Traveling with kids is so hard, guys! Between the planning, packing, getting to the airport on time, being the kids’ personal packmule for all their stuff, trying not to lose anyone… it’s exhausting. With a Spring Break trip coming up for us, I wanted to share 3 travel essentials that bring me peace of mind when traveling with kids.
1. Cable/Charger Organizer Bag
It’s hard to believe that we once threw all our cables and chargers into a ziplock bag. It would take forever to untangle all the cords to get the one I need. Now that we have an actual bag designed to keep cables, chargers, portable batteries, headphones etc. organized, we will never go back to our barbaric ways!
This organizer bag cost less than $20 on Amazon and gives me so much peace of mind knowing that our electronic accessories are all in one place. Most importantly, the right charger can be whipped out in a flash before a toddler melts down from a dead iPad battery on an international flight!
2. Structured Zippered Pouch for Passports
I know you’re thinking – can’t you just throw your passports in a ziplock bag? Hear me out. We now juggle 5 passports when we travel and these little buggers are slippery and like to hide in the depths of bags, in between seats or in the airplane seat pocket. They’re especially hard to keep track of when you’re constantly being asked to bring them out, open to the photo page, put them away, all while shuffling your caravan of children and belongings to the next check point.
Plastic bags are great for keeping the passports together but are flimsy and slippery so also great for losing all the passports together. Enter this zippered pouch I found at Daiso for $1.50. It’s structured and has a good weight to it which makes it easy to grab out of a purse or backpack. It is also held easily under an arm pit as you work your way onto the plane with 3 kids, stroller and that coffee that was too hot to drink at the gate and now you have to use up a precious hand to hold this crappy airport coffee while your most important travel documents are holding on for dear life under your arm pit.
And because I’m a super nerd, I also keep a pen for filling out custom forms/travel documents and included our phone numbers inside the pouch in case our passports get misplaced.
3. Put your Phone Number in Your Kid’s Brain!
This one cost nothing, but provides me the most peace of mind, even outside of traveling. It took a little bit of effort to get a 2-year-old to memorize 7 digits, but when you turn it into a song or game and keep repeating the phone number every night before bed for a couple of weeks, it eventually got embedded into her brain! Like brainwashing…but in a good way!
So now that all the kids can recite my phone number, I know that if we get separated, they will be able to ask someone to phone me. Before we go to a crowded place (hello, Disneyland!), I test them to make sure they still remember the phone number. And because my kids have an inexplicable fear of abandonment, knowing they are able to call me in the event they are abandoned… um lost, gives them peace of mind too.
