Vacations are the best; it’s a time to stop all working and just relax. Traveling with the full family, including your kids and pet(s) is a trip that will need a substantial amount of planning to avoid a bad trip.
Since you’ll be dealing with kids and pet(s), it’s never too much to have additional information. Here are some helpful tips to take note of when traveling with a full family. These tips are divided into two sections, the first for pets and the second for the kids.
Tips For When Travelling With Pets
- A Good Leash: We know that getting pets to stay put in in foreign places can almost be impossible. Besides, you may not be able to enter some public places with your pet if you don’t put them on a leash. So to ensure a stress-free vacation, you’ll need a heavy duty dog leash if your pet is a dog to keep it from trespassing or running off.
- Getting A Tag: Your pet should have a collar with their name, your mobile number, and a rabies tag. It should only be taken off when it’s night time and put back on in the morning. This increases the chances of finding them even if they get lost while traveling.
- Complete Health Records: You should also try getting your pet’s health records, especially if you are going very far or out of the country. Include everything from vaccinations to allergies etc. You can get this information from a vet and print a copy to take along.
- Pet-Friendly locations: A lot of holiday destinations are pet friendly, but there are still few that aren’t, and you won’t want to be turned away while visiting places just because you’re with pets. Try getting professional help like Authorised Disney Vacation Planner to help you look for a place suitable for both the family and your pet to avoid such embarrassing situations.
- Pet-friendly hotels: A lot of hotels don’t accept pets on the premises. It’s better to start the search early on before getting to your destination. If possible, ask the hotel management if they are pet-friendly before deciding on a hotel reservation.
- Pet Food: If your pets eat a special type of food, you should get a substantial amount with your load or ask if you can get it where you are going.
Helpful Tips When Travelling Kids
- Adjusting Your Travelling Schedule: You might need to change your schedule when traveling with kids. For instance, taking kids on long trekking distance trips is a bad idea, because they get bored and tired quickly. To guarantee a fun experience, plan your trip around schedules and activities that the whole family will enjoy.
- Prepping Them For The Trip: You may need to keep your kids informed on what to expect from the trip. This is to give them something to look forward to. Just tell them what to expect in simplified terms and in a language they can understand.
- Travel Light: When you travel with kids, you tend to pack a lot, thinking they will need as much, but it’s not always the case. Most times, these loads become an extra burden that you have to drag along. Only take essential things; you can get every other thing at the destination.
- Dealing with Jetlag: A good option for dealing with Jetlag is adapting to the schedule before the journey, you can switch your time to the time abroad. It’s also helpful if you have a steady supply of things like games, fun videos, snacks to keep your kids occupied during the flight.
- Road trips: If possible, try making a road trip, you can rent a recreational vehicle (R.V).They are the most suitable way to travel with kids. It gives allows the family to see newer places while moving and make some stops at places the kids would like.
However, driving might not be a good idea for you if you are making a long-distance trip because it will take up a lot of your time. To save time, you should consider taking flights.
- Play Time: During really long trips, kids quickly get bored, so it will be a good idea to let them have some fun in-between to reduce the boredom and keep them going.
- First Aid Box: A first-aid box is one of the essential things you should pack when traveling with kids. Kids play and get injured all the time. However, having a first-aid box can help you keep the kids safe until you can get help.
- Saving Money: While traveling, you’ll come across lots of souvenirs and excursions. If it’s not related to the trip, you don’t need to do it because once that starts; you’ll find it hard to stop.
If you think you are spending a lot of money buying things for the kids, then get binoculars and teach them how to use it. This will keep them busy and also save you money.
Working with a budget is the best thing to do; you can get a budget app on your phone to help track your daily budget.
Conclusion
It would help if you always had a contingency plan whenever you’re traveling with kids and pets because many things can go wrong. With the tips above, you can have a stress-free and fun trip. Don’t forget to enjoy every moment as it comes because even the tricky stuff eventually makes for fun memories.
