Travelling Solo with Kids

With summer around the corner and school about to let out, families everywhere are putting the finishing touches on summer travel plans. Whether headed for the beach, cross country to visit family or on a sightseeing trip, family travel is a time to build lasting memories and shared experiences. These trips are a time to write stories that families will fondly recall for years afterward.

Are you a newly single parent wondering how to get back into the travel game?

Travel plans can belong to single parents too, with just a little forethought and planning. I’ve jam packed this post with tips and tricks to make travelling solo as economical and frazzle free as possible!

Ready? Let’s go!

Travel Documents

Travel documents should be arranged as far in advance of a trip as possible. Give yourself ample time to gather your children’s documents in one location. This is particularly important in cases of shared custody or if documents such as passports or health cards are kept with your child’s other parent. If you are crossing borders you’ll want to familiarize yourself with your country’s travel regulations and ensure that you have with you a consent to travel letter, notarized if necessary, from your co-parent. To ensure smooth travel, it is helpful to have legal documentation such as a separation agreement or court order on hand which outline custody arrangements.

Click here for the Government of Canada sample travel consent letter.

Save on Cost

Single parents know the value of a penny saved. If keeping costs down is important to you, consider some of the following.

• Travel during off-peak season. If you have the flexibility to travel off peak you set yourself up to save money on flights, accommodation and everything in between.
• Look at lower cost budget hotel options which often prove clean and comfortable. Just make sure to check reviews online first. Or consider an Air BNB accommodation;
• Eat in. When looking for a place to stay, try to ensure you’ll have a kitchenette or at least a fridge. If you can rely on grocery stores rather than restaurants for food, you’ll avoid the overhead that comes with others making profit off your mealtimes;
• Travel with another single parent so that you can share costs for your combined crew (economies of scale = $ in the bank);
• Work the websites. Use TripAdivsor to search reviews of budget hotels. Utilize any of the many flight comparison website that are out there;
• Take advantage of sites like Skyscanner where you can enter your travel dates and search for the least expensive flight destinations within that time frame;
• Take the train. Particularly for cities within a few hour radius, costs for taking a train can be significantly more reasonable than flying, less taxing than driving and very comfortable with space for kids to wander. For travel in Canada, Via Rail typically offers $15 children’s fare to any location throughout the summer months, which can save you hundreds of dollars as compared to a similar flight;
• Align with website algorithms. Look into booking flights on Tuesdays, when airlines drop their prices. Similarly, travelling mid week has also been found to keep costs down. The Google Flights website is one that allows you to graphically compare prices across month long time frames;
• Consider currencies. Keep exchange rates in mind when planning travel. This may work for or against you depending on where you are looking to vacation.
• Road trip! Paying for multiple plane tickets can add up, but if you’e open for driving distances you will save significantly while being able to explore locations along the way. Road tripping offers the added advantage of no airport lines and the opportunity to travel at your own pace, allowing little ones to take breaks and run around every few hours along the way.
• Consider camping. Little overhead (literally and figuratively) means a low-cost option for great memories in the great outdoors!

Shorten Wait Times Where You Can (and Plan for Those You Can’t)

En route to every great adventure is….a line? Whether a check-in line, traffic jam, entrance line or flight boarding, it’s helpful to have strategies for shortening wait times where you can and managing those lines you (and little ones) must endure. Make sure to check in for flights from home or the hotel and inquire about family pre-boarding options once at the gate. Often this service is available by request, offering extra time to settle into airline seats before to majority of passengers board. Once at your destination there are ways to skip the lines too. With so many venues now offering options for online ticket purchasing, there is often an opportunity to skip ahead of long lines if you can show proof of purchase. With the invent of smartphones this can now even be done inside the door!

What about the lines we can’t avoid? The child travel kit I’ve come to rely on consists of only one item; a writing implement and blank surface. This can be a pencil and pocket notebook or my preference, a travel size Doodle Pad, both of which fit easily in a purse or knapsack. These can be used to play games or for kids to draw what they see around them. Another way to leverage line-up time is to dole out some non-messy and healthy snacks, such as veggie sticks, whole fruits, snack bars or cheese sticks which will keep hands and mouths busy while keeping spirits up.

Bring a Stroller – and a Bike Lock!

A good, lightweight stroller is a parent’s best friend when travelling. It gives little legs time to rest while keeping kids contained and plays double duty as another place to put things. Most airlines offer gate check services at no extra charge, allowing you to bring a stroller right to the entrance of the plane and retrieve it as soon as you disembark after the flight.

The bike lock is a trick I picked up early on in my parenting. Mostly for use once at one’s destination, I began carrying a bike lock in my stroller basket for use anytime I found myself in an area where it was easier to continue without wheels. This was helpful when attending shows, hiking or at amusement parks with no one to watch the stroller while on rides. All you need is to lock the bike to an out of the way metal banister and off you go!

Enlist a Flight Attendant’s Help

Whether travelling with one child or more flight attendants can provide an valuable extra set of hands or eyes. Don’t hesitate to ask for their help. Whether it’s getting kids seated or a parent getting up to use the bathroom without wanting to wake sleeping little ones, the flight attendants are there to help you and are happy to lend a hand or their supervision for a few minutes at a time.

Research Travel at Your Destination

When travelling without a car it’s helpful to research what travel will look like once you arrive. When looking into car rental companies, look for one that offers car-seat rentals as well. Looking to tour as a pedestrian? Give a quick look online into a city’s public transit system by contacting the local transit commission or calling the locality’s tourism office. In tourist cities like Orlando and others, you might choose to book your hotel stay at a location with shuttle services available to major theme parks and similar attractions.

Research Accommodations

With sites like TripAdvisor, researching accommodations is easier than ever before. Particularly when travelling solo you don’t want to leave eventualities up to chance. Make sure to look at ratings and reviews for a hotel or rental stay to brush up on the quality of accommodations including cleanliness and customer service. In addition to the physical building however it’s worthwhile looking into the neighbourhood in which you’ll be staying. Do you want to stay within walking distance of the tourist district? Would you prefer to stay near to a grocery store to save on the cost of eating out? Is location off a main road with public transportation such as a bus or a subway important to you? These are all factors to keep in mind when booking your travel stay.

Book a Kitchenette

Consider whether a kitchenette might be worthwhile to prioritize for your family. The options of a mini fridge, stove-top or oven can be tremendously helpful when working to save on cost and still satisfy the palates of picky eaters. Booking a room with a mini-fridge on hand means the option to keep perishable snacks and baby bottles cold while a more full kitchen can offer a welcome respite from the frenzy of restaurants with their wait times and noise after a long day out. In particular if preparing meals for a crowd, the option to cook in house offers flexibility of menu as well as a more economical option than eating out.

Schedule downtime

Perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of family travel, whether travelling solo or not, is the value of purposefully and intentionally scheduling downtime into a trip. Between tourist attractions and visits it’s important to book in days when everyone can relax and enjoy slower paced day. For younger children as well as older ones (and let’s face it, even for parents) ensuring there are days when everyone can get to bed early will offer a change to recharge and enjoy the rest of the trip to its fullest.

What are your experiences travelling solo with kids?
Do you have tips to add? Please share below!