How to Make the Travel Part More Fun (or at Least Less Terrible)

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Okay I'll just say it. Not all travel is fun. Even journeys to the most enticing of destinations can be a bit grueling at times. Whether it's braving the airport at Thanksgiving or packing your kids in the car for a roadtrip to the coast, sometimes all we can do is survive. And you know what? That's okay! There will be moments of every trip that don't live up to our hopes and dreams. Thankfully, there are things we can do to make some of the less fun parts of our travels a little more tolerable.

Pack Light

Let's start with the basics. One of the best things you can do for yourself in any travel scenario is to pack light. I've said it before and I'll say it again - when you pack light, everyone wins. It's easier on your body, on your wallet, and on the planet. It helps things move more quickly on the planes, trains, and automobiles you'll be taking during your journey and it reduces your stress in navigating transfers. Check out my separate post all about how to pack light, complete with a recommended trusty packing list!

Become a Trusted Traveler

Enrolling in Global Entry is one of the best things I've ever done for my travel-self. Not only does it allow you to skip long lines at customs when you enter the US, it also includes TSA pre-check for domestic trips. A $120 membership lasts 5 years and kids under 18 can enroll for free if they apply with a legal guardian or have one who is already enrolled. If you meet the eligibility criteria and expect to fly more than once or twice a year, I'm confident you will find that it is money extremely well spent.

Prioritize Comfort

No one deserves to wither away in those uncomfortable chairs near the gate (or, if you're really unlucky, the concrete floor) waiting for a flight that is hours delayed. Save yourself some pain in this scenario and grab a comfy spot at an airport lounge. While some airlines have discontinued guest passes for their lounges, there are many other options where you can either pay for access or get in free with an eligible credit card. If you have more than a couple hours to wait, this can be totally worth it since it includes complimentary food, beverages, and sometimes showers.

My family and I spent a few glorious hours at Minneapolis airport's Escape Lounge waiting for our delayed flight to Costa Rica. It was so much easier to let our toddler wander our corner of the lounge than it was to endlessly chase him around the terminal! On a different trip during a huge winter storm delay we were also saved by Minute Suites, which are basically tiny airport hotel rooms that you can rent by the hour. This was a life-saver for us because we desperately needed to get some sleep and our kiddo was pretty overstimulated from all the chaos... we were too. Stepping into a quiet room felt like a huge gift amidst a series of very frustrating delays and overwhelming crowds.

If you travel a lot, you may even want to consider a Priority Pass, which offers discounted or free access to thousands of lounges worldwide with an annual membership. As a member you can also book ahead, which comes in handy for long layovers!

Plan Ahead for the Kids

We adults tend to have a much higher tolerance for boredom than our tiny tyrannical counterparts. Gone are the days when you could just read a book for hours at the gate or binge an entire season of a podcast on your cross-country roadtrip. No, now you need to entertain, feed, and nurture the little ones. Little ones who you love more than anything in the world and also who you often wish would just GO PLAY.

Playing

To get us through the boredom crisis without solely relying on screens, I secretly pack a few new toys (or toys they haven't seen in ages) and take them out at key intervals along our journey. If your kids are like mine, the novelty of something new just does a better job of entertaining for longer. If you choose to do this, please learn from my mistake and DON'T tell your kids that there are more toys in the bag. You might think this is a genius incentive for good behavior. In reality, it's an incentive for them to ask every 5 minutes if it's time for the next toy yet. Which will then be a great incentive for you to pull all your hair out.

Baby / Tot Wearing

Besides entertainment, one of the biggest challenges I find when traveling with my kids is the need to go quickly when they very much can't (or don't want to). For my toddler, the Tushbaby is my favorite solution to this problem. I have plenty of wraps and carriers at home, but the Tushbaby is especially helpful for traveling because of how quickly you can pop the kiddo on and off. There are no buckles to undo, no straps to tighten - and the comfy seat doubles as a fanny pack! I also love it because it wraps snug around your hips and doesn't put any pressure on your shoulders or mid-back. Plus, it leaves your back open in case you'd like to wear a backpack as well.

Strollering

If you prefer not to wear your little one or if they are too big, the Dream on Me Travel Stroller is another one of my go-to travel supplies. It folds down to a tiny little lightweight square that you can carry on and store in the overhead bin along with your bags. Plus it's easy for preschool-age kids to get on and off independently, especially if you remove the bar that wraps around the seat. This thing can go fast, too. We sprinted across the Atlanta airport pushing our then 3-year-old and it didn't miss a beat. If we didn't have it, we would have missed our connection.

Renting

Which brings me to my final pain point about traveling with kids.... stuff. There's just a lot of it. Packing light is much harder when there is so much necessary equipment for keeping your kids happy and safe. In some cases, there's not much getting around this. However, if it's in your budget you could consider renting equipment at your destination rather than lugging your own. While it can be pricey, it helps make the travel portion of your trip a lot less stressful. Rental platforms like Babyquip have pretty much anything you might need as well as flexible options for pick-up and drop-off. If we rent a car and need a carseat, we meet our hosts at our destination's car rental facility and it works great.

Streamline Your Arrival

Navigating

My final piece of wisdom is all about making the final leg of your journey as painless as possible. That is, your journey to your accommodations. Before you leave home, download the geographic region where you'll be visiting in Google Maps. This will allow you to navigate (without live traffic info) during your stay even if you don't have data. This is also wise to do if you are road tripping. Keep in mind, each download has a size limit so if you're covering a lot of ground you'll need to download several consecutive regions along your route, ensuring each section has some overlap for full coverage.

Interpreting

If you're traveling somewhere that you don't speak the language, it's also a huge help to download Google Translate. Remember to download the specific language(s) you'll need as well. Again, this allows you to use the translating tool even if you don't have cell service. It also has a camera feature which can quickly translate anything captured on your phone's camera. I like to use this feature to translate things like signage, bus schedules, documents, etc.

It also has a live translate feature where you can activate the microphone and have the app interpret what it hears in real time. This saved me and my husband in a huge way when we arrived in Barcelona years ago and our power adapter burnt out. I speak decent Spanish and I thought it would get me by, but when we were trying to ask a local shop owner where we could get a new one I realized just how incredibly wrong I was. I didn't understand a single word of Catalan this man spoke... Google Translate to the rescue! It's far from perfect, mind you. But it's way better than frantically flipping through a dictionary.

Roll with It

One thing I like to tell all the lovely travelers I support is that something inevitably will not go to plan on your trip. The best thing you can do as a traveler is be prepared to roll with the punches and try to stay positive. Traveling can be hard, even when you do everything right. So just do your best, ask for help when you need it, and plan ahead for as much as you can. Roll with the rest!