I have to confess that my slightly obsessive nature really doesn’t enjoy traveling with kids. I always enjoy the being there part, but the getting there bit unnerves me. There’s so much effort that goes into planning and packing and lugging through the airport. It’s exhausting. And it seems like I always end up with way too much stuff.
But like anything else, the more I do it, the easier it gets. I learn something new every time I do it, little tips and tricks that make it more simple. And of course I learn some things to work on for next time:
Wins:
• The church van!! We had 7 people in our initial group and 9 once our friends joined us, so we rented a 11-seater “church van.” We might have been able to make it with a mini-van, but luggage was going to be a problem and no one relished the idea of a 1.5 hour car trip (to San Diego) wedged between two carseats. It was big, but very very nice. We could even load the stroller without folding it up.
• We bought cheap ($20) luggage carts from Wa*lmart to wheel the (huge!) carseats, and occasionally the kids, around on at the airport. They easily stored on the plane and at our destination. BIG win. And as an added bonus, we could check the stroller.
• Of course just taking the carseats along is a huge pain in the rear, but it’s the third time we’ve done it and I’m always glad, especially with Ben who has NO desire to sit in one place unless it’s mandated by straps.
• We really successfully pared down our carry-on luggage. We had a (small) backpack for each kid, our camera bag and a small suitcase which held our running gear, laptop and a few other cannot-get-lost-in-baggage items plus my (very small) purse.
• Renting a house: love this since we can get up in shifts, eat breakfast and dinner at home, pack snacks, do laundry and have most of the comforts of home.
• Disneyland! I knew Tabby would enjoy the big D, but I had no idea how much Ben would. Excellent place for little kids.
• Story-teller Cafe – great food, cool characters, fun time. Would do it all over again.
• Thunder Mountain Ranch – great food, very reasonable prices, fun atmosphere and near Ben’s petting zoo.
• Sprint Navigation – we used the navigation app on our Sprint Phones to get us everywhere. It was really accurate and so easy to use. Just remember to bring a car charger – GPS eats battery!
Losses:
• World of Color: the show was cool enough, but their “preferred viewing” was a joke. No one under 5’6″ could see a thing. And you can’t call it a World of Color Picnic when you have your picnic in a completely separate space. Boo.
• Ariel’s Grotto … food was OK, but we all felt like the experience was a bit over-priced. Tabby loved meeting the princesses of course, but you can do that at The Princess Faire too.
• Food over-buying – we got a little too carried away at Costco and had too much left over at the end. I think we over-estimated how much we’d be at the house and that accounted for most of it. We did donate the excess to a local food bank, though.
• Chillaxing – I came home absolutely exhausted, something hard to avoid in any case, but I do wish I’d spent a little more time sleeping and not running all over the place. This is a lesson that we are really bad at learning.
All in all, wonderful trip.
