Traveling and Family Vacations with Kids: Step One Packing

My husband and I love to travel.  We were together less then 6 months when we took our first trip together.  We went to Jamaica.  It was the first time I traveled out of the Country and I loved it.  I had been happily bitten by the travel bug.  We even had a destination wedding in Ocho Rio, Jamaica.  We have regularly taken a vacation roughly every six months since then.  I truly believe that in a relationship or family you need to travel and vacation together.  It doesn't matter if it is a long weekend a few hours from home or across the globe it is great to spend time just the two of you or as a family.  You can create wonderful memories and reconnect as a couple or family.

This year we decided while I was still pregnant with our daughter that we would take a family vacation to Disney. I have to admit I was a tiny bit nervous to travel with a 3 year old and a 3 months old.  The whole thing kind of sat uneasy with me..How would they do on the plane? How do I keep two kids occupied? How do I breast feed on the plane? I decided to take it one step at a time and step one for me was packing.  I needed to make sure that we brought everything that we might need for two reasons. #1 the cheap person I am I hate having to spend money on necessitates on vacation and they always seem to cost 10x's more then they would at home. 2) My OCD : I really freak about not being prepared and I tend to over react to situations like not having what I need..I like to be organized and ready.

I started by using a corner of my bedroom to pre-pack about a 10 days before we left. I would place items that we would need as I thought of them in the "vacation" spot.   Some people might use a list but for me list don't work well.  I need to see the items in front of me.  Most of these items are things I knew I would over look as we pack essentials.  This pile included toys that I didn't want to buy at Disney.  We bought items at Disney.com on a deep clearance discount before we left.  I also purchased glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets.  This pile also had our fans, sunscreen, laundry detergent and a stroller cover for the airplane.

In the process of preparing I decided to add a pile in the kitchen of items to occupy my 3 year old on the plane and 45 minute ride to Disney.  I was dreading having "that kid" on the airplane.  I didn't want him to be to terribly disruptive to other passengers.  I also started training him early on about using our inside voice and soft touch, not kicking the seat ect...he has a sensory delay issue which makes this extra difficult.  He is not autistic but has similar issues.  He has difficulty processing incoming tactile or auditory information unless it is at a level 10. This makes him extra loud and he wants to touch everything! So, I packed items to help him.  Crayons: to color, a camera: he loves to take pictures and this feeds his need for phyical stimulation by touching the camera and auditory by the sound of the camera snapping the pic, Velcro : this was a life savor! the feeling of the rough and smooth sides of the Velcro coupled with the ripping was entertainment for 20+ minutes!

I set a deadline for packing. My deadline was 11pm the night before we left. I organized all the clothes on the bed by kid and parent..everyone had their own pile organized by outfit.  I also had to bring blankets, lovey's, laundry detergent ect...I brought almost everything to our bed to check, double check and recheck before packing.  Once I was satisfied that I had everything we needed it went in to the suit cases and a big surprise to me was that everything for my husband, kids and myself fit in 1 large suitcase, 1 medium and 1 small. 

So, the hard part was complete and we the next morning we were on our way! My next post will be about the tip and how much fun we had!