10 Tips for How to Save Your Family Vacation From Disappointment

Traveling with kids can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be fraught with pitfalls and frustrations. With some careful planning, many of the most common traveling-with-Junior travails can be avoided. Here are 10 ways how:

1. Research your destination before you book your tickets.
Conduct online research or ask a travel agent to find out if your vacation base is a place where a lot of families visit. Some places may sound kid-friendly, but they can turn out not to be. On a recent eight-day trip to Panama, our 4-year-old son had a total of one playmate (who spoke Swedish) for a total of 30 minutes—needless to say, this was an unexpected bummer. Had we known the dominant scene was 20-something European backpacking partiers, we could have made a prudent itinerary switch before dropping a dime.

2. Splurge on the hotel.
Let's face it: With kids, you're going to be spending more time in the hotel than you would if you were traveling with just your sweetie. Make the most of your precious vacation hours by biting the bullet and splurging on digs with a swimming pool and other amenities, like a spa and fitness center, if possible. Also, don't underestimate the convenience of a laundry facility!

• Young children happily glide down the slide.
• aka Kath

3. Prepare for the plane ride.
When my son was an infant, a travel-savvy friend advised me before a trip to Paris to bring an extra change of clothes on board—not just for the baby, but for me! Kids get sick a lot when they travel, and you don't want to be sitting in 'ick' for hours if you happen to be the target. Also, use your child's allotted carry-on bag for his or her things. A carefully timed unveiling of dollar-store toys, crayons, children's books, and snacks and juice can buy you and your child-weary plane neighbors some sanity.

4. Pack some familiar items.
If you own a laptop, a few favorite DVD's tucked away for rainy afternoons could be the save of the century, and might even buy you a nap. Chances are you aren't packing light anymore, so go ahead and throw in a couple of boxes of the munchkins' favorite granola bars or other non-perishable snacks to get you through the unavoidable "foreign pickiness syndrome." Salted cod kippers tided my husband over till dinner, but um… 'nuf said.

5. Keep their schedule in mind.
If you were at home, would you drag Little Monkey through an hour-long museum stroll during naptime? If you still use a stroller, this could make sense. But if your tykes are on foot, figure out their peak time and head out then; otherwise you could be headed for an easily avoidable clash of wills.