Last year, I posted some printable packing lists for kids in German. As we prepared for our first summer trip, I printed them out for Froggie & Hippo.

You would think with all the travel we’ve done as a family — and all the travel I did when I was single — that I’d have this whole packing thing down to a science. But I don’t! Every time we go somewhere, I forget something. And often when we pack up to come home, something gets left behind – or almost does.

So for our coast-to-coast trip, I decided to use the kids’ packing lists to try to stay extra organized. The German packing lists were a great place to start. We gathered everything on them and checked the boxes as they went into the suitcase. But of course, there were other things we needed for this trip that weren’t on those basic lists. So I scribbled them down on the papers. Everything that went into their suitcase is on those lists somewhere!

And when it was all zipped up, I slipped the lists into the outside pocket. Now when we are ready to pack for home, I’ll know exactly what came with us and what has to go back into those suitcases. It sounds very simple, but it’s one extra little step that I’m hoping will make a huge difference!

You can see what I mean when I say I scribbled the items on the papers! You might not be able to read it at all 🙂  If you can read some of it, you’ll see that I forgot to stick to German on some of them. I also used a “W” on the clothing list if they were going to wear an item on the plane. Hm, I guess that should have been a “T” for tragen instead! Well, it’s always a work in progress!

Gute Reise!

Summer’s here! For our family this year, that means it’s time to take to the air and hit the road! So I’ll be sharing some of my travel experiences and tips we pick up along the way  –  from traveling with kids to places to go.

Our first trip keeps us Stateside to visit family. But we are traveling coast to coast. So while I don’t expect to get much German work done this week, I can still share some of my favorite travel tips.

Do you use packing cubes? I love these things! We each get a set of 3, in different sizes, and they are color-coded for each member of the family!!

For the kiddos, the large one holds tops & bottoms, socks & underwear. The medium cube is for pajamas, raincoat, and hat. This time, I used one of the small ones for shoes and the other for a mini diaper bag with pull-up, wipes, and change of clothes. Luckily we didn’t need it!

The other thing I like about packing cubes is that I can start packing days ahead of time and then just throw the cubes into the suitcases. Sometimes I’ll admit, they can be tricky to fit. It’s kind of like a mini game of Tetris! There might be other versions out there that have solved this problem, but I don’t know.

Happy travels!