Family travel: A little holiday spirit always helps

By Allan Burstyn

There may never be a time when it is easy to travel with your family, but traveling during the holiday season can be particularly challenging. But what if, instead of treating the holiday travel process as something that simply must be endured, we could make it part of the overall holiday experience?

When our family has traveled around a holiday, we try to imbue the travel experience with some of the spirit of the holiday. Besides getting the kids excited about the holiday and keeping them occupied duringthe trip, it’s also a chance to teach them something.

Dressing your children in holiday clothes is an easy way to provide a cue to them that the trip you are about take is part of the holiday experience. While older kids might resist, younger children will be excited to wearing something special.

Holiday-themed toys, books and videos are perfect for those occasional holiday-time delays. Grandparents and others will be impressed by your well-read youngsters.

Singing holiday songs on the way to the airport is a great way of getting everyone excited about the trip ahead. While no one wants to hear a 4-year-old sing at the top of his or her lungs in a crowded terminal, breaking into song when your family has some privacy — although potentially corny — can also be fun.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, holiday travel canalso be an opportunity to act in the holiday spirit. When traveling during the holidays there are many opportunities for your family to help one another and others, whether that means carrying luggage for bigger kid or picking up things that people accidentally dropped for smaller ones. By doing good deeds during your holiday travel experience you will help others feel the holiday spirit as well. We were once put on a bus after a snowstorm shut down our connecting airport. We and our 2-year-old were cranky after a long day of travel, and if it weren’t for the kindness of some of our fellow passengers who helped keep our child occupied, that bus trip might have turned into a disaster.

While these suggestions may seem like small measures, given how stressful and exasperating holiday travel can be even seemingly small things can go a long way toward making the difficult moments easier to handle.

Related Orbitz resources:

• Family travel
• Family vacations

With three boys under five years of age. when he’s not at Orbitz
Allan can be found changing diapers or breaking up fights. Allan
divides his vacation time between local road trips, scuba diving and
skiing.

Tagged: Family time