With the rising costs of airfares and package holidays, and the increasing time it takes to get through security at the airports, more and more families are deciding to travel by car for their holidays.  Families are electing to take more road trips, both within the UK and Ireland, and wider afield in Europe. To make your journey easier here are some top tips to remember while travelling by car with children.

Most of us with young children are returning to the days we grew up in, where our holidays consisted of our parents packing up the car with us, bags and other essentials, and setting off to travel within our home country. My parents couldn’t afford holidays abroad, so we often travelled to other counties of Ireland for our summer holiday. I fondly remember a hot week in June spent in Salthill in Galway when I was 15. I also remember the windy beaches of Tralee in County Kerry when I was around 12. There were also regular camping trips to Brittas Bay or Courtown, two seaside towns on the east coast of Ireland. And getting there was a road trip.

As a family we’ve been travelling by car with our son since he was four months old. The first long trip was to Ireland via the ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare. And since our epic two-week USA road trip in 2017, we’ve become huge fans of travelling by car with our son. You can move from place to place and see much more of a country than just holidaying in one spot for a week or two. This is a huge advantage to road trips that we’ve come to love.

But, how can you beat the age-old question “Are we there yet?”, uttered by little people in the back. Well, here are some top tips to help your car holiday go a lot easier with the kids in tow.

Top tips when travelling by car with children  

1 Decide what time of the day suits your kids for travelling.

You need to decide if your kids do better in the early morning or evening hours for travelling? You know your kids better than anyone, so this is really your choice. Some people elect to travel at night when the kids are bound to be asleep. However, you need to ensure who ever is driving isn’t too tired behind the wheel. Others, like us, prefer to travel during the day, taking in the scenery and sharing the driving between the two of us. Whichever is best for your kids, plan your travel to match. For us, leaving early in the morning is best and our son will nap in the car is he gets tired. I’d also prefer us to sleep in a bed and get a proper night’s sleep than try and catch the zzz’s in the car.

2 Don’t leave home without the snacks and drinks.

Make sure to pack some snacks and drinks for everyone in the car. Yes, you might be able to stop along the way, but snacks can calm hangry children and they can also fill a gap if there is a way to go before your next stopping opportunity. Drinks are also essentials, particularly if you are driving during the summer on a hot day.

Stock the car with water or juices and bring snacks consisting of fruit, cereal bars, biscuits, crackers, crisps and even some homemade sandwiches. Keep them handy so you can pass them over without having to stop the car to fish them out of the boot.

3 Bring some entertainment.

Bring some colouring books and crayons or pencils, sticker books, travels games and even electronic devices like Gameboys and tablets. And let the kids use them if necessary. You could even bring personal DVD players and use a mounting brace to mount them to the back of the front seat headrests. Just remember individual headphones if you’ve got more than one child so that you don’t end up with a volume war.

Pic Credit: Passports and Adventures

 I’d also recommend ensuring you have some music that the kids like in the car. We’ve created a playlist on our Spotify account for our son with his favourite songs and we add to it from time to time. This can be a sure-fire way of keeping him entertained for a while in the car.  And you don’t have to limit yourself to this type of entertainment. Playing I-Spy or other games can be fun. We even created a game in America called “Spot the Mack truck” shouting out “Mack” every time we saw a truck that looked like Mack from Disney’s Cars. And a pair of toy binoculars provided hours of entertainment for our son in Yellowstone National Park.

4 Pack an overnight bag and keep it handy.

If you have an overnight stop somewhere, or are only staying a few nights in one location, why not pack a 3-day bag with 3 days’ worth of clothes for everyone in it, rather than packing one individual suitcase for each person. Use colour coordinated packing cubes for each member of the family so every knows where their clothes are.

This is much easier than hauling 3 or more suitcases into a hotel or AirBnB every night or two. You can do this for a road trip that consists of several short stops along the way. It will mean you take one suitcase of clothes in every three days. Keep your family toiletries in one large clear bag so it can be brought in with your one bag.

We did this during our road trip in Central Portugal at the end of the summer. We were stopping at three different locations for either two or three nights each and I packed one 3-day bag for our first stop, rotated clothes for the second stop and then we brought everything into our last location’s accommodation as the car was parked in a shared carpark and away from our accommodation. It made it much easier when it came to empty the car with a boisterous four-year-old in tow.

