Many of us have fond memories of family holidays as children. What we tend to not remember as adults, however, is the amount of complaining and moaning that children often do on holidays. If you’ve been dreading taking the family on a trip because you’re worried how they will behave, this guide is for you. Here are five simple tips for making your next holiday with the kids as stress-free as possible.

Take Your Time

Children’s brains work very differently from our adult brains. They take in their surroundings in a different way, they interact with the world differently and, of course, they physically take longer to do many things. One of the most important pieces of advice for avoiding your kids losing patience with their situation, and you with them, is to allow them to go at their own pace. Not only will your kids enjoy things more at their own pace, you will also find it easier to keep your cool if you factor in the need for rest stops and toilet breaks into your schedule.

Plan Book Things Ahead

When you’re travelling as an adult, exploring away from the obvious paths is often one of the main attractions. However, when you’re with kids, as much as they love to explore, it can become very stressful. The problem lies in the fact that you are in unfamiliar surroundings. Even the most cool-headed of us can’t help but worry if we get lost in a strange place with our children in tow. Instead, you should plan out what you are going to do in advance, including planning for how you will get there. Make sure to factor in plenty of time to account for unexpected stoppages. If there are events or activities that you want to attend which will have limited spaces, book these as far in advance as possible.

Invest in Apps (and a Case)

Smartphones are wonderful devices, and they can do a lot for the modern traveller. Our smartphones have GPS software to help us if we get lost, translator apps to help us communicate with others, and recipe apps tell us how to make the most of local ingredients. On top of all this, however, your smartphone also has another very important hidden function; it is perfect for keeping young minds occupied. When children act out on holiday, it is very often in response to them becoming bored. If you can keep them entertained and occupied as much as possible, they will have no reason to throw tantrums or to become upset. However, children, especially younger children, can easily become frustrated at their games. Make sure that your phone has a case capable of protecting it when it’s dropped or thrown.

Stay in a Villa

Choosing the right accommodation when you travel with children is one of the hardest decisions that you have to make. A hotel room will be quite crowded with more than a few people, and not every child and their siblings will be able to stay in another room together. Villas are a fantastic choice when you are travelling with family. They offer you the kind of space that a whole house does (often more), but you are paying considerably less for every metre than you would at a hotel. Another serious advantage of staying in a villa is that they allow you to stay near to the places and attractions that you want to see, while themselves being located in relatively rural areas. The result is that you get the benefits of being away from civilisation, and often other tourists, while also having fully furnished accommodation, with all the amenities you’re used to at home. A Santorini Greece Villa from bluevillas.com is the perfect example of why villas are such a great option for many areas. If you look at the map on their website showing the distribution of villas, you can see that there are villas available within an easy travelling difference of all of Santorini’s major population centres. Blue Villas offer villas around the world. They are a company with a solid reputation and an extensive history. Many people still view villas as prohibitively expensive. They are in fact becoming more affordable all the time!

Prepare for All Climates

If there’s one thing that children are not renowned for, it is their foresight. In fact, by some people’s reckoning, children are downright awful at making predictions about the future. Which is to say, if it isn’t raining when they wake up, most children won’t take it upon themselves to bring their raincoat. In order to avoid any fuss or any attempts at turning the car around, make sure that you pack clothing and gear suitable for any kind of climate you are likely to encounter. Holidaying with kids can be tricky. However, by taking a few simple steps yourself, and doing everything you can to make sure that they keep themselves amused and entertained, you can enjoy your holiday with children who behave like angels.

With spring break currently in full force and summer just around the corner, you and your family may be using the free time to plan for a big vacation during the extended summer holidays.

If going to Disneyland or another theme park sounds too typical or superficial, then you can look at the options for short-term educational tours.

Centered around the concept of offering a diverse range of educational fun for the whole family, these tours can prove to be the perfect mix of knowledge and joy for all ages.

To help you form an informed opinion about taking an education tour, here are a few reasons why such a tour could be a fun, enthralling and unique travelling experience for your family.

