Amanda & I have a long history of traveling together. In the years before having children, we did roadtrips constantly. We saw many National Parks for the first time together during these years - from the Grand Canyon to Yellowstone and many others. While I don’t write or talk about it much, we spent several years trying to have children but were unable to. We eventually landed with a cat, and you can see #crunchyontheroad in ten-year-old Instagram posts.

We eventually met a doctor who was able to help us have our son, Elijah. Then later our daughter Marcella came as a surprise. And here we are now, over eight years into parenting. When we were first pregnant we actually talked about the lifestyle we lived and what we valued, and consequently, what would change. We were determined to stick to our lifestyle of traveling, or rather let me say it like this - our value of experiences. We simply prefer to use our time and money on experiences rather than stuff.

TRAVELING WITH SMALL KIDS — *Dance party at the foot of the Tetons, 2022*

This is why even something as simple as our wedding rings are about as cheap as possible. I wear a $55 ring from Amazon, made from tungsten. Amanda wears a small diamond ring and wedding ring from - wait for it - Walmart. I think we spent a total of $300 on our rings. And our entire wedding was $200. We used the little bit of money we had back then to spend a week in Yellowstone.

Experiences over stuff. That’s been our value as a couple, and remains our value as parents. We have yet to slow down, but we have learned a lot about traveling with small kids. Here are a few tips to make traveling with small kids an adventure, not an annoyance.

Tip #1: Start Small

This tip has two meanings. First - start when they are small. Second - start with small trips.

We took our first road trip when Elijah was only four months old. We drove nine hours from our home in Virginia to Niagara Falls for a few days in the fall of 2014. Our biggest trip with him when he was really small was two weeks on the PCH when he turned two, ending the trip with a day in Disneyland. When Marcella was one we went to Acadia for the Fourth of July, and later that fall spent a week traveling the PNW. In between all of those years (and still today) are numerous adventures and journeys, including as recently as a few weeks ago in Wyoming with the kids currently at four and eight.

What small means is really up to you. For us, a nine hour drive was small. In 2021, we moved from Virginia to California, and drove it. Now that was a big trip. But a day drive isn’t really much. You can do anything for a day, right? If you never travel, try a few hours with your kids. If they can do a few hours, why not go a little bigger? There is so much to see and do if you’re willing to go!

Also, starting when they are small creates normalcy out of travel. As a family that loves to travel, we want traveling to be normal for them. We want the rhythms and experiences to not overwhelm them, but excite them. Starting when they are small helps create those predictable rhythms.

Tip #2: Take Your Time

While we still love being on the road as we were before we had kids, one thing that has changed is the pace. I wouldn’t say we’re slow travelers, but we’re definitely not as fast as we use to be. Before we moved west, it was always a journey to come out west. We had to take long flights from the east coast, and then drive somewhere. The job I worked was pretty demanding on my schedule, and it was hard for me to be away for extended periods of time. Therefore, we would hit the ground running and do as much as we could in the time that we had.

A small example of this was a whirlwind trip we took in 2019 to the southwest. We flew into Las Vegas, and went to Zion, Horseshoe Bend, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, and the Valley of Fire all within a single week. While we had a blast and did a lot of cool stuff, I would never move at that pace again with the kids.

Contrast that to how we traveled in 2020. With the lockdown, we took the family on a five-week trip. We covered some miles, but during that five-week period we spent five days or more in every spot we went to. That pace was much more manageable.

All of this to say - take your time. Find the pace that works for your family. We landed at a max of 8-10hrs of driving in a day, and no more than two days of that before being somewhere for a bit. We put this into practice even driving across the country by taking a few days off in Colorado before getting back on the road to California.

My formula is this: 2x staying what I have to travel. If I have to travel a full day somewhere (and a full day back), I would need at least four days there to make that worth our time. Two days total traveling = four days staying, minimum.

