Holidays with children and babies can mean the end of family living. On our first vacation with a baby we started to fill the car with barges as if Benidorm were a hidden place, without the essential items that our baby will need during the summer. To avoid real nonsense, before travel with children should ask How much luggage do I really need?
Those of us who are already veterans in the matter have improved our logistics so that vacations with children continue to be something practicable and not a full-fledged move. In our particular case, in addition to having many girls, we are very travelers so we have no choice but to refine our packaging techniques and forced marching. To show a button, this is all the luggage we have brought the six to spend three weeks of beach relaxation. If you want to know our secret, don't stop reading.
The numbers have to square
If one is going to spend a week at the beach, there is no need to wear bath models for ten days, or eleven pairs of shoes, or seven books to read. In travel, as in finance, accounts should always add up.
If our trip is up to 10 days I try to wear clothes so as not to have to wash unless unforeseen. For longer stays, such as in summer, I wear clothes for a week so I don't have to wash all day.
Whole and indivisible sets
This means that for each girl I carry seven complete sets for each day at the beach or pool. No more no less. I do not wear loose shirts, or socks that do not stick with anything, or pants to gogó. Seven sets from head to toe. No more
In addition to the seven daytime sets I wear four night sets for the days we go out to dinner with them, to the movies or to the evening party, and I want to bring them relimpias.
This requires sufficient discipline to leave at home clothes that could be worn but that exceeds the quota of sets per beard.
Pantone in martial formation
In order to more easily identify girls among the summer crowds I choose for the four sets in similar tones each day. So one day I just have to chase red bumps and other green bumps. It seems not, but when the number of children increases, it can be very useful.
It also has the advantage that you are filling washing machines of uniform tones and do not get together with half white washing machine, quarter and half dark and the proportional part of red.
Swimwear and other ethnic minorities
In this section of our luggage we must be especially parcos, especially if we practice the usual summer at forty degrees on national beaches. A child needs a maximum of two swimsuits a day. To start with, it will take very little time out of the water and, when out, with these heats the swimsuits dry in the blink of an eye. To go left over we wear three swimsuits per girl. No more.
To the underwear that so little is used in summer I give triple use as clothes for walking at home and pajamas-nightgown. Girls sleep in panties and tank top. If we eat at home I also put the panties and the shirt to eat and take a nap and so the daily set holds me clean for the afternoon. Seven panties with their seven shirts that do not bully anything make me manage divinely. Neither nighties nor batons of guatine.
Footwear and other packages
If there is something bulky in a suitcase is the footwear. Wearing shoes that match each model is a luxury that a large family mother cannot afford. My girls spend the summer with white menorquinas that have left the sea of monkeys with pants, skirt, dress or whatever they wear and some flip flops.
I also add a cap and a pair of sunglasses per family member.
Warm clothes and others in case
It is true that sometimes in summer it refreshes a bit at night. If you spend the summer in this section to the north, you should dedicate a little more space for the raincoat, long pants and a pair of sweaters.
But for all the meteorological risk averse we embark on the Mediterranean coastlines, with a white jacket that strikes with all that is enough for us and for the entire summer. One in two summers did not get them out of the closet.
In the toilet only needs
Another package that can come to life itself if we do not keep an eye on it is the toiletry bag, that kind of disaster drawer that we fill with creams, gels, medicines and all kinds of things that are sure to sell you at the beach supermarket at the same price.
We, by decree law, do not transport anything that can be purchased at destination. In addition, to avoid ending the summer with half a million boats half used we turn beauty into a family theme. Nobody has a problem with showering a couple of weeks with infant gel, giving the baby 50+ sun cream or untangling the hair with one of those anti-pull sprays.
As for medicines, only those specific if any of our creatures have a special need, a thermometer and a canister of ibuprofen or paracetamol that heals everything. For other emergencies there will always be a pharmacy on call.
My advice is that they do not carry one bag per person but one family, so they will realize the amount of gadgets that we usually carry duplicates.
Toys and other decorative elements
One of the charms of going on vacation is precisely to change airs. Although our children are very much of their routines and their things we do not intend to turn the coastal apartment into an exact replica of our habitual residence.
In summer children spend little time at home and need few toys. In addition, the buckets and shovels, serve as divine kitchenette and serve us for the beach and the pool. With buying a set in the first kiosk you are in, you already have covered summer leisure.
With books, reinforcement notebooks and other material, let's be realistic, if the child has read two books throughout the school year, five will not be read during the holidays. Always keep reasonable proportions.
I suppose it will not be necessary to remind you that the flotation elements are transported deflated and without boxes.
Towels and other non gratos characters
Towels are the number one enemy of any minimalist traveler worth his salt. If you do not spend the summer with family or friends and are forced to transport them, it is a task, I will not deny it. I stick to a family megatoalla and a small one for every two children.
To finish a lot of eye with those in case there are cases that can spoil all our summer logistics, you must always stick to the right and necessary. And don't forget, before travel with children always ask yourselfHow much luggage do I really need?
