NavanTravel

It’s coming to that time now when we will start heading abroad on our family holidays I can almost feel the warmth of the sun!  I think we can all benefit from a few tips when we are travelling with children after all it is not just the kids holiday it’s the adults holiday too. However, let us face it when the children are happy we are happy! Through our experience of travelling with our own families with children ranging in ages from 3 months to 17 years we got together in the office and compiled some of our tips for a stress free fun filled family holiday! 

Feel free to comment below to add your own tips and suggestions.

1. Check all passports before travel but especially for children as passports for children under 3 are only valid for 3 years and passports for children over 3 and under 18 are valid for 5 years.

2. Upon take off and landing try and get your children to suck sweets or take a drink to avoid their ears popping.  For babies having a feed may help or sucking a dummy.

3. Portable DVD players or tablets are great. Especially for the plane just remember to fully charge them before you leave home!  Also handy for the parents for a cosy night on the balcony watching a film when the kids are in bed!  Memory sticks could be loaded with favourite programmes instead of bringing DVDs with you. Just remember to bring their own headphones not everyone on the plane will need to catch up on the latest episode of Peppa Pig! 

4. To give them a break from the screens bring colours and notebooks or playing cards are great to get the whole family involved!  Don’t take it too seriously though you’re on holidays!!!

5. For babies, nappies and wipes are available in stores so just pack enough for travel and buy them abroad for the holiday to save on space in your luggage. I found the quality just as good.

6. Buggies are available to hire in most resorts and sometimes in campsites. For really young kids you will be bringing your own. However if you have kids that you wouldn’t normally put in a buggy at home they are handy to hire for them for the evening or going for walks on the promenade. After days spent splashing in the pool, running around on the beach and later nights than usual they could do with a rest!

7. Hooded towels for the little ones are great!

8. No need to bring inflatable toys for the pool or beach as most campsites/complexes have them to lend out from previous clients.

9. For older children they could keep a journal on where they’ve been and attach photos or postcards to remind them. It is a nice keepsake to have when they are older!

10. A lot of campsites have laundries on site and if you have a large family it may be handy to get dirty clothes laundered before you go home so you are not faced with mountains of dirty clothes!