If you are thinking about booking your first holiday abroad with young children then there’s a lot that's need to be though about. The whole experience of looking after a child and ensuring they are happy whilst travelling can be a stressful one. However, by following a few simple tips and staying organised, you can stay in complete control of your time away.
Book your travel arrangements well in advance
Those with children will quickly learn that the days of having spontaneous trips away are long gone, and going places on a whim is well out of the question. Instead, you’ll need to make sure that you plan every little detail well in advance; this includes everything from the flights, to the hotel you are staying in, to your airport transfers.
Flights: When it comes to flights, you need to look around early enough to ensure that you are able to fly at a good time to suit your children’s routine, as they find it harder to adapt to staying up later or getting up very early. It’s best to use a travel planning/comparison tool such as www.amadeus.net to look for flight times that will minimise disruption.
Hotels: Do plenty of research beforehand on review sites; you want to make sure that they are family friendly, in a convenient location, and that those who have travelled with young children there before you were happy with their overall experience.
Check passports are valid
All children are required to have their own passports, and will need them to be up-to-date in order to travel out of the country with you. Unlike adults, a child passport will only be valid for five years, meaning their expiry date can creep up before you even realise it. If you have planned your holiday a few months in advance, this is the time to get any new passports you need to avoid any unnecessary stress later on. The cost of getting a last-minute replacement can be huge, and can involve you making a trip into the Passport Office in London to get sorted.
Get an EHIC cards
Unlike travel insurance, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is free to obtain and you can apply for one for each member of your family online. If you are travelling within EU member countries it can cover treatment for certain ailments. It’s important to note that your children cannot use your card, so you will need to get EHIC cards for them too.
Travel insurance is still important
However, the EHIC card isn’t a replacement for travel insurance as it doesn’t cover treatment for more serious treatment. With children more injury and illness prone, it’s important that you have adequate travel insurance for the length of your trip. If you don’t and you find that you need to take your child to hospital for whatever reason, you could end up with a very hefty medical bill.
This is a guest post.
Handy tips! We are thinking of taking Mushroom away for his first holiday this year and the tip about getting travel insurance as well as the EHIC cards, good to know you need both!