Family Vacation Travel

Soon after my first child was born, my husband and I realized it was no longer as easy as throwing a duffle bag in the trunk for a weekend getaway. For such a small baby, she sure needed a boat load of stuff!

It took us a few trips of disaster before we came to the conclusion of what was a necessity and what was extra baggage. When baby #2, #3 and #4 came along we became seasoned family vacation travel professionals. Each stage brought its new challenges. Our passion for travel outweighed the aggravation, so we decided to get good at this.

Looking back on childhood road trips, laying in the back of the station wagon where mom made a large bed out of the trunk. I soon realized I couldn’t draw much from that experience. Things sure have changed and thankfully there are many resources at our fingertips. We suffered without DVDs, Gameboys, and even Mapquest! Father’s haven’t changed much, they still won’t stop for directions, but thank God for GPS!

Some practical tips for a hassle-free family vacation travel experience on the road:

• I am always full of surprises! Hide things to do so when they are bored you have the novelty to run off of for a while. For instance, new coloring books, crafts or books. Even new DVDs rented or bought, let it be a surprise.
• If you can get photos from the trip printed before you head home, let them make a scrapbook on the way home of the trip. Who cares what it looks like or whether you have three or four copies, if you have peace. (For a cheap alternative, have them mount photos with a glue stick to a pad of construction paper.)
• Give them highlighters (or a yellow crayon is less messy in the car) and a copy of the map to route along the way.
• Letterboxing is a very fun adventure to break up the trip. For those not familiar, it is “an intriguing pastime combining navigational skills and rubber stamp artistry in a charming ‘treasure hunt’ style outdoor quest. A wide variety of adventures can be found to suit all ages,” quoted from www.letterboxing.org It is free, and if you travel a good bit make a family book to collect your stampings.
• If you are a mom or dad traveling alone with a children of the opposite sex, a good safety tip is to stop at a Starbucks to use restrooms since they have single use bathrooms and you can wait outside knowing there is no one else in there with your kid. Target also has family bathrooms.
• Depending on ages I packed a potty seat in the van. Yes, I am aware of how disgusting that sounds. However, when the baby finally falls asleep and your 3-year-old says, ” I need to go to the bathroom” you will be glad for the advice. Especially at night, you won’t have to light up the car to open the door. Baby stays asleep, business taken care of, off you go!
• If you are traveling at night bring pajamas and bedtime items with you so you can do their normal routine as you are getting them ready for bedtime so they will have an easier time falling asleep.

Have fun and don’t over plan every minute, just being in a new environment is exciting for them. Make the most of letting them discover what is different and unusual.

Technorati Tags: family vacation travel