5 Tips for Traveling with Kids

This post is sponsored by Extended Stay America. All opinions and tales of kids packing no undies are my own 😉

I’m someone who needs to feel prepared. Like over-prepared. Ready for anything.

Three kids later I realize they throw so many curveballs at me I’ll never be fully prepared again. But, it doesn’t stop me from trying, especially when I am preparing our family for a vacation or one of our weekend trips.

So, you can imagine my rude awakening when we arrived at my sister’s home in El Paso (8 hours away from our house) to discover my son didn’t pack any underwear?

Like not even 1 boxer short. NOT ONE!! That was when he told me that he only had one set of underwear back at home and he was currently wearing those.

How long had he been wearing that one set of underwear?

Honestly, the world may never know.

Heck, I don’t even want to know. Point is, I learned a lesson that day in El Paso, always, always, always check the bag your kids pack before you leave for vacation.

DON’T STOP TRAVELING WITH KIDS

In all honesty when my youngest daughter was born I no longer wanted to travel with the kids. I had a to pack a huge diaper bag just to make it to my mom’s house 5 minutes away.

I couldn’t imagine how I could remember everything for the older kids and take care of a baby too! The year Gabby was born we didn’t travel to our usual spot in Port Aransas, Texas. We didn’t take her there until she was a year old.

I kinda feel like we missed out by not traveling with a baby during that first year. It’s totally possible to travel with young children and babies, my younger sister has had a few road trips with her 5 boys and some of those trips were with a newborn.

My point is plan and try to be prepared!

5 QUICK TIPS FOR TRAVELING WITH CHILDREN

Entertainment: We travel in our van and we have a built in DVD system that is a lifesaver! On our way out of town we stop and grab a few Redbox movies to keep the kids occupied. One time we watched Miracles From Heaven on the way to Corpus, I cried the whole way there!

If you don’t have a built in DVD system try downloading movies from Netflix, it’s a newish feature and it’s perfect for road trips when WiFi is not available.

Check the bags: Make sure you let your older kids know exactly what they need to pack- pj’s, outfits for this many days WITH underwear, toothbrush, a book, bathing suits.

I like to check the bags and look over the clothes the kids pack to make sure the outfits will work for what we have planned.

Toys for when you arrive: I don’t know why I never thought about packing toys until this year of traveling. We went all the way to El Paso for New Year’s Eve 2016 and I didn’t pack my toddler one single toy. Of course she got bored and started acting up because she had nothing to play with. My suggestion is to pack a bag of small toys your kid likes playing with.

The older kids should pack something to keep them occupied too. Do you want them to take a tablet with them? A book to read, maybe a coloring book?

Pack snacks: Nothing makes kids hungrier than passing all of those restaurants while road tripping. Am I right? All of sudden they just can’t think of anything else but chicken nuggets and fries. I don’t know about you but I hate the smell of fries in a vehicle. Ugh. Do yourself a favor and pack some snacks:

Chips
Popcorn
Apple Slices
Fruit Snacks
Pretzels
Sandwiches
Granola Bars
Drinks

Don’t forget medications: Anything can happen. We’ve been stung by jellyfish. We’ve had a New Year’s Day visit to the urgent care center for a bad ear infection. The kids have gotten fevers the second we arrived in our hotel. Not fun!

I like to be prepared now by packing some basic medications (along with my son’s asthma meds) like a kid’s pain reliever, bandaids and neosporin.

WHY WE LOVE STAYING AT EXTENDED STAY AMERICA

We’ve been to Corpus Christi and Port Aransas twice this year and both times we’ve been blessed to partner with Extended Stay America and stay in their Corpus location.

We love the family friendly environment, the amenities and the customer service.

A few more things we love about Extended Stay America:

Full kitchen – having a full kitchen is great! We don’t have to eat out so much and we save some money.

Grab and go breakfast option. We packed cereal and bought some milk for our room. The kids still loved running down to grab muffins, granola bars and oatmeal packets for breakfast and snacks.

The rooms feel big and are clean and comfortable.

You can do laundry right in the hotel and you don’t have to skip out on your workout! That’s right, Extended Stay America hotels have laundry facilities and a workout room for you to use as you need.

Know what else? Extended Stay America is pet friendly. Check out our dog Lola’s first trip to the beach.

A few photos from our recent trip.

ARE YOU PLANNING A TRIP THIS SUMMER?

I’d love to hear your summer plans (we’re spending this year’s summer vacation in El Paso) in the comments. If you need hotel accommodations check to see if you find an Extended Stay America near your vacation spot!

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