I travel often with my 5 kids, and it’s rarely easy. A scheduling mistake on a trip to Canada almost broke us.

The author’s family made a big travel mistake.

My husband and I have been planning three-week vacations with our five children for over 15 years. Before we leave home, we usually have several destinations, campground reservations, and various activities in place.

We like to ensure we are prepared for everything, but sometimes things go wrong. That’s normal with any travel plans, but it’s especially difficult when traveling with a large family.

On our trip to Newfoundland, we ran into some serious trouble and needed to recalculate our schedules. Time was against us, and it almost ruined our vacation.

Time zones can be a problem when traveling by car or boat

Heading northeast toward Newfoundland from New Jersey, it became later before we knew it. On vacation, we rarely look at our phones, so we hadn’t realized the hours slipping past with the time zone changes.

Stopping at the visitors’ center once we reached Nova Scotia in Canada, I checked with an attendant at the courtesy desk about our ferry reservation to Newfoundland, leaving at 8 a.m. the next day. She said the confirmation slip I printed at home was wrong. The boat we were supposed to be on had already left that day. Only two ships leave from port — and we missed both of them.

With no place to go and no time to cry about missing the boat, we had the attendant schedule our van, trailer, and seven people on the next available Marine Atlantic Ferry to Newfoundland, leaving at 1:30 p.m. the next day.

We had to book lodging for that night quickly, which was stressful.

The next day, we forgot again to calculate the time needed for the ferry to cross the mouth of the Saint Lawrence Seaway — about seven hours — and another time zone change for Newfoundland, a half-hour later.

Our time schedule was thrown off

Once our ferry ship docked in Channel-Port-Aux-Basques and we retrieved our van and camper, it was already dusk in Newfoundland. We journeyed on the only road available — Route 1 heading north —and passed one town early on before we reached the Deer Lake campground at about 10:30 p.m. The only vehicles traveling on the road had been logging trucks. We didn’t see any gas stations, stores, or hotels.

The campground owner was sweeping the floor of the store. I pounded on the door while my 9- and 11-year-olds were crying at my side. The three younger children were asleep in the van. My patience was spent.

Once the owner woke up, he told us there were no sites available. Our reservation had been given to someone else because we didn’t arrive on time.

Seeing the exhaustion etched on our faces and hearing of our mix-up with reservations at the ferry, the campground owner found some level ground near Deer Lake and helped us set up camp while the children dozed in the van. Soon, neighboring campers rigged up electricity and some lights for us to see. They also ran hoses from the bathrooms for water to our pop-up camper. Because of their assistance, our camp was set up by midnight.

After sharing adventures in rural Newfoundland, we knew we needed more time to get to the Marine Atlantic Ferry dock to journey back to Nova Scotia. We verified the ferry’s loading time and checked the weather. The next morning, we broke camp well before dawn in torrential rain. We drove the lonely, dark Route 1 roadway along the Saint Lawrence Seaway, rain hammering us horizontally. But we made the ferry launch with time to spare.

Include extra days into your itinerary when traveling

Because of our difficult Newfoundland trip, we’ve readjusted our planning for family vacations.

Now, we include extra days into our travel plans. An extra day can make a world of difference if we can’t catch the next flight or the next boat to our destinations.

We also now confirm all reservations we make with the original sources and companies. We ensure they can reach us if flights or ferries are canceled or rescheduled.

Lastly, we have memorized all the time zones where we are traveling. We look at our phones to notice any time change, even on vacation. Now, we always have alternate accommodations in case of emergency.

But we will never underestimate the kindness of strangers, especially those who welcomed an exhausted family from New Jersey to Newfoundland.