Travel planner my best friend at the time of a family trip.

I am a working mum, if I wouldn´t plan my life it won´t be easy to get all the things done in the way I like them to be. I am not perfect, I know, but, I like to be very organized and accomplish the goals that I propose to myself. I understand that if I manage time correctly I will have time for my toddler, for house duties, and for my hobbies, that recently appeared another one :). But how about traveling, our getaways, you will ask if I plan them as well? I will say YES. I know it has to be a relaxing moment when you have to enjoy to do nothing... I have such days as well, but not on our trips or getaways, I have such days during weekend when grandparents play with our toddler and I have time for myself.

I like to plan our trips, getaways, and escapes that we make. Working in this industry makes me feel confident in all the places we choose to go, prices and best things to do there. Apart of that, I always ask my beloved colleagues about besties we can do while traveling. All these ideas I manage to sort in one single place, my travel planner, here I manage to write the chosen destination, things that we plan to do there, places to see, where to eat, where to sleep, transportation and so on and so on, the list can continue. The most interesting part is to be there and to enjoy your plan and not be stressed about what to do and where to go, because you have planned it previously.

It is up to you, I know for example a lot of spontaneous people who likes to enjoy the trip without having any plan, and almost all of the times the luggage is made 1 or 2 hours before the trip. Sometimes I think, that I would like to be like these people, but then I stop and think, that all of these friends do not have kids, and they can permit such luxury of not planning any trip, me not. Maybe in the future I will be spontaneous as well, who knows, but now I enjoy planning and having all the ideas well written on the paper.

You can choose between my travel planner, any other travel planners or make it by yourself. Below you can see some directions of what my travel planner includes:

- destination that we plan to go and budget
- travel information, how we get there (by plane, by train, by car, other)
- hotel or apartment where to stay (once we are 3 members in our family I opt to take an apartment)
- transportation once getting on your planned destination
- places to visit
- places where to eat
- packaging list (all the thing you need to take with you)
- and then every day trip plan of things to do
- some notes like sending cards to other family members, friends and so on
- and of course the image of all of us, best moments of the trip.

Doesn´t matter if you are a planner or a spontaneous person, I wish you to enjoy every trip/getaway/journey with your family.

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Blois- and how we managed to keep our toddler in a car seat for 9 hours

Later on January we went to Blois, a very beautiful town in the center of France, with a great history a lot of Castles and beautiful surroundings. Why we have chosen this destination? For a simple reason, that we have friends there, and for long time we wanted to visit them, but always there were a question about the easiest and fastest way to get there. As this town is almost 200km away of Paris, and is about 900km away of Barcelona, and always we were on doubt to go there by car or by plane. First one, by car, it always seemed impossible as our toddler was small, and we have never ever done such a long way by car with him, and we thought that it would be tough for him and for us. Second choice, by plane, we were almost decided to by flights, but then we thought that anyway we will have to rent a car in Paris and make 200km by car, and hours spent before the flight, during the flight, renting a car and so on, appears to us that is more likely to be a bad idea. Apart of that while you fly, you do not take all the things you need with you. So, at the end we decided to go by our car, and yes it was tough, and yes we were tired, but we took a lot of things with us, and the result, and sightseeing of the town worth all the efforts we made to get there.

Till the last day we were on doubt when is better to leave, and to go by car, during the day, make a lot of stopovers, and enjoy France as it is a really beautiful country, or to go by night with very few stopovers, and enjoy that our kid sleeps all the way. First choice seemed more attractive, as we like to travel and discover new places, but at the end we have chosen the second choice, easier for us and our toddler. It was a good decision, the better one. Our kid slept all the way to Blois, and we made several stopovers to breathe fresh air and be on our way.

Tips for a night car trip with a toddler:

1. Dress your kid with very comfortable clothes

2. Do not give milk during your trip, and even before the trip, like several hours before only.

3. Leave your kid to go to sleep later than usual, as he gets really tired and fell asleep right away in the car

4. Prepare car seat in a sleeping position

5. Prepare some snacks, as he will asks before sleeping

6. Be aware to make stopovers and take your toddler to the toilet, as it will be a surprise when you are on a highway and your kid is awake and asking for the toilet. (This haven´t happened with us, but we were mostly afraid of this)

7.Relax, there is a long way away.

Some pictures of the beautiful town Blois

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