Travelling as a family is one of our favourite things to do. We travel as often as possible, always seeking new places to discover. The process sounds simple, book your holiday, pack your bags, and go. But in reality, there’s a lot more to it than that. One of the most important things about travelling abroad as a family is, without a doubt, making sure you have all your travel documents up to date and, crucially, that you take them with you. With that in mind, I’m going to explore a few different family travel document holder styles and critique them from my experience as a mum who travels as a family of five, or sometimes four.
What is a family travel document holder?
A family travel document holder is simply a bag purse or pouch that holds all the family’s passports and other travel documentation neatly in one place so that it is easily accessible when you need it, but also makes travelling through immigration ports, be it an airport, border control or any other immigration port, as seamless and stress-free as possible.
What do you put in a family travel document holder?
Even in this day and age, when so much of what we do is saved on our phones, there are some things, like passports, that you still require a physical product. And depending on where in the world you travel to, even with all the high-tech gadgets and reliance on our smartphones, the country you are going to might not have the advanced tech infrastructure you take for granted. And so, a family travel document holder can be really useful for carrying items such as:
- Passports
- Medical insurance cards
- Travel Insurance policy (not to be confused with health insurance)
- ID cards, if your country uses them,
- Driver’s License or International Drivers’ License if required,
- Boarding pass if you print it out in advance,
- Emergency credit card
- Covid Vaccination Card (If you don’t have an electronic one)
- Cash – foreign currency
- A Pen!
Don’t forget the always necessary, always disappearing when you need them, pen!
What are the main features of an Ideal Family Travel Document Holder?
This list is so open-ended. Every family will have their own list of what they consider to be important, based on where and how they like to travel. However, in my opinion, the basic features of a family travel document holder would be:
- Space for the number of passports you will be carrying, be it for a family of 3, or a family of 10. Keeping all your passports together in one place is part of family travel efficiency.
- A firm, but not rigid outer casing that will protect its contents in the event of water damage from accidental spills, being dropped, and being shoved in a backpack. All of which will happen at some point.
- Bonus points if you can close it with either a sturdy zip or a clasp of some kind so that the contents don’t fall out.
- Space for a pen.
- A place for you to put any printed-off documents (don’t worry if they have to be folded).
- Small enough to fit in your backpack but big enough to hold all the contents you need it to.
Now, we’ve got that covered; let’s review a few different products that you can buy on Amazon.
Links here are affiliate links. If you buy something after clicking through from my website, I will earn a commission, but it won’t cost you any more than what Amazon charge you.
The Best Family Travel Wallets for 2023 on Amazon
There are so many different styles, shapes and colours of family travel document holders to choose from. But sometimes, they are still not quite right. There’s nothing stopping you from creating your own document holder for your family passports and travel documents. Keeping everything organised in one place make travelling with kids less stressful and can help speed up the process during border control and security when in an airport or border post.
Leave A Comment