After travelling many years we truly believe that one of the best ways for families to bond is through travel, and doing activities together as family. We get to visit beautiful new places that we’ve never seen before, eat delicious food, enjoy the different climate and experience new culture which you might not experience again in your life. The positive atmosphere is perfect for impactful family bonding and creating fun memories.

Planning a holiday that includes family with different interests and physical capabilities needs to take lots of things into consideration.

Here are some points to keep in mind when planning your next big family adventure. 

Baggage:

Before you start booking or think about what places to visit, or who wants to see and do what, the first thing you need to figure out is logistics. How much baggage will everyone bring which depends upon your destination and weather conditions up there. If your kids are young and can not handle their luggage on their own, will you be able to help them with their luggage too. Many kids travel with their own mini-suitcases, but if they get tired of pulling their luggage, you will have to cart that as well. If you have to take a stroller and a car seat on the top of that lot of luggage you will have to carry it all. 

Getting Around:

When booking the flights make sure you get the best possible deal and also try to make sure you’re on a direct flight. Having to transit and making sure everyone makes it to the connecting flight on time especially if the preceding flight is delayed that can cause extra stress. If your flight is delayed or cancelled, you have to get the next possible flight out. Once you reach your destination, you need to get everyone safely to the hotel. Are taxis safe at your destination? Will you get ripped off by being brought on the long way ‘round? Can everyone even fit into one vehicle with all extra luggage or you have to get MaxiTaxi. Also at the same time making sure you get to hotel safely. Has international roaming been activated on your phones? Maybe you want to get around these problems by hiring a private driver, but how do you know which drivers are trustworthy and won’t rip you off? Even more importantly, how do you ensure that the driver is properly licensed and is a safe driver?

Safety & Security:

Speaking of safe driving, you’ll also want to ensure safety in all aspects of your trip. The location of your accommodation is extremely important. Perhaps you booked a short-term rental apartment that’s extremely close to a train station, has plenty of rooms, is furnished nicely and is extremely cheap. Well, how do you know whether the neighbourhood is a safe neighbourhood to stay in, especially for tourists? Such information is generally not easily available online, yet it is important and you will have to do plenty of homework. You definitely don’t want to be coming back at night, tired out from a full day’s sightseeing, only to be faced with strange characters near your apartment. That’s not a relaxing vacation at all.

Activities:

When planning your vacation, the first step is to decide where you’d like to go and what you’d like to do. Are you looking to head overseas, or would you prefer to explore Australia? Being able to see and experience something new is super fun, but if you’re the one who has to do the planning and logistics, well, it’s starting to sound like a lot of work. Ensuring that there’s something for everyone on the trip including chidden activities and making sure that it’s accessible for tiny feet. You’ll also need to keep track of opening hours, closure dates, whether admission is timed and whether pre-booking is necessary. You need to ensure that you can get from attraction to attraction easily. Do you know what the best and easiest routes are? Train stations in Japan or other bigger cities are big, spread out, complicated and crowded. Some platforms aren’t even accessible by lifts from certain station entrances/exits! You’re going to need additional time to figure out how to get to the platform that you’re looking for, which will eat into your sightseeing time.

Food and Cultural Experience:

One of the most important part of the travel is making sure everyone is having nutritious food while you are away from home. This can contribute to your overall experience if not eating on time and can any of the family member get sick effecting you travel plan so food is most important. Planning the appropriate stops for rest and refuel is one thing, ensuring that there is good food for everyone is a whole different level of difficulty, especially if you’re not familiar with your destination country. You’ve spent so much time and money to get there after all, it would be a waste if you ended up in an eatery that didn’t showcase the most authentic local cuisines. You will miss out on some of the cultural experiences of your holidays and food is big part of the culture.

 

Some time planing for the kids  can put toll on yourself or your partner so make sure look after each other and share the duties. What is supposed to be precious bonding time with family can get stressful if you don’t address some of these important planning issues. With knowledge of all the best attractions at our fingertips, you can plan the perfect itinerary for you that suits everyone of all ages.