Kids & Company Blog

Travelling with Kids

Over the years, I have gone on countless trips with my family: weekends to the cottage, weeks away at all-inclusive resorts, and even the dreaded twenty-eight-hour-drive down to Florida for March Break. My children are in their teens and older now, but I have definitely learned a lot over the last twenty-seven years of planes, trains, and automobiles!

Truthfully, when people ask me about this topic, my first response is to keep the babies home. In my opinion, not only do parents need to take vacations alone, but also having spent a lot of money and time taking my babies and children on vacation, it has always seemed to be more work than fun. In spite of this warning, I know that it can be hard to leave your baby at home, especially for more than one or two nights. The first time I left my oldest son, I packed photos of him in my luggage and placed them all around the hotel room!

While there are tons of tips for travelling with kids, my number one tip is to try to stay somewhere that has a kitchen and laundry facilities. This may seem silly, because often times we go on vacation to get away from the dishes and the laundry loads. However, when travelling with little ones, I have found that these things are lifesavers. If you have picky-eaters, having a mini-kitchen allows you to pack food and snacks that you know your child loves. Also, this is a great money-saver! If possible, try and stay somewhere where you have access to a washing machine. That way, you can wash messy clothes, and pack light!

On our most recent family vacations, we have elected to rent a house (villa), instead of staying in a hotel. This is a great option to save money and gives you access to all the normal household amenities. If your family is small, a fun idea is to rent a house with another family or two!

This great picture is from our recent vacation to St Lucia where 5 of my 8 kids and my husband climbed one of the Pitons, it looked like quite a climb!

Do you have any tips for traveling with little ones? What has worked best for you?

Posted on: Thursday January 31st, 2013

Posted by: Victoria Sopik