Little kids, big adventures: top tips for family travel

Planning a dream holiday involving unpredictable little ones is often challenging, but the chance to make lifelong memories can make it well worth the effort.

If thoughts of trying to check in strollers, hide foreign veggies under mashed potato or change a nappy on a listing ferry have you breaking out in a cold sweat, three seasoned parent travellers are here to reassure you that a little pre-planning and a little throwing out the rulebook can make for a one-of-a-kind adventure, or at least, one heck of a story.

Booking.com employees Laura Gregory and Mahmoud Yassin from Amsterdam and Bruna Bastos Kirst from Orlando all took international trips with their spouses and young children and survived to share their top travel tips.

Laura and her husband Dean, who also works for Booking.com, were presented with a singular opportunity last spring: a leftover month of parental leave and a narrowing window of time before their three-year-old was to start school. To capitalise, they decided on a bumper, month-long holiday in Southeast Asia, hitting up several cities in their beloved Thailand, along with a week in Hoi An, Vietnam.

Making sure daughter Ivy had just as much fun as mum and dad was a priority. While Ivy was too young to be included in the planning, her parents chose activities they felt she would enjoy, sharing their ideas in advance and asking simple questions to gauge her interest. The family love animals, and getting to see them in an ethical setting was important. An elephant sanctuary proved a memorable outing, and the tot helped out with hosing the gentle giants down and preparing their fruit snacks.

Mahmoud and wife Heba travelled with sons Malik, nine, and Khaled, six, along with another family during the December holidays. The group chose a road trip to Germany, stopping over in Hanover en route to Berlin, then striking out for Germany’s Tropical Islands resort – a vast water park, activities and accommodation complex housed inside a climate-controlled dome.

The kids were particularly excited at the prospect of the water park, and a taste of artificial summer in the depths of the European winter appealed to the adults too. To involve the kids, they showed them potential activities online, and each boy wrote or drew five things he wanted to do. The family voted on the list, with the top five overall making it into the itinerary.

When Bruna and her husband flew from Orlando to her native Brazil to introduce ten-month-old daughter Maria Antonia to family and friends, they quickly discovered that things don’t always go according to plan and that going with the flow sometimes means embracing the chaos. After travelling from the USA’s hottest state to a similarly hot and humid summertime São Paulo, the trio had to adjust to a location where air-conditioning isn’t nearly as ubiquitous as back home.

Bruna says that for their next trip, they’ll plan ahead and bring a portable fan to stave off the sweat. The parents had treated themselves to first-class flights as a Christmas present, which gave them more space to stretch out and easily exit their seats. Even so, they discovered that a pokey aeroplane bathroom without a changing table is no match for a baby with a tummy bug.

Thanks to a helpful flight attendant, plenty of hand sanitiser and a little out-of-the-box thinking, they made it through the 25 nappy changes across the eight-hour return flight. However, they are aware they may need to be more flexible for future, economy-class flights where they could have seatmates to manoeuvre past.

All the parents emphasised the need to be less rigid with routines, like bedtimes or eating habits, when travelling, in order to embrace the holiday spirit and local cultures.

During their month-long Asian adventure, Laura and Dean wanted to ensure Ivy didn’t lose out on social interaction with other children. They took a proactive approach to making connections, asking around for the best playgrounds, child-friendly cafés and play centres where they bonded with locals, including a little Vietnamese girl and her family.

Laura recommends just talking to people you meet – like the café owner who had a daughter Ivy’s age with whom they set up several playdates. She added that learning a few words and phrases in the local language can also go a long way in fostering goodwill. Embracing Thai and Vietnamese culture was essential to the adults, and they frequently strayed from the tourist trail to drink beers with locals. They also got up early to peruse the food markets before they transformed into souvenir markets around 09:00.

Even though travelling with another family meant Mahmoud’s boys had built-in playmates, the parents still wanted to encourage them to interact with other visitors or locals whenever they had an opportunity. While adults can be hesitant to communicate anything that might get lost in translation, young children speak the universal language of play and often find innovative ways to interact, even if it’s just hand gestures.

Bruna’s family spent most of their trip with her relatives in a holiday rental in Ipojuca. Maria Antonia’s birth had set Bruna, her husband and their extended family on an emotional rollercoaster, as the baby was very premature and had to spend a long time in hospital. Meeting the now-healthy, happy tot for the first time was a poignant and joyful moment for loved ones in Brazil, and everyone wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. Such enthusiastic babysitters gave Bruna windows of opportunity to unwind – like a morning spa session with her husband or breakfast together at the nearby hotel.

Mahmoud also relied on trusted helping hands to carve out quality time with Hiba. The pair alternated with the other parents to watch the children so that the adults didn’t have to do activities alone. Mahmoud was particularly keen on trying out the over-18 thrill slides at Tropical Islands, and having the others watch over the kids meant that he could share the adrenaline rush with Hiba. They also did a sleepover swap so that each couple could get a night’s break from the boisterous youngsters.

The extra space offered by a holiday home or apartment can offer much-needed comfort for families looking for a memorable getaway. Although Germany’s Tropical Islands resort features hotel rooms and tents inside the dome, the two families in Mahmoud’s group booked neighbouring holiday homes affiliated with the resort but just outside the main dome. This arrangement allowed them to spread out and have a sense of privacy. A fully functioning kitchen meant they didn’t need to eat every meal out; they prepared simple egg-based breakfasts and hosted one dinner at home with the other family.

Bruna’s first stay of the trip was with friends. In previous years, the friend group would rent a house for a weekend, relax and have barbecues. Even though things were a little different with a baby in tow, they wanted to maintain this tradition and booked Granja Viana Casa Campo – a beautiful forest villa filled with natural light, with amenities like a swimming pool, fire pit, exercise room and home cinema.

Bruna’s relatives organised the accommodation for the final leg of the family’s trip. They chose a big apartment at La Fleur Polinesia Residence & Resort. Homes here share a site with Samoa Beach Resort, giving guests the perfect combination of a large, self-catering space and access to the hotel’s many amenities. The group enjoyed an idyllic, beach-front slice of paradise and relished the opportunity to reconnect, play with Maria Antonia and introduce her to her baby cousins.

If a holiday rental still doesn't feel quite right for a particular trip, then a hotel might still be just the fit. Laura and Dean found themselves in that situation, the outliers of the group who opted for hotels instead of holiday rental. Laura explains her decision: ‘It means we don't have to think about anything. It's done for us.’ They selected child-friendly hotels, with a standout being Melia Koh Samui, with features like a kids’ club, a lazy river winding around the pool and a big slide handily positioned for parents to keep an eye on little ones while unwinding at the pool bar.