Essential Tips for Traveling with Kids
We recently went on a 2 week trip to Europe with our daughter, son in law and their kids. As they were thinking about taking this trip they asked if we would come along to help them travel with the kids.
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Besides booking the travel, we spent a good bit of time researching and planning what we would need for the kids. We certainly did not want to overpack, especially since over the course of the trip we would be taking 7 planes, 2 trains, renting 2 cars, and using public transportation in London and airport transfers in Athens, Greece.
You can hear about the whole trip here but in this post we wanted to share what we ended up taking and how it worked for us and share a few tips with you. Overall the kids did fantastic! They are 5 and 2 and were definitely troopers and exceed all of our expectations for the entire trip! In the episode, our daughter Carey mentions that it is key to not over schedule and over plan when possible and leave time for kids to be kids and play on community playgrounds and just have time to play. If you are thinking about traveling anywhere in the world with kids, we think you'll find this episode and her advice so valuable.
Travel Car Seat Alternatives
Our most important considerations were how would be keep them safe in the automobiles we would rent in Germany and Greece and in the airport transfer we would use in Athens, Greece without having to lug car seats through London and on the train during the first part of our trip.
My sister has traveled extensively with her son and found the Rider Safe Vest to be the perfect option. It has great safely reviews and is easily packable. They kept it neatly packed away until we arrived in Germany and picked up our first rental car of the trip! It was a lifesaver again when we arrived in Athens, Greece late at night and was picked up by our hotel's airport transfer. It is completely worth the investment if you are taking a trip like this or going anywhere you will have to rely on a taxi, Uber, or Lyft.
The kids in our rental van in Germany using their travel car seats
For older kids, this inflateable booster seat is a game changer for travel. You can take a peek in the picture above as well. It folds up super small and again they kept it in a backpack and pulled it out when needed. We got the most use out of these during our 7 days driving around Crete and both the kids were comfortable the whole time.
MAMAZing Travel Stroller
We had a lot of debate about this one and in the end decided that we would just take one for the two year old. When going to Disney we do take one for the 5 year old because there is so much walking in one day but decided that the only place we might need it was London and that she would do fine. In the end we were happy with the decision. We didn't always take the time to find the elevators when using the Tube and having 2 strollers would have made this more complicated. We needed a new stroller to keep at our house and in our car and wanted to find one that folded up small enough to be considered a carry on and would fit in the overhead bin. Things can get damaged when you gate check them and we really couldn't risk being without the stroller in London. We ordered two different ones and in the end decided to keep this one. We are overall super happy with this one. It comes with a bag to put it in, lap bar, and the leg rest folds up and down. It is easy to fold and super lightweight. It has the basket underneath and a large zip pocket and only drawback is the lack of a cupholder but an add on organizer can be ordered with it or separately. For the price this is a great lightweight stroller that is sturdy and can be used everyday. We are very happy with this purchase.
Using the MAMAZing Stroller in London in front of Buckingham Palace
Kids Backpacks
We decided to pack a backpack for each of the kids to have on the plane and for the train and car rides. I won't say they carried these on their own 100% of the time but it was helpful for each of them to have their own activities, snacks, and water bottles in their own bags. We had given the kids these bags for Christmas along with their own headphones to help them get excited about the trip.
Inside the backpacks were their travel essentials.
These included Snack Boxes our daughter Carey packed for the initial plane ride, water bottles, tablets, headphones, Melissa and Doug Reuseable Sticker Books, Automatic Eraseable Writing Tablets, and books they packed. We encouraged them to carry them as much as possible but they did end up on other suitcases part of the time, especially when they were tired.
We also carried a travel pillow for each of them but in hindsight we would probably skip that in the future because it ended up being too much extra to keep up with and the airplane pillow, a travel pillow, or a rolled up sweater or jacket would have sufficed to cut down on the amount of stuff.
Packing Tips
Our daughter Carey saw a tip to use an over the door shoe organizer to pack kids clothes. After choosing the outfits to pack, she rolled them together and placed each one in a pocket. This kept clothes organized and easy to find especially since over the course of our trip we stayed in 6 different places over the course of our trip. She was able to pack both kids in one shoe hanger and then place it on one side of her checked luggage. At each location it was easy to get out and hang up.
Photo credit: Emily Hochberg via Apartment Therapy
Other Tips
1. Be sure to bring along refillable water bottles and IMMEDIATELY put drinks given to them on the airplane in them. The tray tables can be easily bumped and spills all over your, their, or strangers clothes and stuff is NO FUN.
2. Be prepared in case there are no snacks or meals, just in case. You may have seen the articles about the molded food on a flight recently and sometimes things happen and food doesn't get loaded onto the planes. Worst case scenario we would hope they would find them something but it is better to be over prepeared and safe than sorry. We had plenty of snacks for the ride over but were left a little short on the way back when there wasn't much offered on the 12 hour plane ride home from Athens, Greece to Atlanta.
3. Bring a pack of Balloons for the hotel or vacation rental. Balloons can keep kids entertained for ages and then are easily popped and left behind and another blown up at the next location. These can also be a lifesaver in case of delayed flights.
4. Get a credit card with lounge access and make sure your whole family can get in. This was a GAME CHANGER for us. With our Chase Sapphire Card and our Amex Card we have access to Priority Pass Lounges. These tend to be really nice in Europe. Between our two cards we were able to get 3 of us in on each one. We had one early morning flight and one layover from the Athens airport (one to Crete and one returning home) and using these lounges for breakfast and having room to stretch out with the kids was a LIFE SAVER. Get a Travel Credit Card with Lounge Access.
Our grandson playing in the Priority Pass lounge during our layover in Athens, Greece
What tips do you have for traveling with kids?
