As a blogger, I mostly write about how to get incredible value from credit cards both in terms of earning lots of miles without flying (and hotel points, too) and in terms of leveraging them to fly and stay comfortably and for far less money than what most people imagine. Although I’ve written about why I travel with my kids, I don’t tend to focus on much family-specific content in large part because my expertise in the realm of points & miles is likely to be more of a permanent fixture whereas my “expertise” regarding family travel feels fleeting at best given the way things change from one stage to the next. Still, both readers/listeners and family/friends often ask us for tips to make family travel as enjoyable as possible (or at least less stressful than feared). This post is my collection of family travel tips that we’ve picked up along the way, mostly through our own trial and errors (emphasis on quantity).
Tips to maintain your sanity and have enjoyable travel days
Plan one big activity per day
The most important thing we’ve learned regarding family travel is the change in pace. There was a time in our lives where we would spend two days racing around to see everything there is to see in Paris. We don’t do that anymore.
Instead, we try to have one main goal each day. Whether that’s to go to a specific museum or go to the beach or do a specific tour or whatever it may be, we create one core goal for the day. If anything else sneaks in, it’s a bonus, but we don’t get our hearts set on doing multiple things in a single day. We learned the hard way that if you try to keep to a rigid schedule and pack in too many activities, someone ends up miserable almost every time (and as a parent, when one of the kids is miserable, you know that at least one of the parents is likely to end up grumpy also).
Being primarily award travelers aids in this regard. We don’t feel the pressure to see everything in Paris in large part because we know that we can always generate the points to come back to Paris someday, so if we miss the catacombs this time (as we did repeatedly over our first 3 or 4 times in Paris), we’ll get there eventually (as we eventually did!). The freedom we feel to take a trip in the future thanks to having the points on hand really reduces FOMO (fear of missing out for the non-millennials).
Find a playground
Some days, particularly if you’re traveling for a longer chunk of time, the primary activity can be as simple as finding a really good playground.
We try to find a playground almost everywhere we go. Our kids are 6 and 3 and at these ages, they love any “new” (to them) playground just because it’s different. It gives them the enjoyment of exploring something new, and that’s a big part of why I travel with them in the first place (to foster that kind of curiosity and excitement).
I also really enjoy giving them a chance to play with local kids wherever we are. We travel internationally every year and I love seeing the interactions between the kids because even though they don’t necessarily speak the same language, they enjoy the universal language of laughter and invariably find ways to communicate. And because many kids around the world learn some English, there is frequently some attempt to say something in English with my kids (we once watched a group of kids argue over the words to count down from 10 to 1 for a “blast off” countdown and then proceed to do a countdown in English for my kids). That leads to a good conversation with my kids later about how English isn’t the first language for those kids but they learned some English in school and used it to communicate and how nice it was that those kids were trying to make it easier for my kids to play, etc. Watching the kids play on a playground becomes an activity in itself (and since they almost always get involved with other kids, it also gives me and my wife a chance to sit and talk in complete sentences without being interrupted, which is a nice change of pace every now and then).
Bring snacks
This is just a simple, easy tip. Kids get hungry at the most inconvenient of times. Sometimes, they’re really just bored, but having some healthy snacks on hand can be an easy way to placate them when you’re stuck waiting in a long line or there’s a boarding delay, etc. We’ve rarely ever wished we had fewer snacks.
Limit screen time in the days before
We try not to overdo it on screen time in general, but we’re not militant about it. Still, in the days before a big trip, we tend to eliminate screen time entirely (or close to it). Then, the kids know that on the plane they can use their Amazon Fire Kids tablets or watch a cartoon on the in-flight entertainment screen. More recently, we were given a Nintendo Switch and the kids are starting to play some Mario Kart or Lego Worlds in-flight. I preferred the educational apps on the tablet, but given how rarely we play video games at home, I figure they’ll be OK with a few hours of Nintendo on a flight now and then.
I do think that limited screen time in the days before helps so that they don’t quickly bore of something they’ve been watching over the past couple of days.
Comfort / Convenience tips
Get a suite
When you travel with kids, space is the main commodity that is likely to be in short supply. Putting a couple of parents and perhaps two kids in a standard hotel room comes with some challenges. For instance, if you’re traveling with very young kids, you may need to make sure that one or more kids can nap during the day. The kids also probably go to bed earlier than the adults would if given the choice.
