When traveling with our kids, nausea is always a problem so we carry an airplane sickness bag even when not in airplane. We don't sleep well on the plane, so we have ear plugs, socks, eye cover & usually a comfy sweatshirt to wear. We always try to sleep on the plane going East to Europe, because generally the plane arrives in the destination city in the morning and there are places to go and people to see. There is no time for jet lag, we just push through it until we drop.
This past trip to Brussels, there was a strategic siesta & we sleep well, but not until the second day. The first day, we found our apart-hotel (most European rooms don't accommodate 5 people so we use apartment type places as hotels), dropped our bags and headed back to the train station for Brain a'llued, which was near the Battle of Waterloo site where Napoleon met his defeat. More about the field trip later, but this travel on a sunny day with light sweat shirts and hats kept us moving and in fresh air for the remainder of the first day (the one where we just got off the plane). The second day was planned for an exploration of Brussels which allowed for easier access to the hotel room, a nap (siesta) and an evening of Grand Place Brussels with the proper lighting. The third day was a short trip to Brugge and walking/fresh air, so it meant everyone slept hard that night. We then left on the next morning and stayed up on the plane to watch movies (we don't have cable tv) and take short naps on the West-bound plane.
When traveling like this, we try to take advantage of every minute to see things we may not ever see again. This is not a vacation. We do take time to wash hands often & drink plenty of water, then check with each child daily if their urine was yellow, indicating a need to drink more water. I am a true mom and always asked to know if there were daily visits to keep their system regular or if they need a laxative soon. It's ok to get anti-nausea meds in another language, and the same goes for diarrhea meds. Also, we keep track of what we eat in order to protect ourselves -we don't want to get to a once in a lifetime place or site & spend the majority of our trip with food poisoning. Staying healthy on the trip means we will be healthy when we return to home also.
And finally, we walked for miles and saw so much, used public transport sparingly--and only then when we really needed to avoid using expensive taxis or injury. We meet amazing people on trains, trams, buses and boats. That's what our trips are about, getting out to see the country and meet people, not just relaxing by the pool or in front of the ski lodge fireplace.
We took the train to Bruges.
The weekend trips were half price, but this was full price for three of
us and free for the other two on a Monday.
It was a smooth easy ride to the Bruges train station. We walked into the info office to collect a
map of the town. We found the boat trip
first and were pleasantly given an orientation to the city by water. There was a rain shower during the tour, but
the boat ride included umbrellas for everyone.
We found the Markt and Belfry tower right away. We walked through the
information center there and sent a postcard at the postal center. We ate frites and chicken nuggets at a
self-serve place on the corner. Then we
moved on to the VisitBrugges app tour.
It took us winding from churches to bridges to Spook houses. We made one wrong turn and mistakenly found a
super market at just the right time to buy 2L of water and 3 Kinder chocolate
eggs with toys inside that we didn’t find on the November trip to Vienna and
Budapest. Our tour ended at the Burg
where we found chocolate to eat and expresso to keep the caffeine headaches
abated. 
On the walk to the Markt again, we found a heavy, liege waffle
booth for a snack and a street performer who pretended to be a statue-top-hat-suited
man. While lounging in the Markt square
under clear blue skies, my oldest tween asked the information center
representative for the pronunciation of Beguinage. On the walk to that site we found a lace shop
where we bought a handkerchief with our daughter’s initial on it and pieces of
art which showed the places we visited in spring colors. Before reaching the Beguinage, we found the De
Halve Maan (Straffe Hendrik) Brewery which we knew about from TripAdvisor. The space inside the pub area was comfortable
for us and our kids, so we adults tried 2 of their beers without doing the
tour. The chemistry of the brewery would
be fun to use in a field trip, but this was just the right thing to do for our
trip at this time. After finishing our
beers, we found the Beguinage and walked thru the daffodil strewn garden
peacefully. We walked through the
Minnewater park on our way back to the train station. 
Found tourist map (free) at station and quite
worth it, b/c it had all streets and sites plus we used the Bruges app for
scavenger hunt walk 3.5 miles after the boat ride in the rain. Boat 3.4 € twins each & 7.6 € adults
30" ride in 3 languages with umbrellas. It was good to recognize some places afterward
on foot. Highlights of boat were touching underside of bridges & less
crowded boats early in the day. If on foot during rain we would have got
soaked. The houses over the water and
other architecture were better seen from water. Walked to Markt & found wc at info center.
Then frites & everything fried across to the next corner for lunch. Then we started app tour, but only went wrong
way during tour to and found grocery for water & cultural experience (we
visit international groceries often just to examine where stuff is made). We ended at Burg and found chocolate to eat
w/ coffee. Drank & ate in the Markt.
