An Extended Vacation with a Family of 5: The Logistics

Katy and I have both travelled a bit before, but this trip required a lot more preparation than we are used to. Planning for 4 months with a family of five adds unique challenges. It has meant countless hours spent researching destinations, flights, accommodation and transportation. With 3 kids aged five and under, we wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Packing for 4 months with three children who cannot yet carry a suitcase means choosing what to take very carefully. We are travelling with only two checked bags, a stroller, a diaper bag and a carry-on backpack each.  We know we can get what we need here, but with 3 young kids the more logistics we could take care of ahead of time the better. This meant packing diapers, pull-ups, baby wipes, formula, toys, bottles, medicines, first aide kit, sunscreen, nightlights,  and of course in this day and age there were laptops, phones and LeapPads for the kids. Just minutes before leaving for the airport we were still cutting weight to meet the flight restrictions….

Travel insurance was another piece we needed to do a little research on. My extended benefits from work give us 30 days of travel insurance and we booked everything through our travel credit cards which in the past would normally be enough for us. This time, with a trip length of 120 days, (not to mention a five month old) we decided we needed to supplement this. When I tried to extend through my benefit provider we found that they would only insure the entire length of the trip, so we couldn’t benefit from the existing insurance. Luckily with the help of our insurance agent we were able to find a plan that would compliment our existing coverage and give us some much needed piece of mind.

Speaking of 120 days… We had originally planned to spend all 120 days in Spain, Portugal and France. We booked our flight into Seville and out of Paris accordingly. After booking the flight I discovered that my visa would only allow 90 days because of the Schengen Agreement. This wouldn’t have effected Katy as she also holds a UK passport which means (for at least the near future) she holds an EU member passport. This meant a little juggling of our plans. Luckily we are allowed 90 days within an 180 day period. We decided to detour south after Seville to visit Morocco for a couple weeks, before flying to France for a couple months. After our time in the Dordogne we required a second detour, so we decided that three weeks in Croatia would be a nice way to end the trip, before returning home by way of Paris. This did cause a little initial stress but it was definitely a first world problem that added a little more unknown to the trip to that will stretch our comfort levels a little and help us grow.

Phones required a little more planning than in the past. Worldwide calling and roaming plans are getting better. We first checked it out with our carrier and we were able to add $10/day to call and use data in Europe to a max of $100 per month. This would have worked well for Katy to keep up with work back in Canada, as even though I am off until July, Katy needs to keep working with her show, the Yellowpoint Christmas Spectacular, while we are away.  Unfortunately, when we called back to confirm a couple weeks ago the price was $12/day with a maximum of $200 extra per month. This put adding to our existing plan financially out of reach, so we are back to the more traditional plan of purchasing sim cards at each destination and Katy communicating through email as much as possible. With the necessity of naps with young kids and wanting to be able to split up during the day and find each other again, we believed having phones was a must. Luckily we found a voice and limited data plan for just 10 Euros/month in Spain. It means no texting, but it is a cheap way to stay in touch. We will see what we find for options in France and Croatia.

The flight was the first thing we booked after sketching out an itinerary. I checked out our travel points, but sadly we were woefully short for airfare for five. Happily, I found a great tool to aid in the process. Google Flights was a handy way to explore flights, compare prices, flight length, layover and levels of service. It even emailed alerts when the price went up our down and kept a history of prices so that we could book at what we believed would be the best price. I used it to select every single one of the flights (9 in total) we ended up booking. The actual booking was done through the individual airlines and I found that knowing the options and itinerary before working with the airline made a huge difference. In the end I booked using each airline’s website because in all instances it gave me a better price than over the phone.

Our initial flight found us leaving Nanaimo at 12:15 pm and arriving in Seville at 3:15pm the next day. We had a 3 hour layover in Calgary that allowed the boys to run around and wear some energy off, us to get some lunch, and a much needed diaper (and clothes…) change for Olivia. We then had an 8 hour flight to Frankfurt. The flight went well, with Olivia sleeping a respectable amount in the basinet (the other screaming baby nearby actually let us relax a little as it wasn’t our child keeping everyone up), the boys glued to the in-seat TV’s for the better half of the trip before sleeping for the other half, and Katy and I catching perhaps a couple hours each. The connection in Frankfurt left us with a mad dash to an adjoining terminal after going through security. We were the last to show up for the connecting flight to Seville and after some tense moments when they couldn’t find the booking for Olivia and Katy, we breathed a sigh of relief as we went through the gate to board a bus to the plane. I’m not sure how well we would have handled the missed connection with the three kids… The flight itself was uneventful and we landed in Seville on time. We then unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a taxi for all of us to our apartment, but they were adamant that they could only take 4 people maximum in a car, even though they didn’t require car seats in taxis in Spain. So Matt and I went in one with the luggage and Nick went with Katy in the other with Olivia on her lap. I counted two occupied seats and two empty seats in each taxi… With our limited Spanish we decided it best to just nod and say “si”. I’m sure it won’t be the last time we do that…

When we arrived at the apartment we breathed a huge sigh of relief as it looks like a great home base for the next month. More to come soon after we catch up on some much needed sleep!