How We Stay

Several weeks ago, we went on an overnight trip up north to enjoy a Day Out With Thomas.  After our stay and overnight experience, I decided that I would share how we stay when we are traveling on overnight trips, or even brief stays that last just a few nights.  When we travel to the beach and other more extended type of trips and vacations, our approach is usually a little different than what I am about to explain, like we rent a house or condo.  Being a larger family, I thought that you all may be interested in hearing how we handle hotels and such!

With in the last couple of years, even before we became a family of six and were still a family of five, we started implementing a new way of traveling.  And we have continued it on after Big Mac's arrival.  Our first experience with overnight traveling being a family of six, which included lodging, was when we went to take the kids to see and ride on Thomas the Tank Engine!

You have to plan being a larger family.  You have to leave planning on whim to a minimum if you want to enjoy perks and take advantage of more roomier lodging, so that you are not right on top of each other in a cooped up small room.  When we start planning we get ready to make reservations at a hotel that has what we are looking for our family.  Scot spends time searching the web for good deals and locations of hotels that come equipped with suites! 

Suites are hotel lodging beyond that of a one room and one bath experience.  Suites come with a living type area with a separate space for sleeping.  The living area also comes equipped with a pull out couch, leaving room, space, and a variety of sleeping arrangements.  Sometimes such options at hotels are not always easy to find or may be twenty minutes from a desired location/target area, but believe me when I say that the 10 to 20 minute car ride may be well worth it.  Also, many newer hotels are starting to have such rooms and lodging available.  It is becoming more common place now.

We also love us some Residence Inns!  These hotels come with a larger option which often include a kitchenette and small dining area.  The refrigerator is often larger than the mini fridge so often used in small hotel rooms.  When we plan on staying more than one night then we enjoy it when we can find this option too for a few reasons.  First, sleeping arrangements and space.  Second, to cut down costs or to save us on time and energy, coming back to the hotel to make a quick meal for the family is a great option, because many times such kitchenettes are equipped with a small variety of cookware, utensils and dish clothes.

Now there are times like last year, when we traveled into the mountains and our options were extremely limited and we just had to make due with what we could find.  In those cases, we were prepared for the smaller room and close spaces.  I brought fans for plenty of white noise so that I didn't have to hear Sky Baby grind her teeth, Crazy Paizy talk or squeak in her sleep, and Little Man running into the sides of his pack'n'play.  Yes, we used a pack'n'play to help sleep him when he was two-years-old.  It was that trip that we realized that he had grown out of that option!  Scot and I did go out and enjoy our balcony and our view as the kids fell asleep each night.  Then we just marched in for an early bedtime, but we made it work!  We also knew that only one television was going to be available in that space, so we brought in our portable DVD player so that the kiddos could watch what they wanted when we were in the room and we could enjoy watching something for ourselves.

When traveling as a large family, or really any sized family for that matter, you need to plan ahead, and be inventive.