Family holidays are such an exciting time for everyone – parents finally get to relax, leaving everyday stresses behind, and kids get to go on an exciting adventure. Preparing for the holiday, however, can be its own kind of stressful, especially if it’s not approached with a good plan first. Want some tips on how to best prepare your family for the next holiday? Read on below!
Travel insurance
Let’s get the least exciting but most important thing out of the way first: travel insurance. It might seem like an extra expense you don’t want to make but it’s never a bad investment – especially if something unexpected happens. Travelling with children or even older relatives can present some challenges, like health conditions, and accidents do happen. When budgeting for your trip, include the price of travel insurance into your overall budget so it doesn’t feel like an additional expense.
Make lists
No one truly enjoys packing and it’s quite the miracle to arrive at your destination without forgetting some essentials. The best to mitigate this is by writing lists. Create an essentials list first, including things like documents, adaptors, medicines, and anything else you know you need every time you travel. You can also make snack lists (hungry children are cranky children) and even clothing ones that will help you to not over-pack. There are lots of lists available online if you’d rather download something ready-made and edit it to suit your needs.
Pick the right destination
There’s no such thing as a perfect family holiday since all families will be after something different and there’s really no pleasing everyone. Still, thinking of a destination that has a little bit of something for everyone will prevent too many frowns. If you’re staying at a hotel, be sure to check what kind of activities they offer for children; some even offer babysitting service that you could take advantage off if you’d like to go for a grown-ups only dinner.
Book a room at the airport
A lot of flights going to popular family holiday destinations tend to depart very early in the morning, making the process of getting the family to an airport a bit of an ordeal. Kids never enjoy being up that early and are likely to feel upset so, if your budget allows, look into booking a room at the airport hotel. Do this well in advance and it won’t be that expensive, saving you from needless stress and little ones crying.
Split up on arrival
Once you arrive at your destination’s airport, consider splitting up after you go through security. The reason for this is to make the process of picking up a hire car and luggage faster. There’s no need for everyone to wait and do these things together when it would faster to do them at the same time. Take this approach with hotel check-ins, buying excursions tickets, and anything else possible (just take turns on who stays with the kids), it will really lower the stress these tasks usually cause and you’ll complete them faster.