Traveling Abroad with Kids: How We Packed for 20 Days in Europe

The Leap of Faith: Could We Pull Off 20 Days in Europe as a Family of Five (with kids under 7?!)

Traveling abroad with kids for the first time is equal parts thrilling and nerve-wracking. Add in a destination wedding, multiple countries, Christmas away from home, and the challenge of packing light, and you’ve got a logistical puzzle that took months to solve.

In December 2023, we embarked on a 20-day trip to Europe with our three kids (all under 7) to visit Scotland, London, Paris, and Disneyland Paris—all while carrying only what we could fit in backpacks and four suitcases.

This trip required serious preparation, but thanks to months of research and planning, we packed smart, traveled light, and even managed a major medical emergency when my dad, who has congestive heart failure and cancer, caught COVID while abroad. Our preparation quite literally saved his life.

If you’re wondering how to pack light for a long-haul family trip, manage holiday travel abroad, and prepare for every scenario (without overpacking), while having the BEST TRIP OF YOUR LIFE this guide covers exactly how we did it.

We travel a LOT – but not abroad. If you are interested in learning more about how we plan for more U.S. based travel, read our article here.

The Itinerary:

The First 24 Hours: Critical Test of our Traveling Plans and Skills! 

We left on a Saturday night and flew from Chicago to Dublin, Ireland, where we got to spend a fun trip traveling with my Dad and his wife, which was awesome. They ended up going straight from Dublin to Edinburgh, but to save on flight expenses since we were traveling with five people, we went on to London from Dublin so that we could book round trip tickets. 

We arrived on Sunday morning, and from Heathrow airport, we hopped on a train to Paddington Station and from Paddington Station we got on the commuter train to Edinburgh, Scotland. This made it a very long day for our kiddos on the way there, however, they did awesome. In particular, our middle child shined and helped us along the way. It was a gorgeous view the whole way, but we were exhausted. The double stroller, though, saved our lives! 

We spent Sunday night and Monday night in a VRBO right in the heart of Edinburgh where we met the rest of the wedding party. We enjoyed Christmas Markets and high tea for the bridesmaid. I highly recommend visiting Edinburgh during the holidays – the whole city was magical. The boys, however, got sick, so we were VERY happy to have all of our emergency materials because within the first 24 hours we were in our red zone for our asthma plan and needed to administer Prednisolone to keep us healthy. Thank GOODNESS for packing! 

The Full Itinerary: Want to copy our trip? This is what it looked like for us! 

So, how did we prep for this big journey, and in particular, the 4 very long travel days there and back, and the mini travel days in between cities in Europe? In the words of Elyse Meyers, “I am so glad you asked, I would be happy to tell you.“

Prepping for 20 Days in Europe with Kids

Months of Research & Christmas Travel Planning

Traveling during the holidays means everything is more expensive, more crowded, and more chaotic. So I spent months researching:

 ✅ The Actual Itinerary: Besides what we were packing in general, this took the longest. We knew that we were not just going to fly our family of five all the way to Europe for the wedding and not maximize the time abroad there, because A) the kids were off for the holiday break anyway until January 8th and B) we were going to spend a zillion dollars to get over there, we better make the most of it because C) who knows when we will be going to Europe again as a family in this economy. Am I right? My brothers wedding was four days before Christmas, so we knew we had to plan big or go home. We initially hired a Travel Agent in June but by August, had no luck and still no itinerary so we fired them and decided to finish the travel plans on our own. Luckily we had gotten some good ideas of what we could do (hello Disney) from them at least, to pay for that deposit we lost, and we decided that in general, we were doing Scotland for the wedding, then Paris and London.
✅ Flight logistics (best routes, layovers, kid-friendly airlines). We decided on round-trip tickets after tons of research, so that we could get there on time and not spend $1M on one-way tickets for five people. We found the best deals with the Irish airline, Aer Lingus from Chicago, O’Hare. We booked all of our flights for the whole trip by the end of September for a December adventure. I would have preferred sooner, but we didn’t have the details of our trip figured out first which took the biggest effort.
✅ Packing light strategies (because who wants to haul three giant suitcases through Europe with little kids?). We identified pretty quickly that my almost three year old was in no way shape or form going to be able to maneuver his own suitcase, so we thought about how we could pack for four suitcases instead of five in the best way possible. Tons of my research and purposes came after we made this decision. And, I am so glad we did.
✅ How to handle Christmas away from home We celebrate Christmas in this house in a big way, so trying to figure out how we were going to celebrate away from home, handle the magic still intact, and pack for this was a big hurdle to overcome and took a lot of Pinteresting and planning.
✅ Emergency planning for medical issues (which proved to be crucial). Winter is our sick season as it is to many others, but this also means a lot of emergency medical care, and we needed to be packed and prepared for everything while so far away from home. This probably was my biggest point of anxiety and where I spent the longest time planning besides the actual itinerary. 

