15 TIPS FOR STRESS-FREE TRAVEL WITH KIDS

Planning a trip with kids can be exciting but it comes with its challenges and it’s easy to get overwhelmed or stressed, especially if you’re not a seasoned traveller. 

We get it! We were pretty seasoned travellers before we became parents and it still took time for us to learn the best methods and tips for stress-free travel with kids. 

Most, if not all of our tips work for any kind of travel, with any kind of transport and in any kind of country. 

They’re things that we’ve learnt through our research and planning, or things we’ve learnt in the moment through experience and making the wrong choice. 

We’ve tested these tips in tons of situations from travelling by train across states in the US, to making it through long haul flights, and managing ourselves through some pretty unexpected and stressful situations. 

For instance, when Jacob got a sickness bug from the swimming pool on his first holiday abroad as a six month old. 

Not only did we have to navigate getting him checked over in a foreign country but we also had to figure out how to try and clean these sheets so we didn’t get fined 

Picture a sponge, some detergent, a balcony and some wishful thinking! 

Or when we got stuck in a torrential down pour in Salou and barely made it back to our hotel 30 minutes away as all of the roads were flooding onto the paths around us. 

You get the picture! 

Travel is often unexpected and puts us in situations we’ve never been in before but by following our tips you’ll be a bit more prepared for anything that comes your way. 

What’s in this post? 

In this post we cover our 15 top tips for stress-free travel with kids from getting them involved to what to plan and even what to pack.  

If there’s something on this list you’re particularly interested in you can skip straight there by clicking on that section in the contents below. If not, then scroll down to read about what you need to consider when planning a trip with kids. 

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1. Involve them in the planning

A great place to start with planning stress-free travel with kids is to involve them in the planning.

This could be done by researching the area you’re planning to go to, helping to book the holiday, or being involved in the organisation before you travel.

I know what you’re thinking, this sounds more stressful not less stressful but involving them at the start means they’ll be more prepared for what to expect when you travel.  

Our favourite way to get the kids involved is through researching the destination we’re thinking of going to, or one we’ve booked to help plan the itinerary. 

Depending on the age of your kids there are a few ways you can get them involved in the researching park of planning a trip,

1. Watch some videos on YouTube. We normally search “things to do in [insert location here] with kids, watch the videos together and make a list of all the things they want to look into more.
2. Research on sites like Get Your Guide or Visitor for things to do in the area where you’ll be staying
3. Read travel magazines or books on cool places to visit and the best things to do. 

If they’re too young to do the research you can still involve them by talking to them about the plan and what they can expect. 

2. Set family goals

As an example, something that works for us is learning the language of the country we’re visiting. 

Set some family goals for your holiday to give your kids something to focus on during times when they could easily be bored. You can print cards for your kids to read and learn while you’re waiting in a queue or sitting on transport. 

We make an effort to learn these key phrases in different languages for everywhere we travel,

• Hello
• Goodbye
• Please and thank you
• Count 1 – 10
• Do you speak English

We always make an effort to speak a bit of the language of the country we’re in – the locals love it, especially when it comes from the kids and it gives them something to work towards and learn. 

3. Allow extra time in your itinerary

I’ve recently seen the perfect example of this in a post on a family travel Facebook group. The Mum was asking if London is easy with kids because they’d just travelled to somewhere else and her five year old struggled to keep up, she seemed kind of annoyed that her and her husband had to slow down and change their plans because of this. 

Be realistic here, of course kids are going to be slower, you’ll need to stop more and build flexibility into your plans. A good way to do this is to build extra time into your itinerary as free time. 

For example, if you’re visiting a museum and the website says the normal visit time takes around 2 hours then plan for 3 or even 4 hours so you have plenty of time before your next activity. If you get round it quicker than planned then you’ve got a bit of extra time to explore the museum and if it takes the full time you’ve allocated then there’s no stress because you’ve planned for it. 

4. Prepare activities and entertainment

Travelling is so boring for adults so imagine how much worse it must be for kids with boundless energy! 

We’ve found the best way to keep our kids entertained while travelling is by preparing a wide variety of activities that they can move between. This could include activity packs, colouring pens, a game, pack of cards or some small toys. 

