Planning Days Out - Hints & Tips

U.K. family days out are becoming increasing popular, for several reasons. There is an ever increasing diversity of `family-friendly` attractions and activities available; costs are reducing in the face of growing competition, with attractive discounts on offer; and parents increasingly under pressure from the workplace to avoid taking lengthy breaks even during the school holidays, resulting in greater focus on individual days out.

Planning a Day Out
In planning your family day out, there are a number of things to consider:

1. Choosing the Type of Day Out

The range of attractions available for family days out is enormous. They include:

Castles
Country Parks
Festivals and Shows
Guided Tours
`Living History` Museums
Theme Parks
Zoos

Additionally, there are various `activity based` days out available, encompassing a range of sports and recreations, including:

Climbing and Abseiling
Horse riding
Football
Golf
Swimming and Canoeing
Tennis

2. Accommodation and Destination Guides
Given Internet access, finding somewhere to stay is a straightforward process. Simply typing `UK Accommodation` into a search engine gives access to a multitude of websites, offering accommodation of all types and costs, by area, throughout the U.K., along with directions.

3. Discounts and Deals
The attraction / activity websites detail any offers and discounts available at a particular venue. Additionally, several retail outlets offer discount vouchers for some attractions.

4. Ensuring the Day runs Smoothly
Any day out with the family is fraught with potential `challenges`! The following tips should help in minimising the potential for disaster. Firstly, have an up-to-date map to hand. There is nothing worse than getting lost and marring the start of the day with a heated parental navigation `discussion`. Although today`s satellite navigation systems are far better than their predecessors, it is best to have a map as a backup. Secondly, plan the timing and location of en route food stops carefully. Many people prefer to avoid motorway service stations at all costs, since even simple fare will cost you an arm and a leg. `Family friendly` restaurants etc. can be located via the Internet.

Keeping the kids entertained while travelling

In order to minimise moaning on days out, here are some top tips for keeping children occupied on a long journey: Are We There Yet? Print out a map of the route for each child. As you pass landmarks etc., you can point them out and they can mark them of on the map. That way, they`ll know how far they have left and avoid that eternally irritating question; Name that Tune Take it in turns to sing a few words from a song. Everyone has to guess the song and the artist; films : let your kids watch a film on a portable DVD player or on a laptop`s DVD drive; CD books : you can play these on the car stereo, or let your child listen quietly on a portable CD player. Libraries have a wide selection of audio books, so check out what`s available before buying new CDs; Nintendo or other handheld games consoles : if you`ve got one, or can afford to buy one, these are a good option for keeping kids quiet. You can rent games after making the initial investment in the console; and finally Drawing or colouring-in are great activities for a car journey, but only if your children can do them without suffering from travel sickness.