With the holidays fast approaching there will be a lot of us traveling to see family and friends. I thought it was the perfect time to offer a guest post from Travel Expert and Mom, Nicole Hockin of the Travel Smart Blog.
Nicole Hockin’s 10 tips for traveling with children
1. Pack light: Bring only the essentials. The more you bring, the more you have to keep up with and the heavier the bags. Kids can require a lot of stuff: car seats, strollers, cribs, high chairs. Check out http://www.babysaway.com/ where you can rent gear instead of packing it all. Some car rental companies also rent child safety seats and some hotels offer childproof rooms or cribs upon request. Call ahead and find out which items you can cut from your packing list.
2. Expect the unexpected: Not to contradict tip #1, but make sure you have plenty of what you need in your carry-on: diapers, wipes (which are great for a multitude of things), medications, change of clothes, snacks, and a secret coloring book.
3. Bring toys and games – quiet ones: Be sure to bring something to keep everyone entertained, but leave the singing Barneys and beeping video games at home. You and everyone else will be glad you did. Backpacks for each child: Toddler or teen – give each child his own backpack to carry with their chosen toys/books/etc. The catch is if they pack it, they carry it. Trust me, one heavy backpack experience and they’ll learn just how much to take to Grandma’s.
** Parents Note: check the backpacks to make sure there are not any toys with water elements (ex. a toy train car) or Play-Doh (TSA considers this a potential explosive device.) as they will be confiscated.
4. Car seats: Do NOT count as checked luggage on any airline. You will NOT be charged. Get yourself a durable car seat cover and check it for your trip. Nicole’s secret tip: when your suitcase is over 50 lbs, avoid the overweight fees and stick some of those extra clothes in the car seat bag.
5. Airplane seats: If your child is under the age of two, then he/she technically does NOT need a paid seat on the plane. Be prepared to prove your child’s age. I.E. – birth certificate. I recommend that you purchase a seat for your infant once the child is mobile (even if he’s only one year) especially for flights over 2 hours in length. The airplane seat allows them their own space to wiggle and dramatically reduces on-board melt-downs.
6. TSA Security Screening can really delay you if you aren’t prepared. Know this: medications, baby formula and food, breast milk, and juice are allowed in reasonable quantities exceeding three ounces and are not required to be in the zip-top bag. Babies do have to take off their shoes, too. So go for velcro on travel day. Plan ahead! Practice getting that stroller broken down quickly!
7. Eat breakfast where kids eat free and split meals. This can mean an enormous saving for a family of four or larger. Children are many times too excited or tired to eat much at a time. Restaurants that are kid friendly are more than happy to accommodate special requests for extra plates. Many do free meals for kids (with the purchase of an adult meal) on different days of the week.
8. Bring your own stroller. If you’re going to visit theme parks then this can save you $7 to $30 (for a double) a day in rental fees.
9. Bring along individual refillable water bottles. These can be refilled at the hotel and at restaurants around your destination. A family of four could easily spend $20 or more a day just buying water.
10. The most important tip of all is to be flexible. Lines will be long, traffic will be heavy, flights will be delayed and children (and adults) will get grumpy. But with just a little planning and an open mind, you’ll survive and enjoy another family vacation.
Thanks for the great tips, Nicole! These will definitely come in handy this holiday season.
What about you? Do you have a favorite family travel tip?
About Tired Mom Tésa
Nice post! These are really great tips. I am definitely going to have to send this to my sister. She has three kids all under the age of 7. She was just telling me about how big of a nightmare it was going on vacation last year. I really think these tips will save her for this years vacation, thanks for sharing.
Packing light & be flexible are great tips
I’m actually a bit grateful that my kids are grown. I remember traveling with them was always a HUGE challenge!
Will forward it to my sister!
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Great tips! With all of the new airline rules(most of which I fully agree with) it’s hard to know what you can and can’t bring on the airline! Thanks :D
actually i love velvet clothe seat covers because they are very comfortable to touch “
Those are great travel trips. I have a hard enough time just getting out the door with my 4 little ones. I plan to bring lots of finger foods that take a long time to eat.
We always get brand new toys that we pull out when my son seems to be getting antsy. Action figures, books, pens and paper. Works pretty well. Also ipod games are a huge hit!!
Great travel tips! We always made sure to bring an extra shirt in carryon for US, too, not just our son.
I totally agree with BlueViolet. That is why I brought my own car seat. And with #8 I personally enjoyed putting my baby in a carrier and wearing him instead of a stroller. Strollers are bulky in busy airports and busy airports can easily overwhelm babies with too much stimulation. Being worn calmed David down and I was able to walk faster without running people down LOL But carriers are a personal preference, I totally understand that.
And yes, PACK LIGHT. When you are on the plane you don’t want to have to search through a huge duffel bag to find what you need.
PLUS kids won’t like toys from home when you go out. My friend gave me this tip: go to the dollar store and buy 5 brand new, cheap toys.
Great tips!
Those are great tips! One thing: be sure to check with the car rental agency if you want to use one of their car seats. One time we planned on that and the seat they tried to give us was severely outdated. It was a huge hassle to get one that was current and up to standards, so just do your homework beforehand.
Wonderful traveling tips and nothing was left out! I like the pack refillable bottles great idea!
Great tips for traveling. Thanks so much.