One solution that has worked very well for us has been to get a suite with a bedroom and a living room that are separated by a door when possible. there are a few key ways we’ve gotten suites without having to shell out the cash cost of one.
Book a suite using points with Hyatt
World of Hyatt stands alone as the one major US hotel program with standardizing pricing for booking suites at eligible properties. Based on availability, standard suites and premium suites can be booked entirely with points. Hyatt has an award chart for this so you don’t have to guess at what the price will be for a given category, but the rough rule of thumb is that a standard suite costs about 50% more points than a standard award or a premium suite costs double the price of a standard award. Some premium suites can be pretty awesome.
Use a suite upgrade award with Hyatt
If you earn 40 or more elite night credits with Hyatt in a calendar year, you’ll start getting access to suite upgrade awards. These awards can be used to confirm a suite at the time of booking for a stay of up to 7 nights. If you book a standard room, whether with cash or with points, and a standard suite is available for booking (even if it’s only available at a cash rate), you should be able to apply a suite upgrade award and upgrade to a suite. That can at times be tremendously valuable.
Use a Marriott nightly upgrade award
Marriott also offers upgrade awards that can sometimes be used to upgrade to a suite, but they aren’t nearly as generous as Hyatt’s.
If you earn 50 Marriott elite night credits in a calendar year, you get a choice benefit and one of your options is 5 nightly upgrade awards. When you want to apply one of these awards, you’ll need one for each night of your planned stay. Then, you’ll be prompted to choose which upgrades you’d be happy to accept (which may or may not include suites). Then, Marriott won’t begin searching for upgrade availability until 3 days prior to arrival (and even then, you aren’t guaranteed to get an upgrade if a suite is available, it just depends on whether the computer algorithm decides to give you your upgrade). I have at times gotten tremendous value out of these (like the Grand Staircase suite we got at the St Pancras Renaissance in London), but you just can’t count on these coming through.
Check out Choice Privileges
Choice Privileges is the loyalty program of hotels like Clarion, Cambria, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, and now the Radisson brands as well. A unique feature of the Choice Privileges program is that at some properties, you can book multiple room types (including suites) using points — and in those cases where it is available, the suite costs the same number of points as a standard room. This isn’t something you can count on all the time, but since Citi ThankYou rewards and Wells Fargo Autograph rewards transfer 1:2 to Choice Privileges, it can be worth a look.
Vacasa via Wyndham points for vacation rentals
Wyndham Rewards, the loyalty program of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Days Inn, Travelodge, and more, has a partnership with vacation rental company Vacasa. Thanks to that partnership, it is possible to book vacation rentals from 15,000 points per bedroom per night (up to 30,000 points per bedroom per night). While the value proposition on this has changed over time, it is still possible in some areas to get an entire vacation rental for fewer points than a standard hotel room. Read more about this partnership here.
Consider limited-service brands
Although it might sound counter-intuitive in some ways, choosing limited-service brands can often be a good way to go with kids.
Brands like Residence Inn, Hyatt Place, and Hyatt House and extended-stay brands like Candlewood Suites or TownePlace Suites often have more spacious layouts with a living area and bed area even if not being true “suites” (and sometimes standard rooms in these brands do include suites). My family particularly likes Hyatt Place and Residence Inn for pretty predictable experiences that offer plenty of space to sleep and sit and let the kids run around a bit in the room.
Book direct and ask nicely for a suite
My final tip for families is to ask nicely for a suite. First of all, you’ll want to book direct with the hotel / chain rather than through an online travel agency like Expedia or Priceline — hotels have little incentive to play ball with you if you book via an online travel agency.
Sometimes, all it takes is asking for a room with a little more space or for the suite you want.
How to go about doing this depends on a bit on the ask. If you’re looking to inquire in advance, I recommend emailing someone at the hotel prior to arrival to politely explain your needs and note that you would be incredibly grateful for a suite upgrade if one should be available upon arrival. Other times, I’ve asked about the cost to upgrade if I wanted to be able to confirm that upgrade in advance (and assuming I don’t gave some sort of upgrade award). One time, I had a one bedroom suite booked and I asked about the cost to upgrade to a two-bedroom suite because we had family members planning to join us on the trip and the manager wrote back and said that they were happy to give me a complimentary upgrade to the two-bedroom suite (I was floored — don’t expect that kind of luck every time!).
