Have you ever gone on your holiday with children by train? This is what we did this summer! It was exciting, but also required some good preparation, because we travelled with our 4 children (!). My view is that travelling starts the moment we step out of the house. Getting to our destination should be planned, but also as enjoyable as the time we spend on holiday. Here are some of the tips that helped us enjoy the journey by train.

Check timetables in advance

If you travel by many trains, knowing precise timings of different trains and how much time you have to get from one platform to another is important. Don’t forget to check your trains back. Travelling home might be less exciting than going on holiday, so it’s good to have those timetables checked in advance too. Just for the peace of mind.

Packing

How do you pack for yourself and your family, so that you don’t have many very heavy bags? Essentials. You first think of all the things that you and your family actually need and then if you have some space in your luggage, you can add more items. This was our approach and it worked very well. However, I need to mention that we saw the same travellers travelling with us both ways, with children and they had such small luggage (in comparison to ours, obviously!), so I think for us there is still some room for improvement.

Hours by train

We spent around 5 hours on our journey to our travelling destination from door to door, so not very long, but we still wanted to travel prepared. We had a balanced plan for everybody’s entertainment: we took with us some cards, pocket family games, some individual activities (like drawing or colouring), a book to read, a notepad to take some notes, water, good food and snacks. I think we had this well organised and even though on our way back, we felt less excited and more tired, we still had good time playing games, chatting or doing nothing.

Have you travelled by train this year? Where to? Please let me know in the comments below.