WHAT TYPE OF TRAVEL IS SUITED TO YOUR FAMILY?

There are so many great reasons for travelling with kids, but not all types of family travel may be suited to your tribe!

The first step of travelling as a family is working out what type of travel works for you. While one type of travel is great for some families, it may not necessarily be great for yours, so this is an important step to ensuring you have a family holiday that you will all love.

Consider the interests of your family to help narrow your focus:

Outdoors or indoors?

Hot or cold weather?

Beach or now?

City or nature?

Are you comfortable with non-English speaking destinations?

What type of food do you enjoy/dislike?

Adventure or relaxing?

Popular or prefer off the beaten track attractions?

Luxury or budget?

This list should help you rule out the type of destinations not right for your family, but also be mindful that different family members may have different tastes so it can often require a little bit of compromise and meet halfway.

PLAN FAMILY TRAVEL TOGETHER

If your children are old enough to be involved in the planning process, this is a great way to build excitement and increase the chances your child will enjoy the holiday.

Travel as a family has the greatest success when every member of the family has input, kids included, although if they are young, be prepared for requests such as Disneyland or similar if you ask them where they want to travel.

Talking to your kids in the lead up to family travel about where you are going, what you will be doing and the things they will see is a great way to build up their anticipation too.

This also helps prepare them for the transition of travel and the disruptions in their routine, which can be very beneficial for some children.

PACKING FOR FAMILY TRAVEL

Packing for family travel involves even more consideration than packing for adults. Not only does this mean more luggage overall, but also adding in those child and baby specific items that you require for your trip.

Depending on the age of your children and the type of transport you are using for your trip, you will need to ensure you are aware of luggage allowances and restrictions.

If your child is under 2, in most cases the only luggage allowance when flying is a carry on bag with essentials and no actual checked luggage included.

For most other transport, allowances are either not specified or are less strict.

The best method for packing for family travel is to utilise a travel packing checklist. There are plenty of printable packing lists that suit different types of travel, from general travel, to more specific checklists aimed at certain destinations or travelling with kids.

Items such as disposable nappies and formula are bulky. Cloth nappies may take up less space, however, you need to ensure you will have washing facilities at your destination.

Feeding supplies can also take up a lot of room, such as baby bottles, plates and cutlery. You may need a sterilisation system as well, so be sure to consider travel alternatives.

If you are sharing a suitcase with your children or partner, a great method is to utilise suitcase organisers or packing cubes – they are smaller soft bags that zip up and can be a great way to separate different types of clothing for different family members. They also help compact your luggage better too.

Make sure you have extra sets of clothing for kids. No matter their age, kids are great at getting messy so you don’t want to run out of clean clothes without having easily accessible washing facilities.

As a rule of thumb, pack at least two extra outfits for kids compared to what you are packing for yourself.

Don’t forget the anywhere essentials such as a warm jacket, a hat and good quality walking shoes. Keeping kids warm, sun-safe and comfortable will make your family travel much more enjoyable.