Travel with Kids

My Top 10 Must-Have Travel Products For Family Travel

My Top 10 Must-Have Travel Products For Family Travel

Last updated: October 26, 2026. This update adds current child-sleep and vehicle-restraint safety context while keeping the family’s product experiences and travel examples historical. Date information added October 28, 2026.

With over 30 countries under our belt with five kids in tow, we know family travel.  We know airports, red-eye flights, navigating new countries, and foreign languages.

What items do we not want to leave without?  Here are the 10 items I wouldn’t want to ever leave on a travel day without:

First published April 12, 2021. Product features and availability can change. The melatonin and medicine notes below describe our family’s past travel experience, not medical advice. Current American Academy of Pediatrics guidance says parents should discuss a child’s melatonin use with their pediatrician; see its melatonin guidance.

Melatonin

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Melatonin.  This was one item we packed for some family trips. Whether melatonin is suitable for a child, and how it should be used, is a question for that child’s parent and pediatrician.

What our family experienced with melatonin:

• Melatonin is produced naturally by the body and plays a role in sleep.
• Our children did not always respond the same way. Sometimes they slept only briefly or not at all; that is our family’s past experience, not an expected duration or a recommendation for another child.
• We tried melatonin during some time-zone changes on our own family trips. That describes our past choice, not a recommendation for jet lag. If you are considering it for a child, discuss it with their pediatrician and follow current product labeling.

Tablets

The digital babysitter of our age. It’s a crutch, but a good one for travel days.

Grab an iPad or other tablet pre-loaded with entertainment.  Everyone and their grandma has a tablet, but pay attention to how to maximize this item’s potential. 

During our 2021 travels, flight changes made planning difficult.  We hadn’t booked a single flight that year that hadn’t had its flight times changed 1-3 times.  Even locations are changing, a new connection appears or current ones disappear.  It’s pretty nuts! 

This means a lot of instability and long hours for kids.  We are pretty strict with our screen-time rules and keep tablets for special occasions only.  Really this means only travel or another difficult situation. 

We do not whip these out for every restaurant, long drive, or boring wait time.   We force our kids to listen to audiobooks or be bored as much as we can.  That made tablet time feel special for our family. 

Our kids LOVE long flights simply because it means access to the precious tablets they love.  The longer the flight, the more excited they are!  Fun fact: our kids did the flight from Auckland to LAX, a cool 14 hours, without a single incident or really any help from us!  Thank goodness for these tablets. 

Our favorite tablet for the kids is the Kindle Fire.  At the time of writing, we liked the parental controls and reading goals available on this device. Features, content, and access depend on the model and service, so check the current product details.  If using an iPad, check out our list of favorite games to download.

High-Quality Luggage

We absolutely adore our Thule luggage.  After much trial and error in our luggage journey over full-time travel, we got tired of broken zippers, wheels, and emergency luggage problems.  We invested into these bags and feel like they are worth every penny. 

In nearly three years, we have not had a single rip, broken wheel, broken zipper.  In fact, they look practically new! 

The best part of this luggage set?  We could use it as a large rolling bag or unzip it into a roller and a duffle when that fit our packing needs. Airline baggage rules and fees depend on carrier, route, and fare, so check the current policy before travel. With seven ticketed passengers, we had space for our bags on the trips described here.

White Noise Machine

Our family found this little machine helpful as part of a familiar bedtime routine while traveling. 

If you do not already use a white-noise machine, the sound may take some getting used to. For our family, bringing a familiar sound helped make bedtime feel more consistent away from home, though it could not guarantee sleep in every location. 

From cities to rainforest stays, we liked having a familiar bedtime sound with us. Have you noticed we are all about good sleep?  We are. For us, a steady routine made travel feel easier.

Travel Power Adapter

These slick bricks were useful for charging our devices on trips. Plug types, voltage, and device compatibility vary by destination, so check your equipment before traveling. 

Our adapter had four USB ports, so I used it to charge several devices at once. The number and type of ports depend on the model; check the current product details and the device requirements for your destination. We carried several adapters on our trips.

Car Seat Rolling Adapter

Car Seat Adapter.  Strollers have a place, but in the places we visited we sometimes found them difficult to manage. On hikes or public transportation, we often preferred a carrier; conditions and access vary by route and location. Strollers can also be bulky and take up trunk room. Instead, I prefer to use this attachment to our car seat that turns it into a type of stroller in the airport.  Then, we use baby carriers (up next) to get the baby around. 

