Travelling or going on holiday with young children is a very different experience to the blissful freedom you may probably enjoyed before kids came into your life. I’m sure that there are many of you who have your fair share of travelling nightmares, all courtesy of your little loved ones. Whether you are driving to your destination, taking a flight or going by train, there are a few tips you can follow to make everyone’s life much easier, and ensure that you arrive for your holiday feeling a bit more relaxed than usual.
By no means is this an exhaustive list of how to plan a journey with children, but hopefully you’ll find some of the tips useful. If you’ve got any favourite tips and tricks then feel free to get involved and leave them in the comments section!
Entertainment
Keeping your kids occupied is crucial to ensuring that your journey is peaceful and calm throughout. I’m sure plenty of you have had to endure a flight sitting next to a screaming child, and know the amazing feeling of relief when the colouring book is bought out to rescue the situation. Entertainment really does work. Fortunately there are loads of ideas out there for every budget including portable games consoles, children’s books and in car DVD players.
Top Idea: Car Gaming Package
Plan Breaks
If your journey is going to be a long one, make sure that you plan some breaks into the schedule. If you are driving to your destination there’s no reason why you couldn’t leave an hour earlier to allow for a few well needed breaks. This gives everyone the chance to get out from the confines of the car, stretch their legs and relax from the journey. If your journey is longer than say eight hours, it could be worth including an overnight stop in the plan.
Top Idea: Bing Route Planner
Luggage
If you’ve got really young children you’ll know just how quickly the amount of stuff you have to carry can mount up. Seriously, sometimes it can feel like a small truck could more appropriate than a bag. This is fine when you’re at home, but when trying to rush through an airport or run to catch a train you’ll regret not packing as light as possible. Thankfully there are some fantastic products and bags around that can transport everything you need. A great bag is worth its weight in gold (excuse the pun!) and can save you a huge amount of hassle.
Top Idea: Toy and Travel Bag
This blog post was written by Pink Heaven. Pink Heaven is a small family run online business specialising in pink gifts, pink party dresses and pink bedroom ideas
I remember my brother and I would take turn reading books to each other and we would make voices to go with them. My mom started reading us books, and it was so wonderful to hear the different voices she created to go with the book, we never wanted her to stop reading. The time went by really quickly. You should try it with your kids.
I’m 14 and I still read out loud to my mom, and we share books we only read in the car, and it is great to talk about the books together, and discuss them. Sometimes we just sit in the garage or in a parking lot because we don’t want to stop reading, and put the book down!