"Embrace the boredom." 8 simple hacks for travelling interstate with kids.

In Mamamia’s Parenting Hacks series, real women share their tips and tricks on everything from meal prep to organisation to nailing the morning routine.

This week, writer Erin Huckle shares her hacks for travelling interstate with kids.

Ahhhh holidays. 

The word conjures up visions of long, lazy days. Sleeping in and drinking cocktails by the pool. Tousled beach hair and gorgeous flowing kaftans. Sigh. 

But for parents of younger kids, the idea of a holiday is something else entirely. Let’s be honest, when your kids are young, going on holiday is really just moving the same daily kid-centric tasks (and assorted toys and paraphernalia) to a new setting. 

Watch: The horoscopes at the airport. Post continues below.

Holidays with kids aren’t necessarily off-the-charts relaxing, but they can be a lot of fun and a great opportunity to create memories with your favourite people. 

Now that we’re all feeling a little more confident about booking holidays, here are my top family travel hacks to take the edge off holidaying with kids, so you can focus on the memory-making.

1. Be prepared.

Okay this sounds obvious, but the earlier you can get yourself organised and ready for the trip, the better. For a big trip - anything longer than a few nights - I try to have our bags out and packed a week before we’re going. 

It might sound like overkill, but it means I can keep adding to the bags as I remember things we’ll need, and it saves the mayhem of realising the kids' favourite clothes, or essential items like swimmers and socks, are at the bottom of the dirty washing pile. 

2. Love your laundry.

On the subject of dirty washing, I always take some laundry detergent with me. I put my laundry detergent in a little plastic container, rather than having to take a whole box or bottle, so I’m ready to wash whenever needed. 

I recently started using Ka Pod laundry capsules, and they’re great for travelling. We went on a motorhome trip for six weeks covering a big part of Australia pre-COVID, and it paid to always be ready to do a load of laundry - whether that was in the laundry room of a caravan park, or a quick spot wash in the sink of a public toilet. 

For shorter trips, you can still save space in your luggage if you don’t have to take a fresh outfit for each kid every day but can factor in some washing. Check ahead of time with your accommodation if they have laundry facilities available, and then make a plan from there. 

3. Have a system.

Packing for more than one person? It pays to have a system. With three kids, I’ve realised just throwing their clothes in one bag is a recipe for chaos. Trying to find the right shorts in the right size for the right kid equals hours of my life I’ll never get back. 

My new system is all about packing cubes - I use these ones from July - so that each child has a cube for all of their clothes, and then I also use one for dirty washing to keep it separate from clean clothes. 

It makes grabbing an outfit for each of them every morning super easy. Think of it as each child having their own drawer for clothes, but inside your suitcase. 

Having dedicated wash bags for the grown-ups and the kids also helps - it makes it easy to grab everything they need for washing at the end of the day - especially helpful when you’re on the road or camping and need to traipse them all over to the communal bathrooms for showers and teeth-brushing. 

Image: Supplied. 

4. Have a grab-and-go bag.

When it comes to heading out for the day, you need a grab-and-go bag - keep this separate from your main luggage, so it’s ready whenever you are. A backpack is ideal, as it means you’re ready for whatever the day brings - from exploring the great outdoors on a bushwalk, to jumping on a whale-watching cruise, to hiring bikes - it pays to have your hands free. 

If you’re on a motorhome holiday, you have to pack everything up every time you move the vehicle, so it’s handy to have something ready to take with you when you’re out for the day. Mine always includes snacks, hand sanitiser, tissues, bandaids, sunscreen, and a drink. 

As my kids are getting older, they love having their own backpack of essentials - especially on a long car journey or a plane trip, so I’ve got my eye on this leather backpack as a more stylish grab-and-go option for myself.  

5. Snack attack.

Speaking of snacks, you’ll always need more than you think you will. What is it about travelling and an insatiable need for munching? Whether it’s fuelling up between meals, or keeping hunger at bay when meal times are slightly out-of-whack, snacks are key for avoiding hangry kids and grumpy grown-ups. 

Go for high-protein, substantial snacks rather than air-filled packets that get crushed easily. Nut bars, protein balls, oat bars, whole carrots and fruit are all winners when we’re in nomad-mode. I love these protein bars from Carmans. 

6. Take charge of tech.

Like it or loathe it, it’s almost impossible to travel without tech these days. Try to minimise the number of cables you have to take, and put them in a small container, bag or even ziplock pouch to keep them together and handy. 

Avoid the stress of dying batteries as you’re navigating on the road with a battery pack. My carryon suitcase came with an ejectable battery pack which has been life-changing. We keep it handy in a backpack when on car journeys or even flights, to charge up juice whenever we need it. 

Image: Supplied. 

7. WiFi for the win.

Your future self will thank your present self if you make the most of WiFi when you find it. Most streaming services have the option of downloading shows for later, which means you’ll be set with the kids' favourite shows and movies, even when you’re in the middle of nowhere with no access to internet connectivity. 

Download in advance before you leave home, or take advantage of free WiFi in shopping centres and airports along the way, so that you’ve always got entertainment on hand if you need it. 

8. Embrace the boredom.

Yes, tech can be super handy when you’re travelling, but my final tip is to turn off the tech and embrace the boredom. After a few "I’m boreds" from the back, our kids often give in and look out the window. They get excited about spotting cows and horses, kangaroos and emus. They chat amongst themselves, or they just zone out. 

It’s in these quiet times that sometimes we’ll spot a detour, a lookout, or an attraction - the perfect opportunity to deviate from plans and see where the day takes us. As a kid, we drove 12 hours from our country NSW home to the Gold Coast every year to see my grandparents without a phone or tablet in sight. Yes tech has its place, but sometimes it’s nice to go old school.

Wherever you’re heading off on your family holiday - whether it’s camping or a ritzy resort or somewhere in between - I hope you have a fantastic time. The kids aren’t going to remember that time you forgot to pack enough socks for everyone, or got lost finding the hotel, but they will remember the holiday when mum caused a splash doing the biggest bomb into the caravan park pool or showed off her talent for cartwheels. Enjoy the chaos!

You can catch up on our previous Parenting Hacks articles here: 

• 'I'm an organisation expert. These are my 5 hacks to make the school morning rush easier.'
• Alison is a lunchbox prep expert. Here are her 6 timesaving golden rules. 
• 'I'm an organisation expert. Here's exactly how I organise my fridge.'
• 'I'm an organisation expert. Here's how I got my husband and kids to share the mental load.'

Feature Image: Supplied.