Kids & Company Blog

Travelling with Kids

It’s easy to idealize travelling with kids. You picture your babies exploring new places, learning new things, and peacefully passing out after a full day. However, reality sets in when its 3 am on a plane and your poor screaming baby thinks its morning! In these scenarios, having 8 restless kids, I didn’t just wish I could turn the plane around, I was guilty of wishing for a parachute! I know I’m not alone and I, like many other parents, have learned the hard way that travelling with kids is not as fun as you’d think. Luckily, along the way I’ve learned strategies to make travelling a true escape.

For families with young children, I always recommend finding a destination the whole family enjoys and sticking to it! Whether that be camping with friends for an annual weekend, your own cottage, or a kid-friendly resort. The best decision we ever made was purchasing a time share in Florida 28 years ago. It can be hard to navigate new terrain with little one’s accustomed to routine. So it was best for us to have an annual destination that our kids were familiar with and could look forward to visiting each year. It ended up being a great investment because the lower cost of accommodation saved us money in the long run, and we were close to the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’ - Disneyland.

Now that all my kids are grown up, we’ve enjoyed varied destinations that I feel they were able to appreciate even more. Currently, I have two little grandsons who are content to visit the cottage every weekend, roast s’ mores, and play by the water.

However, our travel problems are now in reverse. We used to have only a couple of adults caring for 8 kids, now we have many adults supervising just two kids!  It’s easy to confuse who is on watch duty! Thankfully, we are fanatical about safety, especially around water. We always have them outfitted in life jackets, which is both cute and reassuring!

Those two boys are not getting away with anything with so many doting Aunts and Uncles! Travelling with kids near or far can be rewarding, but also stressful. Its times at the cottage and other staycations that remind us, sometimes the real ‘happiest place on earth’, is the all-expenses paid trip at home!

Best,

Victoria

Posted on: Thursday July 28th, 2016

Posted by: Victoria Sopik