How To Travel Light With Children

Travelling with children sounds like hard work, and it can be unless you are prepared. We've travelled quite a bit with our three now so I know what to expect when I am taking them away, and I know how to make it easier.

One of the top tips I can give you is to travel light. As soon as you have a child (or three like me!) you need all the hands you have to wrangle the children, let along bags of luggage! So here are my top tips for travelling light with children.

Take cabin luggage only

Sometimes, if you are travelling short haul you could even get away with taking just cabin luggage or if you really need more things try to combine them into one suitcase you check in. The rules on cabin bag sizes often change so it is worth checking before you travel to make sure that your bag meets the size requirements. Left Baggage have put together a useful infographic below which lists all the current recommended cabin luggage sizes and some other useful travel tips.

Hire car seats when you get there

Save lugging your car seats on the plane with you, it is much easier to hire them from the car hire company, and then you will also know that they fit in the car safely.

Choose a family friendly place to stay

Many hotels and places to stay are geared up for families now meaning that you need to take less with you when you travel. Ask before you book if they have things that you can use such as a travel cot and highchair, which will save you packing them. You can also check if there are laundry facilities as this will mean you can pack less clothes, and do a wash while you are away.

Invest in a lightweight pushchair

We have one main pushchair and then a smaller, lightweight one for travel. We choose one that folds up small and is light to carry around in case you need to fold it up to get on public transport and it also saves space in the car if you are driving. Some can even be taken onto an areoplane as cabin luggage if they fold up small enough - check the infographic below to see if yours will fit.