I firmly believe that kids should be exposed to travel as much as possible when they are young.  It’s important to show our children that there is a big world out there beyond their own backyard.  An appreciation for culture and diversity is best learned by seeing and experiencing firsthand the variety that this world has to offer.

I also will freely admit that traveling with kids can be a nightmare.  As someone who has cried at Disney World, I know the perils of a poorly planned family vacation intimately.

As with any travel experience, the difference between a great trip and a stressful disaster lies in proper planning and healthy dose of common sense.

14 Tips For Happy Traveling With Kids

photo by kretyen

1.  Don’t eat all your meals in restaurants.

Of course you will be buying most – if not all – of your meals if you’re not visiting family or friends.  But even the most kid friendly restaurant can be a stressful experience for the entire family.  Every meal you have in a restaurant requires at least an hour – depending on the speed of the service – of sitting still and keeping relatively quiet.  While it’s important for children to learn how to behave well in public, asking them to practice such restraint three or more times a day for several days in a row is just asking for a meltdown.

Take advantage of your hotel’s continental breakfast.  Order pizza to be delivered to your hotel room.  Grab lunch from a vendor stand and eat lunch on a park bench.  Pick up snacks or breakfast items at a local grocery store and keep them in the mini fridge.  You can’t – and shouldn’t – spend your entire vacation eating on the run, but mixing it up at mealtime can make the restaurant experiences much more enjoyable for everyone involved.

2.  Remember sunscreen and bug spray.

You remember to lather your kids up at home before they play outside.  It’s important to be just as diligent when you’re on vacation.  In fact, it’s especially important to take care to reapply sunscreen (and bug spray, if necessary) if you’re spending an inordinate amount of time outdoors enjoying vacation activities.

A sunburned kid is a miserable kid, and a miserable kid is no fun for anyone to travel with.  Neither, by the way, is a sunburned adult.  Make sure everyone in the family is well protected.

photo by B@ni

3.  Get plenty of sleep.

There’s nothing wrong with sleeping in or going to bed early on vacation.  If you have kids, I would encourage it.  Kids need plenty of rest whether they’re getting it in their own beds or in a sleeping bag.  Try to stick to their regular sleeping schedules as much as possible.  If a special event calls for a late night, allow time in the itinerary for everyone to catch up on sleep the next morning.  If you’re traveling with kids who still require nap times, make every effort to allow for midday rest.

4.  Don’t over schedule your vacation.

Children are walking X factors.  You never know what will come up when you have little kids around.  Having an itinerary with every minute planned leaves no room for adjusting to the unexpected things that will come up.  Give yourself plenty of wiggle room in your schedule to allow for the unplanned detours you can’t avoid.

photo by Adam

5.  Plan for free time.

While I don’t believe in scheduling every minute of your trips, I do think it’s important to make sure you give yourselves downtime.  Give the kids a break and time to run free.  Making sure you’ve left room for unstructured play will keep everyone’s stress levels at a minimum.

6.  Look for kid friendly lodging and restaurants.

When you’re planning your family vacation, look for hotels and restaurants in the area that cater to kids and family.  A relaxed environment will set the tone for your entire vacation.  The less often you have to force your kids to sit still and be quiet, the better time they – and you – will have.

7.  Give everyone enough room to sleep comfortably.

I have forgotten this tip more times than I care to admit.  In my efforts to save a buck, I have repeatedly booked rooms that were too small without enough space for everyone to sleep.  I’ve told myself “they’re kids!  They’ll be fine!  The little one can sleep with us!”  And every time I regret not booking a larger room with a pullout couch.

As I’ve already mentioned, it’s crucial that everyone gets enough rest.  That means making sure no one is sleeping with a foot in their ribs all night or complaining about being shoved out of bed by an older sibling.  Some kids are used to sharing a bed and do just fine, but be realistic about what you’re asking everyone to endure each night of your vacation.

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Tim helps prepare me for Hawaii in the only way he knows how.

You’re looking at how much I know about Hawaii.

They make decent beer at cheap prices.

I mean, I’ve heard all sorts of things about it, but have no opinion – reason being is that I was brought up poor, still am, and even if I wasn’t, it’s an expensive place…

And if I’m going to shell out, I might as well go back to Thailand.

But Hawaii got word of this and is set to prove me wrong – something that has proven easily done ever since I proclaimed the Counting Crows to be ‘the next Dylan’ – and have sent for me.

So tomorrow I’m off. Actually, in less than 4 hours I’m off and I’m just now packing.

I’m not bringing much – a carry-on bag and a small backpack, as these luggage fees ad up when you have to fly out of Bend, OR (if this makes no sense to you, just know that there are no direct flights from here to Honolulu…or, well, most places). But I also want to enjoy myself as much as anyone else, so there will be the obligatory cocktail-with-a-tiny-umbrella, some surfing, local music and cheap trinkets to pass off as archeological finds to my family at Christmas. I want a flowery shirt and to go on a boat. Hell, I’ll get my hair put into beads if I can find it cheap enough.

Why? ‘Cause when I come back, I want to look like I just did Hawaii.

I’m just not going to give it my money…which works out nice as I don’t have any.

More tomorrow – can someone call me at 4am?

You know what happened…

Aric Q. is traveling to Hawaii and he’s trying to do it on the cheap.  We will be following his adventures here on UpTake and we will be wishing him well, but we will NOT be wiring him money.