NEW YORK - Going on vacation should be an exciting and stress-free time, but sometimes when you have kids with you, it can be the opposite. Especially until everyone has settled down and acclimated to their new surroundings.
Booking.com, the global leader in connecting people with the most incredible places to stay, conducted research across over 18,000 people from 25 countries worldwide, to find out how they cope in those make-or-break first 24 hours of a trip.
When asked how they prepare for the first day of a vacation, parents said that the two most important things to avoid disaster were to bring travel games and books to occupy their little ones as well as having a first aid kit handy (both 43%).
This was followed by:
- Packing emergency snacks (42%)
- Covering kids in bug spray/sunscreen (41%)
- Making sure that they brought familiar comforts, so the space feels like a home away from home (33%)
- Packing key items (e.g. swimsuit/ski gear) separately or at the top of the suitcase (31%)
- Checking out the fastest way to the beach/ski slopes (28%)
- Packing travel adapters and chargers at the top of the suitcase (25%)
- Enrolling kids into a club prior to arrival (12%)
- Renting a stroller (8%)
Even so, two in five parents (41%) believe that the first 24 hours of a trip can be memorable - it's sometimes the trials, tribulations, excitement and drama that are the things which can really make a vacation special.
