Travel doesn’t have to stop when you have a family. Showing your children the world is as rewarding as it is inspiring. But travelling with kids can be both fun and frustrating in equal measure and it’s so much easier and more enjoyable if you’re got a load of fabulous family travel tips to help you.
Family travel is as much about making happy family memories as it is about having exciting new experiences. Don’t be afraid of adventure – kids are much more adaptable than you’d think – but family travel is also about exploring your local area too. It’s about going on walks with the kids where they pick up a stick and pretend it’s a wizard’s wand or a knight’s sword, or visiting a local castle.
We think family travel should be fun for everyone in the family. We always look for places that appeal to both kids and adults alike. We all want to enjoy ourselves and experience something new together.
We’ve come up with a wide range of travel tips and tricks for family travel after over 10 years of travelling with our two and we’ve asked some of the UK’s best family travel bloggers for their fabulous family travel tips for children of all ages.
Don’t expect holidays to be the same as they were before having children. They won’t be. They might even be better.
PLANNING A FAMILY TRIP
Don’t plan a holiday just for the kids or as if you don’t have children at all. It’s a good idea to take your children’s personalities into account when choosing a destination but remember that it’s your holiday too. Let your children get involved in the decision making. You could even have a family discussion about where to go and what to do.
When you’re choosing places for day trips, have a think about what really fascinates your kids and see if you can fit that into your itinerary. It’s because of our children that we’ve been on dragon hunts at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and had a giggle at the ruder parts of Tudor History at Hampton Court. Things like this make the trip more fun for everyone in the family.
If you’ve got a child in a pushchair, look for places where you’ll be able to easily push it around. Some cities, like Lisbon for example, are full of steep hills and stairs which aren’t easy to navigate.
Lisa from Travel Loving Family says, “When planning a family holiday, don’t think you have to stick with two weeks of flying and flopping on a beach. Even if you have young kids, with some planning and research it is definitely feasible to enjoy more adventurous types of holidays – our best ever holiday was a week on a river boat in France with our two boys, aged 4 and 7.”
Laura from Have Kids Can Travel says, “as your kids get older, don’t presume you know best; get them involved in the choosing of the holiday and the activities. Teenagers enjoy being part of adult decisions, and they’ll often have some great ideas of things to do and places to go that you’ll never have thought of.”
DON’T BE AFRAID OF ADVENTURE
Be adventurous. You can do far more with children than you’d think. Children are remarkably adaptable.
Jenny from Travelynn Family says, “My top tip is not to wait until the kids are older for adventure. Those early years can be such a sleep deprived blur, so do something amazing to create special memories. It’s not as hard as you think travelling with young kids!” Jenny should know – she and her husband have taken their boys (now aged 3 and 4) hiking in the Himalayas and on sleeper trains across India. They’ve meditated with monks in Thailand and traversed sub-Saharan Africa in a Land Rover for four months.
Kirstie from Family Adventure Project agrees. “Travel is the ideal opportunity for both parents and kids to experiment with adventure. It’s not just kids that need skills to adventure safely. Parents need them too. We need the confidence to lead our mini family adventures, to show them how to explore safely and bravely, and to give them the know-how that they need to be safe when they’re out and about on their own.
Let them suggest adventures and experiences and don’t try to talk them out of it. If you don’t have the skills to help, choose reputable companies to lead, and do it as a family. When our kids were toddlers we taught them to sand surf and when they were tweens they jumped into canyons and paddled white water. As teens they are more fearless and accomplished than we are.”
Encourage your children to be independent and pack a few things in a bag they can carry themselves, whether a rucksack or a small suitcase with wheels. My two love their Trunkis which they can wheel through the airport themselves. But do double check what they’ve chosen to pack. Mine have tried to smuggle in a wand, ten soft toys and the entire Harry Potter collection before now.
There’s no need to pack all your baby and toddler equipment when you go away. There are several companies now who specialise in hiring out baby equipment including car seats, high chairs, pushchairs and travel cots.
Always carry wet wipes. You can clean almost anything with them: dirty hands, mucky faces, excess sand and suncream stains.
If you’re flying with an airline that charges extra to put your luggage in the hold, cut down on the amount of big suitcases you carry with you by packing some of your clothes in smaller cases that you can take on as hand luggage. This is also a good way of ensuring that you’ve got some spare clothes with you if your luggage gets lost en route.
FLYING WITH KIDS
Allow extra time at the airport. The whole family will feel stressed if you’re rushing and the queues for everything are longer than you’d planned for.
Try and limit queues wherever possible. The longest queues are often at check in. You can check in and drop your bags off the day before your flight with most airlines. This is a great option if you’re staying at the airport hotel. If you’re able to travel with only hand luggage you can bypass the queues entirely.
Ask if there’s a dedicated family lane when you go through security. Some airports allow families to go through security more quickly than the other passengers.
Most airports have free WiFi so bring along tablets, phones and iPods pre-loaded with stories, music and games to entertain the children. Make sure all these electronic devices are fully charged before you get to the airport and pack chargers in your hand luggage to use at the airport as needed.
We always pack activity books, sticker books and small toys. Finger puppets can also be entertaining on long delays and flights. We bring along a couple of books for each child, both for them to read and look at and for us to read to them.
The thought of flying anywhere with small children can seem quite stressful. Take the time to make the flight a more pleasant experience for you too. Try and recreate the atmosphere of flying first class even when you’re travelling on a no-frills airline. Make up your own bespoke toiletry bag filled with things to make you feel special like a hydration spray, tinted lip balm and eye gel in a smart wash bag.
Pack a gourmet picnic on the flight to make the experience more indulgent. Having a variety of foodie treats to hand is guaranteed to make your flight feel a lot more luxurious and the kids will love their special food while they’re looking around at everyone else’s sad airline sandwiches.
Hungry, bored and tired children do not make good travel companions so be prepared to tackle all three. Bring along snacks and keep boredom at bay when you’re waiting for flights or meals by having sticker books, activity packs, little games and books handy.
Be prepared for your children to be overexcited on the first day. Don’t underestimate the sheer amount of noise children make on that first couple of days by the hotel pool. While you’re trying to pretend they’re not yours, remember they will calm down.
Carrie from Flying with a Baby says, “email yourself a copy of your travel documents and insurance and carry with you the local emergency numbers and jot down the nearest hospital details. After having my passport and purse stolen, this made proving my identity super easy and meant I got an emergency travel document very quickly. On another trip, our eldest was burnt by accident with scalding hot tea from a well known coffee chain, and not one member of staff came to our aid – having a local hospital jotted down beforehand would have saved us some time.
Another reason to have it written down as well as on your phone means you can access it with no signal or a flat battery.”
