Going On A Vacation?

If you are planning for a holiday but feeling stressed about the number of stuff you need to prepare for it, Flylady has some tips that you can use.

She has a Vacation and Planning List  and a Packing Control Journal.

Travelling with children is a whole lot of fun and adventure (read : you never know what’s going to happen when!)

Food

To me, it is much easier to travel with a nursing baby. Food is never an issue since the milk bar is open 24hours! And it is always fresh and at the right temperature.

I have learnt not to bother with babyfood and the like when travelling with babies under a year old. Less stress on everyone. Besides with the unknown territory, mommy’s breast provides comfort and nourishment all at one go.

But those who are more hardworking swear by their cooler boxes and crock pots. Yes, these moms actually bring fresh food along with them to store in the hotel rooms fridge and then cook fresh meals for their babies/toddlers. Me? I am really too lazy!

Also, I have learnt that it is waaay easier on everyone to just go with the flow when on vacation. Since we only go for 3 – 4 day breaks in nearby countries, it is ok with me if they decide they will only eat bread for that 3 days or pasta at every meal the entire vacation. It is afterall a vacation – a break from the norm.

Clothes

Since our trips are usually 3 – 4 days long only, I assign one outfit per day plus 1 set of pyjamas. If accidents and messes occur, I will wash it in the sink with travel wash (available at most pharmacies).

And since our trips thus far are to resorts in Malaysia and Indonesia, it has been a breeze to pack. Now if we were travelling to a colder climate, it would be much more complicated.

Since clearing the huge load of laundry after a trip is not something to look forward to, I try to be as organised as possible when packing to come home.

Clothes are sorted out according whether they are light coloured or dark coloured. Then once home, I can immediately put one load into the machine without needing to sort them.

Medication

I always bring a standard stash of medications for both adults and children. These incluse fever medication, antacids, carbon pills, antihistamines (we have allergy sufferers), antiseptic creams and bandages.

I would also bring along our usual vitamins and supplements that we take on a daily basis.

Housekeeping

I am particular in that I like to leave behind a clean house and a relatively empty I used to change the bedsheets before we leave and then lay clean sheets over them to prevent dust from settling on the clean sheets.

But due to laziness, this time round, I have left the dirty sheets on while we were away and stripped them bare when we returned. So we still had clean sheets to sleep on!

However, this method is also dependent on the time we arrived home. I don’t think I would want to be stripping the beds bare and laying on clean sheets at 10pm at night!

Naps 

I have learnt to insist on short naps for the younger ones or the meltdowns at dinner time is just not pleasant. Since we need 2 rooms for our family size, this is much easier to manage then if we had only 1 room.

Either I send the older ones to the next room and be quiet while I settle the younger ones to nap or dh takes them out of the room and I stay behind to make sure that the younger ones nap.

There are lots more things you can plan to make your trip enjoyable and as hassle free as possible when on a holiday with young ones but these are the main things to me.

Remember to commit everything to the Lord and then relax and ENJOY!

PS : Travelling with a baby at the crawling stage is physically trying and tiring for me! Told dh that we should have travelled before the baby could crawl or when the baby was walking confidently!