Traveling With Kids

The prospect of a long car journey doesn't always fill me with excitement and anticipation.  Sure, the destination, yup.  But there's this whole big bit between travel planning (fun!) and arrival (fun!), and that one bit, it can be a whole lot of terrifying.  

I've found that our best bet for ensuring long-distance travel goes smoothly has everything to do with how well we plan.  And it's not just the travel either.  Taking kiddos away from their daily comforts and routines can be super challenging for everyone involved, but with a little bit of preparation, the transition can be managed without too much drama.  Some drama, yes.  

Before the trip:  I've learnt (the hard way) that a prepared child is a happy child.  Rather than springing it upon them as I have done in the past ("Hey kids!  Today we are traveling for 8 hours so that we can sleep in a different house for the next five days!" - admittedly they were younger then, but still), I now know that a little forewarning can make the world of difference.  Particularly if a little emphasis is placed on certain appealing aspects  - cousins they'll get to see, exciting activities, car treats etc.

Packing is something I dedicate a fair amount of time to (or over-packing, as I generally come to realise halfway through the trip when I can no longer zip my suitcase closed), with emphasis on those special few items that will make them feel cozy and comfortable in their new abode.  Favorite soft toys, books and other items related to nighttime rituals are the. most. important things I will pack.  Most things can be replaced, if needed (though preferably they won't), but heaven forbid I ever leave Bubba behind...

Timing our trip is also important, if this is something we have control over.  Certain parts of the day are easier to travel for a variety of reasons (road-works, traffic etc etc), and it's worth considering the optimal travel time for your babies too.  Ensuring that they can fit in a full nap before you need to stop for gas or food will save you a headache, or consider traveling at night so they can just sleep on through...

For the car trip:  Food and entertainment, basically.  Perfect road trip food for our whanau includes: fruit (particularly soft fruits that pose less of a choking hazard), juice boxes (novelty + no mess), organic sachet baby food (this is the best road trip food EVER!  My kids love it and it's mess/choke free), one square meal muesli bars and dried fruit.  Sandwiches and pizza slices work for us grown-ups, but generally don't appeal to my kiddos when we are traveling.

In-car entertainment is quite a balanced art, I have found.  Garland in particular can lose. the. plot during long road trips, so some serious preparation is needed to ensure he is kept occupied.  Of course, a well-timed nap will save everyone's sanity, but it's not something you can totally rely on, unfortunately.  Still, our last few roadies have gone without a hitch, and without, I might add, the use of electronic devices.  Wiiiiiin!!!!!!

'Happy kid, happy car-trip' strategies:  Dole out your chosen entertainment little by little.  Audio books are the shiz for road trips, but I use them sparingly, for maximum effectiveness.  By holding off for as long as possible, I have a sure-bet mood lifter waiting up my sleeve for that ever dreaded moment when I will need it most.  I'm talking about the in-car-sibling-fight.  Worst.  Also, def have some favourite music ready for when everyone needs a little pepping up.  Our last trip included a lot of Daft Punk.  It kept everyone happy.

And definitely, definitely, pack equal and if possible, identical entertaining items because there's nothing more frustrating (for everyone) than scrapping over a toy.  Tried and true in-car entertainment for us includes: Audio books, actual books, colouring/activity books, kid magazines, pads of paper, coloured pencils, pencil sharpeners (a whole bunch of entertainment right there, for reals), stickers, small toys (cars, Schleich, little dolls etc), simple puzzles, pinball type games, toy cellphones, playing cards (esp. Happy Families and so on).  Basically, plastic crap, which I am mostly opposed to.  But desperate times, people, desperate times...  Keep your bag of toys & snacks at your feet, ready to hand out one by one when needed.

Water and toilet stops are essential, because DUH.  But, for a newly toilet trained child (or even in the past six months), you may want to give them a nappy to wear for the trip to avoid any accidents.  On longer road trips you will probably want to stop for a walk at some point, but do not - I REPEAT, DO NOT stop too early.  It will be super hard to get your kids back into the car after this, and you will probably need some extra incentive, so save something special for this very moment.

Arriving at your destination:  The first night is always the worst, so it's best to prepare yourself for a rough sleep.   We find it helpful to have our kids assist us in unpacking and making our sleeping space cozy, using this as an opportunity to talk through what will happen.  We emphasise that everything will be just as it is at home, we'll be very close at hand and all the normal bedtime rituals will be kept to.  Having a calm and quiet first night will help your babies adjust, making subsequent nights much easier and more relaxed.

This next tip is super hard to stick to, but so, so worth it.  Most of us start planning for a trip by making a long list of all the things we would love to do.  With small kiddos in tow, it's best to plan for far fewer activities than you would actually like to achieve.  For preschoolers, one big thing per day is more than enough, and even possibly too much, depending on your chosen activities.