You can make your own activity packs or buy a ready made activity pack that could include colouring sheets, puzzles, word searches or a quiz. We find a5 to be the right size for kids activity packs. Anything smaller gets lost and anything bigger is too big for them to be able to easily colour in the car only on a plane. 

Also, don’t forget a tablet or phone loaded with games. Now I know what you’re thinking “but we have screen rules so they’re not on a device all day”! I can appreciate this, we have screen rules that apply to our day to day lives but travelling isn’t your day to day so there needs to be some flex there to help prevent boredom. 

5. Bring snacks

Snacks solve most problems when you’re traveling with kids. Hungry? Bored? Tired? Fidgety? All of these things can be fixed with a quick snack and a car game to keep them entertained. 

If you’re going for a day trip or visiting somewhere like Disneyland then take your own snacks because buying them when you’re out will be extortionately expensive in most places which probably won’t help the stress levels. 

6. Well timed toilet breaks

Why do kids have this ability to always be bursting for a toilet at the absolute most inconvenient times! 

We’ve all been there and it can be stressful for you and them if there’s no way to get a toilet (during take off for instance) and they have an accident. 

After falling into this situation many times we no longer ask if they need a toilet – the answer is always no even though it’s definitely a yes! 

We now just say we’re going to the toilet and make sure they at least try to go before we may be in a position where getting to a toilet isn’t so easy. 

Generally, this is before security and as you’re about to board at an airport or just whenever you stop somewhere that has a toilet if you’re on a road trip.

7. Be flexible

I’ve already kind of covered this in a few points but there needs to be some kind of flexibility when you’re traveling, whether it’s meal times, bed time and tablet or phone time. You may also need to completely redo your itinerary like we did in NYC when I hugely overestimated what we’d be able to do with two kids in tow. We quickly realised it was too much for them and re-evaluated our plans. 

When we were in NYC I took this great picture of Finley with the Statue of Liberty in the background and he’s on a phone playing games. Some of you may judge my parenting after seeing this picture but the truth is that we’d already walked around the statue, he’d taken some pictures of it and now he was so bored! The adults in our party wanted to spend some more time walking around, reading all of the information and getting more pictures and I didn’t want them to feel rushed. 

Now if you’ve been to the Statue of Liberty you’ll know how busy it is so letting him run free isn’t really an option and there’s not much for a four year old to do once they’ve seen the main event. So I let him use a phone to play some games which kept him busy and made it way less stressful for me not trying to duck in and out of people to keep an eye on him. 

8. Plan your travel around their routine

I know, I know, I’ve just told you to be flexible and now I’m saying stick to your routine! 

All I mean by this is that if there’s a plane that leaves 30 minutes after their bedtime and one that leaves three hours before then go for the one that leaves closer to when they’d normally be going to bed if you want them to sleep on the plane.

Likewise, if you’re going on a road trip don’t leave 3 hours before their bedtime because they’re going to fall asleep in the car, wake up at their bedtime and be awake until 3am – trust me on this one, we’ve been there! 

9. Choose the right destination

I want to start this by saying that I do believe that you can find something for kids of any age to be interested in no matter where you travel to. 

However, if you’re new to travelling with kids or even travel in general then it’s probably easier to go somewhere that’s geared towards families with kid specific activities 

Choosing the right destination really can make your  travel so much less stressful but if you don’t have that luxury and have to go to a certain destination, plan ahead. 

Do some research to find what’s best for kids to go in that area. Aside from some individual things specific to that area you can usually find tons of easy fun family-friendly activities like museums, kids play parks or beaches no matter where you’re travelling to. 

You can also start somewhere closer to you with a long weekend away to a location where you can drive to.

This way you can test out being away from home without trying to navigate a long road trip or an airport! 

10. Book direct flights

It can be a stressful experience to fly with kids, especially if you don’t plan your journey well.

It may be tempting to save some money by booking the fights with a couple of stops but unless you’re experienced traveling with kids don’t put yourself through the stress of traveling for longer than necessary. 

With some destinations it may be unavoidable to book an indirect flight and in those situations look at your transfer time, not when you’ll actually leave. If you’re stuck in an airport for 2 hours to wait for the second leg of your flight it’ll be easier if it’s not at 3am when you’ve had to disturb their sleep and there’s nothing open!

