Travel Kind With Kids

Travel Kind With Kids

Last week Hubby surprised us with a getaway for my birthday, we spent the week in Umhlanga on Durban's North Coast. There is nothing better than a week away from the normal routine, except maybe a surprise week away from the normal routine. It was heaven, air travel instead of the usual 8 hour drive completely made it for me and then hotel living for a week.

Just one thing - we took the kids.

Travel with kids is not easy. My kids are pretty well traveled, we do go away often and they are generally very well behaved. But, they are kids and they do get tired and bored and hungry and whiny. When they are not in their usual space, doing their usual things it can be difficult for them.

Here are some of things I do when we travel to make it easier for the kids and to save my sanity.

The actual act of travelling can be really exhausting with the kids in tow. If the travelling takes a while they will get bored, and bored kids mean irritated parents. (Our flight going down was delayed by an hour and a half, fun times!)

There are a number of simple ways I try to keep the boredom at bay. 



1. Keep Calm and Keep Happy



If I keep an upbeat attitude it rubs off on the kids, they pick up on my excited vibes. 
I keep up a constant stream of 'mini events' to look forward to while travelling. 
"We are almost at the airport, we can watch the airplanes, we can eat cake while we wait for the plane, we can board the plane, we can spot our bag on the conveyor belt."

I try to make everything fun, this doesn't always work, kids can spot through the bull sometimes especially when they are tired.

This time around we were lucky in that we were travelling by plane! Driving a long distance with kids is hard frikken work and hubby and I usually will travel through the night so that they sleep most (if not all) of the way.


2. Be Organised

A very necessary mom-trick is to bring entertainment.

I try to get some new coloring or activity books and crayons, a few new toys and some books whenever we travel. Small things obviously. The newness factor usually keeps them entertained much longer.





On this surprise trip however I didn't have time for that, so I involved the kids in choosing a few of their favorite things to pack for the plane.

I always fly with chewy sweets for the ear ache, and every mom knows about the snacks. There must always be snacks, Savanna gets h-angry if she is not constantly grazing. Easiest way to keep her happy is to give her a snack.






Some other air travel musts:

• A bottle of water needs to find its way into my handbag, hydration is key for travelling.
• I need to have a book, absolutely cannot just sit around waiting I will be just as miserable as my kids if I am not entertained.
• Easy access to all our travel documents and tickets, I have a little clear toiletry bag that I use to keep all our things organised. That way there is no handbag scratching every time we need to show our plane ticket or ID.

Travel by plane is still very exciting for my kids and they enjoyed it and they were good for the most part.

Once you arrive at your holiday with your kids and hopefully your sanity, the next round begins. 

At first hotel rooms are great for exploring but once the novelty wears off you need to keep your tiny humans entertained for the duration of your holiday.

The thing with holidaying once you have kids is that you naturally choose to do things that are fun for the kids, our parent brains are wired that way. But in between the beach play, swimming pool time and aquarium visits the kids will sometimes find a way to become bored. 

Our solution is to do a lot of eating, hungry kids are grumpy kids, and also to keep on the move. We love to fill up our holidays with lots of different activities and lots of exploring and a bit of shopping as this keeps everyone busy and also should tire everyone out - which is always the goal. 

A little bit for everyone is exactly what you get in Umhlanga.

We had a wonderful holiday and I will write another post focusing on all we did and experienced in this beautiful place, and why it is one of my top holiday destinations in South Africa. 

But for now I have said my piece about travel with kids and I'm out.

With Love,

Chelsea