If you are visiting a spot with lots of attractions, I fully recommend spacing out the most exciting/exhausting ones with some smaller activities in between.  Walks to local parks, botanical gardens, cafe visits, things like that.  My biggest piece of advice would be to keep your afternoons 100% free for resting, and trust me, the kiddos won't be the only ones who need it.

Returning home:  Whatever you do, don't overlook the planning of your return trip.  This is possibly the most important part to have a contingency for.  Your kids will be tired, you will be tired, and you won't have the prospect of a fun, exciting holiday to keep you feeling chipper.  Sanity-wise, you will all be on the very, very edge.  Save some toys for this bit, find some novel snacks, keep a favourite album or two in reserve, and if all else fails, make sure your phone/tablet has a full battery.   It can be nice to plan a quick, fun stopover for your return journey, just to give everyone something to look forward too.

Plus, don't forget your own entertainment!  I managed to read a huge chunk of this Laini Taylor instalment, while we journeyed home from the Hawkes Bay.  It was like, the best long-boring-drive evah.  And sometimes(often) I take really boring photos of things we are driving past.  YOU KNOW THIS ALREADY!  I love to post these photos!  I am cool!!!  Hehe!  It's why you love me, right?!  Don't... answer that...

And plus, plus, plus, don't forget to look after your driver.  There will come a point when they really need you to play that one album that everyone else hates but they really love.  Suck it up.  Also, they like fun little snacky food too!  And coffee!  Probably.  If they drink coffee.  Well anyway, you know your driver better than I do.  In fact, maybe you are the driver!  So look after yourself!  Get hold of a really great, exciting audio book, or like, pretend you're in a movie travel montage (also a fun game for passengers, fyi).

So that's it, that's my 'traveling with kids' tips for y'all.  We don't travel that often, but when we do, our journeys are fairly lengthy (I mean, that's all very relative, but I think anything more than 3 hours in a car with kiddos and you are gonna need a plan).  

These are my tips for traveling with pre-schoolers, but I would love to know your tips for traveling with older children.  In particular if those tips eliminate the need for iPads and other devices.  Favourite car games?  Audio books?  Snacks?  We'll have a five year old soon, and we'll need to up our game, I think!

Auckland Museum

I can't even remember the last time I visited the Auckland Museum.  It's much better than I actually remembered!  In lieu of Zoo/Rainbow's End/MOTAT visits this trip, we opted for a more low-key outing to look at the natural history section of the Museum.  I will say that choosing to look at one section only, was an inspired idea.  Once we were through here (and after a quick look at the Wildlife Photography exhibition), the kiddos were definitely ready for lunch and a rest.

Our two are really into dinosaurs at the moment, so it was especially fun showing them the dino skeletons, though to be honest, the taxidermic animals held most appeal.  It's practically like visiting the Zoo, y'all!  Except all the animals are dead.  

My personal favourite part was watching them walk tenderly across the glass-topped floor as though they were really walking on water.  Hehe!  Kids :-P

It was busier than usual when we went, school holidays and all, so the Weird and Wonderful section was a little too packed to really enjoy.  We spent some time looking through the drawers filled with bugs and butterflies and then busted a move.  To be honest, I can't remember much of what else the Museum holds, but I'd be quite keen to go and take another look next time we visit.

We had our lunch under watery sun in the Winter Gardens, which feel very much like something out of 'The Secret Garden,' and made me go all dreamy eyed imagining our (far in the) future home.  I've decided that a secret garden is just what we need ;-).

At the Holiday Inn

So Holiday Inn Rotorua offered our lucky, lucky family complimentary rooms in their hotel, and this is our personal account of all they had on offer.  We went with the intention of feeling out how well they catered to families with young children, and so I will focus on the salient info that I think will most help a traveling family decide if this is the place for them.  Sidenote: after writing, editing, linking and preparing this post for publication, my *beloved* computer crashed and lost my. entire. post.  :-D  So much funs!  Here we go with #2.

1. Eleanor takes imperatives very seriously, with some Suess-esque artwork.  2. Our geothermal view.   3. Hotel essentials.  4. Eleanor's suite.  5. Breakfast buffet.

The Rooms:  The minute we entered our hotel suite, we were greeted with warmth, comfort, and ample space for our kiddos to *ahem* relax in.  The decor was tasteful, simple and our rooms featured a geothermal view that was such a novelty for us!  Rotorua is really a whole other world with all it's geothermal activity and whatnot, and the view provided an immediate connection to a pretty special environment.  

