What I Wish I Would Have Known Before Traveling With My Kids For the First Time

Before I had kids, travel was pretty simple.

I could choose a destination because I wanted to go there, book the trip, pack my suitcase, and leave. I didn’t have to think about nap schedules, stroller logistics, whether a hotel room would work for five people, how long my kids could realistically handle a travel day, or whether a crowded restaurant might be too overwhelming.

Then I became a mom.

And somewhere along the way, travel became less about simply deciding where we wanted to go and more about figuring out how to make travel work for the family we actually had.

I wish I could go back and tell the younger version of myself that traveling with kids wasn’t going to look the way it did before them—and that wasn’t a bad thing 

I just had to learn how to do it differently.

You don’t have to wait until they’re older. 

Traveling internationally with a baby felt intimidating the first time. There were so many unknowns. What would we bring? How would the flight go? What would happen with naps and feeding and all of the things that were so easy to manage at home? 

What I learned is that there is probably never going to be a magical age when traveling with kids suddenly becomes effortless.

Every age has something. 

Babies come with a lot of stuff, but they’re also portable. Toddlers have opinions. Bigger kids have their own interests and needs. Eventually you’re coordinating school schedules, activities and five people’s ideas of what makes a vacation fun.

You don’t need to wait for the “perfect” age. You need to plan for the age they’re in right now.

The best family vacation isn’t the one where you do the most.

I REALLY wish I had figured this one out sooner.

Taking all three of my kids to Disney World taught me quickly that my idea of a perfect Disney day and their idea of a perfect Disney day weren’t necessarily the same thing. 

I could make the perfect itinerary on paper. But if everyone was exhausted, overstimulated or desperately needed to swim at the resort, checking another attraction off the list wasn’t going to make the trip better. 

Sometimes the best decision is going back to the resort.

Sometimes it’s skipping something you thought you couldn’t miss.

Sometimes it’s letting the kids swim for three hours even though you spent a small fortune to be at Disney World. 

I’ve learned that a successful family vacation isn’t measured by how much we accomplished. It’s measured by how the trip felt.

Traveling with sensory needs changed the way I plan everything. 

This has probably been one of the biggest lessons for me both personally and professionally.

When you’re traveling with a child who experiences the world differently, things other families may barely think about can become a huge part of your planning.

Noise. Crowds. Transitions. Waiting. Food. Transportation. Sleep. The feeling of wet clothes after a water ride. A plan suddenly changing.

I’ve learned that preparation matters—but flexibility matters just as much.

Sometimes having a plan for where we can take a break is more valuable than having a plan for what attraction we’re doing next.

I’ve also learned not to plan a vacation around what my family “should” be able to do. I plan for my actual kids 

That shift has made our trips so much better, and it’s one of the biggest things I bring into my work with families now. I understand the parent who is excited about a trip but is quietly wondering, “Is my child actually going to be able to do this?”

Sometimes the answer isn’t that you shouldn’t go.

Sometimes you just need someone to help you figure out what going can look like for your family.

Kids don’t need every second of the vacation to revolve around them.

This one took some time for me to learn, too.

A family vacation can absolutely be about making memories with your kids while still leaving room for the adults to enjoy themselves.

Maybe that’s utilizing a kids club on a cruise so you can have dinner together.

Maybe it’s choosing a resort where the kids are thrilled to spend time at the pool while you actually get to sit down for a minute.

Maybe it’s building in an experience that Mom and Dad are excited about, too. 

I’ve stopped believing that being on a family vacation means every decision has to be based entirely around what the kids want. 

They get to see us enjoy traveling, too. 

And honestly, some of my favorite trips have been the ones where we found that balance—the kids were having an incredible time, and so were we.

And then I learned that I could travel without them.

This might have surprised me most. 

The first time I started traveling without my kids after becoming a mom, it felt different than traveling before I had them.

Because once you’re a mom, you’re still a mom when you’re sitting on an airplane without them. 

You wonder what they’re doing. You check in. You see something they would love and immediately think of them. 

But I’ve also learned that taking a trip without my kids doesn’t take anything away from the trips I take with them.

There is value in traveling as a couple. 

There is value in traveling with friends.

There is value in remembering that I am a whole person outside of motherhood.

And I’ve found that those trips actually make me appreciate our family trips differently.

Travel doesn’t have to fit into one category. There can be family trips, couples trips, girls trips and trips where we find ways to have adult time even though all three kids are right there with us.

---

---

There is room for all of it.

Cruising taught me that sometimes the easiest family vacation is the one where everyone gets a vacation.

One of the things I love most about cruising with kids is that we don’t necessarily have to experience the entire vacation as one unit.

We can have breakfast together, spend the morning as a family, and then the kids can be genuinely excited to go do something without us.

They get independence and experiences designed for them.

We get a little adult time.

Then we come back together for dinner and suddenly everyone has something to tell each other about.

That was a completely different way of looking at family travel for me. 

Together doesn’t have to mean together every second.

The biggest thing I’ve learned? There isn’t one right way to travel with kids.

I’ve traveled with a baby.

I’ve traveled internationally with my kids.

I’ve taken all three of them to Disney World.

I’ve navigated travel with sensory needs. 

I’ve cruised with them.

I’ve traveled without them.

And I’m still learning something new almost every time we go somewhere.

But all of those experiences have changed the way I work with my guests.

Because when a parent tells me they’re nervous about their first flight with their baby, I understand.

When someone tells me their child struggles with crowds, transitions or sensory overload, I don’t hear that as a small detail. I know it can affect the entire trip.

When parents want a Disney vacation that feels magical without coming home more exhausted than when they left, I understand that too.

And when a mom whispers that she’d really love one nice dinner with her husband while they’re on a family vacation?

I understand that one, too.

My job isn’t just to tell families where to stay or what to book. It’s helping them think through the things they don’t know to think about yet. 

Because that’s what I wish I had when I started traveling as a mom. 

Someone who could say, “I’ve done this. Here are the things that surprised me. Here are the things I would do differently. And here’s how we can make this work for your family.”

Traveling with kids is different.

Sometimes it’s harder. Sometimes it’s messier. Sometimes the plans completely fall apart. 

But some of my favorite memories of motherhood have happened because we packed the bags and went anyway.

And I’ve learned that the goal was never to travel exactly the way we did before kids.

It was figuring out how to keep seeing the world as our family changed—and giving myself permission to enjoy every version of it.

 If this information was helpful and you are wanting to start planning your next vacation click the link below to get connected with an Advisor.