Speaking of the manager, when I’m writing the hotel in advance, I tend to look up the name of the hotel’s general manager. Most hotel programs have a standardized form for email addresses like firstname.lastname@hotelbrand.com (or maybe it’s first initial last name, etc). I don’t expect the hotel manager to handle or care about my request but rather I assume that they will forward the email to a subordinate saying “please handle this” — and I assume that when one gets an email from the boss that says “handle this”, one typically handles it which means that a human being is at least looking at your request and assigning a room rather than the computer system automatically assigning it, which at the least might mean you’ll get a corner room with a bit more space or the view you wanted, etc. To be clear, that doesn’t always get you an upgrade, and it is important to recognize that it pays to be polite when asking for a favor. People like to help people that they like, not people who are demanding (which is to say that starting your email with, “I am a Diamond guest” probably isn’t the way to lead).
If it isn’t obvious, you’re infinitely more likely to be successful at a large hotel (that has many suites) out of season than you are at a boutique property during peak season.
Separately from emailing, I’ve also had occasional success via the Marriott app’s chat function.
I’ve sometimes gotten a good upgrade when speaking to someone on property. One time, at the Domes of Elounda in Greece, the manager had been making it a point to make conversation with guests. When he asked us how our stay was going, we said that we were very happy overall but had hoped that maybe we would have been able to get a room with some more space or a better view (I can’t recall the exact details as I type this). I wasn’t ready for what came next: they upgraded us mid-stay to a two-story villa that had both its own private indoor pool and outdoor pool with an amazing view. It was wild.
Free hotel breakfast for the win
While there is some debate in the miles and points community as to whether free breakfast is an overvalued benefit, I think it is a benefit of huge value for a family traveler.
My love of free hotel breakfast has little to do with the cost but rather I highly regard the convenience of eating breakfast at the hotel. I don’t want to get everyone dressed and get the stroller outfitted only to step out of the hotel in search of breakfast and find that someone needs a bathroom break or that we need something we left in the room in our hurry out the door to get breakfast before the kids melted down, etc. Breakfast at the hotel makes life easy; we can get dressed and stroll downstairs to have a leisurely breakfast and then return to the room with full bellies to take our time making sure that we have everything we need before we step out the door ready to take on an activity. That’s far easier than hunting for a breakfast spot.
An easy solution here is to book a hotel brand with breakfast included for all guests, though for those in pursuit of higher-end hotels the solution is likely to be hotel elite status. Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum, and Hilton Gold provide pathways to free breakfast at many hotels. We have often leveraged status for nice free breakfast and that automatically gives the day a more leisurely start.
Lounge access is awesome
If you have kids, I can imagine that you’ve become accustomed to hearing the phrase “I’m hungry!” at least nineteen times a day. Setting aside the fact that at least a dozen of those times are really “I’m bored!” in child-speak, the fact of the matter is that you’re going to need snack time now and then. Hotel lounges are wonderful for this.
Having had Hyatt Globalist status off and on for years and Marriott Platinum status many years, I’ve come to really appreciate how much I’ve saved on vacations thanks to club lounges. When we have a hotel with club lounge access, we’ll often dip in mid-day for a cookie and milk for the kids (and a coffee for mom and dad!) and sometimes even in late afternoon for a cold drink.
Some club lounges offer an impressive evening spread and in those cases we have often made it a point to go out off-property for a large lunch and then treat the evening appetizers as a light dinner, saving us on the cost of eating out. Don’t get me wrong, I think that food can be a big part of travel and I want to get some local food experiences, but I also like not having to pay for multiple dinner entrées that may or may not get eaten depending on the night.
Get elite status with National Rental Car and/or Hertz to save
Several credit cards offer car rental elite status. If you can get status with National or Hertz, either can be great for a family traveler. That’s because those with rental car elite status can book a mid-size car and then choose from a selection of vehicles in a dedicated area on the lot. We have often booked (and more importantly paid for) a mid-size car but rolled off the lot in an SUV or minivan. In fact, that is in large part why we bought a minivan a couple of years ago — we ended up renting midsize cars and picking out minivans so often that we finally realized that everyone who told us that buying a minivan was the best (vehicle) move they made wasn’t lying.
