.jpg)
Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
Let us pull back the curtain and show you how you can maximize money you're already spending to earn enough credit card points and miles to travel with your family for nearly free.
We've used credit card points and miles to take our family of 5 on trips to places like Costa Rica, San Diego, Disneyland, Oceanside, NYC, Washington DC, Hawaii, and next year we have already booked Paris, Spain and Japan!
Using credit card points and miles (often called travel hacking) doesn't have to be overwhelming or take a ton of time, and we can show you how.
Can you earn a lot of points and miles without opening up multiple credit cards? Only if you have a really high amount of spend each month. For people with larger families, opening new cards is the easiest and fastest way to earn enough points and miles to take a couple of really low cost (but not low budget) family vacations every year!
If you want to learn ways to help you and your family travel more affordably using credit card points, this show is for you.
Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel
Lessons Learned from 2 Weeks in Europe with Kids!
CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED 100K SIGNUP BONUS!!! (THANK YOU FOR USING OUR LINK!!!)
$40 off Away Luggage (we have the "Bigger Carry On" in 4 different colors!)
Raya's Carryon backpack (affiliate link)
Duane's Men's Crossbody (affiliate link)
Raya's crossbody bag (affiliate link)
Raya's toiletry bag (affiliate link)
Raya's mini backpack (Nordace mini)
Our family of five conquered Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid over two weeks, and we're sharing all our hard-won wisdom for making European family travel successful and enjoyable.
• Pack in carry-on only bags for a family of five by planning to do laundry during your trip
• Manage jet lag with children by keeping them awake upon arrival and using melatonin the first few nights
• Use eSIMs instead of international phone plans for more reliable and affordable data coverage
• Bring the RideSafer travel vest for young children instead of bulky car seats
• Plan only one major activity per day and leave plenty of unscheduled time
• Include at least one completely free day in each city to allow for rest and spontaneous adventures
• Set clear expectations with children about overnight flights and sleeping arrangements
• Take advantage of hotel laundry facilities to pack lighter
• Always use official taxi stands at airports and ignore unlicensed drivers
If you've enjoyed our podcast, we would greatly appreciate if you could leave a review on iTunes. It would make our day to see our podcast recommended alongside other popular travel podcasts!
Our last few episodes covered our family trip to Paris, barcelona and Madrid, and in today's episode we're sharing all of our best tips, lessons learned and more for how to make your family Europe trip a raging success. Hi, I'm Raya. And I'm Dwayne, and we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.
Speaker 2:We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.
Speaker 1:So if you're wanting to travel more with your family but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.
Speaker 2:So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip. Welcome back, hi guys. Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 1:Happy whatever day you're listening. Happy podcast day. I was just telling Dwayne that I am ready for it to be summer and I feel like we're super close. Well, actually, where we live, it's summer. Basically, it was 100 degrees yesterday.
Speaker 2:It's been summer for at least a week already.
Speaker 1:But I am ready to sit poolside at a nice hotel with a margarita in my hand and watch my kids play in the water. That's what I'm ready to do.
Speaker 2:What about the pool in our backyard?
Speaker 1:We could do that in our backyard also, but it's not the same.
Speaker 2:It's definitely not the same.
Speaker 1:The vibes are not the same. It's definitely not the same. The vibes are not the same. In our house no one is going to come around with like a drink and a food menu where I can just order from my launcher. That doesn't happen here. So I'm excited for hotel pool season.
Speaker 1:We have a couple of updates and like kind of I don't know newsworthy things talk about, and then we're going to get into the meat of today's episode, which is basically everything that we learned from our Europe trip and things we would do again, things we would not do again, and, you know, learn from our mistakes kind of thing.
Speaker 1:But the first thing that we're going to talk about is there is an offer that if you follow anyone in the Points and miles community, you are probably sick to death of hearing about this offer, and so I apologize, but I am also going to tell you about this offer. So the chase Sapphire preferred card has an elevated offer right now of 100,000 bonus points like that's the signup bonus and the minimum spend is $5,000. You have 90 days to meet that minimum spend and the annual fee is $95. The normal welcome offer on this card is 60,000 points, and so, unfortunately, neither Dwayne or I are eligible for this card right now, or else we would both be applying because it's an incredible offer. The offer is even higher than the Chase Inc business cards right now. So if you were going to say I was just gonna say get up on it.
