So we are about to head off on a trip of a life time to Europe. Travelling with two kids under 5 and a mother-in-law is probably not the best idea we have ever had but we have booked the flights and now we are committed whether we like it or not (buyers remorse has kicked in several times). I am trying to make sure it is going to be memorable for all the right reasons.
So as any good hard working blogger would do, I have spent literally hours and hours wasting time researching the best ways to travel with kids, travel light and to travel safe.
One of our major issues is luggage – too much of it. We are the kinda people who need a suitcase and a loaded up car just to go away for one night. So for 6 weeks I will need 2 aeroplanes, 1 shipping crate and 10 sherpas just to carry the “just in case” stuff. What can I say, I like to be organized and plan ahead for the unexpected. I am a self confessed luggage hoarder (it’s my mothers fault actually as she used to literally pack the kitchen sink whenever we went camping).
Surprisingly there are lots of travel products out their to make your life easy and some are a little crazy like Plane sheets to protect you from germs (being a germaphobe I secretly want these actually) or maybe a little more crazy like bringing your own full sized pillow from home because it’s better for sleeping. ( When you are jet lagged you will sleep on/in anything).
When Fabz Folding Shoes agreed to let me road test their shoes I was very happy because the thought of having a spare pair of shoes in my hand luggage was appealing to my “luggage hording” self. You see, I plan to wear my heavy oversized knee high boots onto the plane to reduce the weight in our suitcase (yes just 1 suitcase for 4 people).
With Fabz Folding Shoes (Approx $70) I can literally pop them out of my hand luggage. They are so comfortable, I can wear them for the duration of the flight instead of walking through passengers pee when I need to go to the toilet 100 times becuase I have indeed drunk too much free alcohol (yes, I am planning on a few night caps to help me sleep). As these shoes are dressy with solid soles – I am also planning on using them for not only daily wear but evenings out (they come with clip on Fabz Clipz to change the style).
How many shoes does a girl need to take? Well! I also asked, ok blatantly asked out right Suelasonline for their shoes too and they sent me 3 adorable pairs. In hindsight I now realize I will need another suitcase just for my small roll up shoes that are not meant to take up any space unless of course you take 4 pairs. But at least on those days when my underwear isn’t clean I will be wearing a clean pair of shoes and that’s priceless.
When visiting a country with an average rainfall of 130 inches it was no wonder we approached Muddlarks for a trial run of their rain suits for kids. Muddlarks All-in-one is a lightweight polyester rain-suit for kids. These little rain suits will hopefully stop us from huddling in hotel rooms away from the wet and instead getting out there to see what we wanted to see. The kids have already been familiarizing themselves with the suits by playing space men in the front yard.
We are travelling light (that’s the goal not necessary the outcome). To help reduce the need for hand luggage so that I have 2 hands free at all times (to drag my overtired bored children around). We will be road testing Sky testing these multi pocket jackets from Scottevest. With it’s 17 pockets the Molly jacket is going to hold most of what I will need in-flight. (sleeping tablets, cocktail stirrer, my Plane sheets and yes of course that bottle of denial pills). I can’t help but sing the Inspector Gadget theme song as I write about this jacket.
Moving on to more nifty things in my suitcase. What fool would travel without a organized passport/ticket holder? (umm us last year) We were “that” over tired family in front of you fumbling through jean pockets and bags looking for passports, boarding passes and train tickets. So basically I spent more valuable work time looking for a solution and found it at Bagorganiser. It’s called The Ultimate Travel Wallet and it has around 10 flights in 6 weeks to prove it’s worth. The lovely lady at Bagorganiser must have pitied my impending fate and sent me the optimiser for my hand luggage too.
So what’s left to pack? Oh only about 1000’s more things.