I know that many of you are in the midst of traveling or creating summer travel plans. Along with summer travel comes making important choices that can either make or break your vacation. To save you some of the planning headache, we have a guest post from Kendra Thornton, travel expert, with tips for reducing your travel stress. Kendra has been featured on several television outlets. She is also a full time mother of three. Thank you, Kendra, for these wonderful tips!
If you frequently feel as if family vacations leave you frazzled
rather than rejuvenated, you might benefit from engaging in some preparation
measures that are designed to help travel go more smoothly for parents of small
children. After all, it's your vacation too and you deserve to come home
feeling relaxed and refreshed. Naturally, you're going to want your family to
be safe, happy and healthy while on vacation, but you also don't want to micromanage
every aspect of your trip. Following are five tips that can help you slay
travel stress without taking away from your family's fun.
Tip 1: Making the right hotel choice can make a lot of difference
in the quality of your stay. You probably already know that tired, cranky
toddlers can create conditions that aren't conducive to family fun, so don't be
tempted to take the cheapest hotel deal. Paying a little more for rooms in an
establishment that practices family-friendly policies such as quiet hours can
be well worth the money. Many Orlando
hotels offer quiet hours policies to ensure that their visitors get a
proper night’s sleep with their children! I enjoy using travel sites to sift through family-friendly reviews to find these little great tips
and tricks!
Tip 2: Depending solely on restaurants and snack bars for
sustenance can be a huge mistake if you are vacationing with children. Before
you make a final commitment to specific rooms, make sure that they are equipped
with a mini fridge and a microwave. This will allow you to provide hungry
children with healthy snacks.
Tip 3: Although everyone is going to be giddy with anticipation
the day before leaving on vacation, it's essential that you all get plenty of
sleep before the big day. Your leisurely sojourn will get off to a bad start if
you spend your first vacation day traveling with cranky children. Especially if
you are
venturing off into a different timezone, make
sure to prepare kids for the change days leading up to your departure, not just
one day before.
Tip 4: If you will be traveling long distance either by air or by
car with an infant or toddler, you should try to make their sleeping space
while traveling as familiar to them as possible. Bringing along favorite
blankets and stuffed animals can help little people feel secure in new
surroundings.
Tip 5: If you're on a road trip, making frequent stops will help keep
children from becoming overly bored and restless. Plan
your route in advance so that you have an idea of where to stop, but don't
forget to leave some room for spontaneity. You never know when you might run
across a treasure. The right type of proper
planning can help maximize everyone's enjoyment of the vacation because you'll
be prepared to sail effortlessly over those little stress-inducing bumps in the
road.
Thanks for all of the great ideas, Kendra!
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