Packing Light: The Ultimate System

Since we were hopping between countries and trains, we had to pack as lightly as possible. Each person had just one backpack for a carry-on, and we had four rolling suitcases. Two were carry-on size for my five-year old and my seven year-old, and then a mid-size case for myself, along with a full size suitcase for my husband. I will say, you could most likely get away with a mid-size for your spouse as well if they are on the smaller side. My husband is 6”3” and we have never been able to successfully pack in carry-on size suitcases for him just due the size of his clothes. Seriously, one pair of pants alone takes up the whole case. We then went on Facebook Marketplace and grabbed an umbrella double-stroller that we did not care about if it broke or we had to abandon. With a two-year-old and a five-year old, knowing we were doing Disney, we could not risk not having a way for them to rest. We also had a rain fly for this that came with it, which was CLUTCH since it misted and rained the majority of the time we were abroad. 

We decided to check all of our bags because they came with the airline tickets, and then we gate-checked the stroller. This made it so much easier for us to maneuver through the airport and get to our gate, and we didn’t have to worry about overhead bins. We knew we would be hauling them around the rest of the trip with trains and cabs, so this was a nice respite. 

🎒 My Backpack: Held important documents, electronics (headphones and Amazon Fire Kindle Kids), snacks, my devices, extra outfits, and emergency meds.
🎒 Kids’ Backpacks: We love the Patagonia Refugito Daypack’s for the kids. We made sure they could carry it and that it was their size. For our littlest we bought the 12L and for our older kiddos the 18L worked well. Each had 2 outfits (one spare, and one pajama), entertainment (books, coloring, their tablets and headphones), snacks, water bottle, a blanket and neck pillow.
🎒 Husband’s Backpack: Held his backup clothes, neck pillow, electronics, extra snacks, and all of the charges for the kiddos. 

Suitcases: We bought Lucas Brand Hardshell carry-on suitcases for my kids, one in bright orange and one in bright green so that we could easily spot them, and so they were durable and lightweight for the kids to maneuver. My daughter had all of her things in her own suitcase, and boys clothes were split between the green roll-on and the overflow went in my husbands large case. We used packing cubes to label and organize so we could easily pull anything out or put it back in. 

👜 Secret Weapon: I also had a collapsible backpack that stayed packed flat but expanded when needed (like for souvenirs or bulkier items on travel days).

What We Packed (and What We Didn’t) Traveling Abroad With Kids: 

✅ Minimal clothing (we planned to do laundry halfway through the trip) and some laundry sheets.
✅ Layered outfits that worked for multiple occasions packed in these travel cubes
✅ One nice outfit for the wedding.
✅ Lightweight travel double stroller (for the toddler).
✅ Travel medications & first aid kit (more on that below).
✅ Portable power banks & travel adapters (do not forget these – they were key to travel survival!)
✅ Travel Coffee, Collapsible Kettle, and Teas
✅ Christmas Stocking Essentials and Pajamas 

🚫 What We Didn’t Pack:

❌ Too many toys (we relied on the experiences instead).
❌ Bulky winter gear (we layered up instead) We basically had a hat, gloves, and jacket, along with boots for each kid and then one pair of sneakers.
❌ Extra “just-in-case” items—we planned to buy what we needed along the way. Unlike traveling with our camper where we have a home base the whole time, we knew that we would be moving around and it just was going to be extra weight. Things like diapers/etc. we could buy if we needed while we were there. 

Medications & Emergency Preparedness

Given our experience traveling with kids who have breathing issues, we knew we couldn’t take any chances when it came to medical preparedness.

How We Packed Medications for 20 Days Abroad

🔹 Daily meds in a pill organizer (Claritin, probiotics, vitamins). We divide the color strips by kid so everyone has their assigned meds. 
🔹 Inhalers, spacers, and a portable nebulizer (always in our carry-on).
🔹 Emergency prescriptions (we brought extra refills) in wet-dry bag and our carry-on case.
🔹 A doctor’s note listing all necessary meds (in case of customs questions).
🔹 Tons of allergy-friendly snacks for the travel days; this got us through the first three days of our trip without needing to run out.

