“We can’t leave until noon, so we’ll have to spend the night in Toronto,” said my husband, anticipating my dismay in delaying our visit with my mother-in-law by one day.

As I feigned disappointment, two things soon dawned on me. First, leaving at noon meant no 5:00 a.m. wake-up, barking at the kids to hurry and eat their breakfast, or “get your shoes on please, or we’ll have to cancel the trip” scenes.

Secondly, we could all get a much-needed pause to break up the trip, which usually involves three back-to-back flights, after which time I am wrung out— and out of entertaining activities for my kids. Yippee! (Well, there is that third advantage, but you didn’t hear it from me).

I’ll never go back to the old schedule. From now on, we go out of our way to find flights leaving around noon, which gives us all time to relax on the first morning of a holiday (well, my husband reads the paper, the kids play, and I scurry around doing the “just in case dance,” but in a more “relaxed” state of panic).

How to Do It

Budgeting extra for a hotel on that first night of a holiday is well worth the money, rather than "pushing through" from dusk ‘til after dawn, and arriving frazzled, no matter the destination. These digs don’t have to be anything fancy, but of course a pool is a bonus.

Being the hyper-organizer that I am, I pack a small overnight bag with everything we need for just one night, including bathing suits, flip flops, a change of clothes ("just in case") and toiletries, so the big luggage stays unopened and can be checked with the front desk.

This saves my hubby from dragging all the bags up to our room. (Although I must admit, he's not quite in tune with the benefits of the hyper-organized overnight bag, so he usually ends up hoofing it to our room anyway, and rifles through it for his bathing suit while we’re relaxing in the hot tub.)

Of course, getting the longer flight(s) over with the first day is ideal, and if you are so lucky, try to depart later in the morning or early afternoon, with one shorter flight left between you and your destination.

In our pre-kids days, my husband and I took it one step further on a cycling trip to Europe, and turned an overnight in Iceland into a five-day mini-holiday. That was the maximum stopover allowed at that time without penalty, so check with your travel company—you may want to max out your stopovers, and enjoy two vacays for the price of one.

And you’ll reach your ultimate destination having spent quality downtime together as a family before the pressures to visit or take in the whale show set the tone for the rest of the holiday.

Photo: Marc van der Chij