Travel Tips for families

Whether you’re headed to an all-inclusive resort, or off an an epic, 10-country tour, you want to pack in as much travel goodness as you can. Follow these travel tips to help make your trip a little smoother each step of the way.

Pack swimwear in your carry-on

You’re arriving at the resort lobby without your luggage because it’s been delayed somewhere along the way. So you’re sitting in the lobby wearing the same clothes you wore on the plane, probably steaming.

The last thing anyone wants to do is waste a single minute of vacation time sitting around waiting.

1/7 travel tips: We learned to stick a bathing suit in each carry-on before leaving home.

Lost luggage? Let us know when it arrives. We’ll be under one of those palapas.

Pack your medicine the right way

Luggage space comes at a premium, especially these days. With every item in your baggage edging you closer to your weight limit, saving space is important.

Optimize your medication bag or first aid kit.

2/7 travel tips: Take a photo of over-the-counter pills or medicine and the dosage info from the side of the box.

Only bring enough of each medication to cover the full duration of the trip and leave bulky boxes and pill bottles at home.

Get to the bar once your kids are sleeping

It’s 8pm and your kids need to get to bed. But you’re at an all-inclusive resort and you want to squeeze a little more fun from your day?

Here’s a travel hack we used when our kids were too young to stay up.

3/7 travel tips: Request a room close to one of the lounge bars. Set up the video monitor at the table closest to the room so you can maintain the video feed.

Deal the cards, order a drink and toast to the small wins.

Make bath-time better with an inflatable pool

It’s almost bed time and your kid has got sand literally everywhere. Are you going to bathe them in that big slippery tub?

4/7 travel tips: Bring along an inflatable kid’s pool.

Blow it up and you can either work on the bathroom floor or put the pool right in the tub. Soft edges, super light taking up little-to-none of your weight limit.

*If they’re small enough, drop them right in the sink. Just be careful that they don’t touch that hot water tap while you’re not looking.

Prone to ear infections? Trouble on the plane?

Do you suffer from pressure pain during take-off or departure or maybe you want to swim and snorkel, but you’re worried about ear infections?

5/7 travel tips: Pack a set of silicon earplugs in your carry-on.

Put a coloured sticker on each passport

After waiting in the customs line for what seems like ages, when you go to present yours to the customs agent, you pull yours off the top of the pile (because you put yours right on top), but nope. It’s your kids. Nope, not that one either. Wait. Flip, flip, flip. There’s the kids’ passport again. Argh.

6/7 travel tips: Put a coloured sticker on the back of each passport. No more flipping through to see which is which.

Nothing to declare. Enjoy your vacation.

Manage your travel laundry

We stumbled across this travel idea while on a long trip, away from easily accessible laundry. Using a sink to wash your own laundry isn’t always an option (and sometimes isn’t going to result in anything being cleaner but the sink!)

7/7 travel tips: Carry a sealable box that can be filled with a little water and soap to make a portable rinse cycle.

We happen to have a carrying case that came with our snorkelling mask, but any similar box will do. Tip: use it to protect some of the more delicate items when you pack, to make it doubly useful.

The wallet and keys hide-away hack

Where do you leave your hotel keys when you go in the water? Should you take them in with you? Stick them in the bottom of a shoe? Roll them up in your towel? Nope.

8/8 travel tips: Next time you finish a wide mouth bottle of sunscreen, wash it out and store it with your travel gear. At the beach? Tuck your keys and a few bucks in the bottle and leave it next to your towel. Safest spot on the beach.

Hiding your valuables in plain sight. That’s key. Hiding them in the sunscreen? That’s sun safe.