Photo by Jennifer Margulis
Our family of six is on the road for two weeks.
Whenever I come home from a trip I always declare I’ll never go anywhere again. The crowded airplanes, the traffic, the summer heat, the SNAFUS (our latest is we have no place to sleep tonight due to a miscommunication).
But after a few weeks at home I’m invariably daydreaming about the next trip.
Here are some of my best tips–the ones you haven’t thought of–on how to make family travel go more smoothly:
1. Dry yourself with a washcloth.
After you take a shower, use your washcloth first. Then wrap up in a big towel. Your towel dries faster and doesn’t get moldy.
2. Bring a headlamp.
The best is one with a red light. If you’re sharing a room with your kids or spouse and you can’t sleep you can read by headlamp without disturbing them.
3. Bring 2 wooden clothespins.
Useful for holding those pesky hotel blinds shut and pinching closed a half eaten bag of chips.
4. Plan to do laundry.
In the sink, a friend’s machine, or at the laundry mat. Then if you’re on the road for awhile, you only need to bring five day’s worth of stuff.
5. Mail home what you don’t need.
Not using your winter coat in the summer heat wave? Bought five books at the indie store? It’s usually cheaper and easier to mail your extra stuff home to yourself than to lug it with you and pay to check your bag.
6. Keep every receipt.
If part of your family vacation involves work, you can deduct that portion of your trip from your taxes. But the IRS needs proof. Even if you’re only on a pleasure voyage, keeping your receipts will help you plan how to make your next trip more cost effective.
7. Always bring a bathing suit.
It’s the time you have no suit with you that your flight is cancelled and the airline puts you up in a hotel with a stellar pool and even better public hot tub.
Guess which mom didn't heed her own advice and forgot to bring bathing suits on a recent family vacation?
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Summer camp for kids AND grownups
How to travel with cloth diapers
Ashland’s free stinky water – drink up!
What are your best tips to make family travel easier?
Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University. She is the editor of Toddler and co-author of The Baby Bonding Book for Dads. Her new book, The Business of Baby: What Doctors Don’t Tell You, What Corporations Try to Sell You, and How to Put Your Baby Before Their Bottom Line, will be published by Scribner in April 2013. Read a Q & A with Jennifer at the Oregonian’s Oregon News Network.
For little kids, I used to pack each day’s outfit in a zipper bag. It made it much easier to get everyone dressed. I bring every OTC med known to man b/c we have needed absolutely everything at one time or another and you don’t want to look for a drugstore at 1 am in an unfamiliar town. Always bring a small ball and a jumprope for younger kids. I always carry a small roll-on sunscreen in my purse for when faces are suddenly pink.
Brette Sember recently posted…Tandoori Chicken with Mango Rice
We forgot the OTC medication and Athena ended up with a killer headache so James had to go out in search of Advil. We won’t make that mistake again. You are the queen of kid travel, Brette. I love the idea of bringing a jump rope (good for grown-ups too). Thanks for sharing these suggestions!
I love the headlight idea! I want one for home, for insomnia!
Michelle Haun O’Neil gave me permission to share her excellent tip:
“We save every little gumball machine trinket type of thing the kids get. Prizes at school or at the dentist, etc. After they play with them for a day we put them in a ‘tchotchke’ bag and when it is time for a trip, we bring them with us. Who cares if they get left behind or lost, and the kids are thrilled to see them again. We pull a few out at opportune moments, flight delays, etc. Our hotel rooms are always covered with these silly toys and they keep the kids busy.”
Bring water. I know this sounds odd, but once I found myself on a one-way trail near Monument Valley, Valley of the Gods to be exact, and realized we had no water left. There was no turning around. I think that was the only time I put my kids lives in peril. Not intentionally of course. But best to always carry water.
It’s so simple but the wash cloth idea makes such good sense! Thanks for this great blog Jennifer.