Travelling with school age

Travelling with school age children

By the time they have reached school age, children are real pleasure to travel with. This is the easiest age reported by parents for travelling with children. School age children experience great joy over the most mundane aspects of travel and are eager and full of interest. They are far more independent and far less labour-intensive than toddlers and babies.

School age children appreciate the intricacies of building castles on a beach and trekking through fields but can also appreciate cultural visits and have the physical and mental ability to undertake more or challenging excursions. They are also at an age when they can develop specific likes and dislikes which can either be a good or a bad thing. They will have an insatiable ability to ask you questions about all of the different places, cities, animals, natural wonders and issues they experience. Our Editor certainly has fond memories of touring Europe with her parents as a nine year old and your children will carry these travel memories with them for years to come.

It is still important to consider the age of your children and your schedule and activities and balance your needs with suitable child friendly diversions. If you are flying, school-age children will be able to enjoy in-flight entertainment where appropriate and are old enough to pack their own carry on baggage and decide what type of entertainment they would like in terms of toys, books, arts and crafts, DVDs and music systems. If you have younger children we would of course recommend that you give them a little bit of direction as five books may seem like a good idea in their bedroom but you may well end up being the person carrying them through the airport terminals. Remember also to check their carry on luggage to make sure that they have not packed any prohibited items such a toy guns, large amounts of liquids or bats.

One of the keys to travelling with school age children is to keep them entertained and you should help them or encourage them to pack a really good entertainment bag full of interesting activities to keep them occupied.

Remember to check out our tips for choosing an airline, reserving seats, boarding and flying which should help you on the journey. If you are renting a car remember to reserve an age appropriate car seat in advance.

We have prepared some articles on what to pack, what to bring on a journey as well as several lists on how to entertain the children while you're travelling through the various ages and hope these are helpful.

You will find lots of family friendly travel tips and advice in our research and advice section to help you book the right family holiday. Check out also the experiences of other parents and travellers in our parents forum and add your own experiences as we are a great believer in real parent's experiences as the best measure of whether somewhere will suit you for your family holiday. 

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