Introduction
Travelling light is easy - as long as you know exactly what you will do, in what weather, or even better - when you don't plan to do anything. But this is not how it works, right? There are so many unknowns you need to take into account even if you go by yourself, not to mention taking your whole family along.
But don't worry - it is a skill that you too can master. When I travelled alone in my twenties I took so many pointless things with me that it is embarassing to even mention here. Luckily I met my husband who was a master traveller and packer, who helped me understand how much more enjoyable travelling is when you get carry only the necessary.
And now you have me, happy to share advice based on the years of experience we gather first backpacking together as a couple and later on travelling with our one, and then two, children.
In these post I will tell you all you need to know to make your next family holiday more enjoyable.
Here are my top 10 tips on travelling light with kids:
- Ignore dirty clothes
- Keep your own clothes to the absolute minimum
- Invest in high quality light weight clothing
- Don’t think that you can be prepared for everything
- Don’t overfill your backpack
- Forget the toys…
- ... and definitely forget a travel cot!
- Re-stock along the way
- Avoid multi-climate, multi-purpose trips
- Ship home or store things you no longer need
(plus a bonus advice at the end, so keep reading)
Ignore dirty clothes
When you are travelling with kids, you can be sure that they will get dirty - on our last trip to China Hanna was covered in croissant flakes and chocolate smushes even befor we set off to catch the connecting flight! It seems to be inevitable to pack the whole backpack of spare pants, trousers, t-shirts, jumpers… but forget about it! Embrace the stains! Our rule of thumb is that we don’t change clothes unless they are very wet or covered in smelly stuff (think pee, poo, sick 🤢). You will drive yourself and your kids crazy trying to prevent them getting dirty. An apron for meal time is always a good idea for babies and toddlers, but don’t stress about it. We always take just 2-3 spare t-shirts for kids, and assume we can wash them in the sink.
Keep your own clothes to absolute minimum
Same as for the kids, you don't want to have a lot of clothes yourself. We settled on taking the bare minimum - 2 T-shirts, 2 pairs of underpants, 1 pair of trousers (fast drying), a fleece, 2 pairs of socks. Plus, based on the climate, additional layers. Usually one pair of shoes - in the summer can be sandals, spring/autumn - a good pair of walking shoes or light hiking boots.
If you are staying in a good(ish) hotel at least from time to time, they will have a laundry service and your washing will be ready in few hours. Hostels often allow you to wash your clothes (for a payment) or you can find a loundry service in town. Smaller items that you need to wash daily or every few days, you can wash in the sink.
I cannot even begin to describe how much easier your trip will be if you stick to the bare minimum - not only it makes your backpack much lighter, it is also make picking clothes and looking for them much easier.
Invest in high quality light weight clothing
I know it sometimes seems like a waste, and maybe even a bit snobby to buy high quality clothes for kids - in the end they will grow out of it in no time. But trust me - having clothes that will be breathable and non-sweaty, dry quickly and pack down easily will save you so much hussle! One of the reasons why we can share one backpack for the whole family is that we have merino wool t-shirts that will keep you cool on a hot day, work like a perfect base layer on a cold day and dry in no time when you wash them!
Naturally those are not the cheapest, so we always buy the largest size that is workable and look for discounted stuff if we can find any. If it is an option, look for high quality second hand shops (offline and online) to get good value for money.
Don’t think that you can be prepared for everything
When you have your little ones with you, you often think about everything that can happen. What if they get sick? What if it is unusually hot/cold in the place you are going to? There is always something unexpected that can happen, but you cannot be ready for everything. If something actually happens, you will figure it out. Unless you are travelling to a very remote location, you will have a way to buy what you need. If your child is really sick and needs something more than ibuprofen - you will need to see a doctor, those are just the facts of life and travelling with kids.
Don’t overfill your backpack
There is nothing more annoying than a backpack that you have to fight everytime you have to pack, whenever you bought a souvenir, a sandwich for the journey or want to put your jacket away, it has to be clipped outside or go in a carrier bag (one more thing to carry or lose).
Forget the toys…
Every trip we make, we have less and less toys. Of course, our children are slowly growing up, but we are definitely scaling back too. We take only multipurpose, small items. For the older daughters, we rather take small games and activities (something for drawing, a Rubik cube, a small ball).
... and definitely forget a travel cot!
From our today's experience I don't even know how the idea of taking a travel cot crossed our mind. But it did, we bought one and we took it for our first family holiday to Norway. Even though it was handy, and we were on the almost fully stationary holiday, it was a real hassle while on the move (and we almost lost it on one of the first trains we took). Travelling light is all about the trade-offs, but we often discover that we rarely miss something we didn't take and dragging along unnecessary things weighs you down - both physically and mentally.
Re-stock along the way
Don’t attempt to bring enough nappies for the whole holiday, nor try to bring a supply of your child’s favourite snacks - try to research as much as possible what you can get, and what is really essential. When you are planning a multiday hike, if there are options to buy food along the way, go for it. This is where we failed in our Kungsleden hike (which you can read about here) - it turned out the huts ALWAYS had a stock of staple food (oats, pasta and rice), so we could have avoided taking them all together, only making sure we have enough of flavouring (jams, peanut butter, packet pasta sauce etc). On top of that, we found out that you could actually send a package to yourself to a tourist center that was located half way through the hike, so we could have taken only half the nappies we had! Imagine, just having this knowledge and acting accordingly would have saved us some 5-7kg of baggage, which is a lot when you have to carry it on your back day to day.
Always do your research before hand and know what you can and cannot buy during your trip. And if you cannot buy something, think twice if you actually need it.
Avoid multi-climate, multi-purpose trips
This one we personally struggle with and still are failing every time. But for shorter holiday this is the ultimate space saver. Simply plan your holiday so that you need only one type of gear or clothes. If you want to travel light, don’t combine a trekking trip with a city hopping holiday. If you are going on a winter adventure, don’t do beach holiday at the end of your trip. But if you do feel like you want this variety because you want to use your short holiday to the maximim try my last advice…
Ship home or store things you no longer need
If you have things that are needed just for one part of the trip you can try have a separate backpack/suitcase that fits all that stuff and try to leave it in a hotel for the period you don’t need it and pick it up at the end of your trip.
Let me give an example. During our last trip to China we had planned to spend half the time in the (very!) cold wintery scenery (up to -30 degrees Celcius) going way up north to Harbin and Mohe, the other half of it in Chongqing and Shanghai, which would see the temperatures rising to 14-29 degrees. Since on the way back from Harbin we had to pass through Beijing anyway, we packed all our winter gear into a separate suitcase, which we left almost empty in the hotel upon arrival. Then on the way back from Harbin we booked one night in the same hotel in Beijing to refresh and leave our winter gear behind. Then with only half empty backpack, we headed for Chongqing. On our last night in China we stayed one more night in the same hotel and picked up our stuff. This way, even though we had to bring an extra suitcase on our trip, we only ever had to take it to and from the airport!
Another solution which you can use, especially on a longer trip, is posting stuff back home. In China we paid 60$ to ship it by boat, and 100$ to do so by air. This way we got rid off of all the things we bought (mainly kilograms upon kolograms of children books), but also all the stuff we thought we would need but realised we would hardly need and didn’t feel like carrying (like a heavy guide book or toys we realized Hanna is not going to play with enough to justify carrying).
Bonus advice and the packing tip
Before you pack anything in your backpack, pause and ask yourself a question: do I really need it? What are the chances I will need to use it and what happens if I need it and I don't have it? Ultimately, it all comes to your own gut feeling.
One thing you can be sure - with time and practice, you will get better at packing and you will see what works (and what doesn't) for you.
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