Things that we made sure to have in our medicine bag, not knowing when and where we would be able to access things on the go: dramamine for the kids and adults, pepto tablets, bayer rapid relief headache powder, claritin, imodium a-d caplets, ibuprofen travel packets, band-aids, throat lozenges, nasal spray, mucinex, back-up albuterol and steroid inhalers, extra nebulizer vials, pulse oximeter, thermometer, and extra syringes for liquid medication. 

🚨 Lifesaving Preparation: My dad, who has congestive heart failure and cancer, got COVID while we were in Europe. At the wedding, it was so bad he could barely walk. Because we had extra medication, a thermometer, a pulse oximeter, and the right prescriptions with us, we were able to manage his symptoms on the road until he could get proper medical care. We gave him our backup inhaler and our rapid relief powders, and after forty-eight hours he was on the mend and able to enjoy the rest of the trip. 

Destination Highlights & Lessons Learned

I am going to do a much bigger post on our actual vacation and our experience at each of the destinations, but in general, this trip really proved to us that we can do hard things, and that traveling abroad with kids was really amazing. They are so resilient and even though they are young, I am convinced they will remember this trip forever. 

The biggest hurdle packing though, that I had to think a lot about in advance, was Christmas. Our kids had NO IDEA that we were going to Disneyland. That was partly because this was going to be their Christmas present, in lieu of the normal Christmas, and partly because we didn’t want it to overshadow my brothers wedding, the real reason that we were going to Europe.

Our kids really wanted to do Disney World, and we knew that we could not afford both a European trip and Disney any time soon. When we decided we were going abroad, we originally had looked into using a Travel Agent. For pricing reasons, we ended up backing out of this plan, but, not before they had brought up Paris and Disney. We had originally wanted to do Italy, and after looking at this every which way, we decided this was not the trip. But when we looked into pricing for Disneyland, we knew that it could NOT be beat.  Staying on Disney Property, for four nights and five days over Christmas was literally ¼ of the cost that it would have been to go to Orlando. 

I ended up going on Temu and to Primark and getting a bunch of Disney themed small toys, and books/stickers/items that the kids could definitely use on their trip, along with some Christmas pajamas and fun little Marvel toys. The kids got a letter from their Elves and Santa before we left, letting them know that they knew that we would be out of town. And then Christmas morning, Santa left them a note letting them know he stopped by the house too and that there would be some presents under the tree waiting for them when they got back, since he knew they would not have room in their bags to travel. 

This honestly, was the best, most magical part. We woke up on Christmas morning, did our little Christmas in the hotel room, and then my middle child and I hit the park for a 1:1 day, as the other kids decided they were too exhausted to go during the day. This ended up being the best day ever. We all went back out as a family that evening to hit up some rides and to watch the Christmas parade, and honestly, it was so magical. I don’t think I could ever go to Disney again without staying on property. Being able to just walk out of the hotel and into the park was unbeatable, and getting the whole hour before the rest of the guests get to enter to hit up all of the rides was legit, the best thing ever. At Disneyland Paris, there are two parks connected by a promenade – Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney Studios. Walt Disney Studios had all of the Marvel and Pixar rides, as well as all of the shows, so my kids wanted to stay in this area for the majority of our time here. The Spider-Man ride and the Ratatouille Ride were by far the kids favorites and we went on both multiple times. And, our hotel had a pool, which is my kids favorite thing to do in the whole world, so that was a huge plus for us. It looks amazing for the summer as well, as it has an indoor – outdoor pool area that we didn’t get to use because, well, December. 

I will say, food was not the best for our very picky, allergy ridden, American children in Disneyland, so we resorted to heading to the shops and getting some essentials that we could keep in our room and have in our bags for snacks on the go, especially for breakfast, which really saved us. Although we did go to a few of the restaurants on property, we were not blown away by any of the options, and it was VERY expensive. 

Scotland (The Wedding & Christmas Magic)

🏰 Scotland and The Wedding: Attending a formal wedding with kids in tow was an adventure in itself! However, whenever my kids talk about this trip, regardless of the city, they always say “Scotland”. I know it was their favorite, getting to be with all of our family and being able to go to the wedding, which is not normally something they get to do. They got to see both of their grandparents, their uncle, their aunt, and us, and so it felt really amazing to all be together. My parents are divorced, so this is definitely not something that happens regularly! Since it was a destination wedding, my brother and his wife made it a point to include everyone in all of the wedding festivities. It was a small group, so they made it really intimate and special with all of the events that we got to attend leading up to the wedding. We didn’t know his wifes family or many of their friends, as they lived in Las Vegas and then Colorado, so this was an amazing opportunity to get to spend time with their most special people. By the time the wedding actually came around, we all felt like old friends.

