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Surviving Family Travel: Big Trip - 2 Weeks Prior

We are planning a trip from MN to FL in February. We are about two weeks out, and I'm starting to dust off the old suitcases and dig out the swimming suits.

I will be flying down with the three kids (12, 8, 3yo) and my husband will follow a few days after because of work obligations. The kids will be missing a few days of school.


Guys, here's how I feel about missing school for travel: Fine. I'm fine with it.


Honestly, we have toyed with taking them out of school for a whole semester just to travel in the fall/winter when it is actually off-season (read: affordable) in most of the world. They're only young once, they have their entire lives to learn geometry correctly, if they really want to. I'm only young once (is 35 still young?) and I don't want to wait until they all head off to college in literally 15 years before we do stuff. 50? C'mon, not even funny. It's not going to get any easier than this moment.

How we prepare to Survive two weeks out:

1) Start to gather things I know we will need:

  • Swimming suits

  • Life preserver for toddler

  • Goggles

  • Watershoes

  • Shorts/skirts (need to have the kids try these on to see if they still fit before we leave)

  • T-shirts

  • Underwear

  • Matching outfits for a family portrait (see above). It just makes sense for us to do this on vacation, right? If you're not a pro, I highly recommend hitting up Flytographer.com to find a vetted photographer almost anywhere in the world for your vacation! It's like $250 and you get digital files of your exotic vacation where you're tan, relaxed, and happy.

(Random coconut we found, eventually hacked into, roasted and ate.)

2) Make a loose itinerary:

I know we want to do several specific things while in Florida. We'll be near Naples and have visited there before. Some of these are new to us, some are repeats that we love.

On the list for Plan A:



That's about 6 main activities. One per day we are there.

(Fishing in the pond behind the condo)

Rainy-Days:

I am still researching Rainy Day options as most of Plan A is outside. On the list for Plan B:

  • The Baker Museum - Fine art in Naples. They had an awesome show by Paco Pomet two years go.

  • In the same building (Artis-Naples) as the Baker Museum is the home of the Philharmonic and a theater with constantly rotating performances. I suppose any of these would be do-able.

  • Shopping.

  • The Naples Zoo - although, we have done this before and my 12yo might be kind of "over" zoos at this point in life.

  • Don't assume you'll be able to relax on your flight. Be prepared to be "on" or "Fun Mom" or whatever is most enjoyable for your kids. If they're happy, you're happy, and so are your flight neighbors.

  • Bring snacks. Kids eat so much while traveling. So do I.

  • "Bring toys that waste the most amount of time and that take up the least amount of space." Gold. Solid gold.

What are you go-to travel-prepping tips?

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