Baby on Board: Five Indispensable Tips When Traveling with Your Tots

“In the end, kids will not remember the fancy toy or game you bought for them; they will remember the time you spent with them.” –Kevin Heath

Taking your kids on a travel excursion with you can both be an exciting and intimidating prospect.

On the one hand, it can be an opportunity for your kid to take in new sights, observe foreign culture and see how the rest of the world lives. On the other however, it can potentially mean a travel prospect riddled with pandemonium for you. In this regard, you might expect to be constantly subjected to your child’s whining, wailing and if you are incredibly unlucky, tantrums. It does not matter whether it is your first or tenth trip with your children, taking them on vacation with you will always be daunting and rife with potential concerns. For this reason, being sufficiently prepared for your trip is not only recommended, but paramount.

Apart from what to pack, you need to ensure that you are adequately equipped to meet any sort of emergency in the event that it might happen. In any case, if you are planning on taking your tots with you—whether on an extended vacation overseas or somewhere nearer, here are the ways to prepare for a more hassle and stress-free travel experience:

• Travel somewhere near first

Traveling with your tots can be overwhelming to say in the least—considering that your travel plan needs to be a lot more thorough and exact with kids involved. If you are apprehensive about this prospect, it might be best to give it a trial-run first before taking them overseas and see how receptive they are to it and how well they behave. Go somewhere local first and save big travels for later. Book one of the hotels in San Fernando Pampanga and observe how your children would conduct themselves before and during the travel. More importantly, evaluate yourself and see how well you can manage your kids.

• Just do it!

Sure, traveling with your kids can be a little daunting but you are not going to get anywhere if you do not at least try. You might discover you can actually handle it better than you expected. At the end of the day, know that it will eventually end, you will get there and you will survive.

• Do not overpack

While you do need to be adequately prepared, you should never overpack. Unless you are traveling somewhere remote (which is highly not recommended if you are traveling with kids), there is a likely chance that what you need can also be bought abroad. It might not be the brand you are used to, but it is at least better than nothing. Moreover, it is a lot better than lugging around suitcases that weigh a ton with your tots in tow.

• Choose your accommodations wisely

Hotels might cost you more, but they have conveniences that would otherwise be absent in vacation rentals. Things such as meals, baby-sitting services and room service might be important to you—especially if you brought your kid along. However, you might want to consider the alternative of renting out vacation homes which would pretty much function like your own home. You can prepare your own meals which can be useful if your kids are on a special diet. However, know that you would have to clean up after yourself.

• Book appropriately

If you choose a hotel, make sure that it is located in an appropriate area suitable for your kids. You might have liked it before but if it requires a bit of a hike to get to, your kids might grow weary. Moreover, check nearby attractions if they are kid-friendly or not. After all, you would not want to be staying anywhere near a brothel or pub if you are going to have kids tagging along with you.