We have amazing friends, who are crazy like us, and like to take family trips often. With babies. And lots of kiddos. Insert gasp here. We have been told all of the reasons this is a bad idea. And why most of our friends and family would never do it, AND thought we were crazy for considering it. And like most things in life, we listened and decided to do it anyway! Some of my absolute favorite memories of my not so little family center around trips we have taken.
Our above mentioned friends love all things Disney and are the reason we were brave (or crazy, you pick) enough to take our very first familiy Disney trip when Sydney and Eli were one and two years old (insert perk: they were both under 3 and FREE!) They recently posted a blog titled “Top 5 Tips for Having a Magical Vacation with Kids and Infants,” (link to their post Elrod’s Top 5 Post )and I thought, “Hmm.. what are MY top five tips for having amazing family vacations with littles? What advice would I give?” I decided to make my list before reading theirs, but kind of expect it to be totally different, which is kind of funny. Also, although our MOST Magical vacations have been at Disney, we have had some pretty amazing times doing other fun trips to multiple beaches, on a cruise to the Bahamas, Chattanooga, and Gatlinburg. No where that has required an airplane. Because both the thought of being on an airplane with my kiddos OR taking them through an airport gives me hives. (“Hi doctor, I need some Xanax for my flight.” “Oh, you have anxiety about flying?” “No, I have anxiety about the process of flying WITH my children.” HA!)
So, if I was able to convince you to take an amazing trip with your littles in tow (babies, toddlers, early elementary school kiddos), what would my top 5 tips be?
- Don’t hyper schedule. When we have traveled with small kids, we have an idea of when certain things are happening and pre-discussed things we really want to do. But, we also know that things happen with littles (like an explosive diaper, a need for an unplanned snack, the need to ride the teacups three times in a row because they love them and there isn’t a line!). I have friends who have their entire days mapped out by the minute, and this works well for them, but a huge part for our family’s less-stress on vacations, is to go with the flow a bit with our schedule. If we don’t HAVE a schedule, we can’t be stressed that we got OFF schedule. (Maybe this is just because my honey is a little OCD and he would be upset, angry, or stressed if we missed something on the itinerary.)
Did someone say
TEACUPS?! - Plan ahead before you go. I know this seems to contradict my don’t hyper schedule a bit. But I more mean to take the time to research where you’re going, and what tot hot spots are available. There’s a ton of soft play areas, playgrounds, children’s museums, etc. that we would have completely missed had we not done a little research ahead of time. For beach and city trips, this looked like making sure we knew what the city had to offer for our age-range kiddos. For Disney, this was doing research about what was fun for a one year old, two year old, three year old, and now 7-8 year olds at specific parks BEFORE we were actually IN said park. Unless Epcot. Because the time we went there, we were literally reading your recommendations on the Disney bus on my phone on the way to the park, because last minute change. And we go with the flow on vacation! (Another thing that I always planned ahead for before we went was nursing spots. Since I spent 3 of the last 8 years with a nursing baby, this was important! I had no problem propping up covered up on a bench, but it was also nice to know where some air conditioned designated spots were located along our route.)
- Bring lots of snacks. And when you think you have enough, pack some more! Hungry kiddos are grumpy kiddos. We have friends who taught us about the “hungry monster” years ago, and they were so very right. While at home, we rarely use backpacks except to go to school. When we travel, we maximize the backpacks and come prepared with oh so many snacks. Same for the ride. Plenty of pre-measured snacks in ziplock bags are available to keep the hungry monster away. But, don’t ask for drink, because you better not make us stop before it’s time to feed the baby or stop for a planned meal/potty break! 🙂 (Some things you just gotta schedule!) 🙂
- Allow breathing room in your schedule. Because even though I told you not to hyper schedule, we still know what we plan to do on what days, etc. For instance, for Disney, we have already looked to see which days are busiest for which parks and plan our days accordingly, so although we won’t plan which order we will ride the rides and have lunch and go back to our room, etc., we do know which day we will spend where. Same for a cruise. We know which day we will be spending at a port, on an excursion, etc. I am a firm believer in spreading things out a bit. For example, we may be crazy enough to take our
equally crazychildren into Magic Kingdom from open to close (gasp- we don’t even go back to the room for a nap), but we generally have a hotel day the next day. This allows our kiddos to sleep until they wake up and we can get moving slowly vs. staying up way past their bedtimes and having them up and running again the next day. This also allows us to do fun things like hang out at the pool, play putt-putt later in the day, or whatever else we decide to do. Often times, we will do a brunch that next day so that we can all get up slowly and then head to eat later in the day, on a day that we aren’t wasting precious time by having a big breakfast.
- Make sure Momma and Daddy have a little fun too. We all agree, watching our littles have an amazing time they will never remember is the most fun. It’s amazing to experience life through their excited little eyes. But, sometimes it’s exhausting, too. So, it is important to make sure you take a minute or two during your trip to make sure you got to do something you were excited about too. For Ben, this has been scoring a FastPass or a short line for a super cool rollercoaster or thrill ride. When Sydney and Eli were really little, I used this time to push them around in the double stroller and they rested or napped. Now, it looks a lot more like going back to their favorite attraction, or getting an extra snack while Daddy plays. (Heck, Eli went WITH him on our last Disney trip!). For me, this was a one hour massage on our cruise. Because that room got really small, and momma really did need a moment (because Liam was really my sweet, precious shadow on that trip!)
Thanks Malorie and Tim for making me think about some of my favorite memories tonight. Thanks for showing us that traveling with little kiddos is not only doable, but some of my favorite memories as a momma! What are your tips for traveling with littles? Leave your favorites in the comments! 🙂 🙂
The Brooks Family 