Family travel
Give every item in the cabin bag a job
Organise the bag around what you will reach for in a queue, at your seat and after a spill.
23 articles
Family travel
Journeys, visits home and days away with children along for the ride.
Family travel
Make the airport plan around the slowest parts
The difficult part is often the handover between tasks: dropping bags, passing security and finding the next place to wait.
Family travel
Check the seating arrangements before choosing flights
Look at family seating, child restraints and the operating airline before comparing the final price.
Family travel
Check each traveller’s documents separately
A family booking can contain several different document requirements. Make the checks person by person and journey by journey.
Family travel
Choose flight activities that do not need much clearing up
A good flight activity is easy to start, stop and put away when the tray table suddenly needs to be cleared.
Family travel
A first family train journey in a new country
Check the station, ticket conditions and luggage arrangements before planning what you will do on the train.
Family travel
Pack for the weekend you actually planned
Use the actual activities, weather and accommodation to decide what earns space in a weekend bag.
Family travel
Read an accommodation listing as a family
Room capacity is only the beginning. Look for the details that affect sleep, meals and getting out of the door.
Family travel
Make room for laundry on a longer trip
One planned wash can change what you need to pack, but only if there is time and somewhere for clothes to dry.
Family travel
Plan the gaps between meals on a travel day
Look for the long gaps and uncertain food stops, then make a simple plan for those parts of the journey.
Family travel
A visit home needs room between the visits
Seeing people matters, but a trip home still includes tired mornings, transport and children who need ordinary time.
Family travel
Agree who is carrying which part of the travel day
Share complete tasks, especially during the moments when everyone is moving at once.
Family travel
Keep a rainy holiday day small
One indoor outing or a few hours at the accommodation can be enough when the weather changes the day.
Family travel
Plan a city day with somewhere to pause
Choose one main destination, then look at the places where the family can eat, sit and change pace around it.
Family travel
Start with a day trip close enough to change your mind
A nearby destination gives you a chance to learn how the family travels without making the return journey a major commitment.
Family travel
Decide whether the stroller fits this journey
The right choice depends on the route, your child and what you can manage when the stroller is folded.
Family travel
A holiday journal that does not become homework
Give children a way to keep one detail from a trip, with no requirement to fill a page every day.
Family travel
Why a familiar home base can help on a longer trip
Returning to the same place each evening can reduce the daily work of finding food, unpacking and learning another room.
Family travel
Make the first morning after a trip easier
Unpack the things needed for tomorrow before trying to restore the whole house tonight.
Family travel
Give a family trip a spending plan with room for the boring costs
Transfers, food gaps, laundry and baggage can change the total more than one headline booking price suggests.
Family travel
When a family travel plan has to change
Separate what must be decided now from what can wait until the family is somewhere comfortable.
Family travel
Let teenagers plan part of the trip
Give teenagers a defined part of the plan, the information to make it work and a real say in the final choice.
Family travel
Divide holiday time between two places without promising every date
Decide what each trip can hold before promising dates to relatives in several places.