Gear tips
Easily collapsible stroller
As brand new parents, when picking our first stroller, we were looking for things like adaptability as our son grew, enough storage space to put the diaper bag, big study wheels, etc. One of the things we never stopped to consider was how easy it would be to travel with it. While it was absolutely perfect at home and for local days out, it eventually became a huge headache for travel. We had Uber drivers who refused to allow us to try to put it in the trunk for feat that it would be too big and we had trouble fitting any luggage in our car along with the stroller for road trips.
Enter the GB Pockit Stroller (our affiliate link). I guess this stroller is sort of a knock-off of the more popular (and far more expensive) YOYO strollers. We ended up with the GB Pockit because I saw an ad for it and was amazed at how small it folded and then there was an Amazon Warehouse Deal for one in “Used-Like New” condition for about a hundred bucks, so we gave it a shot. It was an epically good decision.
I won’t say that the GB Pockit stroller is the best in its class. The truth is that I don’t have direct experience with others, so I really can’t say. But for our needs, it was a total game-changer. It doesn’t feel the sturdiest and it isn’t really built for off-roading, but man is it convenient to have a stroller that folds so small that it can go at a child’s feet in the back seat of a sedan or under a table in a restaurant or in a backpack in the overhead bin. That “Used-Like New” stroller (which it turned out was brand new with the tags on it still) came with us all over the world — it went to Europe multiple times, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Caribbean, Bora-Bora, and more. It went to the beach and the mountains and probably went up on two wheels a few times as we sprinted through an airport now and then with the stroller in one hand and a carry-on or three in the other. We literally rocked that thing ’till the wheels darn near fell off.
When we had our second child, we bought the “all-terrain” version (which basically just has a better canopy on top, our affiliate link here) and we eventually replaced the first one after more than 4 years. We have backpacks made for them that we got cheaply off of Amazon and that slide over the handles of luggage. If you take away one tip from this post, let it be that you need something like this if you want to travel a lot with a young child.
Car seats
Renting vs bringing your own and turning it into a free checked bag
For our first several plane trips when our son was young, we brought our car seat with us. We checked it unprotected on the first trip — and it came out of the first baggage claim area missing a cup holder (we eventually lost the other side, too). I later realized that even from a safety perspective, it was dumb to check the seat with no protection at all around it as it got tossed around by baggage handlers.
But beyond that concern, I learned that if you’re going to bring a car seat, you want to buy a cheap car seat bag off of Amazon. That’s because almost all airlines will allow you to check a car seat free of charge and most are happy to see that car seat in a bag (I’m sure it leads to far less damaged luggage claims) — but nobody asks you to open the car seat bag and show them that the car seat is the only thing in there. Stuff that bag full of all your heaviest stuff. Pack your diaper wipes in there and maybe diapers and clothes and whatever you want — I never had someone ask to even look inside the bag (and even if they did, I don’t think they would make a fuss over it since the car seat was in fact in there). If you’re reasonably good at packing, that car seat bag can become like an extra (free) checked bag.
That said, it didn’t take many times of trying to lug a car seat around for me to start ponying up to rent one from the rental car company. Unfortunately, that gets expensive quickly — you could just about go out and buy a car seat for what a car rental company will charge you to rent one for a week. And they don’t always have quite the right fit for the size of your kids. There’s some potential hassle there. Neither solution is great, though obviously the safest solution is probably bringing your own.
Inflatable boosters
A number of readers recommended inflatable booster seats. Our kids are both very tall (like ~99th percentile tall) and we were finding that rental car companies only had booster seats that fit them, so we decided to start bringing our own.
A few people had recommended the Bubble Bum, but we hated it (as is the case with many of these things, different people have different preferences and we just found that it didn’t work well for us). We ended up trying this other one from hiccapop (our affiliate link) and we have been very happy with it. I should note that we don’t tend to travel long distances in the car on trips (our younger son gets car sick easily), but this has gotten us from the airport to the hotel and around here and there when we need to drive.
Clip-on high chair
I don’t remember for sure how we stumbled on this, but we bought this clip-on high chair on a Prime Day deal many years ago and I’d probably put it second behind the GB Pockit stroller as the most useful baby equipment we ever bought. There are a lot of these on the market and I don’t know that the one we bought is any better than the rest. When we purchased it on sale, we paid about $40 for this one (our affiliate link) — these days, the price is double that for the exact model we had. I’d probably buy some other brand, but I think you want this even if you don’t know that you do if you have kids in the high chair stage.