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Generally we like to try new places, countries, cities etc when we travel however that said the only place where we have routinely returned year on year is Alvor Portugal.  We didn’t make it for 2018 for family reasons and as we closed out 2018 and rang in 2019 one thing we did agree on was that we missed our annual family trip to Alvor. You see its not just the immediate family, we go as a party of our extended family. For our first trip we were a party ranging in ages from 6 months to plus 60 years and hand on heart every single person enjoyed.

The beach at Prainha Credit: Clickstay

For us and the age range of our party Alvor has it all, beautiful beaches, friendly locals, seriously good food and wine and a lovely chilled out vibe. Given our party size we always opt for a villa preferably with a pool and bonus points if its a covered/ sectioned off one as my crazy crew have little fear around water. Don’t get me wrong that’s not a bad thing id just rather that they were aware of the dangers of water and that I didn’t need 300 pairs of eyes for the daredevils! Thankfully holiday rental companies such as Clickstay offer a number of accommodation options from 2 beds upwards.

With young kids having the ability to cook for them and just have some extra space for chilling is pretty invaluable, again with a large crowd rooms for a breather are very useful too!

I would have said im not a creature of habit but maybe am I after all! Our resort of choice from our first trip is Prainha Village for a couple of reasons:

• Location – location just outside of the main town area means it quiet and peaceful and a stunning secluded beach is just minutes from the properties
• Size of property – we choose the 4 bed option and its perfect for our needs. See for example see this Clickstay villa in Alvor
• Pools – there is an incredible salt water pool in this complex. The setting over looking the sea is breath taking
  

  View from Canico Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy

• Canico bar – this deserves a special mention, quite honestly the highlight of our trip whether having coffee while the kids place on the beach or sipping champagne as the sun goes down on the ocean. There is a magic here that’s impossible to convey.
• Miss Pasta – my kids just love this place. The staff are just brilliant and go out of their way to make all ages fell welcome and valued. This is something I find very important in any resort.

Atlantic Salt Water Pool Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy

While there are many fantastic properties on offer with sites like Clickstay in many different destinations throughout the world, every year I leave a piece of my heart at Prainha Village. The great thing is given the size of our party its very budget friendly that’s both the accommodation and the eating and drinking!

Honestly you will not regret a visit to a place like Prainha, we have been very fortunate to have travelled to many countries around the world, however Alvor is currently the only place we have gone more than once and that is a true testament to the calibre of the place you are going to.

So Prainha we will see you later in 2019 and young and old members of The Mamma Fairy house cannot wait.

Note: This is a collaborative post however I retain full editorial control, pic’s and memories are my own too!

We arrived in beautiful Iceland after a short 2 hour WOW air flight from Dublin on a Friday afternoon, grabbed our bags and quickly headed towards the meeting point to meet the rep from the car rental company.  Having carried out a lot of research we choose Lagoon Car Rental for our trip. Lagoon are a family owned business with offices at both  Keflavik airport and Reykjavik.  Some of the key factors which influenced our decision to go with Lagoon were firstly; their cars are all less than two years old, there was a huge selection of options and additional extras.  While getting value for money is important one thing I will never scrimp on is car safety.  That is even more important in a country where we are driving on a different side than we are accustomed allied to the fact the weather conditions in Iceland have the potential to be unpredictable.

The Car

Pic Credit: Mamma Fairy Blog

We met the Lagoon Car Rentals in the arrivals hall of Keflavik airport and took the short trip in their mini bus to their desk just outside of the airport grounds.  We were lucky it was nice and quiet at the time being later in the afternoon so the entire process was quick and seamless and we were sitting in out Kia Sorrento in a very short space of time.  The kids loved the hot chocolate in the waiting area! We went for a 4*4 automatic and added on the 2 car seats and gps.   The vehicle itself was immaculate inside. We took our time going through the condition before signing off to take it away. This is something I would strongly urge anybody to do. I took a lot of pictures too in case of any disputes, of which thankfully there were none! And with that we hit the road for our hotel in Reykjavik.

