Traveling can be tricky. Traveling with family even more so. One of my best tricks to traveling is to treat yourself! No, I’m not referring to shopping duty free in the International shopping terminal. I am also not, not referring to shopping at the terminal. Sidenote- buying luxury items outside the U.S.A. will sometimes save you money! But right now I am saying it is totally ok to load up on ice cream! We took our family to Italy when James was four years old and everyday was a search for gelato. With my second child you can not settle any debts until the end of a day. Although sometimes we also have afternoon coffee treats. Good behavior equals ice cream. We would set out for an adventure with promises of gelato along the way. Can we find a new Gelato shop? Let's go see! Another helpful kid tip is to implement a per diem. They can spend daily or save up. Want to borrow money? That might cost you in interest. You can have some good conversations about money along the way.

Packing my family for international travel required me to up my organization game. I moved to the idea of packing some of our clothes as a day in a travel cube instead of always by person. For example the photo above all those blue outfits would be in a packing cube together.

On our trips we will have casual days, adventure days, and some nicer dinner clothes. I prefer to not have anyone clash for photos so I lay out the outfits and group them ahead of time. In the photo above we are wearing simple patterns in blue. Everyone but me is wearing a t-shirt but it just looks more pulled together for a photo if we harmonize our palettes. I can’t say this is anyone’s favorite thing to do but I just pull out the packing cube of the day and start talking about ice cream and we get there. They move on. These outfits are from J.Crew and Target. Every summer I just make a point of buying blues and then the outfits are easy to pull from our closets. Don’t forget the socks and undies needed for those clothes. Pack the white dress and undergarment together for you and your family. This also helps if you are not unpacking your suitcase completely. I launder the clothes and put them back in their starting place. In our travels we tend to move a lot and this brings some order to my life. I also always travel with extra hangers and dual voltage clothing steamer. This year I upgraded my curling iron and got one that was also a dual voltage. In my experience the smaller travel sizes are a waste of time. Make space for your regular hair tool. Don’t get all the way there and have bad hair. FYI- traveling internationally you need a converter to change the plug type and you need a dual voltage to handle the higher voltages you get in a lot of countries.

My favorite cross body bag for travel is the large Bean bag in color tan by Staud. I’m also a fan of these folding travel hangers.

I use Away luggage. I love it. Disclaimer: I have not tried many brands. I air tag checked bags. This actually helped me locate our bag in the Bangkok airport. I bring a suitcase scale to track our souvenir collecting as we go. I use the carry-on with a crossbody and the “trolly sleeve” to keep it in place on top of my suitcase. In my carry-on I have all our toiletries. I use clear zipper bags from Target. I usually have three in my carry-on. I flip one in the center so they fit snug in my bag. One makeup, one toiletries, and one medicine I bring with us. Medicine I bring along: children's chewable Tylenol, children’s chewable pepto bismol, children’s Dramamine, children’s melatonin, and ear dry. Similar mix for adults + Rx meds. My secret weapon with tourist days is my fabric medicine tape. I do not enjoy looking too much like a tourist so I bring the cute lifestyle shoe that sometimes rubs too much. I bring a shoe I am familiar with and place the tape on my foot as an extra layer before I have the blister, usually my heel. I do this for my kids as well. I toss the tape in my bag for the day just in case I need it again. We walk a lot so I usually do. The final carry-on items include a change of clothes, extra undies, chargers, Amazon Kindle, and nuts to snack on. Carry on whatever will be the hardest to replace at your destination.

Happy Travels,

Lyra Powell

Travel hacks by Guest Blogger Lyra Powell