We travel to experience life in other places. To live immersed in their every day sights, sounds, tastes, and more. Yes of course we include some landmarks on our list, but our overall intentions lie in showing our children the ways of the world by simply soaking in the heartbeat of every destination. Above all this means that we prefer a stable ‘home base” in every destination but our daily plans are fairly fluid considering the needs and interests of a 1, 4, 7, and 9 year old.
How do you choose where to travel to? You’ve probably noticed by now that we are an adventurous family and honestly I cannot think of many places we wouldn’t travel. We are also creatures of habit and love to return to favorite destinations again and again. Regardless, we are faithful users of Scott’s Cheap Flights to source the best flight deals. Their email updates take all the work out of pricing the best flights from our home airports! I especially love that their services allow us to consider destinations that perhaps weren’t on our radar before. Last but not least, if we are planning on visiting multiple states or countries we fly into one and out of another to maximize our time!
How do you select your flights? We typically go with the cheapest option with two or less transfers. We’ve found that if the flights aren’t too long, two layovers max (of 2-3 hours each) works best for us. That’s just enough time in between flights to move our bodies and grab a bite to eat. Plus, some airports are gigantic and you may have to switch terminals so be sure to give yourself plenty of time with keiki. Then if travel time is extensive then we opt for an overnight layover so we can recharge in a hotel. *It’s also important to consider the check-in and check-out times of your accommodations. Confirm whether or not they’ll hold your luggage on-site for you in case your flight times vary greatly from their entry and exit protocols.
How do you plan out your trip itinerary? First and foremost, we always aim to spend at least 5-10 days in each accommodation/destination. This way we can really unpack our bags and get to know the neighborhood–we have time to find our favorite breakfast spots, parks, and so on. If we are on a road trip then sometimes we will take this down to three days depending on how far our total driving distance is. Overall, we like to find a nice balance between city and country or coastline and mountains. Then if our return flight home is early in the morning we make sure that we are staying somewhere close to the airport (even if it’s just for that last night)–this simplifies the transition out. See our Google Story on the itinerary for our recent Europe trip below!
How do you select your accommodations? As mentioned in the Google Story below, we look for four key things when booking our accommodations. 1. Enough bedrooms so that the keiki aren’t sleeping in ours. And ideally at least two bathrooms because there are six of us after all. 2. A full kitchen so that we can prepare/store some meals and snacks. 3. A washing machine because the goal is always to travel light. 4. A centralized location to ensure that we can maximize our days while staying true to nap time and sleep schedules. This also helps cut down on transportation costs!
Finally, I personally try to choose beautiful and inspiring places to stay–since our goal is to travel slow I love to choose accommodations that encourage us to linger longer. The more unique, the better! My go-to sites for lodging are Airbnb, Rip-A-Ride, and Booking.com. Keep in mind that many spots are cross-listed so definitely be sure to search out the best rates, these are often found by booking directly through ownership/management. Many give weekly discounts too so stay a little while if you can!
How do you decide what to do each day? We usually pick a theme for each destination based on family interests, local highlights, and so on. For example, in Barcelona it was a study of Antoni Gaudi while along the Costa Brava we focused on learning more about Salvador Dali. Selecting a theme helps us slow down and manage expectations for the group–it’s a good way to remind ourselves that we don’t need to see and do everything. See the Google Stories below for where we went to accomplish these themed explorations.
Then we have one goal per day, usually based on the theme (e.g. museum visit, hike, etc.), and loosely structure the day around this area. We find eateries and parks in the same vicinity using Google Maps. Sometimes I also research back-up activities in case something falls through or we find ourselves with extra time.
One thing that really helps give the children ownership of the itinerary is providing them with age-appropriate books about the destination long before you travel. This way, they begin to familiarize themselves with where they are headed and can chime in ideas for what to add to the itinerary. Aside from children’s travel guides and non-fiction books, it’s also nice to source stories set in your destination(s) from your local library. The more exposure they have beforehand, the better!
