Holiday Preps before we go part I - almost time to travel again

HOLIDAY PREPS
Holiday preps time. Yes it’s a few weeks before and I start to do all that’s needed because I don’t want the stress. Always a thing before we go. With a party of six it’s the general idea to have everything we need and don’t have to buy any stuff at the place we are going to.
And you can guess it’s my MUM DUTY to get all ready. I am or let me say , we are a well experienced family when it comes to travelling , thats where we work for, but the bigger and older the kids and our fam bam grows, the more stuff needed.

Although it shifted from strollers and diaperbag and butt wipes , now to other grown up and adolescent stuff because they aren’t that small anymore it’s still a thing, a mini move! A thing mum prepares and the kids finalise in the days before we take of.
I have a list for when we go by car and
because this time we fly it’s a bit of different list.
So walk with me and see if you have any suggestions , I will do a few parts because there are a lot of things I want to share

My help source is this book Slimme Reizigers by Eric Torkelles
And the brilliant lady lifewellcruised
https://youtube.com/@LifeWellCruised
But some are also my own experience or tips. I even got some gadgets from tell sell!!

• DISCOUNT COUPONS you can check this site beforehand, www.destinationcoupons.com this site offers free coupons for cities around the world. Our hotels we booked also have discounts so I also scanned all those websites. I got a discount on taxi bus in Brussel for our transfer to the airport and 3 days discount for the car long stay. I printed them out at home and that will save me time in the hotels. I know and read there are also discount tickets for theater performances, rental cars and zoo’s. Its a great idea for us for in Miami for the restaurants and many other activities we want to do before we set sail and return again and have days left on south beach.
  We have a restaurant, bikes and a walk booked this way.

My source is this book Slimme Reizigers by Eric Torkelles
And the brilliant lady lifewellcruised
https://youtube.com/@LifeWellCruised & myself

• LET IT ROLL - GOLFBALL why didn’t I think about this simple hack before? Hahah what a great one. Treat yourself to a foot massage with a golf ball. During a long flight or afterwards in your hotel room, you take off your shoes. Place a golf ball on the floor and let it roll under your feet. That helps a lot against stress. Practice at home before trying it on a plane so that your ball doesn't suddenly surprise you. rolls through the cabin and unsuspecting passenger

• A USB STICK ~ I use a cheap marketing firm USB stick a lot for storage , and all the names of the touroperators I talked to or emailed with. I put in the phone numbers of family and our insurance agent, the cruisenumners and the cruiseorder.
  Ofcourse I also have some printed out. All the medical information, bloodtypes and passport numbers. The sightseeing tour confirmations for the four countries we will be visiting. Our credit card number, and the American sizes of shoes and clothing from the kids. I did’nt do that before but we plan to go to some outlets and than us sizes are great. Same as Haviana flip flops they are different in us size than European sizes. Always handy. If I don't have my notebook with me, If I have to I can plug in the stick into a computer in most hotels or internet cafes. On some sticks your data is password protected or you can download a security program. I saw there is also an ISB stick with fingerprint to acces it, so if you have valuable workrelated stuff with you that is maybe a good tip for you.
  I do t have that I found them to expensive for this time.

• DOOR STOPPER I don’t have it yet , I have to get it still, don’t know where yet. It is written everywhere that it is safe to place a door stopper behind the door of your hote room or ships cabin. I never thought of it but I'm going to buy it. I have wooden wedges so that will get the door stuck also if someone wants to open it, Nice and quiet! And great idea 💡

• PARK&FLY

_{photo source : https://www.hotelbrusselsairport.com/kamers?gclid=CjwKCAjwoIqhBhAGEiwArXT7K9wAv36rS7WZjMhOzoiOtK7pz6YLW1q-5SxyeFKMpUHr1vize-pywBoC0ooQAvD_BwE}

We don’t fly out of Amsterdam because during our May holiday, Schiphol is very busy and Belgium is much cheaper. You can park for free at the airport if you stay at an airport hotel that offers park-and-fly rates the night before your departure. So we booked the Dutch Van der Valk hotel Zaventem Belgium 5 minutes from the Brussels International Airport. The cost of that overnight stay allows us to park 10 days included in our stay. That is much less than what we would otherwise pay in an Dutch airport parkinglot or in the nearby parkings in Amsterdam.

