4 Tips to Ensure a Happy Holiday While Traveling With Your Family

12-18-2012

Traveling with your family during the holidays has the potential to be more stressful and frustrating than merry and cheerful. From over-excitement leading into meltdowns to big crowds and long delays, getting to your destination during the holiday season has its challenges.

Prepare for the smoothest trip possible by keeping in mind the following family-oriented travel tips:

Be Timely & Practice Patience

The best way to eliminate stress and ensure smooth traveling is to avoid feeling hard-pressed for time. During the holidays, you'll want to account for traffic while driving to and from the airport, long check-in and security lines at the airport and large crowds. If you mentally prepare for deterrents and setbacks as you traverse the roads and terminals of holiday traveling, you're more likely to stay calm and patient while you and your family make it to each destination. Keep in mind that if you keep a pleasant demeanor amidst holiday traveling stress, your family will most likely mimic those positive energies.

Leave Home Feeling Assured

Take the steps to ensure that your home is protected before leaving for your trip. If you have a security system, contact your provider and notify them that they should immediately send assistance if the alarm is triggered. If you've ever accidentally set off your alarm, you know that they usually touch base with you first and that won't help if you're a thousand miles away. Your wireless home security system may also have a mobile app that allows you to watch a live feed of your home. Make sure that timers for your indoor and outdoor lighting systems are properly set up. Also, tell nearby neighbors that you're going to be out of town. Ask that they keep an eye out for anything suspicious around your property.

Keep in mind that Facebook and Twitter updates can be a potential safety risk; make a plan in advance with your family for sharing information to social networking sites.

Safe social networking tips include:

• Create a close friends and family-only group that can see updates, Tweets and photos posted by your family while away
• Never disclose specific locations and dates of your traveling
• Vacate social networking sites completely and only upload photos upon your family's return

Download Apps and Games

Don't feel guilty for resorting to downloading apps and games on your smartphone or tablet to pacify your children. Games not only occupy the attention of children, they can be educational as well. Toddlers will love learning about instrumental sounds and vibrant colors with the app Piano Ball for the iPad. Take your kids on a fun interactive adventure with the app Treasure Kai and the Seven Cities of Gold, which is a digital version of a choose-your-own-adventure book. Angry Birds Space HD, Where's My Perry?, Toca Hair Salon and Barefoot World Atlas are among Time.com Tech's top 25 iPad apps for kids. Don't forget to charge all your electronics before leaving home and keep chargers on hand.

Pack Personal Bags

Provide your children with their own backpack, tote or suitcase for carrying comfort items and toys. Your children will have independent accessibility to a coloring book and crayons, for example, and also feel a sense of responsibility, which encourages good behavior. Pack travel-friendly items that aren't too costly to replace if the bag gets left behind. Pack construction paper, colored pencils, stickers, story books, stuffed animals and small toys such as action figures and dolls. Also, include a few snacks that your children can nosh on during a long flight or luggage delay. Choose convenient, healthy foods such as all-natural GoGo squeeZ 100 percent fruit pouches, sliced fruit, trail mix, dried cereal and Annie's organic fruit snacks.

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