First of all, both of our sons were much happier and more comfortable in this chair than a traditional high chair. I assume that was because they were sitting even closer to the table and it felt very secure (assuming you’ve screwed it on properly and you’re not dealing with a table that’s going to fall over because of the child’s weight, it feels as stable as the table). We screwed it to tables everywhere — restaurants, desks in hotel rooms, counter tops, even our own kitchen table at home (neither of our kids liked sitting in a stand-alone high chair, they both wanted this chair — and truth be told, it was more convenient for us having them at the table). We never had it scratch or harm a tabletop.
We also liked having it because that meant we never had to rely on a restaurant or club lounge to have a high chair (or have one available when we needed it), nor did we need to worry about how clean the restaurant’s high chair was. Eventually, a friend gave us another when his son outgrew it, so we had two that we could rotate (which was helpful because we did need to toss it in the washing machine now and then!)
Writing tablet
A gift from my sister (who is a teacher) that our kids have loved are these writing tablets (our affiliate link to a bunch of them on Amazon – I don’t know which are better than others). There are tons of brands on Amazon and I don’t know which exact ones we have nor whether any are better than others, but the basic idea is that it’s like a modern cross between a blackboard and an etch-a-sketch. It has a stylus and you can draw on it and then press a button to make it erase what you’ve drawn, but it runs on what I assume is a watch batter that seems to last forever. It’s simply, but the kids loved (and still occasionally love) scribbling on it.
Window Clings
One piece of gear that we haven’t put to use but that another parent put us on to last year is window clings. We were at an airport somewhere on a long delay and another parent had pages of window clings they had bought on amazon — construction vehicles and animals, etc. Our kids ended up playing with their kids by the window at the gate and you would be amazed at how long a child can be entertained by pulling a window cling off the window and putting it back on again in a different place. This was such a cheap and simple solution to airport entertainment! I’m sure it also works on airplane windows. We bought some and have brought them with us, but not actually ended up in a situation were it made sense to bust them out. One of these days I’m sure they’ll get used and we’ll be happy that we spent the six or seven bucks on them.
Put more diapers than you think you’ll need in your carry-on bag
In a previous life, I worked for a telecommunications company as a lackey in the engineering department. Among other things, our department determined how much material would be required by installers in the field. I’ll always remember a phone call from an installer who said, “I’ve got a problem. No matter how many times I cut this cable, it’s still too short.” Lesson learned: better to have more and need less than have less and need more.
Never in your life will that piece of advice be more important than when it comes to diapers, especially if you have an infant. Do not underestimate your baby’s sense of timing. They will blow out a diaper at 2,500 feet on the ascent in turbulence when the seat belt sign isn’t going to go off for another 15 minutes. Trust me, you don’t want to have less backup than you need in-flight. On the ground, you can almost always find somewhere to get what you need, but in the sky you just don’t want to under-plan.
Bring your own cups for the plane
Many airlines no longer have tops for cups. If you have young kids, a plastic cup with no lid is a disaster waiting to happen. Make sure you have your own sippy-cup type things for the plane.
In many cases, flight attendants have been willing to fill our cups with drinks for the kids on request. When ordering juice, flight attendants commonly get the request to mix half water and half juice, so if you’re trying to limit sugar intake, don’t be afraid to ask for that. They’ll know what you want before you finish your sentence in many cases.
General travel tips
Consider taking a cruise
My wife and I never had much interest in cruising. But then I started writing about ways to status match your way to lots of free cruises (see: How to get free cruises by gaming casino status matches) and we will soon take our 8th cruise in less than 2 years (and we have two more already booked next year).
Despite all the cruising we’ve done over these past couple of years, we still don’t really see ourselves as cruisers, but we’ve come to really appreciate how well suited cruising is to family travel.
Here’s what I mean: when my wife and I were young and without kids, we would bounce from place to place sometimes hotel hopping between a couple of hotels in the same city and sometimes seeing 2 or 3 places over the course of a week or two. Once we had kids, we quickly realized how impractical that is. Packing up all the stuff to unpack all the stuff and then repack all the stuff and herding young kids to get out the door and to the next place just isn’t easy and always takes longer than we anticipate. We simply can’t move at the pace we once enjoyed.