• GREAT LIGHT IDEA I always take a little flashlight with me to hotels in case the power goes out. But this time I will take a headlight with me. Because with the time difference I want to be able to read a magazine of do some drawing so it’s a cool tip the book provided but I made the flashlight a headlight, bring on the jetlag, I can read whenever.

• FAMILY STAY we booked a family hotel with two rooms and with an adjoining door. We booked direct through a call to the reception. That was cheaper than bookings.com I will do a room tour with my GoPro.

• WIRE HANGERS! The few clothes hangers you find in your cabin on cruise ships are often not enough for your family as a whole, that's right and there are 6 of us so that's why I always keep the wire hangers from the dry cleaners and put a few in our suitcase with my long floorsweep dresses over them before we leave. When I arrive in our cabin I immediately hang the dresses in the closet. Also no wrinkles that way. And yes I leave those wire hangers behind I don't need them anymore so they are for the next passenger in the cabin we had.
  &
• HOOKS Karabjn hooks or S hooks easy to hang something. We have two cabins with two bunk beds for the kids ( so they can they choose where to sleep with our eldest children or with us ) which is ideal for hanging things , like wires or backpacks or to dry bathing suits , so hooks are a must.
  Cheap at the 1 euro or 1 dollar shops.

_{website and photo source~
https://www.bajabikes.eu/nl/miami-fietstour/?gclid=CjwKCAjwoIqhBhAGEiwArXT7K8svpdzwvwR6LOUDEX7VwtkEgN4JNNcP7U3HNe6b0h4FxbPSb8TIhxoC0L0QAvD_BwE}

• BIKE TRIPS ~ A bike ride is a good way to get to know a place and you cover a greater distance than walking on foot.
  In London, ( I did the blog about my bike trip in London ) Lisbon, Madrid and Rome I booked with BAJATOURS.COM. A bike ride with a guide (often Dutch is also an option) is great fun for the whole family. we have already booked online and payment is at the meeting point on south beach in miami.

We travel with MSC cruises and Cruise reizen ( see the golfball )
and these tips they give , we always take advantage of.
Kids sail free or for a small fee
( under 18 in same cabin ) excluded the flight and hotel the day before.
For our older kids on a msc trip or cruise when the kids are between 18-29 eligible they are eligible for a 10 % discount ,
when my parents would go with us that is an extra 5% because they are above 65 years old.
You have to claim it, but that is the fastes earn before you leave.
We do have to travel in the kids holidays,
that sucks because that is always the most expensive period.
But we have to obey the law with kids and the education law.
So with coupons and early booking we did it again and can’t wait to travel.

I used the book “slimme reizigers handboek”
by Eric Torkells,
( see the first picture its a blue book )
a book with tips by readers of “the budget travel” magazine. I combined many tips with my own as a mum traveller. I start a month before gathering things that we have in our house to use while travelling, and start gathering clothes. That way I don’t have the holiday stress in the week when we leave.

And last but not least :

• Spare glasses

• Dental floss

• Bags or Trolley’s as handluggage

• Fleece blanket.

See you in part 2

Until we read again, Thanks for stopping by,
its appreciated and remember always focus on being creative instead of being bee-zy.

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Lover of Life and L❤️ve in General - @brittandjosie

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All images and photographs are created and owned by me
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Sources used : It is mentioned in my blog.

My source is this book Slimme Reizigers by Eric Torkelles
And the brilliant lady lifewellcruised
https://youtube.com/@LifeWellCruised & myself

When the source is missing, please tell me I am only human and don’t want to do anything wrong or even plagiarise. I do make mistakes. I only use a canon camera and my iPhone 13 pro max for my images.

I would like to thank you for reading my blog, feel free to leave me any feedback, if not, read you next time. #BENICE

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Date : *31 March 2023