Arriving the night before with children

Arrive the evening before if your boat leaves early and your children are young. The children wake in a bed, not in a car seat, and you reach the jetty calm instead of rushed. The cost is one extra night, so weigh it against a pre-dawn drive.

This page works backwards from the boat to a bedtime. For the wider picture, start with our guide to the journey to a Malaysian island in four legs, then check whether you need a night in Kuala Besut before Perhentian.

How do you work out bedtime from the boat?

Start with the boat and count backwards. Boats from Kuala Besut leave from early morning, with the earliest reported at about 07:00 to 08:00 ^[1]. Your operator will give the exact time, so use that.

From the boat time, subtract these, one after another:

1. The buffer you want at the jetty, which our guide on how early to arrive at the jetty explains.
2. The drive from the hotel to the jetty.
3. Breakfast, toilet stops and getting everyone dressed.
4. Packing the last items by the door.

What remains is your wake-up time. Now give the children their normal hours of sleep before that. A child who sleeps eleven hours at home needs to be in bed eleven hours before waking, not at the usual family dinner time.

Write the result on your phone and share it with the other adults. The plan only works if everyone follows the same clock.

What should you ask the mainland hotel?

A hotel near the jetty can be very simple. What matters to parents is different from what matters to a solo traveller. Ask these before you pay:

• Can we check in late, and who is at the desk after dinner?
• Is there a room away from the road and the lift?
• Is breakfast early, or can you pack a breakfast box?
• Is there a fridge for milk, food or medicine?
• Can the car stay while we are on the island?
• Can two adults and children share one room, or do you need two?

Write down the answers and keep the messages. If a hotel cannot answer clearly, treat that as an answer.

What should you do in the evening itself?

Keep it short and boring. Eat early, bath the children, and put the island bag by the door before they sleep. Our page on meals the night before a morning boat covers what to eat and where.

Skip anything that sends the children to bed overexcited. A short walk to see the jetty can help a nervous child, but keep it brief.

What goes by the door and what stays in the car?

Pack a small island bag that holds only what you need on the boat and for the first night. Everything else stays in the car or at the hotel. Our guide to splitting a mainland bag from an island bag shows how.

By the door, put:

• Passports or MyKad, tickets and booking messages.
• Children’s life jackets if you carry your own, and any seasickness medicine.
• Snacks, water, a change of clothes and a plastic bag for wet items.
• Chargers and a small torch.

A better fit if…

The night before may be a better fit if:

• your boat leaves in the early morning and the drive is more than a short hop.
• any child is a poor sleeper or gets car sick.
• you are carrying a lot of luggage or a pram.

A same-day journey may be a better fit if the drive is short, the boat is later in the day, and your children sleep well in the car. Use the jetty connection planner to see which one fits your own start point and dates.