Coupons for Good: 3 Strategies to Make Traveling with Kids Easier

Traveling with kids is tough even if you have the most well-behaved children imaginable. You face more luggage for everyone to carry, you’re in a new environment that puts stress on everyone, and the long hours can tax the smaller ones and make them cranky — a parent’s worst nightmare.
You can have a relaxing vacation that both you and your children will enjoy as long as you put the right travel tools and techniques in place. Discover the following three ways you can simplify the process.

Look for Kid-Friendly Hotels

Have you ever tried to spend the day lying by the pool only to hear your children loudly proclaim that they’re bored? Instead of enjoying your novel, you spent the afternoon playing games and running around trying to keep your kids out of trouble. You could have prevented the problem if you had stayed at a child-oriented hotel.

Legoland Florida is one example of this type of hotel, with each room featuring a different Lego brick theme—and with a water playground by the pool. Even if your children become bored, they will meet other kids with whom they can connect over activities.

Other hotels have day camps for kids where counselors trained in child care practices lead activities. You can drop off your children in the morning and enjoy a spa day or nap by the pool before you pick them up in the afternoon.

You can search for Hotels.com hotel coupon offers through Goodshop or check with Hotels.com on Facebook for hotel coupon deals.

Arm Them With Entertainment

A few days before you leave, discuss your travel plans with your kids and ask them what they want to make the time go by more quickly. They might suggest watching movies on your iPad, reading books in paper form or on a Kindle, or playing video games. For example, you might say, “The flight is two hours long, so you need to pick two movies to watch on the way there” or “It’s a two-hour drive to the hotel, so pick a book that you can read during that time.”

You will want to make sure that your children stay entertained during your travel time or else risk hearing the dreaded phrase: “I’m bored!”

Look for Direct Flights

Connecting flights are stressful for any traveler, but you face more pressure when you’re traveling with children. You’re often on a time crunch and in a strange airport, and the last thing you want is to miss your flight and have to wait several hours until the next one. If possible, look for airports that have direct flights or look for hotels in direct destinations from you. Search resources such as Priceline for hotel coupons or connect through Facebook for hotel deals provided by Priceline.

If you have your heart set on a particular location but you can’t find a direct flight, then look for surrounding airports. You might be able to drive an hour or so to your destination if you fly directly into a different city.

Although no entirely easy way to travelwith children exists, these tips will ease the stress level you face and make the journey easier on them.