Speaker 1:If you, I'm going to tell you, like, if you don't have this card or you've had it in the past, I'm going to tell you how you're eligible for it. So, number one, if you've never had it, obviously you're eligible and you should get it because this is the highest the offer has been in years. If you have had the card previously, or have it currently, you have to have. It has to have been 48 months since you last earned the signup bonus, so not since you originally opened the card, but whatever date you met the signup bonus, it has to be 48 months from that. So if it's been more than 48 months since you got the bonus, the first time, what you want to do is call Chase and downgrade that card to like a Freedom or a Freedom Flex anything that has a $0 annual fee, and then give it a couple weeks and then reapply.
Speaker 1:Some will say to wait 30 days. I don't know if this offer will last 30 days we don't have an end date yet, but I would be hesitant to wait the 30 days because I don't know if it would, if it will still be there. So, and as of time of recording, it's April 13th 2025. This episode will air April 14th 2025. So if you're listening to this in the future I have no idea if this offer is still available or not but I will put a link in the show notes to our referral code for this offer.
Speaker 1:And if you've ever gotten any value out of our podcast and you are planning to get this card and you haven't already jumped on it, we would love it if you would use our referral link. We don't earn any cash from it, but we would earn like 10,000 chase points, so I'll put the link in the show notes and if you are so inclined, we would so appreciate it if you would use it. However, let me also add onto that If you have the card but your P2 does not, you should refer them. Don't use our link. Use your link, so, but if neither of you have the card, or if you don't you know, you don't know anyone that has the card we would appreciate it if you would use our link. Um, okay, next thing.
Speaker 2:Double A status AA status.
Speaker 1:Double A. Um, I have decided that. So last year our quest was high at globalist status. Right, we did that and it has worked out really well for us already, Right.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:I have got a wild hair up my butt that this year my quest is, uh, american Airlines status of some sort. Um, I am not a hundred percent convinced that this makes sense for a family of five. However, I'm going to give it a go and I will report back. Ashley gets around.
Speaker 1:If you follow her on Instagram, she's one of my favorite travel points creators, even though she doesn't have kids and is like just generally living the jet setting life that I am very envious of. But I love her content. She's super direct and I she cracks me up all the time, and I got to meet her at travel con, uh last year in Portland, so that was also super fun. Um, she has an AA course that's out right now. Again, if you're listening to this, in the future I don't know if it'll be available, cause I think she only offers it maybe once a year, but she has a course on how you can earn American Airlines status without like flying AA, and it has a lot of like shopping portals and stacking and all that. And so I took the course and I'm going to put into effect everything that I've learned and so far, according to my calculations, I believe we've accumulated around 28,000 points, both miles and towards status, and it's been about five days. So, yes, maybe we'll do a whole episode about that.
Speaker 2:But we're on our way.
Speaker 1:We're on our way, so just wanted to give you an update there. I'll report back on how this goes and we'll give updates along the way. The last thing before we get into the meat of today's episode is podcast reviews. So we have around 30-something reviews, at least on iTunes. So we have around 30 something reviews on at least on iTunes, and if you have ever gotten any value out of our podcast, I will desperately beg you to leave a review or a rating. My goal when I go into iTunes because that's where I listen to podcasts is to have our podcast recommended at the you may also like, which is at the bottom of other popular points podcasts and I check all the time and it's never there. So that's my goal. I want to see our podcast there. A lot of people reach out to me on Instagram and are saying they love the podcast and, first of all, I appreciate that so much. If you haven't left a review for the podcast, if you would do that, it is so, so appreciated. That would make me so happy.
Speaker 2:Yes, we would definitely appreciate that greatly.
Speaker 1:Yes, and thank you in advance for doing that. Okay, let's jump into it. So we are just a few weeks back from our two week trek to Europe. We have three episodes all about it, with all the details, and an episode on how I booked it and planned it. So it's a lot of Europe content.
Speaker 2:Yes, hopefully you enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:What was? Like we have specific questions that we'll go through, but I'm just curious, like what was your overall impression of the trip?
Speaker 2:first thing that comes to mind is I overpacked, we overpacked being that we or I did laundry four times on this trip. Four or five, you did it four times.
Speaker 1:Four times, yes, we one of those times was completely unnecessary was your, your OCD kicking in, I think. But the other three times were necessary.
Speaker 2:Never unnecessary.
