Parking

Unless you can get a relative or friend to drive you to the airport, chances are you will be parking in long-term parking. These are usually open-air lots. At some airports, a shuttle bus will be required to take you to the airport from the long-term parking lot; at others, you will be able to walk. Either way, it is always further to travel from the long-term parking lot to the airline check-in, so depending on the size of the family and the amount of luggage you have, you may prefer to drop off the family and luggage at the terminal and then just have the driver go and park the car and return to the terminal by shuttle or on foot. This may or may not take longer, depending on the age and self-sufficiency of your children, and how difficult it is to corral and coordinate the family’s movement over longer distances with luggage. I do not have a recommendation as to which approach to take, as it depends on your situation.

In our case, I dropped the family off at the terminal with all but one of our suitcases, and then parked. I kept one of the suitcases for myself because it would be easier for Melinda and the kids to move inside with one fewer case, and it was no problem for me to carry (or wheel) a single case from the parking lot.

When I parked, I double-checked that all windows of the van were closed tight and that the doors were locked, and then I took a picture of my car and its surroundings (I included in the picture one of the airport signs to orient myself to the location) to assist me in finding it when we return at the end of the vacation. Chances are, I won’t need the picture — we’re only going for 3 weeks — but with a smart phone that takes pictures, it costs me absolutely nothing to take the picture, so there was no downside.