How to Plan Travel with Kids
Jared and I had been married 12 years when we went on our first cruise. Over those 12 years we took several road trips, which gave us a lot of insight into the highs and lows of traveling with kids. I had a good idea by then of what I loved about traveling with our kids, what I loathed, and what I felt was missing. Here are a few things that I realized along the way -
The planning was exciting until it wasn’t anymore. Figuring out where we would go and all the fun things to do was a joy! Often my kids and I would hang around the computer together ooh-ing and aah-ing over all the options. But once I had to buckle down and make decisions, it was overwhelming. Where will we stay? How will we do meals? How many activities can/should we budget in? How do we get everywhere? It was a lot.
We’d make plans to go and see all the things, only to realize there really just wasn’t enough time to see all the things. Driving time often would eat up a lot of our time, and with limited time off from jobs, a month-long road trip just wasn’t in the books.
We wanted to explore the world with our kids now that they were getting older, but international travel is something that just felt SO BIG. Knowing what it took to plan a road trip in the US, I couldn’t imagine taking on that task in another country and in another language.
When we went on that first cruise, I felt this huge weight lift off my shoulders. I must have told Jared 100 times, “THIS is how we should travel with kids!” All the meals and entertainment are planned out for you, the travel is taken care of, you get to see different parts of the world, and there built-in opportunities to connect as a family. Budgeting is a breeze (cruise, excursions, tips, DONE!), and I genuinely enjoy every minute of the trip.
We’ve also learned the value of priming for the experience with pre-cruise lesson plans, and we enjoy learning together about the places we are going to visit. We choose excursions that highlight what we’ve learned about, which helps make the experiences a little more exciting and lot more valuable to everyone.
As we look forward to more trips with our children, I try to follow these three principles when looking at options - how can I minimize the planning on my end, maximize the travel we can accomplish, and be intentional in choosing learning experiences?
Cruising is what works for our family right now, as we balance work, activities, time off, and our budget. My hope is that I can help other families as well who want to explore the world one budget-friendly week of vacation at a time :)
