Tips For Travelling With Kids… Before You Go

The build-up to any trip can be exciting, in our younger days we spent time researching places, areas, countries that interested us as well as looking for tips for travelling to the places we are heading to.

Now as a family we want our kids to feel that excitement, that buzz. Even though Sawyer is still too young, Lukas certainly enjoys sharing his input. 

We spent a few nights, during our planning phase, going through the places we are visiting and looking at activities that might interest him.

On our resent trips to Cuba and Cancun Lukas spend days looking a maps and possible activities he could pick.

As well as what treasures he could buy, clothes he is most likely going to need and the flights we will take to reach our destination.

Like any trip, there is a compromise but once the itinerary is in place he too counts down the days or sleeps until our flight departs.

Nothing excites or challenges us more than preparing to travel with our kids. 

Here are our top 10 tips for preparing our kids to travel

1. Earn pocket money to exchange at the bank

This certainly starts quite a few months before we travel. Lukas earns $5 for completing his weekly chores. We also add in the incentive that whatever he saves we will double.

My parents did this for me and my sister before our first overseas experience, it certainly worked. It also works for Lukas too.

During our last trip to Germany, Lukas wanted to buy a ‘lego train set with remote’. He knew the cost and what he needed to save. He was very motivated and we couldn’t get him to spend a cent of his pocket money during the 9 months he saved.

Finally, just before we depart, we work out the currencies and amount Lukas needs for each country using a currency converter.

This has helped Lukas to understand the countries currency and that currencies have different values. Great discussions around the dinner table.

Finally, we head to the bank to exchange and collect the currencies, Lukas’ favourite part as he gets to hold and inspect the notes. This is one of our favourite tips for travelling.

2. Buy a travel diary

This is a must for Lukas. Before we travel, we always take him to a book store where he can select a travel diary. Once we start our journey he keeps his diary up-to-date by writing in the evenings.

However, at times during our trip, it can be a struggle to keep up. So I take a few notes about the activities we did that day. Once we have a little bit of downtime, Lukas catches up.

We had a night like this in Cienfuegos, after a few big days of exploring Trinidad and Playa Giron where he had little time in the evening to write.

Once our trip is finished and we return home, we select a wide range of photos to print and add to his diary.

We have a few diaries now and every once in a while Lukas brings one out and reads it to us. Helps him, and us, remember the memories we created.

3. Look at maps

This is one of our ‘must do’ tips for travelling with our kids. Once we have picked our destinations, we spend time looking at maps.

First, we look at the world map and discuss the flights, usually lots of questions about planes and flights.

Next, we focus on maps of the country or countries depending on how many we are visiting. Here we show our kids the cities/towns we plan on visiting and even put up images so our kids have an idea of what they are going to see.

Lukas, our eldest, loves this it makes him feel part of the planning process. He also asks plenty of questions so we settle in for a couple of hours.

4. Picking places of interest

When we are preparing to travel with our kids, we research the countries/areas making sure there will be activities for them to enjoy too.

Whether it’s a local playground to a theme park, we always spend time locating a range of activities.

Most if not all our family activities in Orange County, California were picked by Lukas.

The next part of the process is to share these with Lukas, he then picks the places/activities he likes and we add them to our itinerary. 

5. Pre-order kids menu

This is a great tip when flying with kids. There are a couple of ways to do this. Firstly, if you are booking flights through a travel agent then just ask them to request it. Easy.

Secondly, if you have booked your own flight through Skyscanner or another website then once you are booked you can head straight to the airline, you are flying with, homepage.

Once you have put in your ticket details you can then select catering options and request kids meal. We also select our meals too.

Depending on the airline’s website, some can be a little trickier to navigate. Just be patient and if all else fails, just ring the airline direct.

6. View Inflight Entertainment

Again this is on most airlines websites. We always look and check out the new releases showing in the kid’s section along with all the other movies in this area.

Lukas usually picks his top 3 or 4 movies, adding to the excitement. One thing our boys have is their own headphones, (a top tip).

This is great as sometimes the airline ones could be faulty, some airlines only pass them out after takeoff and some airlines collect their headsets back 30 mins before you land. 

7. Luggage

This, of course, depends on the trip and where you are going. For travel that involves using different types of transport (planes, trains, buses etc) as well as visiting multiple places, then we travel as light as possible.

Mainly one backpack, a couple of carry-on bags and Lukas has his own small bag with wheels.

Quite a few airlines charge for luggage so the less the better. We are looking forward to the boys becoming a little older, mainly Sawyer. Then we will purchase backpacks that are carry on regulation size. I

hate it when you arrive in a country after a long flight and then spend ages waiting at the carousel for your bags. 

Note: We have also taken Sawyer’s car seat, though in certain countries e.g. Traveling to Cuba, here finding cars/taxis with seat belts can be a challenge. 

8. Packing

It’s amazing what you can pack and what you really need. When we are preparing to travel with our kids, my theory is pretty simple.

If I might wear it then I don’t pack it. The kids’ clothes go in the backpack, plenty of undies is a must!

Our biggest space taker was Sawyer’s nappies… Again depending on the country you are travelling to you don’t want to get caught short.

We also get Lukas to chose the clothes he wants to take, once he’s asleep we arrange or change them.

Lukas also packs his carry on bag, mainly with his favourite games, blanket (his favourite), his diary, a selection of books , travel size games and a pack of cards.

We also have an iPad loaded with games for the kids just in case.

We take two backpacks (one each for Connie and me). The kids have a small (on wheels) luggage piece each. And finally Connie and I have a piece of carry on luggage each.

We fit everything in with ease. Remember you can always buy things you need or the needs you run out of in the country you are in… most of the time.

9. Behaviour on the flights

We discuss what we expect from our boys before we fly. We talk about how we sit, sleep and move around the cabin.

We make sure we have a small selection on toys, games, books and if needed, the iPad is loaded with games.

Only once have we had to use the entertainment hand control and pretend to ring the captain who said he would be right down to remove Lukas from the flight if his behaviour doesn’t improve (one of our best tips for travelling).

It’s amazing how fast he turned himself around.

10. Snacks

A few days before we leave we visit the supermarket to pick a few snacks for the flight as well as the first couple of days of the trip.

We select sugar-free snacks (definitely one our our top tips for travelling with kids), the last thing we need is the kids sugared up and bouncing around the plane. 

Sometimes we will also bake our own cookies/biscuits that we know the kids enjoy and we know what ingredients are in it.

Final Thoughts

We always love the build up to any trip/holiday we do and involving our kids makes it even better.

Our kids love to pick a activity or activities and look forward to it during the trip. Sometimes it can be a challenge especially if you are travelling to a country that doesn’t have many options for kids. Our time when we travelled Cuba with the kids was like this.

However we made it work, Lukas wanted to experience a vintage car ride in Havana and he and Sawyer chose Playa Rancho in Cienfuegos for a day on the beach.

Seems tips for travelling with kids are something we use and do time and time again.

If you have any tips for travelling please leave a comment below and we’ll include them in our list. 

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