Parenthood: Week 512 - Expert on Vaca?

After taking my children on trips for the better part of the last decade, I've come to some conclusions. First, no matter how well-prepared I am, vacations are challenging. Second, while taking children on trips can be a pain, they have always been worth it. And finally, I am really good at taking kids on vacation. 

It's tough to take kids on trips. Every time we prepared for vacation, we were barely ready. Prepping the house includes cleaning out the refrigeration, cleaning the house, and doing dishes. We did make a couple of trips with Buffy and Ollie when Ollie was a baby, but now that Buffy is older and we have more kids, we don't take Buffy on trips with us. Because of this, we must prepare Buffy to stay with someone else, which takes work.

Then there is packing. It's not a big deal to pack for myself, but packing for the kids is a lot. We have to consider their needs as they don't think through packing themselves. Ollie, our oldest, can do some packing himself but, like Lucas, who is three, cannot comprehend packing or physically do it.

If all we had to pack for our children were clothing, it would still be a lot of work, but there is so much more. We have to pack diapers, wipes, snacks, coloring books, medicine, Aquaphor, toiletries, water bottles, books, and a stroller, among other things. Then there is the technology. Ollie has his Nintendo Switch, and we have two iPads for my other sons. There is work in this prep making sure whatever games or videos they want to play or watch are downloaded and ready to go and that everything is charged. Also, we have to pack headphones.

Packing snacks are essential. Food is a primary way of keeping kids in good moods when traveling—often, when things aren't going well, it's because kids are hungry. However, getting the proper selection of snacks is tricky, and having enough is important, as they take up a lot of space.

Preparing to travel means that almost all of the time, my wife and I stay up late the night before we travel. Getting four or five hours of sleep the night before taking a plane flight is common for us, which compounds the difficulty and anxiety of traveling.

Many little things make traveling with children difficult, and over the years, I've figured out how to manage these things, but that doesn't make it easy. For example, let's take car seats. After traveling with a car seat once, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle of carrying one to the airport, checking it, and carrying it around the airport after. So now we just rent car seats when we rent cars. Yes, this is easier, but getting a car seat in front of the rental car company and installing it is still a process that takes a lot of time.

This is what the experience of traveling with children gets you: the more you do it, the more you learn, and while things are easier, it's never easy. The most significant change over the years has been expectations setting. Things will go wrong when you travel with children. You will need to remember something, and there will be issues. Accepting this as a feature helps you see the tough moments, not as failures, and see the good and the joy of getting away with the little ones.