We spent the first night relaxing at the hotel and get to bed early so that we could depart early for our Golden Circle tour. I had read loads and done a lot of research so I had it more or less planned out so that we could make the most of it.  We were truly blessed with the weather. While it was cold it was bright and crisp without a drop or rain or snow in sight! There is a saying in Iceland that if you don’t like the weather wait 5 minutes.  Iceland is prone to huge variations in the weather conditions even within the one day so my advice is to have the car well equipped.

We had changes of clothes, food, rain gear and walking gear.  Just in case! But that is the luxury of having a car you can just dump all in the boot!.

Golden Circle Stop 1- Thingvellir

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog

We departed Reykjavik bright and early. The sky was so clear and so blue, we were so excited. Stop one was Thingvellier National Park which is a UNESCO listed site which once housed the Icelandic Parliament. The kids were particularly excited to see the rift in the landscape cased by the separation of the 2 tectonic plates. Its quite remarkable to think where you are standing and what is going on in the ground beneath you!

We parked up and walked one of the trails, which is a little uneven so do bring good walking shoes. It wouldn’t be buggy or wheelchair friendly the particular section we choose so do plan your route in advance.   The entire landscape here is breath taking. I actually don’t thing any photos could even do it justice.  No matter which way you look its simply stunning. One thing I did notice was how crisp and fresh the air felt.

You could spend hours here, looking at the old stone ruins and walking the trails but we were on a tight enough time scale so departed after maybe 2 hours and a hot cup of coffee!

Mamma F Top Tip– Parking needs to be paid for in the visitors centre as apparently they read the registration on the way out. Loads of toilets and coffee shop there so well worth a quick stop.

After a quick coffee and rest of the legs we headed back to the car to get to our next stop – Fontana Thermal Spa.

Golden Circle Stop 2 – Fontana Thermal Spa

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog

Fontana is ideally located about half way along our Golden Circle route.   It serves as the ideal spot for some lunch and a total relax in their geothermal baths.  We opted for the buffet lunch upon arrival and it was so good. The food was tasty, fresh and plentiful with something for everybody. However I cannot forget the bread. In fact im drooling right now thinking of it.  It was incredible. It is baked underground for 24 hours in the hot black sand.   It is no exaggeration to say it was quite possibly the tastiest bread I have ever eaten. (Quite the accolade for a bread loving Irish family!)

Lunch eaten and we headed to the changing room to get ready for our dip in the geo thermal pools. One thing to bear in mind is that you must shower before you go to the pools and not doing so is viewed as being very disrespectful by the locals.  The changing rooms have lockers and plenty space to get organised.  The layout and setting of the pools is really lovely. There are a number of pools each with different temperatures. Onsite there are also sauna and steam room and for the brave amongst us you can take a dip in the ice cold lake. Its apparently very good for the body and heart to alternate the temperature but im quite happy to take somebody else’s word for this!!

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog

We met a lovely couple here who were doing a similar trip to us but in the reverse direction and advised us of a lovely farm with home made ice cream just before our next stop. He mentioned salted caramel ice cream and I was sold! We dried off and hit the road again for Geysir via the ice cream stop!)

Mamma F Top Tip – have lunch at Fontana and follow up with home made ice cream at Efstidalur II, you will not be disappointed. So so so tasty and the setting is lovely looking out over the farm.

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Since I was a kid I have been fascinated with Iceland, I can’t quite say what specifically it was that interested me but the curiosity to visit has been there for some time. I’m very excited to say I finally ticked this item off the Mamma Fairy bucket list.  Getting to Iceland is remarkably easy with WOW air offering 2 flights a day from Dublin during peak times and with prices starting from €49.99 each….as I told the Dada Fairy “sure we would be mad not too!!”.

WOW air – History

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog Location: Keflavik Airport

Most people have heard of WOW air and know their striking purple livery but who are they?!!  They seem to have exploded on to the aviation scene as a solid budget airline.  Curious to know more myself I did a little digging…..WOW air is an Icelandic airline who operate out of Keflavik airport. They were founded in 2011 and the airline made its inaugural flight in 2012.  Flights commenced from Dublin in June 2015 when WOW began expanding into North American and Canada connecting parts of Europe via Iceland.

