Intro to Traveling with Kids and Why Hotels Suck

Traveling with Kids

We did limited travel before having or first (surprise!!) child at age 25. We were busy getting started in our early careers and also running our own business on nights and weekends. Once we had our first child, we started prioritizing family vacations to spend quality time together.

Why Staying at a Hotel with Kids Sucks

It only took one night in a hotel to realize that staying in a hotel room with kids was hell. It turns out that kids don’t follow the same hotel protocols as I do, such as not sticking the TV remote in your mouth or avoiding rolling around on the bed comforter because you have no idea when they washed it last. Also, when your toddler goes to bed at 7:30pm, what in the world are you going to silently do for 3 hours until it’s time to go to bed? That’s when we realized that renting a home is the ideal way to travel with children!! Think how fortunate we are to live in a time where you are able to go to do a quick online search and secure an entire home for your trip!

We found that nap time and evenings after the kids are tucked into bed is when the vacation begins when traveling with kids! Instead of tip toeing around a dark hotel room so you don’t wake up your kids, imagine having a mimosa while reading a book in your own private pool or soaking in the hot tub at night! Game changer!

We LOVE traveling with ours kids and taking them on adventures to explore new places. It is amazing quality time for our family and is great for them to experience new places and try new things.

We understand that it can seem overwhelming for new parents or families that haven’t traveled much in the past (or haven’t had the best experience with their first attempts). We share our experiences in an effort to help people overcome the feeling of being completely overwhelmed when it comes to the thought of planning a family vacation. Believe us, we’ve felt like that too, but are always so glad when we make the commitment to travel and spend quality time together.

Items that we recommend for traveling with kids:

• Disposable placemats (these go against our sustainability efforts, but are so helpful for small children that aren't qualified to eat off a glass plate at a restaurant and also save the restaurant staff from having to clean up a huge mess. Let's be real, kids can be embarrassing to take to restaurants due to the mess they leave behind)
  

• Fold up jumper (this may be a bit dramatic, but this has been a life changing purchase for us. Imagine being able to go to a beach, family picnic, bonfire, pool, etc... and be able to actually sit and enjoy yourself while your curious baby can't escape. Just let baby jump around and play with some of the fun activities on it instead! When all else fails, just hand them a cup of cheerios to snack on while they're hanging out)

• Car seat bags (we've tried out several car seat bags over the years and these have been the best. Keep your car seats clean and prevent them from getting beat up while going through the checked luggage process when flying. We've found these also work great for a little extra storage; wink, wink. We may have even put the fold up jumper above in this bag along with a car seat a few times so that we could bring it on trips with us)

• Hiking backpack (this thing is the real deal, we've hiked up several mountains with it. It's comfortable for the kids and parents)

• Cups (it's crazy how many restaurants don't have children's cups with a lid. If you're renting an Airbnb, they may not have sippy cups either)

• Child locks for cupboards (don't let your guard down when it comes to safety when you're traveling. Chances are, if you are renting a house or a condo, it won't be child proofed like your own home is. Keep little ones out of cabinets with detergent, cleaning supplies, etc..)

• Carbon monoxide detector (we've seen the tragic stories on the news with carbon monoxide poisoning. In my opinion, brining one with you is a low effort, high impact way to help keep you and your family safe when traveling)

• Pack n' Play sheet (we've stayed at places that provided a pack n' play, but realize as we're getting setup to put everyone down to bed the first night that they didn't provide a sheet! This is an easy thing to bring along to potentially save yourself some trouble)

Go make some memories! Safe travels!!