Our rooms were kitted out with every packaged essential you could ask for, from the typical soaps and shower potions, to dental sets, shaving kits and even shoe mitts, because... erm... I'm not exactly sure what a shoe mitt is for, actually.  But hey, anyway!  We were also provided with complimentary kid packs that comprised of stickers, colouring pencils and a variety of paper activities to keep them busy.  Little touches like this, appreciated.

The interconnecting room was a life-saver, actually.  Eleanor claimed it immediately, asking "can we live here for all times?" and spending the next two hours singing whilst running in and out of 'her' room  showing me the things that had been left there for her - pens, pads, hotel booklets etc.  Hehe!  Spot the country kid.  And the garnish to her happiness-dessert?  Two complimentary Disney channels for her to (parents permitting) indulge in.  

1. The pool!  Amaze!  2. Kuirau Park.  3. Gym entrance.  4. A little quiet spot.  5 & 6. Kuirau Park.  7. Dessert buffet. 

The Facilities:  Holiday Inn Rotorua has a whole bunch of useful facilities, a full list of which you can find here.  We didn't have a chance to try them all, but they have put a lot of considered thought into what might be most helpful to guests, taking a lot of stress out of holiday planning.  

Our personal favourites were the geothermally heated hot pool and spas where we spent the majority of our hotel minutes.  We even enjoyed a rainy swim, which is better than any spa treatment I can think of.  Tha. Best.  I managed to sneak away and utilise the 24hour gym too, while the fam had a late evening bathe, and found that my view overlooked the pool. "Hi Family! Yep, Garly, I see you trying to steal that kid's toy."  Both facilities were well kitted with towels and icy water, and as a bonus were conveniently close to our rooms.  

1. Kid packs.  2. Kuirau Park.  3. Dessert buffet.  4. Cute lobby art.  5. Girl at breakfast.  6. Seafood buffet.  7.  Kuirau Park.  8. Hotel lobby.  9. Kuirau Park.

The Food:  We sampled both the breakfast buffet and dinner buffet at Chapman's Restaurant, and were really happy with both.  They have a la carte options, too, if that's something you would prefer.  The breakfast selection was extensive, all the expected foods along with extra treats such as pancakes (so many toppings!) and DIY smoothies.  So naturally my kids opted for Ricies ;-).  I was pretty pleased to discover their full range of coffee options too, breakfast was just happiness all round. 

Chapman's Restaurant offers a pretty insane seafood buffet at dinner.  Oysters, in the shell!  They were legit, and I ate quite a few :-).  We are pretty maniacal about seafood, so this whole scenario played out like the very best of food fantasies, and only Garland, intent upon the dessert spread, wasn't completely absorbed with eating alllll the seafood.  We barely had room for dessert (but you know, we took one for the team), and certainly didn't have room to sample the variety of roast vegetables, meats and other delicious dishes, but I made a point of walking down the table and peering at all the options, so that I knew exactly what I was missing out on.  I'm really kind to myself, like that.

1. Breakfast buffet.  2. Hallway games.  3. Dessert buffet.  4. Parental suite.  5. Seafood buffet.  6. Hotel lobby

The Service: I think the staff at Holiday Inn might be the loveliest on earth.  They were immediately friendly, welcoming and incredibly helpful, providing maps, information, and consistently going the extra mile to make our stay as comfortable and pleasant as possible (without any knowledge of this review, I might add).   Everything had been thought of, every comfort, need pre-empted. They were quick to point out that free internet came with (also free) IHG Rewards Club membership (um, AWESOME!  Hotel internet is not usually cheap!), and greeted us at every point with smile, a friendly word, and sometimes even a chat.  Honestly, this doesn't happen everywhere, and I think this is a real credit to Holiday Inn Rotorua.

1.  Spirited two-year-old + hotel lobby.  2. dessert buffet.  3. More feather art.  4. Kuirau Park.

For Families:  Holiday Inn definitely felt family-oriented, providing a number of services aimed to make guests feel comfortable, relaxed and secure.  They have a 'kids stay and eat free' policy, which is such a plus for families traveling on a tight budget, and have early start times for their dinner buffet, specifically for young families.  Our kids were so happy and at home that Eleanor stated on multiple occasions, "I don't want to leave this place.  I wish we could stay here." 'Nuff said, really.

1. Seafood buffet.  2. Freebies (they're always fun). 3. Kuirau Park.  4. Dessert buffet. 5.  Heading 'home' to our hotel suite.

Overall this was such a memorable trip for our family, a welcome respite from some miserable weather, and an exhausting school term.  We topped our trip off by visiting some of our favourite spots in Rotorua, including Kuirau Park and Lake Rotorua itself.  Time and weather permitting, we would have visited even more of Rotorua's incredible selection of tourist destinations, but for this visit it was enough  to relax in these hotel spaces, that felt a little like a (nicer, drier) home away from home.