Cruising changes that. We can get on a cruise in the Mediterranean and visit 2 or 3 countries over a week or 10 days, going to a different place every day without having to pack and unpack and repack and handle the logistics to keep on moving. We can unpack once on Day 1 and the hotel room essentially moves with us from city to city. Furthermore, we don’t need to figure out multiple meals each day — breakfast and dinner are simple since the ship has easy options that can suit everyone’s tastes. We can focus on getting off the ship and doing our one big thing and getting a good lunch. We thereby get a taste of a bunch of destinations without the hassles associated with air and train travel to accomplish the same.
Even if you think you’re not into many of the bells and whistles of cruising, I think it’s worth considering a cruise if you have young kids for the easy chance to visit multiple destinations on a single trip.
Spring for business class. More space = less disruption.
We’ve hashed out the baby in business class debate before and I’ve explained why I travel with my kids. I know that someone will hop into the comments to say that kids don’t belong in business class, but as a parent who travels with kids regularly, I’m going to tell you that if you can swing the extra miles, it is totally worth booking business class when you’re traveling with young kids internationally.
I find not only with my own kids but with the other families I see in business class, the additional space almost invariably means less disruption. When kids can lay down in a seat that converts to a bed and they can’t possibly kick the person in front of them and when at times there is even space for them to stand up and walk around in the space in front of their own seat (obviously briefly), it makes for a much easier travel experience. I have to imagine that disruptive behavior is most often caused by discomfort. Economy class seating exacerbates that. If you can put together the miles to fly in flat bed seats, I think it is worth every mile to get the additional space.
Ask for a child meal
Most airlines have some sort of child meal that can (and typically must) be requested in advance.. You can often do that by going to the operating airline’s website and clicking something like “manage booking” and entering your confirmation code and name. There is usually a section for either meal requests or special requests where you can choose a child meal.
If you don’t find that option, it may be worth calling your airline or trying their online chat or Twitter team to request a child meal. You typically need to make the request more than 24 hours in advance.
Further, most airlines have different types of child meals based on your kids’ ages. A baby meal often features pureed baby foods, a toddler meal might have more fruit and cheese type options and an older kid meal is likely to be something like a simple spaghetti with tomato sauce. We generally do not request a child meal anymore for our six year old since he is accustomed to eating a pretty wide range of dishes, but we do usually request a child meal for our younger son (who is more or less a fruitarian and we know there is typically at least some fruit in a toddler meal).
As a side bonus that probably has more to do with the airline knowing the ages of passengers rather than requesting a child meal, you’ll find that many foreign airlines will have some sort of kit to give to kids. Most of the major foreign airlines have had a goodie bag with crayons or a couple of simple toys and even a kids’ eye mask. Our kids even got Lufthansa toothbrushes that looked like airplanes.
Be prepared for the world to be more family-friendly than you expect
Traveling with kids is far less daunting than you expect.
I never would have considered the US to not be family-friendly, but traveling internationally with kids has given me an absolutely massive appreciation for how much more family-friendly travel can be in a lot of places abroad.
For instance, in many foreign countries, there is a dedicated line for things like airport security at the airport or entrances to museums. When we arrive at passport control overseas, someone almost always ushers us into a separate short line for families. As a parent, that makes so much sense to me! Kids obviously get impatient waiting in line and the longer they wait, the more disruptive they get. Obviously, as a parent, I don’t want my kids fussing and crying and disturbing others around me. Separately, as a full-grown human, whether or not I’m traveling with my own kids, I don’t want to have fussing and crying kids around me (whether mine or anyone else’s) if I can help it. A dedicated family lane makes the experience more pleasant for everyone.
But it’s not just shorter lines. Most airports (and lounges) abroad have kids’ play areas, several cities in Europe have had kid-focused scavenger hunts, Marriott hotels in Asia used to offer free ice cream for kids (and free kids meals in some cases). I find that kids are warmly accepted rather than merely tolerated in many of the places I’ve visited abroad.
To be certain, there are also travel aspects that are more challenging with a family. For instance, many hotels in Europe don’t allow more than 2 (or sometimes 3) people to share a room. This means that a family of four will often need to book two rooms. That’s not so family-friendly!
