Traveling with friends & kids {top 2 things you need!}

Fort William {the west coast of Scotland}

This weekend we spent a couple nights on the west coast (of Scotland) with our dear friends and their 2 kids.  We had traveled to the West Coast before, but to Plockton and closer to the Isle of Skye.  This time we headed in a slightly different direction and enjoyed Fort William.  It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Aberdeen, which is situated on the northeast coast of Scotland.  Our friends rented a beautiful 4-bedroom lodge for a week, and we spent the first 2 nights with them.  It was an affordable, quick get-away for us, and also helped them pay for the trip as a whole since we split the shared nights.

Sleeping arrangements

However, the tricky part was that even though it was a gorgeous 4-bedroom “cottage” that literally overlooked Ben Nevis (the tallest mountain in the UK), we had 8 people to sleep in 4 rooms (we both have 2 kids)!  You might do the math and surmise that 2 per bedroom was the way to go.  Well, if our kids were a little older or more accustomed to sharing a room, the that would have been an excellent plan.  As it was, all 4 kids are 3 1/2 or under, and while they usually sleep through the night, they all go to bed at different times and might have random wake-ups at different times.

Top 2 Must-Haves for Traveling with Friends and Kids

So, looking back over the trip, there 2 things that made traveling with kids more bearable: portable DVD players and white noise machines.  I kid you not, if we could only take a few things with us, those will always my top two choices (plus diapers)- yes, higher than pajamas and tooth brushes.

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  A portable travel sound machine is ideal for trips because it is compact and has a variety of travel features.

  The portable DVD player allows us to take pleasant car trips.  We never use it in town or on a drive less than an hour because we want our kids to entertain themselves and not be too spoiled. However, for longer car (and plane) trips, DVD players are life-savers.  They also keep the child’s eyes on the screen and not out the window, thus avoiding possible car sickness.

• White noise machines allowed us to maximize the rooms we had.  We were able to put the 2 older girls in bunk beds together, my son in the kitchen in a tent, and the youngest in a small room directly off the living room.  So, even though there were tons of potentially sleep-interrupting sounds (such as adults talking, movies playing, or the older kids not in bed yet), the white noise machines provided a gentle hum in each room so that everyone could sleep well.

So, if you’re traveling with friends and/or {extra} kids, I would highly recommend investing in both!  Plus, check back next week and see how we used white noise to unload groceries!!