It Can Provide Firsthand Experiences

Developed with the very thought of teaching through different aspects, an educational tour lets you and your family learn new things during your travels.

You are no longer limited to using your imagination to interpret someone else’s words or using your vision to appreciate a picture on your screen. Instead of only reading about faraway places and their various traits, you can actually experience them firsthand by living through them together with your family. This allows you to use all of your senses to experience things as they are in real life.

This lets you and your family have a greater understanding of what it actually feels like to be in a place instead of just reading about it. That by itself enables all of you to use that experience in a variety of aspects such as work, school and personal life.

It Lets You Appreciate What is There in the World

Whether you are learning about the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu or getting Spanish lessons from locals in Ecuador, an educational tour can introduce you to newfound appreciation and understanding of different cultures and places.

This makes sure that you are no longer limited to filtered sources of information. You can learn the basics of several languages, study the topics of various cultures, and absorb the knowledge of how life is in different places of the world.

It lets you and your family develop empathy for the planet and its inhabitants, and that allows you to make better decisions in your everyday lives.

It Makes You More Confident

Traveling to different places and learning about the life there doesn’t only educate you from a perspective of knowledge, but it also helps you grow from a personal aspect. 

Since you and your family members are able to learn through different experiences of various people and explore sights that you have never traveled before, all of you get to grow more confident, perceptive and knowledgeable from the experience.

As such, you are ready to take on any challenges that life throws your way. The older people in your family could learn to apply these skills at their workplace, while younger members could use this assertiveness during their school and college with ease. All in all, it helps you boost your performance, and lets you apply your newly gained education in various aspects of life.

Looking forward to your next vacation? More of us than ever before are hitting the open road, relishing the long winding roads and enjoying every stop and landmark along the way. There’s a lot to consider, from the route you’re going to take, to what to pack and how you’re going to keep your children occupied on the long journey. Another element of your travels that you should consider is how you’re going to stay safe on the roads. Roads are much busier, there’s a lot of traffic to contend with, and there are unfamiliar towns and cities to navigate – the last thing you want is to find yourself caught up in a road accident… call a personal injury lawyer from Greenville if you’ve been involved in a car crash that wasn’t your fault. So, with this in mind, I’ve gathered some simple, safe driving tips you can use for your next vacation. Get plenty of sleep Driving takes concentration and endurance, especially if you’re driving long distance. Therefore getting plenty of sleep the night before your journey is essential. In the days leading up to your trip, try to get as much sleep as possible, go to bed early and avoid drinking or late nights. If you struggle to drift off, don’t worry just keep yourself relaxed and avoid anything too strenuous in the days before you travel. Share the driving responsibilities If you’re traveling with another adult, consider sharing the driving responsibilities so you can help each other navigate the roads, keep an eye on each other and rest while the other takes the wheel. Falling asleep at the wheel or driving whilst tired is incredibly dangerous, and you’ll be endangering your own life, your passenger’s lives and the lives of other road users. Drive defensively Driving defensively means driving to save lives, time and money. Being aware of your surroundings, following the 3-4 second rule and not depending on other drivers. Brush up your defensive driving skills by taking a course before you travel or do some simple research to familiarise yourself with defensive driving practices. Plan your stops Of course, you want to get to your destination as soon as possible, but failing to make any stops will put pressure on you, leave you feeling fatigued and incredibly stressed and uncomfortable. Planning your stops will ensure you and your family can stretch your legs, get something to eat and enjoy your journey. It also means you’re more likely to get there safely. And finally, keep your passengers happy If you’re a parent you’ll know that traveling with kids often means fighting on the backseat, tears and incessant choruses of “are we there yet?”. Keeping your kids entertained on long journeys means that you can concentrate on driving, avoid missing your turn off and hopefully prevent a crash with another vehicle. Always bring plenty of snacks, toys and games to keep the little ones (and the big ones) occupied whilst you concentrate behind the wheel.