But overall, I often find that my kids become something of an ambassador(s), easily connecting us with people around us. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve gotten great service from a waiter who was playful with the kids or had a hotel manager do us a big favor because they also know what it’s like to travel with kids or we’ve connected with a local over them making funny faces at our kids, etc.
For what it’s worth, I’ve heard the same from other parents on numerous occasions about how welcome they feel traveling with kids in many other parts of the world. Moral of the story: don’t be nervous about traveling abroad with your kids. It’s easier than you expect. And it is indeed enjoyable. Let there be no doubt: travel with kids happens at a different pace and likely has different focal points, but if you can accept those differences, you can have a great time. Indeed, my kids are always excitedly asking about the next trip. Travel has become part of their routines and just like us they look forward to the next flight / hotel / cruise / playground / adventure. I’ll never cease to be amazed by the way miles and points has made travel so much more accessible than I’d have ever imagined it to be. Hopefully, these tips make family travel a bit more accessible and enjoyable for you.
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This is so awesome, thanks for this post! I thought we had traveling with a small child down, but definitely learned some new tips. Inflatable booster and window decals purchased!
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Thanks for putting this together! Would love to continue to hear more family-focused content. Particularly for redemptions!
I know when I travel with my cousins that we as adults need some separate alone time. Whether it be for just a meal or shopping spree. But just to catch our breath and then we regroup.
Great article Nick and as parents to a toddler ourselves we too really appreciate dedicated lines for things like airport security, passport control and museum entrances.
Some of our quick tips for traveling with a child would include:
Are there certain business class seats you have found work better for assisting young children during the flight? A lot of the products have you sitting separately. I am looking in particular from US to Europe.
I travel internationally with my kids fairly often and I have found it worthwhile to splurge on business class for the very reasons you started.
I noticed that on the BA flight (reverse herringbone configuration) you seated yourselves in the middle section, the issue with that would be that the child is less accessible to you and when your needed to help them (meal time, arts and crafts landed on the floor something spils etc) it’s nearly impossible to be of help.
When choosing seats for my family seated I select the window seat with the adjacent aisle so they are much more accessible.
What are your thoughts for my type os eating arrangement vs the one you selected?
Nick, my kids are of similar ages, 7 and 4. It’s all personal choice, but are you getting close to not bringing the stroller yet? For our last couple of international trips, we didn’t bring it. Sometimes the 4 year old complained, but mostly did fine.
Great tips, and the two I most agree with are finding playgrounds and bringing a collapsible stroller. We travelled all over the world with a lightweight stroller that collapsed down into hardly anything and it was awesome – I don’t get the parents I see struggling at the airport with these Humvee strollers. And our son had some great times at random playgrounds in Paris, London, Dublin, Moscow, and other places where three- and four-year olds can romp together no matter what language they speak. Good times!
Wow Nick, this is just excellent and exactly the kind of content I’ve been looking forward to. You guys have had kid-oriented posts before but as someone who’s started traveling with a 1 year old to see family on the other side of the globe, I can’t tell you how helpful any insights you have on family travel are going to be given your experience thus far.
Also, I can’t help but call out your expression as your son wields that wine glass. It’s one only a parent can fully appreciate 😀
These are great tips. I wish I had known some of these when my daughter was little.
Your playground tip reminded me of a similar tip, which is to find places to stay where kids can be self entertaining. When my daughter was young we used to stay at a national park lodge where the rooms all opened up into a mountain meadow. All the kids would play out there and my daughter was never bored because she could always go out back, in sight of us, and be entertained with other other kids. We had similar experiences at other national and state parks, but I’m sure there are other places like this. Nothing more relaxing to a parent than a self-entertaining kid.
Great tips Nick, there are so many cool baby and child items these days, compared to when I was a kid 🙂
This post is extremely spot on. We have been doing much of what’s listed here too! Love it.
Good write-up, thanks for sharing. How do you find the enforcement, or lack thereof, of the different hotel brands breakfast benefits tied to status given you are 4 to a room?
We haven’t yet been charged for breakfast for the kids with Hilton Gold/Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, or Marriott Platinum (though of course I am only booking stays at Marriott brands that offer free breakfast for Platinum members – and yes, I need to consult our chart to figure it out sometimes).