India, Sept. 11 -- The air conditioning at the airport arrival terminal was freezing, my phone battery was dropping fast, and we still had three MRT transfers left in Singapore. And this time, I had two kids with me.

Travelling solo is fairly simple. Add children to the mix and your cabin bag suddenly has a much bigger job. It needs to deal with tired kids, dead phone batteries, long waits, sudden rain, unfamiliar sounds and the occasional "Mum, I need this right now." Our week in Singapore was fantastic, but it also reminded me how quickly a family day can become tiring. We were out in the heat, using public transport, walking for hours and moving between very different environments. Some things in our cabin bags turned out to be far mo...