London & Paris

My husband and I both have lived in multiple cities, so we are very familiar with public transportation and getting around. I also lived abroad in Italy during college, so I had an understanding of getting around in Europe. This really helped, and made the public transportation and train systems seem completely manageable and really easy to do. And, believe it or not, was easier to get around then finding a cab that could fit five people + luggage. We did find out, in Paris, that there is a certain car (Mercedes van) that we could request in order to fit everyone in one vehicle, but it was much easier to just rely on the buses and trains. 

In Paris, when we landed in the airport, we hopped the train to Disney. It was only about 2 stops, but PACKED, and pretty expensive, but the best way to get around. When we went to our Air BnB from Disney, we did opt for a Mercedes Van, as the drive is about an hour away and we were gassed by this point. 

In Paris, we walked everywhere. It was the perfect location, where we stayed near the Eiffel Tower, and we could easily get anywhere (with our double stroller). The weather stayed around 40’s or 50’s and besides light rain, was perfect in December. We don’t speak French, so I think this was the hardest part about being in France. We know Italian and Spanish, which is enough to get by, but there were a lot of situations that made it extremely difficult to get around, especially in the train station try to read signs, and speaking to the waiters at the Disney hotels, who did not speak English. We tried our best to not seem like dumb Americans that everyone expects, but it did make it a bit harder to navigate.

Believe it or not, the Eiffel Tower was closed the majority of the time we were there to go to the top because of high winds. I didn’t mind, as I have already been, and my husband is not keen on heights, but there is an incredible park at the base of the tower that has a playground, merry-go-round, coffee shop, and more. This was PERFECT for the kids and the views – chef’s kiss. We went pretty much every day we were there. We then went to the grocery store and bought all of our food and made pretty much every meal at home in the rental. It was so nice after coming off of Disney, and the rental we were in was a family’s home. They had just left for the days we were there, and rented out their flat, and this was great because it had bunk beds for the kids and tons of toys. They literally felt like we lived there! This was a really key break from staying in a hotel with all of us together, and feeling trapped. We do much better when we have space! Bonus, they had a washer and dryer so we could do our laundry for the first time and this really helped us feel refreshed and ready for the last leg of the vacation. 

We took the underground/underwater train from Paris to London, and that was truly an AWESOME experience. Despite almost getting stuck on the tracks, as they were flooded, we managed to make it into London on the last train they let through. Traveling abroad with kids did throw us some curve balls for sure, and this was one of them. Thankfully, we faired better than many others who ended up not being able to get out of Paris on New Years. 

From the train station, we did take a cab to our rental house, but it was extremely difficult and we had to do some serious convincing to make the driver take all of us and our luggage. We picked up the keys at a storefront, and then were on our way! The neighborhood we were in was amazing. We could walk everywhere or hop on the bus, and we were a five minute walk from Camden Markets and the Tube. We took the bus and the train everywhere around London, or just walked. It is such an easy city to navigate, and my kiddos loved sitting on the second floor of the double-decker busses and looking out. I think the kids loved London the most, as it was easy to understand what everyone was saying, they loved being in the city, and the food was much similar to what they were used to at home. We were also walking distance from Primrose Hill, where the movie Paddington was filmed, and we visited “Paddington’s House”! The kids about lost their minds. It was SO awesome. 

Traveling abroad with five people, including young kids during the holidays, to multiple countries, with only backpacks and four suitcases and a medical emergency in the mix might sound like a recipe for chaos—but with the right preparation, it became one of the most meaningful and memorable adventures of our lives. From celebrating pre-Christmas wedding festivities in a Scottish castle to managing medical care across time zones, this trip proved that you can do big, brave things as a family—even with little ones in tow. The key is to plan thoughtfully, pack intentionally, and always leave room for a little magic (and flexibility) along the way. If you’re dreaming of international travel with kids, I hope our story gives you the confidence to make it happen—because it’s absolutely worth it.

 🗣 Have you traveled internationally with kids? Drop your best tips in the comments!

You can see a bunch of videos and photos from our trip on our Instagram Page

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