Tip #3: Don’t Settle

We teach our kids to have grit. We aren’t going to settle for mediocre experiences. We don’t cut corners. We don’t give up on a plan. We aren’t too tired. We push through.

I think travel resilience is something critical to teach kids when they are small. I’ll be honest - I don’t always take the family out to every sunrise. But we plan and take them out, often. On that five-week trip in 2020, we went as a family to the top of Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park to watch the sunrise over Wild Goose Island. This was nearly an hour drive from our Airbnb, and the drive was in the dark. We woke the kids up early, and drove to this spot with not another car on the road. We sat there in the dark as a family until the sun came up. It was amazing.

Like I said, they don’t come to every sunrise, but if we’re out for a week, they come to at least half of them. We hype it up as something special the night before, and they wake up excited like it’s Christmas morning.

Hard things are only hard if you present easy alternatives. Sleeping in is an easy alternative to getting up for a sunrise, but we don’t present that as an option, and we never have and never will. We don’t settle.

Tip #4: Teach Gratitude Early

I have written before about our family culture of generosity. We also have a family culture of gratitude. It’s really important to us that are kids are always grateful, and recognize that they get to have experiences Amanda nor I ever had, let alone many other children their age across the country and world. This culture of gratitude is enforced everyday, from meals to their belongings to experiences.

Gratitude is the opposite of entitlement. It’s so critical to model and teach gratitude. When we have a complaint rise up, it’s an opportunity to remind our kids to be grateful for their experiences. This has a profound impact on their understanding of travel and adventures.

A lot of family culture is absorbed, not intentionally fostered. Since that is the reality, we are very intentional with daily reminders of gratitude. If you want to travel easily and efficiently with your kids, help them understand how special it is to do these things, especially as a family. Complaints and entitlements can shut down all the positive energy and vibes of your adventure, so proactively teaching gratitude can stop that before it becomes a problem.

Tip #5 - Grab these Items

Alright, time to get super practical. Here are a few items that make traveling with your small kids much easier. This list will focus on road-trip items, since that’s our primary method of travel. When we fly, it’s just all about getting to the location to start the road trip.

Get a small cooler and pack food. We rarely if ever eat out when we travel. Amanda cooks at our Airbnb, and we picnic. It’s so much cheaper and convenient. We will land in a new place, and immediately grab a $40 cooler at Target for our trip. $40 is cheaper than a single meal as a family, and at the end of our trip, we donate it at Goodwill.
If your kids are really small (under 5), get a portable toilet. When our friend recommended we get this OXO Go Potty, I laughed. Yet we got it, and it was amazing for our travels. You can look at the listing to see how it works, but we never had to take the kids into public bathrooms, pit toilets, or search for a bathroom while on the road. We set it up in the back of the car and let them have at it. Then we can pack it up, throw the bag away, and make lunch. Don’t hate. It’s worth it.
If you’re out west where it’s often sunny, grab these easy window shades. They pop onto any window, block the sunlight, and give you privacy. They fold up super easy, and you can throw them in a backpack or carry-on while you travel if you’re flying.
To keep the kids entertained and self-sufficient to get themselves snacks or stuff they want, grab backseat organizers. They easily attach to the seat and allow them to have access to things to keep themselves occupied while you drive.
Packing can be a pain, especially when there are several people living out of one suitcase. We started using these packing cubes years ago, and they let us cram things we need for each of us into a single cube and throw it in our travel bag.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, you have to do what works best for you and your family. These tips are what we have learned and put into practice to make adventuring with our small kids such an awesome experience. So many parents I’ve spoken with over the years are intimidated and overwhelmed thinking about traveling with their small kids. I hope this blog presents some practical ways that make it not only doable, but enjoyable.

If you’re a parent of small kids, reach out and let me know how these tips work for you. Or maybe you have suggestions? I’d love to hear!

Also, almost every photo in this blog was edited with Astoria A1. Check it out and learn more if you like the look!

Traveling with Small Kids