Speaker 1:In Paris, dwayne did laundry two days in a row. It was just. He was like. On the second day he was just like should I just go like, do one more load? It's like well, all the clothes are clean except for what we wore today. So I guess.
Speaker 2:Well, I, I mean it was raining.
Speaker 1:There was five of us it.
Speaker 2:There was a load, you know to do. There was um, but yes, that's my number one take from this past trip and you overpacked in a carry-on only bag well, yes, raya, I don't know if she's ever mentioned it, but we were only allowed to carry, to have a carry-on on this trip.
Speaker 1:And when he says allowed, he means that was my rule. I said we are doing carry-on only.
Speaker 2:Yes, so hence, that's why I had to buy a shoe bag.
Speaker 1:But also like, let's like, dwayne was mad about this. It was like this is never going to work.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean we were gone for two weeks, and I mean the only way it worked is I did laundry. That's how it worked.
Speaker 1:But it was fine right.
Speaker 2:I mean, it was fine yes. Yes, we could easily do it again. If you're able to do laundry, you will be fine. I mean, our bags were bursting, they were pretty full.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were full Like bursting.
Speaker 2:They were pretty full. Yeah, they were full. Like I thought the first baggage claim our bags were going to come out the thing open and close everywhere.
Speaker 1:He kept saying we need to get luggage bans and I was like it's fine, we need to get strapped next time for sure. Yeah, I was like it's fine, everything is fine. Um, well, what's funny? Okay, so, speaking of waiting for it to come out, so we packed carry-on only, but when we got to check in for our flight in Chicago, the lady made us check our bags.
Speaker 2:Yes, she did.
Speaker 1:I wish that someone had been recording my face when I stared at her and said excuse me, like ma'am, do you know what I went through to get this entire family of five packed in carry-on bags only Like? Are you aware of what it took? And now you're telling me that all my work was for nothing, because it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had to check every bag.
Speaker 1:She was like you're in zone five, so yeah, we're requiring you to check it. Oh, I was so annoyed, but I mean it was nice to not have to push them through the airport. Like I'll, I'll give them that, um, okay. So speaking of like, let's start. So luggage that we used. This was a big popular question that people asked. We have four away bigger carry-on suitcases and we have one Delce, the Delce. We have two Delces actually, but on this trip we only brought the small one. We have a carry-on.
Speaker 1:Delce and a big bag that you'd have to check came in a set it came in a set from costco, yeah shout out to costco and costco is duane's, like other love and life besides me, yeah, um.
Speaker 1:So the the delsey is fine. It's a little bit smaller than the away not by much, but like a little bit. And so we Away Not by much, but like a little bit. And so we use that for our youngest, because her clothes are so tiny and even with all her clothes that I packed, we still had a little bit of room in her suitcase that we could use for our stuff, and then the rest of us had the Away. Again, it's the larger carry-on.
Speaker 1:I have been super happy with these suitcases. I know they're like you know I'm going to say viral on all the social media things, but I really like them. I like that they come with like a laundry bag. I like that they have like a piece that you can push down and like I don't know what are those things, those things the straps you can like tighten to flatten it. I like all of that. Um, I think they look super cute and I mean I would probably buy a fifth one, honestly, so that we all had the same bag yeah, I had no issues with it.
Speaker 1:Like I said we, I put a lot of ish in my carry-on yeah, um, they weren't super cheap, but I ordered them back in November and at the time they had a 25% off sale. So basically we bought three and got one for free. That's how I was looking at it at the time. It still wasn't cheap but and I used, you know, like, I think, a Rakuten shopping portal to get a little bit more cash back. So that's the luggage that we use. The Delce is also. It's fine, but again it's a little smaller and I'll say the wheels are not as smooth as the away. So, all in all, super happy with the away luggage and I would definitely recommend it.
Speaker 1:Also, on the way back we we checked our bags on the flight back too, because we had some liquids Like we had a bottle of wine in one of them, I had a bunch of skincare, and the Paris security is notoriously strict and I was afraid that they wouldn't make it through security. So we checked them on the way back and one of my bags got lost, which was fun. However, when we got them back, they were kind of scratched up a few of them and they said they give you like, basically, a magic eraser comes with it so you can clean off scuffs and stuff, and so I took the magic eraser to the bag and I mean, it's definitely not perfect, you can definitely tell that it's worn, but it cleaned up a lot, so I liked that too. Did they all come with one? Yeah, yep, they did.
