Motherhood has been a constant exercise in taming my Type A tendencies. I’ve got a spreadsheet for almost everything: Which nearby playgrounds have splash pads and parking, the hotels we’ve liked best and why, upcoming travel plans…and don’t get me started on summer camp. (You’d think signing up at 6:31 would get you a spot if it opens at 6:30 AM, right? Too slow on the draw, Slim.)
I know, I KNOW, that slowing down and letting things wash over me in the moment is the best way to enjoy motherhood and all the fun that it brings. But part of why just ~existing~ in society today feels so hard is this forced cadence of thinking ahead—like, I would love the privilege of thinking about summer camp in June, truly, if any camp out there opens up sign ups that late—and so instead I find myself trying to compartmentalize the “mom brain” tasks into the project management frameworks I learned at work. It only sometimes actually works and I still end up scrambling a lot, and let me tell you, I’m super organized!!
Enter: Amanda Brown – Type A Mom, who I was so excited to bring to this newsletter. Her substack is one of my favorites because she doesn’t try to gloss over motherhood tasks as “extra” or “easy” and instead takes a measured approach to all the administrative work it takes to create an enriching, fulfilling childhood for your children AND for you.
Amanda’s 3 kids, all travel pros at this point!
Amanda Brown on Travel with Toddlers
Amanda’s three kids are a little older than toddler-age (6, 9, and 11) so pull up a chair, she’s got all the details on making this time magical. She’s an L.A.-based self-proclaimed “Type A Mom” who is always searching for ways to streamline different parenting tasks, using the skills she learned while working behind-the-scenes of making movies.
I love her parenting approach, because it’s realistic with today’s high demands on moms, especially. And it’s not just “hacks” that she talks about—it’s real systems that you can use to better run a household, because it is a real job, whether or not you have a “real” job on top of it. As she says:
A lot of what I do as a “Type A Mom” is find ways to “help my future self.” A huge lesson I’ve learned as a mom to three kids is that no matter what, each week brings some sort of surprise/chaos/special event that throws our week out of alignment. Between sick kids, early school dismissals, a kid that has a big report due, a musical performance, a flat tire, my husband travelling, and this week’s issue of our kitchen sink faucets not working (it’s crazy how crucial a working kitchen sink is to a family of 5 – we felt unable to prep or cook food because we couldn’t clean anything and that is really tough to manage as a mom to three!), no week is the same and they’re often filled with curveballs… Over time I’ve realized that the more I can be prepared and ready for what’s scheduled, the more bandwidth I’ll have to handle whatever unexpected event is thrown at us.
That’s exactly how I feel about travel! Here’s how Amanda brings her Type A skillset to planning travel with little ones:1
Do you travel often? What’s your travel “style” before and after kids?
We do small trips and larger trips each year—road trips and long flights—and overall we travel around eight times a year total.
Before kids, I would just squeeze it into my life however I could! For example, to go to New York City to visit friends and go to different events, I would often take a red eye on a Friday from LAX to NYC, visit my friends and see the city, and then fly back on a late night flight Sunday night so I could be in the office first thing Monday morning!
Now, with kids, I slow way down. I will dedicate an entire day to getting somewhere, then build in a quiet first day once we arrive. I let us take our time getting to pre-planned events while on the trip, and then take a day to travel back home. I also include a buffer day or two at home before school starts again. I have learned that having extra time to adjust to each change is what my kids need!
Travel is such a high-stakes thing when you’re bringing kids along. How do you tame the “Type A”part of you?
Travel with kids (at any age!) requires a lot of planning and prep, and then a lot of letting go once you’re traveling since there are many things out of your control! As a Type A Mom it can be hard to let go, so the way I manage this is I prep for as many scenarios as I can so that if one comes up, I have thought of what can help with it, and I use that plan. And then if something comes up that I haven’t considered, since everything else has been covered by my prep, I have bandwidth to figure out how to get through the unexpected situation!
I love that. Especially with destinations like Disney where you just can’t wing it.
Exactly. With Disneyland, the way I manage the unexpected is by actually assuming that something will go wrong no matter what! One time at the end of the day my older son (who was 8 at the time) and I waited an hour in line to ride Matterhorn for the first time and when we got to the front they closed the ride… He cried because he was so disappointed – it was on his list of must-dos!
So I quickly pivoted and bought us the special “individual lightning lane” pass for Rise of the Resistance. We’d waited in line for that ride first thing in the morning and I didn’t buy passes then, so I knew I had them saved to use if we needed to (you’re only allowed one “individual lightning lane” per attraction per day. Thank goodness I didn’t buy it in the morning – it saved us from leaving Disneyland on a bad note, and it was SO FUN to do that ride again (and skip the line!). So in that situation I was saving the individual lightning lane for some unknown event, and I was so glad I did that!
Travel also has a HUGE mental load. What are some of the ways you make it easier on yourself when you do want to travel, and keep it fun for you, not just the family?
Travel can be so exhausting—mentally and physically—for parents! A way I keep the travel fun for me too is that I reframe family travel as a trip (not a vacation!) that is about the kids’ experience. Because, if they have energy and are enjoying the trip, then I will enjoy it too!
I also look for ways to build in time for me to see and do what is most important to me on each trip. For example, when we went to London, I chose two things that I wanted to do that were mainly for me – I chose visiting my favorite tea shop (Fortnum &Mason) and my favorite department store (Liberty of London) as two things that were important for me to do. For the tea, I took the whole family and booked us a high tea experience there and made sure I had time to look around the different floors and shop, and for the department store I took my daughter with me since I knew she’d like it the most.
Part of that is blending what I love with what I think my kids would love. So, I love high tea, and I wanted to take my kids on a bus tour of London, so we went on a Peppa Pig High Tea Bus Tour and all had a great time! I loved being touristy with my kids while we were there, but getting to do my favorite things while doing those kid focused things helped me feel like the trip was for me too!