11. Dress in layers

This one does involve you having to carry a coat or jumper which I know can be annoying, especially if you’re carrying yours and all of the kids!

The thing is, kids are finicky little things who can go from so hot they’re about to burst into flames to complaining they’re about to freeze in 10 minutes so having layers you can take off or put on saves some of the moaning and makes your travel a little more stress-free.

I LOVE the Lands’ End 3-in-1 Jacket for this. It’s lightweight, water and wind proof, and tear resistant – exactly what you need with kids! The best part is that they can wear it as a windbreaker with a built in polar fleece, or you can zip out the fleece layer and they can either wear that as a fleece or just wear the windbreaker part. It comes in a variety of colours and you can pick it up on Amazon for around £55 or $50.

12. Research international healthcare

Speaking from experience, there’s nothing more stressful than being in a situation where you need some medicine or medical care and having no idea what the equivalent medicine is called, where you can get it from, or how to get hold of the emergency services. 

For typical childhood issues like headaches or fevers in the UK we have a brand called calpol that you can find pretty much anywhere – pharmacies, shops and even petrol garages. They have a paracetamol version that’s the equivalent to Tylenol in the US. They also do an ibuprofen version which is the equivalent to Advil or Nurofen in the US. This should go without saying but there are different amounts and bottles for different ages so make sure you check this.

Did you know that in some countries you can call your home emergency number and get through to the right emergency service? I figured this out when Finley and his first febrile seizure and despite doing paediatric first aid I still panicked and called the wrong emergency number in my own home country! 

The best number to remember is 112 which works almost anywhere in the world. However, it’s useful to have an idea of the emergency number for where you’re travelling should you ever need it. 

13. Pack light

I am the worst person for this! I always plan to take a specific amount of clothes and somehow end up adding in another 3 or 4 sets of spare clothes too.

I never end up using all of them and come home with loads of clean clothes that just end up using up space and weight in our suitcases. 

There’s so many benefits to packing light though, especially when you’re travelling with kids. The main one being that it’s easier to get around when you have less to carry. 

Trying to navigate public transport, keep hold of a couple of kids and drag a couple of cases behind you can be stressful enough without adding another two cases!

14. Bring an extension lead

If you’re like me then you only have one or two plug adapters but about 6 electronic devices that will need charging throughout your trip. 

That’s problem number one with outlets when you’re abroad, the other one is the number of outlets you get. I’ve been in hotel rooms with two outlets. One is used for the TV or fridge leaving me one to use to charge all the things and anything else I need to use it for to get ready. 

This is why I always bring an extension lead with me. It means I can charge a tablet, a phone and still dry my hair!

This is one so many parents forget when traveling with kids but for us it’s been invaluable.

15. Plan age appropriate activities

You might love art museums and cathedrals but if you have a four year old who loves nothing more than singing at the top of their lungs and running around then trying to visit one of these places is going to be pretty stressful for everyone. 

That’s not to say that you can’t visit an art gallery or cathedral with kids, just that if you know you’re going to be on edge the whole time hoping they don’t scream the place down or get agitated because they can’t run around you’re probably best to find age appropriate activities that are going to be fun for everyone.  

Summary of how to travel with kids without the stress

This is a lot of information to take in so I’ve listed below our top three tips to help you plan your travel with kids in the most stress-free way.

1. Start somewhere small if you’re not used to travelling with kids or you’re a bit nervous about it. Find somewhere a couple of hours away to experience part of travelling without what is arguably the most stressful part – the travel! 
2. Either bring the meds you’ll need with you or research before you travel to understand what the equivalents are in the countries you’re travelling to, where you can find them and who to call in an emergency. 
3. Plan age appropriate activities so your kids can be kids! It’s so much less stressful letting them be free on a beach or be amazed in a museum designed for families than it is to expect them to walk slowly and be quiet in a cathedral. 

We’re really passionate about travelling and exploring the world with our mini humans so I hope this post has helped you plan a trip or given you the confidence to start exploring further afield with your family. 

Read these next …

• What Should You Consider When Travelling With Kids?
• Travel Mistakes You Should Avoid When Travelling With Kids
• How to Survive Flying With Kids