Speaker 1:Um, okay, tips for packing carry-on only um, with kids, with a photo shoot and the weather changing. Well, first of all, we did overpack. We overpacked because there was supposed to be some days where it was sunny and a little bit warmer, so we had some like shorts and like I had a dress and a skirt for myself, and the weather ended up changing and we didn't really get much weather like that. I think Dwayne and the kids wore shorts one time the whole trip.
Speaker 2:Yeah again.
Speaker 1:That's mainly why the luggage was full, because we had jeans, sweatpants, jackets, yeah plus shorts, t-shirts, shoes, yeah, um, I think that if the weather had been like even it had been partially rainy and partially sunny, number one, we would have had to do laundry less, because we would have been able to wear the, you know, the long pants and the long shirts when it was rainy and the other clothes when it was sunny, and you know. But instead we just ended up having to continue to wear all of our cold weather clothes over and over. So that was part of the reason for the laundry. I guess I also only packed like five pairs of pajamas, I think, for each kid, with the thought that, you know, we're going to do laundry once or twice.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Um, I also packed in terms of like medicine. Normally I would bring like liquid ibuprofen and tylenol and stuff, but again, I didn't want the liquids to get pulled out during security and so I got chewable um. So that's another tip. I mean, I was even able to bring like a steamer which broke it didn't break.
Speaker 1:I killed it because the voltage it couldn't handle, the european voltage, even though I was using a adapter, um, so it stopped working. First of all I was like this doesn't work very well here. It kept like sputtering and then I realized, oh, I just burned it out. It was so hot and I yeah. So, um, we'll talk more about that in a second. But we also had to pack clothes for a photo shoot, which we did in Paris, and so part of the way that I did that in carry on only is I we wore sneakers in the photo shoot and that was on purpose, and I think it came out pretty well. I actually I don't love how my sneakers looked, but everyone else looked great. I thought Dwayne's shoes and the boys' shoes looked great, even our daughter. Her shoes looked good, mine just looked very white.
Speaker 2:I felt like I thought they looked fine. Yeah, they're the same shoes that our daughter wore.
Speaker 1:I know, but that's probably just me being picky when you see photos of yourself. We also had raincoats. Those didn't take up very much space, they were pretty thin, and I just made sure everyone had one um like packed in their suitcase, cause I knew it was going to rain. And I also made sure that we had at least two pairs of shoes for everyone so that if one got wet, they could wear the other one the next day. And so I mean that's that's really my, our best tips. I think you are always like what you pack is going to fill the size of the suitcase that you have. So if, if you start with a big suitcase, you're going to fill it, but if you start with a carry on, you'll fill it and it'll be fine. Like there's always things that I pack that I never wear, and that happened on this trip too, and we still were able to get in carry-on only. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm notorious for overpacking, but again, if you travel, or if you plan to travel, look for a laundry mat. Yep, and I mean you can pack light. Yes, if you plan to do laundry more than one time.
Speaker 1:And we will link the bag that Dwayne got for his shoes because it's huge. But if you need to travel with shoes, it worked out really well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I was able to put some clothes in it. So I mean, the bag is huge.
Speaker 1:Yes, but it never got flagged by any of the airlines.
Speaker 2:No, I will say Honestly. I think they just saw the straps and thought it was a book bag and then, probably when I walked by them, they were like holy shit they were like whoa, that's a house, yeah, that's a big ass bag.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I feel like those are our best tips on packing. I also think, like for women, especially like number one you can reuse pieces. I did bring a couple pairs of wool clothing that I bought that are really good for travel because they, like, don't retain any odor and so you don't really need to wash them as much. I felt like they were kind of itchy and so I don't really know to wash them as much. I felt like they were kind of itchy and so I don't really know how I feel about them.
Speaker 2:So it's going to be a little itchy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but like I mean the green pants, those are wool pants, those are nice pants, but I just I felt like they were a little itchy, so I don't fully know if I could recommend them yet. I need to try to wear them a little bit more first and see Okay, next, phone coverage. So last year we didn't get any phone coverage when we, when we went to Costa Rica, and you never turned your phone off airplane mode and I we use my phone because I have my phone through my job and they don't really have like a policy around travel like when you're not, you know, traveling for work, so we just used my phone.
