Traveling/Packing Tips

Whether you have a large family or a small family, packing for family vacations can be stressful. For the past 20 years we have gone on family vacations and I have a list of tips to make it a little bit less stressful!

1. Make a list ahead of time of everything you need, including how much of everything you need. This will help to ensure you don’t forget anything.
2. Pack ahead of time. The most stressful thing when preparing to go on a trip is having to deal with stuffing everything in suitcases and making enough room for all your necessities. By giving yourself enough time you will be able to organize everything, double check your list so you don’t forget anything, and you won’t be stressing out the day of.
3. Portion out snacks! Whether your kids are little and still in car seats or just graduating high school, they WILL be hungry and by portioning out snacks ahead of time you can be sure you won’t be spending extra money on food, it will help the time go by faster for the kiddos, and it will be quiet for just a little bit.
4. If you’re in the car or even waiting at the airport try and occupy the younger ones with coloring, movies, playing “eye-spy”, or travel games. The more relaxed they are, the more relaxed you will be.
5. Plan out an itinerary ahead of time. This way you can budget yourself, know how much free time you have, and then you will be more relaxed not having to plan anything last minute.
6. Pack an extra bag or suitcase for dirty laundry. The biggest thing that has helped me while traveling is bringing an extra bag to put my families laundry. This way there won’t be dirty laundry around and it will be easier to just throw everything in the wash once your trip is done.
7. Have an organized envelope with tickets, passes, and spending money. This will help you not lose anything, you’ll be able to keep track of what you have left and you have easy access to it.