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10 Tips for How to Save Your Family Vacation From Disappointment

10 Tips for How to Save Your Family Vacation From Disappointment

Learn how traveling with "junior" can be rewarding rather than ruinous.

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6. Lower your activity expectations.
If going on a three-mile hike will leave you hot and tired, how do you think your kids will feel? Be reasonable, or be prepared for the inevitable meltdown.

7. Keep restaurant time to a minimum.
It's not fair to expect your child to sit patiently through three restaurant meals a day; consider easy picnics for lunch purchased from a local grocery or market, and if you've splurged on a hotel (see No. 2, above), request a room with a small refrigerator and a microwave for fast fixes.

8. Take play breaks.
Ask a local if there is a neighborhood playground nearby. If not, make up beach games or even play a simple game of hopscotch; normal play activities should be a kids' birthright on a vacation. Remember, it's their downtime, too!

  • Children enlighten their minds with books at the library.
  • LWY

9. Pick your thrifty battles wisely.
Spend the extra bucks on things that will make your children comfortable, like that cab ride at the end of the day. On the above-mentioned trip to Panama, we made the mistake of boarding a local "collectivo" van to get home from a beach; it quickly became stuffed with 20 human beings. The result revealed an amazing coping mechanism: My panicked son attempted to count to one thousand for the first time. I'm grateful he did that instead of whining loudly for an hour, but still. Had I known what a claustrophobic nightmare we were headed for, I would have sprung for the taxi.

10. Visit a local library.
You don't need to be spelunking or trekking for every activity; some should be intentionally mellow to keep your kids from getting burned out. We ducked into a hole-in-the wall library in Bocas del Toro and had an impromptu shaded story hour during the hottest hours of the day.

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2 Comments on this article
MomVoyage

fridge

by MomVoyage on January 30, 2008

In my experience even the low-mid budget chains have on site laundry. What was really key in the month I just spent traveling with my three year-old was a small fridge in the room, and the proximity of a playground.

leoanton

headline

by leoanton on January 30, 2008

Good article, informative and well-written. That's an, umm, interesting headline.

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