftentimes pack our schedule to make the most out of our trip. We quickly move from one tourist destination to another trying to pack everything into our few days of vacation.

But when you travel with children and our whole family, you’ll want to do the exact opposite. Make sure to expect that things will take longer than usual. These include:

• Airport check-in time
• Security check in airports and other terminals
• Buying snacks, drinks, or meals
• Eating meals
• Boarding the plane
• Go around tourist spots
• Falling in line

When you are traveling with children, you may not be able to squeeze in 3 tourist spots, 4 cities, and a bunch of activities all in one day. Leave time for moving slowly and really taking in each moment. You’ll find that taking it slow will help you enjoy the experience even more.

3. Get to the Airport Early When Traveling with Children

Because it takes a lot more time checking in and generally moving through the different airport queues, you’ll want to get to the airport early.

This will give you enough buffer time in case things go awry.

You won’t want to miss your flight because it took you 10 minutes longer to fit your stroller in the baggage area, or because your two toddlers had to go to the bathroom twice before boarding the plane.

Getting early to the airport is just one example. It’s best to be early to places where time is essential, like bus trips, train trips, or scheduled activities.

3. Saving for Family Travel

One of the biggest barriers or challenges that a lot of people face when traveling with their children is their budget.

It will definitely cost more when traveling with the whole family compared to just you and your partner.

In order to be able to travel with your children, you’ll have to make it a priority. This means saving up for the trip and cutting back on expenses wherever possible.

Try lessening eating out for a few months or avoid shopping and buying stuff that isn’t essentials. You’ll find the trip more fulfilling when you know you’ve put your time, money, and effort into planning and preparing for it.

4. Choose an Early Morning Flight or Travel 

When traveling with children, they can get bored easily. This will make the trip chaotic especially if you find your children screaming or rowdy all throughout the trip.

In order to avoid this, choose a trip or flight that leaves early in the morning. Everyone is tired and will just want to go to sleep during the trip. Screaming and noisy children problem solved! Peace and quiet!

5. Talk to Your Children About What to Expect

Before traveling with your children, it’s best to inform them about what to expect during the trip. Share with them some do’s and don’ts so they know what to expect.

Additionally, if you have children older than toddlers, you’ll want to ask them what they want to bring in order to pass the time during long waits. We suggest bringing some portable video games, games on mobile devices, or books to read while waiting.

Talk to them about where you guys are going on the trip and the activities you’ll be doing.

6. Dress Appropriately.

Be ready for the type of weather where you’ll be traveling to. Make sure your kids have dressed appropriately.

Additionally, it’s good to bring extra clothes and layers in case the temperature drops. Another thing to consider when dressing your children is how quickly and easily you can remove and put back these layers on them. This is especially true for airport checks and bathroom breaks. You won’t want ten buttons on a jacket that you’ll have to keep buttoning and unbuttoning every time your kid needs to go to the bathroom. Instead, try clothes with easy zippers.

You’ll also want to skip the shoes with shoelaces to make it easier during airport checks. Use easy slip-on shoes instead. This goes both for you and your children.

It’ll make airport checks much faster and easier.

7. Pack Just Enough

It can be tempting to overpack when traveling with your children. But packing too much can also be a hindrance and pose a challenge when traveling. You’ll have so much baggage to carry with one hand and on top of that, have to hold your kid with the other hand.

Remember to pack just enough.

8. Keep Your Kids Amused

During the long waiting times in airports, lines, or during down time, children can get bored easily. This is why it’s essential to pack items that can keep your kids amused.

Here are some suggestions:

• Pack toys that are portable.
• Don’t give all the toys at the same time. Offer them one at a time so they won’t get easily bored with all of them.
• Make sure each kid has their own toy to avoid fighting over them and making a mess.
• Bring family games or play family games that don’t need props. (e.g. I spy game)
• For older children, ask them if they want to bring their mobile phones with games, or their portable gaming tools, or books.

9. Safety Tips for Traveling with Children

Safety should still be your number one priority when you travel with children.

Here are some safety tips when traveling with kids.

• See your doctor beforehand if needed.
• Make sure your children have their necessary medicines that they take regularly.
• Pack extra medicines and a first aid kit.
• Pack suncreen, insect repellants, hats, and umbrellas.
• Sterilize all items that will be used (bottles, utensils, etc). Bring your own portable reusable utensils and water bottles, if possible.
• Keep your children out of danger by letting them stay away from roaming animals during your trip. This will avoid any bites and scratches.
• Don’t skip on the self-care routines when traveling.

Remember to also make the actual trip safe for your children by following these reminders when traveling:

• In a car, make sure to use seatbelts or car seats.
• Don’t pack too much in the car that can hinder the driver from having a clear view.
• Plan for plenty of toilet stops when traveling by car.
• Take medicines to help with motion sickness if needed.

10. Dealing with Motions Sickness When Traveling with Children

Children are usually more prone to motion sickness. This is especially true during their first time riding long car rides, airplanes, or boats. In order to reduce motion sickness, here are a few suggestions:

• When traveling by car, take frequent rest stops for your children to get up and stretch or walk around.
• Don’t let them play video games or read while in a moving vehicle.
• Keep the windows open if possible. Fresh air can help lessen motion sickness.
• Check with your doctor if they can take anti-nausea medications.

In Conclusion

Traveling with children can be challenging but is not impossible. By preparing properly, you can make your trip with children a fun and memorable one.