What’s your best travel/vacation tip?
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Anonymous
I don’t often do this now but always did it when the kids were little. One of my nice memories is at Yellowstone — we took an afternoon where the kids could be reading or playing on iPads. I out the laundry in, went to get a cup of coffee and just sat in the chairs outside reading a book until it was time to switch the laundry and then get it outit out. It was so pleasant and we needed a couple of hours of downtime. And lovely to then have clothes that didn’t stink. |
Anonymous
| I prefer driving vacations over flying. Don't try to bring your dog. Have a lot of money and spend it all. |
Anonymous
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On traveling with young kids….do it if you want to do it, but they won’t remember much/. They might remember a particular slide or an animal or one thing you ate. My four year old adored Costa Rica but now a decades later does not remember any of it.
I don’t think early travel really makes them better travelers in the long run — those of you with good travelers that are older probably would have had good travelers anyway/. A lot of it is genetic. Also if your kids were bad travelers (eg didn’t sleep well at night) you probably would have stopped. So you didn’t create good travelers — you just lucked out with them. We traveled a ton when my kids were little but my oldest (now an adult) is just not an avid traveler due to sleep and dietary issues. And I never traveled as a kid because my parents didn’t have the money but I am a great traveler and was pretty much immediately that way as soon as I was able, because my personality type is just laid back, like to try new things and I have no sleep or dietary issues. I do think early travel can help kids develop interests that will sometimes stick with them. So a kid that takes a great hiking trip at 6 might discover a love of it that causes them to hike more at home and get really into nature. Or a kid might develop an interest in animals or history or something that sticks with them. Like any kind of learning, it’s good for brain development even if it doesn’t stick with them. |
Anonymous
| Smile, be friendly, learn a few words of the local language at least. We have traveled all over and never have the negative experiences we hear about, even in cities with bad reputations. In fact, people have gone out of their way to help us. |
Anonymous
I fully disagree with the concept of judging the worth of something to young children by their actual memories of it. Early travel experiences broaden young minds so that they understand that there are different ways of living. Obviously this applies to travel to actual places, not like Disney. But the value of early education is not that you remember the lessons explicitly, it is that they are burned deeper into you and your understanding of the world. |
Anonymous
| Fly private, bring staff, have a trip planner. |
Anonymous
There are random routes like this all of the world called "Fifth freedom". Basically an airline can tag on another route to the end of an existing round trip to their home country, so for Etihad it probably was something like Abu Dhabi - Rio - Buenos Aires - Rio - Abu Dhabi but you can book the flights within South America separately. Same reason you can fly United from Hong Kong - Bangkok or Tokyo - Ulanbaatar. |
Anonymous
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I agree with - it's not about the right time - either go or don't. But I will say this: W Europe in Aug is hard. Know it and decide accordingly. Ditto Asia. Go to hot places when it'll be cooler, cold places when it's warmer. Have common sense to know and if you still want to do it, don't ask how it'll be, you already know!
I also have learned that when booking flights, be creative. You'd be surprised at saving money booking one ways sometimes. Or, book through another destination on way home to save money and see more than 1 place. Or fly using points for free more or less and pay less flying out if the country from that point because it's less than if you went from A to C direct - fly A to B for free and just pay B to C if it's cheaper. You don't need to always fly A- C direct - look at your budget closely. Try different scenarios, Lastly - try to pack light. It helps in so many fronts. You can def get by without checking in bags even going away for 3 1/2 wks to Asia. Yes you can. And when you shop for luggage- go for the largest capacity carry on v cheapest. Value is determined not by just dollars but by how convenient and frequently and well made that piece of carry on works in the long run. |
Anonymous
The most DCUM response ever! |
Anonymous
Never fly private because it spoils you forever. |
Anonymous
| Pack light and always book one ways (unless the price differential is high). |
Anonymous
Same here. I enjoy & remember. And also, we do all sorts of things our young kids enjoy/benefit from at the time but they won’t remember later— reading to them, taking them to the playground, baking with them, etc. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. |
Anonymous
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Great thread - and thank you all for the great tips!
I am surprised that no one has mentioned passports and AirTags. With passports it is important to keep in mind that different countries have different requirements about passport validity: just a valid passport is usually not enough. Most countries require passports to be valid for a minimum period beyond the date of intended stay (6 months, 3 months). So BEFORE booking any international travel it is extremely important to check everyone’s passports that they are valid, especially kids’ passports since they are only valid for 5 years. Otherwise they will not let you on the plane (ask me how I know 🤪) AirTags are great for tracking things - we put an AirTag in each piece of checked luggage and can always see where our bags are. Some parents also use them in young kids’ shoes in crowded places like amusement parks, etc. We have not used them for that purpose since our kids were little before AirTags but sounds like a good idea. |
Anonymous
| Our three-year old has been to two continents and we're planning a third for next year. Will she remember any of it? Of course not, but we will and she'll have pictures to look back on. I don't know why we expect adults to travel "for the experience!" but children "for the memories." I travel with my kid because I want to travel and she's an easy going kid that will eat most kinds of food. |
Anonymous
Why in the world would I have made this up? https://www.arabnews.com/node/2285516/business-economy#:~:text=Since%202010%2C%20the%20airline%20had,Dubai%2C%20Istanbul%20and%20Egyptian%20cities. "Since 2010, the airline had a daily flight between Doha and Buenos Aires with a stopover in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, but it was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. " |