I also dress the kids in mostly landsend but I’ve added in some clearance items from Reima. I shop for ski clothes in the late spring and early summer sales so I am not buying anything in fall or winter.

I had to laugh at the advice to take the day off before the trip to pack. My friend who is a doctor does the same thing. I’m a biglaw lawyer and always work like mad right before a vacation. For this trip, we had a 1:55 flight on Friday. I had an all day and evening conference an hour away the day before. I blocked off the morning on my calendar but ended up with unavoidable calls until noon. I picked up the kids from school and made it to the airport at 12:55. (It’s 10 minute away.) checked all the luggage curbside with the hazards on and went through security w the kids. My husband is a professor who taught class until 12:50. He caught an Uber and met us at 1:20. All was good then our flight was delayed by 2 hours. I plan for the craziness by packing in advance. All ski stuff was packed the weekend before and I made a list of every outstanding item which I got together on Thursday late at night after my conference.

Since we live in California we do several short ski trips. We decided to do a season lease for kids skis this year. It’s a little cheaper and, more importantly, we don’t waste time on every trip renting skis. We are never going to arrive the day before while the shops are still open and I hate the long lines in the early morning that have repeatedly made us late to ski school.

My other note is that we almost always do ski trips with friends. The kids love hanging out with friends after skiing and it’s a nice way for us to spend quality time with our friends too, as we are always very busy at home. i book our trips in late spring and early summer. Most of my friends are not such advance planners so I just book extra and cancellable space and then coordinate with friends in the fall. For example we are going to park city next month. Over the summer I booked a three bedroom hotel suite w kitchen to use with friends and a backup cancellable 1 bedroom Airbnb to use ourselves if we end up going ourselves. I also book cars when I book lodging.

Thank you, Laura!

@Louise – please let me know how Japan goes! At least one of my children really really wants to go there, so it’s on the list in the next few years…My husband and I went to Vietnam in 2005 and loved it but have not gone with kids. That could be quite an adventure as well!

@Alexicographer – definitely worth considering – I know there is at least one day time flight – most people don’t take it in order to have the day at their destination, but you’re totally right that it might be more comfortable to just experience all nights in actual beds! If you live near a major international airport that could be an option.

Last time I traveled trans-Atlantic, which was pre-pandemic (2019), I realized that I don’t like red-eye flights, and trans-Atlantic is no different. I discovered that at least then, one could catch a daytime flight from NYC or DC to London, and did. This worked a lot better for me + hubby + middle schooler than the red-eye approach. We aren’t near those jumping off points and had to spend a night in NYC (both coming and going) but used the first one to do a little exploring of NYC, which was fun (our budget for this was modest, both time and $$$ — exploring was a bus ride to/from Queens/Brooklyn, and some wandering around + a sandwich shop in Brooklyn).

The only possible catch (which didn’t create problems for us) is this required booking 2 separate flights — between home & NYC, and NYC & London. Had flights been delayed and we missed second flight, I don’t think the airlines would have helped with rebooking since it would have been “our fault.” That didn’t create problems for us, as noted, but in the contemporary flight setting is probably riskier.

@Allison – just created a Patreon discussion thread!

@Kristen – sure, it was Mimi at Truvay Travel – https://truvaytravel.com/ – I met her at a professional gathering a few years ago. She is lovely!