Taking a family travelling is always a big deal and pretty hard to plan. With three daughters, I definitely wasn’t letting myself in for an easy task. But we needed and deserved a break, and I wanted it to be the trip of a lifetime. Here’s how I put together the plans that kept us happy around the world.

Itemise everything (but be flexible)

My absolute lifesaver during the planning phase was the itemised list. It also saved our bacon more than once while we were out in Australia. An itemised list tells you what to do and in what order, and even how long it should take if you set it up well. It means there’s no more confusion, nothing gets left out, and you can see your progress as it is happening.

Here’s a sample of the list we made for getting out to the airport on the morning our trip began:

• Double-check suitcases
• Put favourite toys in hand luggage
• Dress kids
• Pack entertainment in hand luggage
• Pack sweets in hand luggage
• Get kids in car
• Get suitcases and hand luggage in car
• Drive to airport 10:55am

Of course, you also have to be flexible in case things go wrong or turn out differently to how you expected. In our case, that meant repacking one of the cases after we realised our youngest daughter had decided to use some things from her case that morning.

Bring entertainment

As a parent, I can’t stress this enough. The kids need to be entertained. There will be long journeys, there will be times when you need to wait around, and there will be moments when you need to discuss adult things and plans without the kids interrupting. This means you need some form of entertainment which can take their full attention without you needing to intervene.

There are plenty of games and toys that will do the job, but our big fall-back was having Netflix set up on a tablet for them to watch their favourite shows and films. We used a VPN to watch Netflix away from home and it worked fine. We couldn’t get them to wear headphones since there are three of them, but at least they were focused on the screen while we were figuring out where to go or what to do!

Plan for exhaustion

We also made sure to make plans that would have our kids exhausted by the end of the day. This included enrolling them in a kid’s club when we got to the resort, signing them up for activities, and taking turns to go on long walks or play games outside.

The ideal thing is to have them really sleepy by the time it gets to evening. Dealing with a new time zone, a new season, new temperatures and humidity, and the excitement of being away from home can sometimes make it hard for children to sleep at night. When they’re worn out, that is less of a problem.

It also means that my husband and I got a bit of time to ourselves, which is always fantastic – having a glass of wine on your apartment balcony and admiring the stars of an unfamiliar place really helps you to feel like you’re having a break from the hectic pace of normal life.

 

Things wouldn’t have gone so well if I hadn’t planned everything out, that’s for sure. Having the plans ahead of time also means you’re able to relax and just follow the list when you get there, instead of tearing your hair out!