Speaker 1:Um, however, I do think there were some charges that there was some charges that, uh, I was, I don't know, wasn't it like $600 or something?
Speaker 2:I?
Speaker 1:feel like, yes, they were like wait, were you traveling? There was some data Like we're just trying to figure this out. I mean, I never saw like a bill for it, they never charged me for it, but I was like, well, I don't feel good about that.
Speaker 2:And we used your phone a lot, that trip.
Speaker 1:Yes, gps.
Speaker 2:We had to Google hospitals.
Speaker 1:It was.
Speaker 2:We use it a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this time my original plan was for us to use Dwayne's phone and Dwayne's services through Verizon and mine is through AT&T, but again, that's a work phone. So my original plan was to sign up for the international plan with Verizon and you can do like an unlimited month. It'll you go on the website and it'll tell you like what's the better deal, because it's either a daily charge or there's a monthly charge and because we were gone for like two weeks, the unlimited monthly plan was actually cheaper than paying daily. But when we, when we got there, it like wasn't working, even though I signed up for it two different times. So I don't know why it didn't work. I haven't seen a charge for it on the bill, so I'm assuming that something happened and it didn't go through. But what we ended up doing instead was I had bought an eSIM for my phone.
Speaker 1:I think I said in a previous episode I didn't think I could do that because of security issues. I assumed it would not be allowed because I have a company phone. But I asked before. I left someone in IT and they said, yes, you should get an eSIM. So I did. We bought it through Aerolo. It was $37 for 10 gigabytes of data and you have it for like a 30-day window, and so I set my phone up and my phone worked immediately upon landing. It was pretty easy, and once we learned that Dwayne's phone was not working using the Verizon International plan, I then bought him the same eSIM. So we spent a total of $74. We each had 10 gigabytes of data and we did not run out. I think I ended with two or three gigabytes left.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was a little bit lower, but yeah, we still made it. But I was lower because my freaking hotspot kept turning on for some reason.
Speaker 1:Somehow, when the kids were using the ipads on the plane, it kept automatically turning on duane's hot spot and we we didn't realize it at first and then, when we did realize that we like couldn't get it to turn off for some reason so I don't know, we also had no issues with coverage like, it worked great in both france and spain. Yeah, so when you sign up, you basically say, like these are the countries I'm visiting, and then it'll recommend like a whatever, a sim card for you, and they have different ones for different countries. So, yeah, it worked great. I would definitely recommend it and I would definitely use it again.
Speaker 1:Um, what we brought in terms of like medication and snacks and all that, I did bring a bunch of snacks. I always bring like bananas, oranges, apples, and then like chomps Chips yeah, chomps, meat sticks, chips and like maybe some little cookies or something. But I didn't bring a ton because I really just wanted them for all the flights and, you know, maybe for an occasional thing in the hotel room, cause I knew that we were going to be eating a lot of snacks there too, like local snacks, which is what I would prefer. It was more just in case the kids are hangry and they need something to hold them over. And then, and like by the time we flew back, we didn't have any left. They were all gone, yeah, so I feel like I planned a good amount for that.
Speaker 1:In terms of medications I already mentioned, I brought chewable Tylenol and ibuprofen Of course they have those things there. It's more of just whenever the kids get a fever. It always seems to be at night and, you know, at two o'clock in the morning there may not be a pharmacy available that's open that Dwayne could go to. So I just basically brought enough to get us through a night or two If someone were to get a fever in the middle of the night. I also brought a thermometer. I brought some band-Aids, both for cuts and blisters. I brought some antibiotic ointment Really just basic things, like nothing crazy because again, they have pharmacies there, obviously.
Speaker 2:So yes, but luckily this trip one of the few trips we didn't have any issues.
Speaker 1:Nobody got sick.
Speaker 2:It was great Jet lag with kids yes, so you're definitely going to experience some jet lag, especially going to wherever it is asia, europe you're going to experience it. So what we did was, when we got there, we tried to keep the kids up, because we got there. What in the morning? Um, for us it was like 1 o'clock in the morning, our time. To our body.
Speaker 2:Yes, but it was like 9 am, but it was like 9 am Paris time, so we had to try and fight the sleepiness and stay up for a good amount of time. Yeah, so we let the kids drink soda. Which they don't get normally, yeah we drank a bunch of coffee, yeah, um, but yes, I mean, we were pretty tired by the, you know, 5 pm yeah, and so here's one mistake that we made the first night is, I thought, because we kept everyone up so long that everyone was gonna great.
