3 things to avoid when traveling with kids
After many trips with our two toddlers, we’ve made more mistakes than we can count when it comes to traveling with our kids! We’ve made trips harder and more stressful than necessary and we’re here to help you avoid the biggest travel mistakes that we’ve made!
One of the greatest mistakes we’ve made is not setting our kids up to sleep well while traveling, which of course means that none of us slept well! Check out this post where I go into detail on how to help your kids sleep while traveling!
MISTAKE #1: ARRIVING TOO CLOSE TO BEDTIME
We’ve learned the hard way after pushing it too many times and arriving right before bedtime. Sometimes you can’t help this because of flight times or plenty of other reasons BUT when you can help it, plan ahead! Arriving right before bed time creates chaos for a few reasons- the first being that the kids are tired and probably more emotional and so it just creates a lot of stress while you’re trying to set up packnplays/sound machines/blackout curtains/go through your bedtime routine.
You’d think we would know better by now, but this is exactly what happened on our recent trip to Ruidoso. We got in to the Airbnb at 7:00 with unfed kids who were ready to get out of their car seats and run around. We had no food other than a few leftover snacks, so I ran to the nearest grocery store and sprinted through the aisles grabbing whatever I could find while Jackson tried to keep the kids from getting into everything in the non-kid-proof airbnb. Just avoid it when you can and prepare for the chaos when you can’t!
MISTAKE #2: BRINGING THE WRONG GEAR
When we went to Chicago a couple of years ago, we brought the stroller we always traveled with. It’s a Graco jogging stroller and had worked really well for all of our other trips. What we didn’t realize until we got to Chicago, was that it was way too big for traveling on public transportation, which was the way we traveled the entire trip. It was a pain to get on and off the bus quickly and took up a ton of room while standing with it on the bus. We quickly noticed that most moms were using simple umbrella strollers on the bus. They barely took up any room and they’re light and easy to fold up!
It was a great lesson learned for us! Just because something has worked on most trips doesn’t mean it always will! Consider where you’re going- how will you travel around? If you’re walking a lot and have access to a car, a more comfortable jogging stroller may be a great fit. If you’re heading somewhere with lots of stairs or will be on trails or gravel, a carrier or sling (here is my favorite) you can wear may be a better fit.
We now use this Cityjogger stroller and it’s the perfect in between. Narrow and not bulky, not overly heavy, carriers both kids and is easy to fold up and down. I highly recommend it!
MISTAKE #3: TRAVELING UNPREPARED
Last year when we went to Denver for Christmas, we had just landed and were about to get off the plane when I realized Eliot had a fever. She felt very warm and looked sick. By the time we got off the plane, found baggage claim and got our rental car, she looked and felt horrible. I was kicking myself for not packing some Tylenol or Motrin with us. We finally got out of the airport and found a pharmacy to grab some medicine but her fever had already spiked to 103 by that point. She ended up being fine and other than dealing with a very sick and upset toddler in the car, all was well. But we have never gone on a trip since then without packing the basics with us!
We usually have Motrin, Tylenol, Neosporin and Benadryl with us every trip, these days. Yes, most locations you’re heading too have somewhere you can pick it up, but traveling with kids can be chaotic enough without additional things to have to go buy, especially when you’re in an unfamiliar city.
Some of these things are just unavoidable at times and you just have to figure it out! That’s what traveling with kids is all about. But it is nice to avoid adding stress or chaos, since we all know traveling with kids has plenty of both! Hopefully this list helps you to avoid the mistakes we’ve made! Happy travels!
