Ahh. Just the idea of a vacation can be enough to make your shoulders relax and your breathing slow … until you think about all that planning and everything that might go wrong.

These tips for less stressful travel will help ensure your shoulders stay relaxed and your breathing calm even when it rains on your vacation parade.

1. Don’t rely on your memory. Use the camera in your cellphone to take a picture of your parking spot number. It will be a relief at the end of a long day at a theme park or when returning home from that flight. Just page through your photos to remember where the car is parked.

2. Have a backup. Scan copies of your travel documents — passports, itineraries, hotel and car rental confirmation numbers — and email them to yourself or move them to some cloud storage. That way, everything you need is as close as the nearest Internet connection or your smartphone.

3. Think small. Pack light — stock up on samples of cosmetics and refill small shampoo bottles. Then you can sail through security and forego the stress of checked bags that never arrive.

4. Bring plastic — the Ziploc kind. You don’t want the nasty surprise of opening your suitcase at the hotel only to find the shampoo bottle has burst and leaked all over the clothes you packed for the week. Put everything that could leak into a plastic bag and bring extra bags in larger sizes. They’ll come in handy for that bottle of duty-free tequila from Mexico or wet bathing suits from kids who needed one last dip in the ocean before piling into the car for the long ride home.

5. Rent a condo. Vacation condos with a kitchen and separate bedrooms are a great option for families. Even if the nightly rate is a little more than a hotel (not always the case), you can offset the expense by eating several meals in. Save a lot of stress — and cash — with breakfast cereal “at home.” And the separate bedroom for parents — with a door that locks — is a whole different kind of stress reliever.

6. Go all-inclusive. This is a way to lessen your budget stress. The beauty of an all-inclusive is that you know going in just how much it’s going to cost. That’s because everything is, well, included. Even alcoholic beverages are included in many all-inclusive resorts. Just be sure you read the fine print before buying. If you don’t drink, that resort with the alcohol included might not be the best deal for you.

For more great tips on family travel — including 11 ways to use Ziploc bags when you travel — download your free copy of 101 Family Travel Tips at TravelingMom.com, an online family travel magazine filled with tips and advice from moms who travel with their kids. Or visit TravelingDad.com to read an often humorous dads’ perspective on traveling with kids.