When you finally decide to take your family on your first holiday
together, the stress can be quite overwhelming. I know I stressed quite a lot when we planned our first holiday as a family of four to Torremolinos, back when Beau was just three months old, but honestly, with preparation and planning, there really was nothing to stress about at all and we ended up having a fab time!
There are a lot of
things that you need to consider before going on holiday - such as passports (make sure to check the expiry date on all of your passports before travel. We didn't before our family holiday to Jersey last year and it ended up costing us a lot of money, time and hassle to get a new one and new flights, etc.), travel and the money
that you are going to be taking.
Here are some tips I've but together for planning a family getaway - having planned quite a few in my time as a mother!
Passports
The first thing that you need to think about is your passports. Do all
of your kids have their own passports? If not, you need to make sure
that you apply for them with enough time to wait before your holiday. You should also check all of the existing passports to ensure that they
will be valid for the entirety of your trip. A final consideration in
this section is visas, depending on the country that you are visiting.
You might even find that if your flight has a layover, you might need a
visa despite not leaving the airport. This is true for countries like
Canada for example, so make sure not to get caught out by this.
Money
As a parent, it's likely that you are
going to be in charge of the money for your family when you are away - unless you have teenagers who refuse to let you be in charge of anything! So,
this is something which you need to consider carefully before your trip.
If you choose a
holiday that is all inclusive, you can count on the fact that you won’t
need to bring too much money to spend on food, as long as your kids
will eat at the hotel. If you are planning on buying most of your food
when you are there, you’ll need to think about getting some of your
money exchanged to the local currency.
If you want to use your card
abroad, you should let your bank know that you are travelling to prevent
any security alerts. Banks like BB&T are great as they let you
access your account details online and you can stay up to date with how
much you have left with ease. If you’re current bank account doesn’t
allow online banking, then you may want to look into someone like
BB&T who do offer this service.
The Location
My final
tip for those who are planning a family getaway is to make sure that the
place that you are going to is family friendly. There is nothing worse
than showing up to a hotel that is full of young people who are only
there to make noise and party when you have a young family.
You’ll also
find that family friendly hotels have a lot more to offer kids. They
have clubs and games for them to enjoy, kids pools and are generally a happier and more welcome place for children to holiday at.
Most hotels will let you know if they cater towards kids and
your local travel agent can also help you with this. You should also
choose a location that has weather suited to your kids as you don’t want
them overheating in the hot sun. Check out my suggestions for perfect European seaside destinations for family holidays.
By taking these three things into consideration you and your family should hopefully have a stress-free and wonderful holiday - if you don't have toddlers who make you run around after them instead of being able to lounge by the pool of course!
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