Best Tips for Amazing Family Travel With Kids

Family travel with your kids can offer some of the most rewarding experiences possible.

If you’re not prepared however, it can also be hell on earth!

Follow these tips for amazing family travel with kids and build amazing memories together that feature stories you’re going to want to retell over and over.

• Allow extra time

When traveling with kids, everything will take longer than you expect.

Now, when we say everything, we really mean everything.  Consider things like unexpected bathroom breaks, kids being drawn to different attractions and those emotional outbursts that only time can resolve.

Always ensure you’ve allowed extra time to reach destinations and can honour time sensitive bookings like hotel and dinner reservations.

• Have an assortment of snacks on hands

Hungry kids are grumpy kids.

When you’re travelling as a family, meal times aren’t always as predictable as the kids have become used to and this can mess with their state of mind.  By always ensuring you have enough snacks on hand, you can try to nip any hunger complaints in the bud.  

Ensure you choose filling, healthy and nutritious food, disguised as fun snacks to avoid those late afternoon sugar come downs which can be just as bad, if not worse than hunger tantrums.

• Don’t totally rely on WiFi

Now that kids have predominantly shifted to streaming services, they rely on constant internet connectivity more than they realise. 

Unfortunately, internet connections from your mobile data and public wifi networks can be somewhat unpredictable when travelling.  So to keep the kids happy and occupied, ensure you pre-download at least a selection of tv shows and music.  

There’s nothing worse than a child complaining about their electronics, so don’t get caught out relying on others.

• Encourage kids to document their travel

Kids are naturally creative creatures and travel is the perfect way to encourage these traits to the fore.

You have a few options when it comes to travel documentation, each coming down purely to personal choice and style:

• Travel journaling: For kids who love to read and write.  There are a number of formats you can encourage your child to explore that allow them to include both text and hand drawn illustrations. 
• Photography: For the more visual kids.  It doesn’t have to be an expensive DSLR camera and you’ll be amazed how kids view the same trip through their eyes.
• Always have face masks on hand

Last but not least in our trips for amazing family travel with kids, we’re somewhat sad to say that no 2020 list would be complete without at least mentioning face masks.

With different states and cities imposing mandates on citizens around covering their face with the coronavirus pandemic, the last thing you want to do is be caught out without a mask.

Whether it’s a classic mask, a bandana or a neck gaiter in colder climates, make sure you always have a number of different sizes and styles for the kids to pop on to keep your trip comfortable, safe and compliant.