Have fun! Remember this is your number one priority while creating family memories. It’s okay if the schedule doesn’t go as planned. It’s okay if you must pivot from the itinerary. The most important part is that you took the trip and are together as a family. Here are some tricks I’ve learned over the years when traveling with kids. 

• Have a rough schedule planned out. It avoids the “I’m boarded” or everyone sitting around in the AirBN and not exploring the destination. 

• It’s okay if nap time is all over the place. Naps can be “off” on trips. It’s okay if you kids skip naps, take a shorter nap or take car nap. Nap rules go out the window when traveling. I have found that most times if they get woken up from a nap they’re excited about the next activity and fussing is usually minimal. 

• Snacks are your best friend. Whatever you usually plan for snacks plan/pack double! Snacks can avoid meltdowns. Snacks can come in handy if your flight gets delayed and your connection is quick and you don’t have time to grab food between flights. Snacks for when your stuck on the road and not sure when is going to be the next place to stop to grab a meal. I usually pack snacks for the first 24hrs with me and then stop in at a local grocery store or market to pick up more. This is a fun way for your kids to also try local food. I try and pack some of their favorite snack and some novelty snack as a special vacation treat. When our daughter was two years old she had recently had her feeding tube removed and we were traveling to Spain, in this case I did pack a box of snacks I knew she would eat because I didn’t want to get in a situation where she wasn’t eating and we didn’t have a way to feed her having just removed her feeding tube. 

• Make everything an adventure or a special treat! Going on a hike… its an adventure! Going out to get ice cream.. it’s a special treat! Going to see a castle another museum… its an adventure! The kids will get excited for something new if you’re excited! It’s raining or cold… its still an adventure! Laughter is contagious. 

• Take a million pictures and mom make sure you’re in them! I know this sounds basic. But don’t forget to take all the pictures and ask someone to get pictures of everyone. For the longest time I had all the pictures of my husband and kids and I was hardly in any of them. Pause and ask someone around to snap of the picture of you in them too! You planned the trip and your need to be apart of the picture holding that memory.