Speaker 1:So we made it until about 738 o'clock for all of us and then the kids fell asleep and I thought they're going to sleep through the morning because they're so tired. So I didn't give anyone any melatonin. And then you can imagine my surprise when I woke up at 115 in the morning and all three of them were wide awake and there was no going back to sleep. So one thing I would do differently is I would have given melatonin that first night, even though I knew they were super tired.
Speaker 2:I mean, who knows if it would even help.
Speaker 1:But I think it would have, because the second night I gave melatonin because I thought we're not doing that again and they slept through the whole night just fine, and I mean they had been up since one o'clock in the morning. So that is one thing that I would do is use melatonin once or twice to like the first couple nights to get on the time zone and then, obviously you know, get spent time outside during the day, so your body knows it's daytime. Melatonin is fully recommended by our pediatrician. Obviously you can check with yours and and confirm that we don't give it to them every day and we didn't even give it to them every day on the trip, just a few nights here and there yeah, because we did so much walking and, yeah, traveling.
Speaker 1:So and they, because we had two different rooms. They had a room where they could like chill out in, where we could still watch TV in our room and not disturb them. Tips for overnight flights with kids. This was really our kids' first overnight flight that they are like really remembering. I've flown overnight with them when they were babies a couple times, but obviously they don't remember that and that was not ideal for me either.
Speaker 1:I think I just set expectations with them of this is what's going to happen and this is what it's going to be like. And you know you're you're going to have to sleep sitting up a little bit. It's not going to be super comfy and you're probably not going to get that great of a sleep, but it's only one night and you know we'll, I'll have a comfy bed and and place to sleep, you know, the following night. So I think I just set expectations. We talked about it a couple of times and I mean they were cranky the first day, but like I didn't feel like it was that bad, like I felt like they handled it pretty well actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they did, for sure.
Speaker 1:Especially because our oldest was like I didn't sleep at all and I was like, yeah, I feel that Our daughter got to lay down, really because she's so small, so she slept the most.
Speaker 2:But Wasn't very long, though, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean so those are. Those are really my only tips. You can try limiting like the movies. I mean so those are. Those are really my only tips. You can try limiting like the movies. Cause when our kids got on the plane, they were like, oh sweet, like look like there's screens in the back of the seats, like we normally eat dinner. You know that your screen is going to go off. Like that might have helped. I gave them melatonin on the flight too, but it didn't. It didn't do a lot, no, so OK, so those were kind of all the things that I wanted to cover, and then I asked on Instagram if anyone had any questions or anything regarding the trip, you know whatever, and so we're going to go through a bunch of those now. Okay, do you want to? You want to read the questions and we'll kind of go through them.
Speaker 2:Yes. So the first question is what's your favorite purse to use? What's?
Speaker 1:your favorite purse to use. So I brought two like purses on this trip. One was a little crossbody that I got on Amazon that I can link in the show notes, and then the other one was like a purse backpack and that was from I don't know how to say it Nordace N-O-R-D-A-C-E. It was the mini backpack. I think it was the Ellie mini is what it was called. Mine is the sage green color.
Speaker 1:I wanted something that I could wear as a backpack so my hands would be free, but that also had like a secure pocket against my back so that I didn't have to worry about pickpocketers and that's where I could put my wallet. And this has both of those things, and so it's still big enough to carry like an iPad or a Kindle or water snacks whatever, but you can also tuck your wallet in there and feel like it was safe and it's cute. So those were the two that I brought, and we actually could even fit our daughter's ride safer vest in there, which was another reason that I wanted to bring that. So on the days where I knew we would need to bring that, I wore the backpack, and on days where we were just planning on taking the Metro, I used the smaller cross body bag and I'll link them both in the show notes. Yep.
Speaker 2:Okay, next question was brand of comfy shoes you used.
Speaker 1:I have been down a rabbit hole trying to find like a cute pair of white sneakers to wear in Europe. So I'll tell you what I've tried. I've tried the Dr Scholl's ones that are viral on TikTok. Did not love those. I did take those to Europe last year. Again didn't love them. They felt kind of stiff on my feet and like just not a big fan. I also tried ordering some Vejas. They were a little too narrow for me. We saw those all over Europe. They're I think it's a very European brand and I also ordered a couple of other like random ones that people were like oh, these are my favorite, these are my favorite, and none of them fit very well. So what I ended up settling on that I really like actually is just the Reebok Classic white sneaker with the gum. Is it called the gumshoe bottom?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it's just an option you can get with that, but it's basically the Reebok Classic.