The other thing that worked really well with this trip is that we left a day at the end of the trip completely open, with zero plans. It was the first time we’d done this, and I wish we’d done it on all our other trips! That day turned into the day that the kids got to go see what they’d been exposed to while in London and wanted to learn more about. My 11- year-old son chose seeing The Churchill War Rooms, and my 5-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter wanted to walk the Tower Bridge. We all got to experience just being in London and not on a strict schedule. We will definitely keep adding a day with no plans into our future trips!
What are your tried-and-true tips for traveling with little ones?
Traveling with kids requires a lot of prep, and while it may seem like a lot of work
leading up to it, it’s so helpful once you’re traveling to have thought of everything! The main thing I keep in mind is not to rely on other places to have what you need. For example:
- Airports may not have the food your kids like, so always pack them enough food to get them through an entire travel day.
- Pack a full set of clothes in carry-on bags for airsickness, spills, and if checked bags don’t make it to the destination then at least you’ll have one change of clothes with you. When they’re really little, instead of taking the whole diaper bag with you into every bathroom, separate diaper changes into individual Ziploc bags, one per hour of the flight. I’d do each one with one diaper, a travel size wipes pack, a travel size cream, and one disposable changing pad in it. So much easier!
- A destination may not have the over-the-counter medicine your kids need, so bring that from home too just in case.
- When we go to an Airbnb I always have my kids bring a small blanket from home so they have something they love cuddling with when they sleep that smells familiar.
- For packing, my kids are all in charge of their own carry-on backpack, including what stuffies, blankets, toys, and books they want to bring. We go through clothes together to choose what they’ll wear and pack them.
How do you choose your destinations, and do you bring your kids into the planning process now that they’re older?
We choose destinations based on what the kids have not yet experienced and where we are excited to go, and try to alternate between a sightseeing trip and a more chill resort type of trip.
Our first major trips to big cities have been to cities my husband and I are both comfortable in which makes it super easy (and less stressful!) to help our kids experience that city since we know our way around. For planning what activities we’ll do while there, about a month ahead of time I’ll ask them what sights and/or activities they’ve heard about and want to try at our destination. If it can work to do those things, then I’ll book them!
The best destination to travel with kids is…
Our most recent big trip was London and Paris for my kids’ spring break in 2025, and we had the best time! A few highlights would be walking across the transparent floor to see the traffic below on the Tower Bridge, the high tea bus tour I mentioned above, and we loved the Science Museum, especially their video game exhibit that has all the game consoles invented through the years that are playable, which was very fun.
We found that most places we went had kid friendly audio tours so my kids loved listening to them—they were narrated by a kid and only talked about things that were interesting to kids!
And the most kid-friendly hotel is…
In general I really like staying at Westin Hotels with kids. The rooms are usually really spacious, nothing inside of them feels super breakable so I’m not on edge, and their front desk is typically very responsive and helpful! They also have many different kinds of rooms for families to book – connecting, suites, large rooms with enough space for cribs and rollaways, and so on.
(Editor’s note: Westin is a Marriott hotel chain, if you’re looking to optimize your points.)
The gear that Amanda never leaves home without…
I use a large canvas bag for all our carry on items that has a zip top, so nothing falls out and long handles so it’s easy to carry around or hang off a stroller. I couldn’t live without this big carry-on bag!
The Yo-Yo Zen stroller is a MUST. (Editor’s note: This is my favorite stroller as well!) It is light, easy to carry with a shoulder strap, and folds small enough to fit under the seat in front of you or in the overhead bin, which means you’ll always have it with you, so there’s no delays when landing is a huge help, and the ease of getting it on and off a train is amazing. I always use stroller hooks with it which is so convenient.
I’m also a big fan of the Hatch sound machine. Even for my kids who don’t use one at home, having one on the trip helps with any noises at hotels or Airbnbs that need blocking out so they can sleep! It also has a nightlight and small clock on it which is really helpful.
When my kids were young I would bring an inflatable small bathtub to use in the tub or in the floor of a shower. It was so portable and helpful at keeping them contained, and if there was no bathtub it created one for them!
What’s your best memory traveling with your kids?
Visiting family has always been really special and has given us priceless memories, especially as relatives get older. Second, all the inside jokes and memories are the best! The memories I’ve made with my husband as we explore places we loved before we had kids and now get to see them through our kids’ eyes are wonderful, and the memories I have of my kids experiencing new places are really special. 💗
Thank you, Amanda! Not me frantically taking notes on some of these packing tips, wow. This is the kind of advice that makes me feel like I can totally handle any kind of trip with my little one, and I hope it helps y’all feel the same!
Thanks for being here.
I find most of my Type A brain gets taken up by things like packing, once the trip is booked. I am a serial overpacker (hello, anxiety) and so you’ll find me cramming kid stuff into every possible pocket or pouch, only to find that half the stuff isn’t useful when we get to our destination. I’m still unlearning that one, even though we bring substantially less stuff now that we’re out of diapers and cribs and almost the stroller, too.
Travel can be a lot, but it’s also one of the best parts of the year. When I think about 2025 I could name so many highs and lows but one memory really stands out: Jumping off of paddleboards into crisp lake water on a hot summer day, pretending to be pirates. Here’s to more of that this year, and to all the fun that comes after the flurry of planning and packing.
Arrrr, matey,
Kayla
If you liked this post, please consider supporting my work. I’m just a mom in the thick of the toddler years trying to create core memories for our whole family while minimizing meltdowns—I sincerely hope this helps you do the same.
This post was originally published on Travel with Toddlers.Subscribe for more real-talk travel advice, toddler-friendly itineraries, and tried-and-true gear recommendations.
