Planning a Successful Trip to see Family or Friends (with your kids!)
So, you’re thinking of planning a trip to go see your family or friends and you’re just a *little* nervous. Especially now that you have kids, and the dynamic is FOR SURE going to be different, you might wonder how things are going to go. In fact, I have personally had some pretty ridiculous past experiences. (Read about my most horrific travel experience here: Take THIS Essential on Your Next Vacation!)
Well. As you may have guessed or already experienced, visiting family or friends before versus after kids brings with it a whole set of new challenges. BUT… it CAN be fun (and worth it)! I recently just returned from a 9-day trip to see my fam in Alabama, and I have to tell you, it was the most successful trip I’ve had so far. This was a pleasant surprise, as the idea of cross-country travel with three kids under five is always particularly distressing. AND, my husband couldn’t make the trip. But I’m here to tell you that if I can do it, you can, too!
So just take a breath.
Because whether you’re planning a trip as a solo parent, or (you lucky duck) will have your partner on hand, hopefully these tips will help you prepare for the worst, but actually achieve the best-case scenario. An “under-promise, over-deliver” type of situation.
Let’s get it it, shall we?!
My Best Tips!
1. Communicate with your friends or family before you go. Asking these questions will be the perfect place to start!
- How can they help you and your fam while you are there? I’ve found that hosts usually really want to help their guests, they often just don’t know how best to go about it. So, the more specific I can be, i.e., “Will you give the kids a bath while I get their pjs and beds ready?” or “Can you read two books with them? ” or “Will you please take them outside to play for a few minutes while I put the baby down?” is a lot more helpful than, “I need your help at bedtime.” It can be uncomfortable for some of us to ask for help (I’m working on this, myself), but it’ll definitely make the situation better for everyone if you just go ahead and get over that.
- What food, drinks, snacks would be helpful for your friends or family to have on hand for your visit? Giving a little list to your host prior to your visit can help travel days to go much smoother! Plus, you’ll have more time together if you don’t have to make a trip to the store! It goes without saying, but don’t forget to offer to pay them back or return the favor some other way 🙂
- What activities will and won’t work for your fam? I’ve been in situations where we’ve visited friends that had not had a baby around for, like, a long time. They didn’t understand why a 2pm departure would be a no-go (helllllllo screaming no-nap baby) or why we couldn’t make an 8pm dinner. So let them know what non-negotiable time frames they have to work around.
- What is your ideal sleep situation? It can be super helpful for all parties involved to have an idea of where people will sleep beforehand. This way, your family or friends know how many beds/cots/floor pallets to arrange, as well as which rooms to have ready and available (or in my mom’s case, free from months worth of secondhand store scores – ha!). Maybe they can help by borrowing (or even setting up) a Pack n’ Play or extra blankets in advance. My parents recently got these cots on Amazon to help accommodate for the loads of grandchildren that fill up their house of vacations such as these, and they are a major hit: Disc-O-Bed Youth Kid-O-Bunk with Organizers They’re somewhat pricey at $228 (+ $80 shipping?!) but they will get a ton of use.
2. Be sure to ask for more help on travel days. When you’re prepping for travel, or just getting in from travel, this is the time when you need “all hands on deck.” It’s difficult getting suitcases unpacked, beds ready, clothes picked out, especially if you don’t have help watching your children tornado through their new environment. So, in my opinion, it’s pretty essential to have your friends or family plan to help you a little more during unpacking/packing days!
3. Don’t be afraid to loosen up your screen time rules. This advice is admittedly coming at you from a Speech-Language Pathologist who is pretty much anti-screen time. It seems like counterintuitive advice, actually. I am always thinking that on vacation, there is so much to do that I won’t want my kids to watch shows AT ALL. BUT, along with vacation, comes so much more prep to do than when you’re inside the comfort of your own home. When I tried to avoid screen time while prepping day trips, the kids were crawling through the suitcases, trying to “help,” or trying to eat marbles out of vases, or showing each other how many leaves they can pull off of fake plants. What I really needed was the space to pack their beach bags and snacks, and screen time made it more possible on days I had limited help.
For the Parents Traveling Solo:
- Consider getting help for your flight.
- Is anyone you know from home coming to visit your area? If so, maybe you can get them to coordinate their return trip with your flight out. Let me tell you what has been working for us. My parents love to visit Seattle annually, so I have them book their flights one-way from Atlanta to Seattle. Then, I personally book their flights back in the same transaction with ours. This is important, because then the airline sees that you are all together and they are more willing to help put you in adjacent seats. That way, we were booked in the same party, on the same flight. So yes, this arrangement makes for one long trip with my parents, but it makes the logistics much more possible. And I think it’s great for the kids to spend an extended period of time with grandparents because they only have to warm up once, as opposed to multiple warm-up periods if doing multiple trips. Plus, it’s more cost-effective than doing multiple trips.
- For the flight home, I was dying for more time with my bestie in Alabama, so I brought her home with me and my girls. She’s always up for a trip to Seattle and she was so incredibly helpful getting us all back safely. She stayed a few days on the back end so we got some quality time together! Major win for everyone.
Airline Travel Tips!
Lastly, if you’re looking for tips for airline travel with kids and babies, go ahead and check out this post: “Airline Travel with Kids Under 5! It Can be Done: Here’s How!”
I’m adding a couple more airline travel tips here that came up during this trip and really helped us this time around:
- Don’t be afraid to sit in the back of the plane. Our 4-year-old took 6 trips to the potty on our flight, which would have been exponentially more difficult if we hadn’t been conveniently next to the bathroom.
- For those of you with multiple kids, consider bringing a wagon instead of a stroller. This was clutch for us. We have a double stroller that holds two kids, but our oldest isn’t really up for walking most of the time, and the baby hates the Ergo, so we needed something that could carry all three. We received a lot of positive feedback on our choice to use the wagon through the airport. The hardest part was just keeping an eye on it (someone had to walk behind to make sure we still had all the kids and bags), but it definitely helped us make it quickly and safely between our gates. And we used it on the trip ALL the time (even for its intended purpose – at the beach – a couple of times!) We have this one from Target: Beach Wagon Blue – Sun Squad™
The common theme here is just to make sure you have as much support as possible, and that you communicate clearly with those willing to help!
I truly hope these suggestions will help to empower all of you to head out with your kids into the great unknown for a successful adventure!
Anyone venturing out anytime soon?! I wanna hear all about it!
So much love (and best wishes for your next vacay!) ❤️
Honestly,
AM ❤️❤️
Enjoy some of our travel scenes! ❤️
More About Me: Hi! I’m Ann Marie, a blogging mama of 3 tiny gals, and a wife to a busy Orthopedic Surgeon. You can find me right here for a weekly smattering of inspiration for your motherhood journey, home, marriage (I see you other medical wives!), style, and beauty. You’ll find me most active on Instagram or Facebook for life between blog posts. And I truly can’t wait to see you there, friend. ❤️💋
To connect, shoot me an email at honestlyannmarie@gmail.com ❤️
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