Speaker 1:Yes, and so that's what we wore in our photos. My daughter has the same exact pair, which is super cute and they're really comfortable, and I still wear them.
Speaker 2:Yes, and if you're looking to get your husband a pair, I would recommend the Nike Prestos. Any one of those shoes. It's my go-to. It's the most comfortable shoe, without a doubt. It's like wearing a comfortable sock with a sole on it, yep.
Speaker 1:So Reebok Classic and Nike Prestos, those are the two.
Speaker 2:Okay, next question what would you not pack next time?
Speaker 1:I would not pack my steamer because I burned it out, ruined it, and it just never occurred to me. I just assumed using the adapter would be fine. It would be fine, but it was not fine, and it never occurred to me to look at the voltage on it until after it was dead. So maybe that um, yeah, I mean there was. There was clothing that we didn't wear, but I would have worn it if the weather had been different.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I would just say do not overpack if you're planning to do laundry, okay, next question Do the kids pack?
Speaker 1:themselves, get input or request and do they carry their own luggage? They do not pack themselves, not yet. I'm not opposed to teaching them, but they need to be a little bit older and, plus, I always have a vision for, like, what I want them to wear, and a lot of times it's different than the clothes they wear on an everyday basis. And, because I don't want to deal with an argument, I pack for them Also. It's very I can do it very quickly. I've done it so many times that it doesn't take me long to pack for them. Um, also, our, our two older ones, have ADHD and I just, I just feel like they're not ready to it would take them a week to pack and they, and then I would still have to go through and check it all.
Speaker 1:And no, they don't pack for themselves. However, they do carry their own suitcase and their own backpack for the most part. The only exception really is our daughter and she likes to push her own suitcase and she does pretty often, but eventually she gets kind of tired and she also carries her own backpack, but again, it's kind of heavy, especially with that car seat vest in there. So eventually she does get tired. And then our 11-year-old will. Usually he will hold her bag and push her suitcase along with his suitcase and his bag. He's pretty good about that. Or you know him and Dwayne will like Dwayne will take a suitcase and he'll take the second backpack or something. But yes, they all, for the most part, push their stuff wherever we're going. In fact, my eight-year-old was stressing me out on this trip because Go ahead, dwayne's laughing.
Speaker 2:He would just push his carry-on and then jump on it. So he was like Superman he was riding it, riding it through the airports and everywhere. I didn't have a problem with it because, I mean, if I was that small I'd be doing the same thing, but I was so stressed out was so stressed that he was gonna run into people.
Speaker 2:I mean, there were times where it was too busy for him to do that and I would be like, hey, you know stop. But like he wouldn't, he would have the handle down and he would be like, hey, you know, stop, like he wouldn't.
Speaker 1:He would have the handle down and he would just push off with his feet and off he went, like as if he was zip lining through the forest.
Speaker 2:Which I thought was hilarious. It was Like I said, I'd be doing it too.
Speaker 1:It was stressful. For me it probably shouldn't have been. That's probably like okay, this is a small problem, Like let's get some perspective, but it stressed me out so. But he was pushing his own suitcase, so got to give him that.
Speaker 2:Okay, next question how busy did you pack your day? Leave time for them to rest. Also, ps, loving the podcast, shout out to you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you so much. I feel like we did a good job about not not over scheduling yes, I think that's key.
Speaker 2:You don't, you? You definitely don't want to over one thing a day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, max, yeah that way, you at least leaves room for you to do whatever yes, you want to do that day and go wherever you want and I think one thing a day and one free day is a good like method, because and then like, have in the back of your mind like these are a few extra things that maybe I would like to do if we can make it work. That's kind of how we approach this every time. And, you know, sometimes we couldn't do those things because of the weather or whatever. But I mean, like the Royal Palace of Madrid, for example, I had that in the back of my mind that I was like that's something I would like to do, but I didn't schedule it. And then we, you know, we ended up doing that one day, but we, I felt like we had a lot of time to relax.
