Traveling with kids can be amazing… but let’s face it, this can be incredibly stressful, too. When you’re thinking about vacationing with your family, there may be a lot of stress and pre-planning involved, not to mention money worries or having to navigate new place and language barriers. All of these issues are multiplied by a thousand when you travel with kids. 

While there are lots of issues you can’t plan for, there are certain common problems that you can make yourself aware of. This way, if they come up, you are ready to tackle them.

Here are a few things to look out for when traveling with kids:

Accomodations

When you have kids, you must have somewhere good to stay. The place you stay—whether it’s a hotel, Airbnb, or villa—will be your base, the place you come back to for rest. Kids are easily worn out, so their exhaustion will be ten times worse if your base is inadequate. 

There are plenty of things that can make a hotel good or bad. There’s the comfort of the beds, the quality of the food, and whether a place offers extras, like a pool or a gym. It is smart to look at reviews of accommodations find your perfect place. It’a also good to ask yourself this question when reading negative reviews: Is this a common occurrence or a one-off?

Here’s a cheeky tip: one thing that people often forget to consider is temperature levels. It may not be your first thought, but think about it! Temperature levels can massively affect comfort levels—especially that of kids. How many times have you had to drag your kids around while they complain of being hot? Now consider they are abroad in a significantly hotter country. If an accommodation doesn’t have air-conditioning and 24-hour AC repair, you might want to consider another option.

Location

Picking the right place(s) to go to when traveling with kids is critical. Though you may be happy to wander around galleries and museums for days, your kids might not be so entertained by that. Finding a location that offers entertainment for you and your kids is tricky, but that balance will positively impact your experience. 

When looking at the location of your trip, you might also want to consider how busy places get. Going to a city center might provide you with many options for day trips, but there might be lots of people, traffic, or crowds. 

Length of the trip

The length of your trip is a difficult question. In the end, it comes down to each family. Different kids will have different tolerance levels for the exhaustion a trip can cause. As you plan, consider the stamina your children have for being away from home and the comforts they are used to. 

Traveling with kids can be difficult, but if you plan well in advance, it doesn’t have to. Enjoy the time, and take lots of photos! These will be stories you tell again and again. 

Featured Image Credit: Hanson Lu