Baby and/or Toddler Carrier

For our family, wearing a small child was often easier than using a stroller outside an amusement park. At amusement parks, we rented strollers so we would not need to bring one back to our lodging afterward. 

Things I love: 

• With a child close to me, I could keep them right beside me while we walked. 
• They love the feel of being against your body and can sleep or look around easily. 
• With lots of practice, our children became more comfortable getting into the carrier. 
• We found a carrier handy on stairs and uneven trails, though it did not make every route safe or manageable. 
• Getting on and off planes is super easy. 
• I’ve even worn my babies in a carrier in tuk-tuks and taxis in Asia. That is a memory of carrying them close, not a recommendation to ride without an age- and size-appropriate child car seat or booster. In the U.S., NHTSA recommends choosing a car seat or booster based on a child’s age and size and using it every time; rules differ by location. 

My current favorite carrier for my little toddlers is this one, but for younger children I’ve loved this one and this one.  For newborns, this is my favorite.

Our original family video: Best 7 Tips for Flying With Kids From the 7Wayfinders!.

8 Pain medicine and Motion Sickness Meds

I’ve carried chewable Children’s Tylenol on trips. This is a record of what we packed, not guidance on diagnosis or treatment; follow current product labeling and your child’s clinician’s advice.

When someone in our family felt unwell or had a minor injury, we packed pain medicine as one part of our travel kit. What is appropriate depends on the person and the product; this article is not medical advice. 

I have an entire medical bag we full-time travel with, but that’s usually in checked luggage or back at the Airbnb.  I can easily pack some pain meds for any activity we go on. 

We have carried a children’s Dramamine product on family trips. We once changed a walk into a boat ride while traveling in Asia, and we have encountered motion sickness on winding roads and flights. Check current labeling and ask your child’s clinician whether a medicine is appropriate for them.

Wifi Hotspot 

We are digital nomads, meaning we work as we full-time travel.  Wifi is our more critical element in where we stay.  You’d be surprised at how unpredictable Wifi can be around the world. 

When this article was first published in 2021, we had two of these Wi-Fi hotspots, which we found helpful. At that time, our plans included an unlimited option with reduced speeds and a pay-per-gig option. Plans, features, and availability can change, so check the current provider and device details.

Passport Holder

A family of seven means a lot of passports. Juggling them around at security is a hassle. I loved this passport holder for eight. I organized them by person so I knew where to find each child’s passport. The model we used was described as RFID-blocking at the time; product features can vary, so check the current details if that matters to you.

Tip: I will order extra passport photos for everyone when we get them done. I keep these in this passport holder. These can be used for metro cards in Paris, visa applications in Bangkok, or do show a picture of a lost child (heaven forbid).

Don’t Forget The Snacks!

Appropriate snacks were helpful for our family on travel days, especially when the kids were tired or hungry. 

During our 2021 travel period, airline food and airport options could vary, and tight connections or late arrivals sometimes made snacks useful. Check current flight and airport food options for your itinerary; kids still get hungry!  

I’ve learned to be picky in what snacks will take up my carry-on bag.  All snacks need to be hearty enough they can substitute a meal in a pinch.  My favorites:

• Beef Jerky
• Protein bars (our favorite here)
• Apples (Note some countries won’t allow produce from another place inside, so eat these before customs)
• Nuts (Same note as produce)
• Chips or crackers
• Sliced Deli meat
• Trail mix
• Yogurt on the go
• String cheese
• Rice cakes and peanut butter    

Avoid:

• Candy (We used to pack a lot of candy as bribery, but we noticed it left our kids grumpy, so we don’t travel with it anymore.)
• Only carbs.  If you are having crackers, put some protein with it like deli meat.  I try to always pair a protein with a carb.

Pro-tip: We liked packing a little extra in case travel ran late; the amount of snacks, diapers, and wipes depends on your trip and your child.

Enjoy your travels!

Leslie

Additional Reading

VISITING MANUEL ANTONIO NATIONAL PARK WITH KIDS IN COSTA RICA

30 FAMILY TRAVEL ITEMS YOU NEED BEFORE YOUR NEXT TRIP!

FINDING TRAVEL BABYSITTERS: HOW TO DATE AROUND THE WORLD