When embarking on a winter break, the last thing you want is stress. Unfortunately, travelling with children can be quite a stressful undertaking, made worse by travelling during the holidays. But, there are things you can do in preparation to ensure your Christmas holiday goes smoothly and everyone stays safe.
One of the big problems that occur when travelling during the holidays is the number of people. While this year will hopefully see far fewer people travelling over Christmas, usually airports are packed with people heading home to see family for Christmas. Longer queues, more people and new places equal more stress which can lead to unhappy children and precarious situations. This is why it pays to prepare with travel insurance, first aid essentials, and quality of life amenities like snacks and accessories to keep them safe and happy.
There are lots of things that you can do before you set off, during your travels and when you reach the destination to ensure your children are safe, some of which you might not have thought of. Have a look at our list of the most important things to consider if you want to travel safely with children during the holidays.
Travel Insurance
As much as we like to think that it would never happen to us, accidents do happen and it is best to be prepared. Travel insurance is actually fairly cheap and can be purchased easily online or from many high street locations such as the Post Office.
We like to let kids be kids, and when we give them some freedom to play on the beach or at the playground they can easily get hurt. To avoid the stressful complications and huge costs of visiting a foreign hospital, prepare by getting travel insurance that covers your whole family.
It is best to insure your belongings as well as your family. When travelling through places you have never been before, it can be easy to leave something lying about when you have children to worry about. Similarly, a lot of European destinations are notorious for pickpockets and can spot a tourist a mile away.
Give Everyone Contact Details
To prepare for the worst case scenario, it is a good idea to make sure your children carry your contact information just in case they get lost. Everywhere is busier during the holidays, which means it is easier for children to wander off and not be found easily. If your child has some paper with your name and phone number on it, it will be easy for someone to contact you if they find your child wandering around alone, even if it is from 30 feet away in the airport.
Decide on a Meeting Point
Similar to the last tip, if your children are old enough, it is sensible to arrange a place to meet if they get separated. While travelling, it would be a good idea to establish a meeting point at every news place. When you arrive at the airport or in the city centre, for example.
First Aid Kit
You might not need to go as far as packing a complete first aid kit, but be sure to pack the essentials such as plasters, painkillers and an ice pack. You don’t want to be running around trying to find a pharmacy in the middle of the night in a new country after all.
Stay Hydrated
This is a good rule in general, but especially when travelling with children as it can be easy to forget to drink water. With the changing time zones, early wake, constant moving and change temperature it can be very easy to seriously feel the effects if you aren’t properly hydrated. Remind your children every now and then to drink water and keep an eye on how full their water bottle is throughout the trip.
Research
Spending an hour before you depart getting to know the location is imperative when thinking about your children’s safety. Make a note of the emergency telephone number, nearest pharmacy and hospital location to save as much time as possible in those scary situations.
Preparation is key when ensuring our children are safe when travelling during the holidays. While it isn’t nice to think about, run through the worst scenarios that could happen during the trip; children going missing, dehydration and injury. Use the tips above to prepare for these situations. Make sure you all have travel insurance, an established meeting point, emergency numbers for that country and plenty of water. It is very hard to keep track of all of these things while travelling with children, but with some practice and preparation, they will become second nature.
