I plan vacations for a living, and even I sometimes question my own decision to travel with kids.
Usually, it's somewhere between packing the fourth bag and realizing we’ll need another for their stuffies alone.
Traveling with children can be exhausting. There's the packing, the airport, the possibility of a meltdown halfway through a flight, and the stress of packing enough snacks to feed a small army.
But I still think traveling with kids is worth it.
And after planning family trips for clients and traveling with my own children, I've learned that a little preparation can make a huge difference.
(Image courtesy of Four Seasons Resort)
Traveling with kids works like a muscle. The first few trips are the hardest, because you overpack, overthink every decision, and treat every delay as a catastrophe. Then something shifts. Your children learn what an airport is, what happens after security, and that airplanes eventually land. Travel stops feeling like a major event and becomes part of your family's rhythm, and you get more confident along with them. If your first trip goes badly, that tells you very little about the second or third.
(Image courtesy of Dupe Photo: Rafaela P)
When parents ask me which stage is hardest, I almost always say somewhere between one and two and a half. Children that age badly want to move but can't yet understand why they can't, and you're asking a tiny explorer to stay buckled in for hours. That doesn't mean you shouldn't travel. It means choosing the destination carefully.
If you have flexibility, I'd think carefully before planning a long-haul trip during this stage. Sometimes choosing somewhere closer, with a shorter flight or easier routing, makes the experience much more enjoyable.
That doesn't mean you can't take a toddler to Europe. It just means I'd be realistic about what the travel days will look like and whether the destination is worth the effort at that particular age.
Most packing advice misses that preparation is mostly about your children. Kids thrive on familiarity, and travel takes almost all of it away. A few days before you leave, pull up photos of the hotel and look at the room, the pool, and where you'll have breakfast. If you're going somewhere with restaurants, let them look at a menu and choose something they'd like to order. Walk through the airport day step by step, from checking bags to boarding. None of this takes long, and it works because children arrive at something they've already imagined.
(Image courtesy of Four Seasons Resort)
Ownership helps too. Give each child their own backpack and let them pack a few books, toys, or comfort items. Travel scavenger hunt books, like the Mission Paris and Mission London series, give them a project, and even asking them to help find the next gate gives them a job. The more responsibility kids have, the fewer power struggles tend to follow.
One thing that's helped us is talking through the travel day before it happens. Where we're going, how we're getting there, what the airport will look like, and what happens once we arrive.
It doesn't eliminate every meltdown, but giving kids an idea of what to expect can make unfamiliar experiences feel a little less overwhelming.
You don't need an elaborate activity kit with twenty individually wrapped surprises to survive a flight with kids.
I always bring more snacks than I think we'll need, a favorite comfort item, a change of clothes, and a few activities that don't take up much space.
Sticker books, magnetic puzzles, small toys, and headphones can go a long way. I also like saving one new activity for the moment when everyone is getting restless.
For more of our favorite travel essentials for families, including the things we actually pack for flights, see The Packing Edit.
(Image courtesy of Dupe Photos: Rachel Weeks)
Packing gets far less stressful when both parents do it. Alex and I make one master checklist, split it in half, and lay everything out before it goes into the suitcase. Nobody gets blamed for a forgotten item because the list was shared. This isn't one parent's job, and it shouldn't be. Packing cubes, a laundry bag for dirty clothes, and detergent sheets are worth buying too. On longer trips, having a few laundry essentials with you can also save a surprising amount of money on hotel laundry. One more lesson I learned the expensive way is to childproof the minibar as soon as you walk into the room. A surprisingly costly bag of gummy bears taught me that.
A few upgrades are worth paying for. Private airport transfers come first, because after an overnight flight, standing outside waiting for a rideshare with tired kids and several suitcases is the last thing you want. For Europe, I'm also a believer in VIP arrival services at large airports like Milan, Rome, and Charles de Gaulle, where immigration can feel overwhelming even without children. They aren't essential, and a smaller airport or an off-peak arrival may not justify the cost. At a big hub with an overnight flight and young kids, though, they reduce stress at the moment everyone is running on empty.
I've also written a separate guide to VIP airport meet and greet services, including when I think they're worth the cost and when I'd skip them.
(Image courtesy of Dupe Photos: Helena K)
I look at hotels differently than I did before I had children. The first thing I check now is what's nearby. A playground, a park, or any open space where the girls can run around and chase pigeons for half an hour is often worth more than another museum. Once we arrive, I make a small corner of the room that's theirs by filling an empty basket with books, snacks, and toys. It gives them a piece of familiarity in an unfamiliar place, and they settle in noticeably faster.
I also pay close attention to room layouts when booking hotels for families. Connecting rooms, separate sleeping spaces, and enough room for everyone to spread out can make a much bigger difference than a hotel simply describing itself as family-friendly.
When booking international flights with kids, I pay close attention to the order of the connections and the departure times.
Whenever possible, I prefer taking the shorter flight first and the longer overnight flight second. After a long overnight flight, the last thing I want is another connection with tired children.
I also generally prefer overnight departures later in the evening, when there's a better chance the kids will actually sleep.
Of course, the best routing depends on where you're flying from, the children's ages, and which airports you're connecting through. Sometimes a slightly less convenient schedule is worth it if it means avoiding a particularly stressful connection.
I've bent that rule myself. On one Europe trip, I routed us through Boston to avoid a congested connection in Miami, even though it wasn't my ideal schedule. A slightly worse routing that avoids a chaotic airport is often the better choice with kids. You aren't looking for a perfect itinerary, only the one that works for your family.
(Image courtesy of Dupe Photos: Helena K)
I've stopped trying to fill every minute of a vacation. Rest isn't the backup plan anymore. It's built into the itinerary from the beginning, with sightseeing mornings followed by pool afternoons and museum days followed by playgrounds and gelato. Families who leave room to slow down usually enjoy their trips most, because nobody is running on empty by day three.
When I look back on our trips, I rarely remember the headline attraction first. I remember my daughter running into the ocean, sharing gelato, and watching planes through the airport windows. Months later, flipping through a travel photo album, she'll point to some tiny moment I'd forgotten entirely. Children don't measure a vacation by how ambitious the itinerary was.
People like to tell parents that young children won't remember these trips. Maybe they won't remember every hotel or city. But they do absorb that the world is interesting, that new places are manageable, and that they can handle unfamiliar situations. Those lessons last longer than any particular resort.
Traveling with kids probably won't ever feel quite as easy as traveling without them. But it does get more familiar, and you learn what works for your family.
You figure out which flights are worth taking, which destinations make sense at different ages, and how much downtime everyone actually needs.
And while the travel days can be exhausting, the memories are worth it.
If you're thinking about taking a trip with your kids but aren't sure where to start, we'd love to help you plan something that works for your family, not just looks good on paper.