Travel Essentials for a Family Weekend Away | #CP

Family breaks don’t have to be exclusive to school holidays. There are some fantastic places to visit and sights to see right here in the UK. All you need to do is jump in the car on a Friday after school, and get started on your mini road trip. Whether you spend a couple of nights in a family friendly hotel or pitch a tent on a campsite, you can build family memories that will last a lifetime. The only downside is that it can be harder to find the time to plan for these last-minute getaways when you’re managing the day to day school runs and all the other responsibilities you’re almost certainly juggling. To help you out, here are 5 essential packing items.

Basic First Aid Kit
You can’t prepare for every eventuality, but you can make sure you’ve got the essentials covered when it comes to medical supplies for children and adults. Hopefully, nobody will be sick or get an injury while you’re away, but having a supply of plasters, painkillers (for everyone), medicine for stomach upsets and allergic reactions will give you real peace of mind. Depending on the time of year, you may also want to take sun protection cream. Antibacterial hand gel is also a great item to keep with you for when you’re out and about getting muddy together!

Journey Directions
Many of us now rely on Sat Navs or Google Maps to get us from A to B, but it’s worth planning for their failure. Print out the directions you need to get to your destination and home again, and if you know where you’ll be visiting during your trip, it’s worth printing those out too.

Entertainment for the Car
Those wonderful words, ‘are we there yet?’ are likely to make an appearance, but you can help keep everyone a little happier on a long car journey by packing some activities and entertainment. This could be iPads or other tablets so they can play games and/or watch films (with headphones!) reading books, colouring books, and pencils and any toys which your children can play with safely in the car. Make sure you don’t forget the chargers and cables for any phones, tablets or portable game consoles you’re taking with you.

Spare Clothing and Accessories
This is probably something you’re well practised at as a parent, but spare clothes and accessories are an absolute must for everyone – adults included! Another advantage that UK breaks have over long holidays abroad is that you can take as much as you can fit in the car, so take back-ups for everything. Do you need swimwear and towels? If you only have one pair, this might be a good opportunity to get yourself a new pair of glasses in case you lose or damage yours. It’s the UK after all, so pack a rain coat and trousers and wellies, so nothing stops you from getting out and about.

Games and Toys for Playtime
To make the most of your family time, you will probably want to take some games and entertainment to make this possible. If you are visiting a beach, then pack some inflatables and buckets and spades. Take a few balls and bats and, if you can, take your bikes so you can explore the great outdoors together.

Karl Young

Part-time daddy and lifestyle blogger. Father of 2 boys under 2. Golfer, scare-fan, tea-lover, traveller, squash and poker player. I write on the @HuffPostUK http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/karl-young/

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