15 of My Best Travel Tips For Bigger Trips

Now that we're home from an incredible Spring Break vacation, I wanted to reflect on some of the travel things we did right.

1. Fly direct when you can.  There is a direct flight from D.C. to Honolulu and once we realized that, we booked it.  On big trips with long flights, I find that it works better to just get on and stay on the plane until we've arrived.  Layovers add hours to the journey and frustrate kids.

2. Each kid gets a backpack.  This is essential for organization but also helps with strict airline rules about carry-ons.  On big trips, you'll want to pack some extras (see items below) and it's impossible to fit it all into your one carry-on.  Bringing their own carry-on helps them plan early and feel part of the planning process.

3. Carry on hats.  If you're going to a destination that requires hats, carry them on.  There is  no way to properly pack them without a hatbox.

4. Bring extra clothes in the carry on.  It's always a good idea to bring a quick change of clothing, in case of a spill or if checked bags are lost.

5. Have a jetlag game plan in place.  Figure out the time difference and then make a plan.  Hawaii is 6 hours earlier than DC.  We were going to land in the early afternoon after a 12+ hour flight - close to their natural bedtime.  Instead of  resting, we went out into the sunshine and hit Waikiki beach, then explored the area and had a meal and shave ice.  We all stayed awake as long as possible to try and fall asleep after the sun went down.

6. One person gets and returns the rental car.  Like everyone else, we all would claim our bags and then board the car rental shuttle with all that luggage.  It's the most difficult part of the journey! After doing it once, we figured out that only one person needs to get and return the rental car.  So C usually leaves me with the kids and all the bags while he leisurely goes to pick up (drop off) the rental car and then doubles back to pick us up curbside.  Easy peasy!

7. Pack a daypack.  While there, on big trips like Hawaii, we are usually out for long periods of time, if not all day.  We're doing different things like hiking, snorkeling, sightseeing, eating, shopping, which requires all different types of clothing and accessories.  To stay organized we pack the car up with what we'll need during for different adventures (e.g., snorkeling gear) but always pack one daypack that comes with us - extra money, camera, water, sunscreen, bandaids, and tissues.

8. Buy a phone charger.  You should pack yours from home if you can remember it but we never do. We always hit up the first place we see that sells things like this and we buy a car phone charger. When on a big trip somewhere unfamiliar, there is a lot of mapping.  Nothing ruins the day faster than a dead phone and being unable to find where it is you wanted to go.

9. Bring your Apple TV, Roku, etc.  We have an extra Roku and Apple TV that we bring along to use wherever we're staying.  We don't usually have a lot of time to watch, but it's fun to pop in a movie or show for the kids in the morning as we're getting ready, or for ourselves at night after they've fallen asleep.

10. Buy what you can there.  I'm a big believer in this.  Depending on the destination, see if you can buy it there.  While we were in Hawaii, we bought all of our snorkel equipment, water shoes, and pool floats on site.  We usually don't have a lot of time to pack for a big vacation so I plan to buy what we need when we arrive.  Doing this saves on the stress of getting ready for a long trip.  It also frees up luggage space.  When coming home, depending on how many souvenirs we've purchased along the way, we can decide whether the new stuff is coming home with us.  On this trip, we left a lot of stuff in Hawaii, including four pairs of shoes and some clothes, to make room for new things.

11. Pack using large ziploc bags.  This is a trick that really helps me stay organized, especially in when using larger luggage on big trips.

12. Have loose plans for what you'd like to see/do.  Before we go, I make a list of things we want to do see, do, eat, try, etc.  I don't plan itineraries though.  After we arrive we take one day at a time and if we're close to something that was on our list, we can work it in (or not).  That way we have a good chance of doing what we wanted to do but also are open for exploring in the moment.  With kids, sometimes they enjoyed an activity so much, they want to return.

13. Allow for downtime, relaxation.  My hardest tip for myself.  I like to go go go when we're traveling and C likes a little more downtime.  The kids, of course, are a natural reminder to me that we need to allow for downtime during travel - big trips especially.

14. Get a special treat everyday but maintain healthy eating.  Wherever we go, we figure out the native treat there and go for it every day.  To combat that, I try to make sure that the kids are maintaining healthy eating.  When we are staying at resorts and eating meals out all day, it's more difficult. When we were staying in houses and had our own kitchen, I tried to make a few meals myself so they could eat homecooked food at least once a day.  I made chicken soup while we were on the Puna Coast!

15. Do laundry when you can.  On big trips, especially ones that involve swimming every day, you'll have lots of laundry.  I feel best when we keep up with our laundry during big vacations. The house we rented had a washer and dryer, but when at the hotels, we sent our laundry out.  It was great to return to bags of clean, folded clothes at the end of the day.  It was worth the splurge!