Some might call it a vacation and I call it a journey. A vacation with little children is not always that much of a vacation. When I think of the word vacation, I think of relaxation, lots of rest, reading my book uninterrupted, drinking cocktails on a beach and lying in a hammock. None of that has been true since having children. I’m not unhappy about that, though I would love it to happen again! Thinking of travel and vacation as a journey is helpful for me to enjoy myself to the maximum capacity. It’s just another day in life as a parent. I’ve heard it called parenting elsewhere, and I love it. Though it’s filled with challenges sometimes and often exhausting, I like the adventure and the problem solving that comes with it. In the next couple paragraphs, I will put my travel tips for journeys with kids.
This was one of the first times we have flown with both kids. My son is two, and my daughter is five. My husband is quite an anxious flyer, so I knew it was going to be on me to manage the kids a bit more. My first problem to solve was, how do I keep my two year-old engaged on the flights. Typically, we don’t do much screen time and I don’t even own an iPad. So I needed to pack a small bag of things that would keep both kids entertained. The things that I brought that worked the best for my two-year-old, was a popper toy, stickers, and tiny snacks that took a longer time to eat. My five year old was pretty engaged with drawing and playing a drawing game with her dad.
The second flight we took was a bigger plane that had screens, and it was magical! I fully understand why people bring an iPad on flights to keep their kids engaged! I even got to watch part of a movie! So my travel tip number one is let your kids watch screens! There is a time and a place for everything 🙂
Travel tip #2 Any where you go, bring snacks for the whole family and make sure to eat a solid meal before or bring one with you on a day of travel.
There is nothing worse than a family of hangry people traveling together all day. You never know what you’re going to run into while traveling, and sometimes the food that you want or the food that you can eat is hard to come by. Though it takes a lot of extra preparation and room in your bags I have always found it 100% worth it.
When we landed in Phoenix, it was already bedtime for the kids, and everybody was hungry. Instead of having to navigate the city with hungry kids, we made a meal of peanut butter bars, chips, and applesauce packets. It wasn’t the meal I wanted, but it filled us all up so we could get a good nights sleep.
Our first hotel in Phoenix, on the way in, was not near the airport. This was a mistake! Instead of taking a quick shuttle to the hotel, we had to pick up a car, and figure out where we were going and then drive 20 min. Next time we travel, I will make sure our hotel is right next to the airport if we’re getting in at night.
In the morning, we quickly navigated ourselves out of Phoenix, as we are not city people! We drove to Sedona on the way such a Rad place to stop and take a walk, and have a history lesson for my five-year-old that is homeschooled. We didn’t plan this, but we happened upon it and it was awesome. It’s called the Montezuma Castle National Monument.
https://www.sedona.net/cliff-dwellings
After a lovely stop at the castle and a snack of Fry bread from a local pop up, we made our way to Sedona. My little dude just woke up from a nap, so I’ll tell you about Sedona next post! That’s all for now 🙂
My life with Anxiety 