The man behind the airline is a well known Icelandic businessman and financier called Skúli Mogensen.

I understand that as of 2018 WOW air operates to 36 destinations from Europe, North American to the Middle East. Quite remarkable for an airline which is still really in its infancy having only commenced in 2012. According to media report, they have a fleet of 20 and carry over a million passengers a year.

Our WOW air flight

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog Location: Dublin Airport

We departed Dublin on the 11.45 flight on a cool crisp Friday morning. Timing wise this flight is perfect. My pair love their sleep and the earlier option while it would have provided us with more time in Iceland in reality would probably have just meant id have a grumpy pair on my hands by 3pm. Boarding was efficient, we departed on time and the services on board couldn’t be faulted.

I do have to give a specific mention to the pilot on our outbound flight as my kids are still talking about him.  Before the cabin crew ran through the safety demonstration he urged the passengers to watch and pay attention or else he would be out to ask questions!! Now my 6 year thought this was just the funniest thing ever! Throughout the flight he was engaging, witty and set a great tone for the holiday. Similarly the cabin crew were friendly and efficient and seemed to genuinely wanted to make the flight as pleasant as possible for those on board.

Coming home again we opted for the 12 o’clock afternoon flight which again is perfect timing. No crazy early starts! Similarly we left on time despite Keflavik airport being incredibly busy that morning.

On board 

We had the xl leg room seats on both flights and I wouldn’t hesitate to pay for this.  I’m not tall, the Dada Fairy is and he was very impressed with the comfort of the extra leg room. Our flight over didn’t have the USB chargers however our flight home did. The certainly was not an issue for a short flight perhaps if you were en route to the US you might need to charge your devices particularly if you were travelling with kids. We didn’t sample the food offering on either leg but there looked to be the useful fare at usual airline prices.  Again for a short flight we usually don’t bother.

On board the aircraft the purple theme remains with the seats and floor covering.  The aircraft on the flight home to Dublin had some hilarious slogans for the call bells which when you are six years old is pretty funny.

Child friendly 

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog Location: Dublin Airport

My kids are very used to travelling despite their young age therefore an airline who are child friendly is something that would be very important to us. No matter how used to flying kids are they still could be prone to tantrums, sore ears, being upset etc.  I have to say from start to finish the cabin crew and ground staff were fantastic, helped with buggy, getting them settled and getting on the aircraft early to get them settled with little or no queuing. Sometimes I feel there is a perception that budget airlines may be less child friendly or even welcoming of kids. Hand on heart I can’t say this wasn’t the case with WOW air.

In fact we were so impressed not just with WOW air but also with Iceland (yes I have left a piece of my heart there – lots of posts on our adventures there in progress) that we are intending to use them for our long haul trip to Chicago in April.

Our next Adventure – Chicago

We have been fortunate enough to have been invited to experience Chicago as a family friendly destination and what better way of doing it that combining it with a long lay over in Iceland.  I hope on that trip to completely dispel the myth of taking kids on budget flights.  Funny enough my pair were the only kids on the aircraft both ways.

WOW air offer flights to some US and Canadian cities from €99 so that’s some serious value combining that with a trip to the land of fire and ice what more could you want.  I also read recently that WOW will commence flights to Orlando in December this year, making the elusive trip to Disney that little bit more affordable.

The ability to add the layover to the US flight tickets is an impressive add on.  Having spent time in Iceland I can highly recommend making a stop over. I am currently drafting posts on our adventures there.  We spent a day driving the Golden Circle which was in a word….breathtaking. Sneak peak below but do check back for full post which ill link below when it completed.

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog Location: Thingvellir Park

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog Location: Gullfoss – Golden Circle

Pic Credit: The Mamma Fairy Blog Location: Geysir – Golden Circle

***********update************

Wow have flights from €29.99 one way one way (ex charges/bags) between now and end March, plus its Northern Lights season!! We are currently planning a second trip in March and we cannot wait, we didn’t see the Northern Lights the last trip so figures crossed we have more success this time! For more see www.wowair.ie 

Note: Thanks to WOW air for the support on this trip, all words my own and I retain full editorial control over the content above as all opinions and views are mine or the boys where appropriate.