Four Ways to Make travel easier with (or without!) kids

My family on our way to a red-eye flight about a year ago.

December 2021 Update: I wrote this blog in 2017, and it’s one of the most visited blogs on this entire site. Now that we’re in 2021, travel has only gotten more complicated with COVID. I’ve updated a few key pieces below to account for that, and I’m hopeful it provides value to any family traveling in 2021 and 2022. And our two elementary-school aged kids STILL don’t sleep in - when does that happen, again?

We are coming off a 5-month period where we took 6 overnight trips as a family or partial family, and we're heading in a few weeks to Mexico with our friends. It's safe to say that travel is a big priority for our family. I had the incredible luck to get to grow up around the world as a Navy brat, and I want to make sure my children get similar experiences in new places. We try to make short (one- or two-night) and longer (usually a week) trips happen several times a year if we can.

Our travel plans have increased in complexity in the last three years with the addition of two more humans to the family. Even though they are small, the amount of stuff required for them is immense.

And they add more than just stuff - the additional level of planning beforehand and intensity during the trip is also major. I joke with my parent friends often that these are "trips", not to be confused with "vacations". I hear that when kids get older they like to sleep in; I'll believe that when I see it. Our toddler and preschooler have yet to get that memo.

Each of the four tips below are helpful regardless of whether you have kids with you, but they are even more valuable if you are bringing along little ones.

Travel Checklist
We have been using this trip checklist for about a year now in our family, and it has been pretty helpful. Given that we travel several times a year, we were finding ourselves struggling to keep track of all of the moving parts.

"Did you book airport parking for the Christmas trip, or for the trip to Auburn?"

"Have we already gotten an AirBnB for D.C., or do we still need to find one?"

So, enter the Family Trip Checklist. We print one of these out once we know a trip is happening, and it lives underneath our regular to-do list on a clipboard. As we do things, we check them off the list so that we spend less time wondering what has been taken care of and more time looking forward to the trip itself.

It has two parts: 

• Things that can be done quite a bit in advance (like airplane tickets and lodging)

• Things that we want to remember to do shortly before we leave (like putting out money for the catsitter and charging our daughter's tablet so that she can watch all the shows she wants on an airplane or long car ride.

There is also space in each part for specific things that come up for each trip to jot down at the bottom (for example, at the bottom of our Mexico trip one that's currently in use are notes to buy Cameron a puddle jumper and Brooklyn some comfortable goggles). The checklist is here: https://bit.ly/FamilyTripChecklist, and you can create a copy for yourself to make it your own. Please let me know in the comments what else you're adding to your list.

Stocked Suitcases
I have been traveling with "kits" that live in my suitcase permanently for more than a decade, and it has saved me innumerable hours of packing and many forgotten items I am sure. Briefly, this looks like having items and "kits" that permanently "live" in my suitcase and go with me on each trip. For example, I have a travel curling iron that has been in my suitcase to use on trips for more than five years. I keep a makeup bag fully stocked in my suitcase, and a toiletry bag that has everything we need. There is a set of phone charging cords in there, too. There are other items you would expect that live in my suitcase, too - travel neck pillows, for example. And every few years, I take the time to pack up small snack-size ziptop bags with a handful of various over-the-counter medicines and put them all together into a small cloth bag that lives in my suitcase. If we're traveling and one of us (or someone with us) gets sick, we have some medicine on hand to help out, at least in the beginning of the illness before we get can our hands on more (things like aspirin, tums, dayquil, benadryl cream, etc.). I even keep a few stamps, a pen, and some cards in my suitcase - they come in handy to appreciate hosts or say thanks to people who help us when we're traveling.

I would never take the time to pack up a handful of 10 types of medicine for each trip, but it is worth it to do it once and then benefit from it for each trip for years to come.

This means that, when we're packing, a huge portion of what we would have to pull together is already packed for us. It also means that, when we arrive home, we don't have to dig for toothbrushes or makeup or phone cards since the "home" versions of these items did not  go on the trip with us and are right where we left them.

Packing List
By now you are probably not surprised that I'm recommending another list. I love lists. They save lives.

So of course we have a packing list that serves as the starter for each of our trips, and it has been so helpful in making the packing process much less stressful. Create one for yourself that is personalized for you. Print one each time you're starting the packing process, and cross items off as they get put into your bag. Over time, you'll improve it by adding new things to it and removing things you no longer need as your life changes. Ours is here as an example - when you click, you’ll be prompted to make a copy of the document so you can delete what isn’t necessary for your family and add in what is!

(For International Travel) Travel Nurse
I am a huge fan of our HMO, Kaiser Permanente. Aside from them saving my life in 2016, I admire their level of organization and ease of use for patients. If you're traveling internationally, make a call to your Kaiser advice line to get a phone appointment with a travel nurse. You'll get to talk with a well-informed nurse whose job it is to help members who are traveling be healthy while they do it. The nurse can help you with getting the necessary immunizations if you are traveling to certain countries (all four of us are getting some shots later this week!) and even give you a prescription antibiotic to take with you in case you end up with some stomach trouble on your trip. Our travel nurse was also helpful in making sure we had the right phone numbers to call if we needed medical advice while we were out of the country and gave advice on which bug spray and sunscreen to buy in a helpful email after the call.

Be sure to ask if your health insurance provides a service like this. If not, be in touch with your doctor for advice on what you need to keep in mind regarding health when you are traveling.

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