Speaker 1:We had like a leisurely breakfast every morning and we had a couple of like at least one afternoon, evening in each city, where the kids just got to watch their iPads or the TV and we got to read a book or whatever and relax a bit. And so I like I did not feel overscheduled. So, and those, those would be my tips to make sure that that happens. Yeah, well, and like, don't worry about wasting your time, like you are going to find something to fill that time and even if it is hanging out in a hotel room in Barcelona for the night and like ordering room service like it's still a fun vacation memory. So that that would be my other advice.
Speaker 2:Okay, next question. This says balancing schedule versus unscheduled time.
Speaker 1:So basically, yeah, I feel like that goes hand in hand yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, and then we one person wrote how do you have time to record a podcast, woman?
Speaker 1:We do it on.
Speaker 2:Sundays.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's how.
Speaker 2:Okay, last one. It says is it easy to get a taxi for a party of five? Do they require the youngest to wear the vest?
Speaker 1:Well, so every time we took a taxi, it was either from the hotel or from the airport, and so every airport that we were in had a designated taxi line. As a side note, you're going to like walk towards the exit and towards the taxi area, and there's probably going to be people, before you get to that point, trying to get you to take their taxi, and they are unlicensed taxi drivers, so just keep walking, like like, do not use them and walk to the taxi line and there will be an airport employee and you will tell them we have five people and they will.
Speaker 1:They will get you a bigger taxi. Usually they'll have you wait off to the side for a minute and then you know like a bigger one will come. And I mean, we were not. We were never the only big group waiting either.
Speaker 2:And we never really had to wait that long either.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe five minutes max, so super easy. And then same thing from the hotel, obviously, because they order the taxi and you're like you know we need room for five plus the bags. So never had a problem, and do they?
Speaker 2:require the vests? No, need room for five plus the bags, so never had a problem. And do they require the vest? No, there were a few taxis we got in that had a car seat but they saw that we had the vest and they just like throw it in the back. Yeah, no one ever commented really on the vest and I really think anywhere besides the US it's at your discretion. You know what I mean. I don't think that's true?
Speaker 1:You don't think that's true. I think there's car seat laws in the European Union.
Speaker 2:No one seemed to.
Speaker 1:Well, because they had the vest. I'm sure we're not the only people that they've seen come through with that vest. I bet you, if we didn't have the vest, they would have said something but she had it on every time.
Speaker 2:Maybe I also see a taxi not having a car seat and us not having the vest saying just strap her in or put her on your lap. I would never do that. Well, I know you wouldn't do it. I'm saying taxi drivers in other countries would.
Speaker 1:You're saying they wouldn't care? Yeah Well, we got no pushback from using the vest at all, and yeah, I mean yeah, it seemed fine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the vest is the way to go, for sure.
Speaker 1:It was very convenient. It was very nice to have the taxi option available to us, because we've taken quite a few trips where it was not an option and we did a lot of walking and you know, everyone was more tired and cranky because we, like, we either had to walk or whatever. So would definitely recommend the best. Um, yeah, I think. All in all, like I think that we did a really good job planning this trip so that it felt like a vacation, but also so that we got to explore a different part of the world.
Speaker 2:Yes, you, you did plan a very well thought out trip where we had things to do, we had free time and, you know, everyone enjoyed themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm, I'm proud of that. So I think, just like, when you're planning the trip, my biggest tip would be to like pick, like the top things that are super important to you in that city. Maybe, like I mean, depending on how long you're there like two to three to four max and then schedule one of those a day and leave a lot of open time and just know that you are going to fill that time. Either someone is going to recommend something to you like, oh yeah, you should do this, Like that happened to us. They were like, oh, you should take a tuk-tuk in Madrid, and so we had time, so we ended up doing that. People will recommend things to you that you're going to want to add on, and it can feel very frustrating if you don't have any time to do that. And so those are my best tips Just know that you will fill the time.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep. Okay, so hopefully this was helpful in some kind of way.
Speaker 1:Yes, I hope so. If you have any questions, as always, we are on Instagram at TravelParty5. I answer every single message that comes through there, unless it's spam, so feel free to reach out, send a message, ask a question. I'm always happy to help and and I love getting the messages too I some of them I sent to dwayne.
Speaker 2:I'm like look yes, she, she enjoys them it makes me happy.
Speaker 1:Yes, but we thank you for listening yes, we'll catch you on the next episode have a good one bye.