Top 10 Tips for Travelling with Young Children

Keep down those suitcases!
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I thought I'd try to relate my hints and tips for travelling around the world with young children.  It's a hard one to do, I can only go on my experiences with a 2 year old and a "under 6 month" old.  I put "under 6 month" as when we started our baby Lloyd was 7 weeks old, and when we returned home he was over 5 months!

So here goes:

Dont stress over the small stuff

10) Travel light

The kids wont always join in, you wont always want them to....
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When we left the UK we had 3 large bags, 1 medium bag, 2 car seats and a stroller.  When we returned we had 4 large bags, 1 medium bag, 2 car seats, a fishing rod, a child's activity centre, a sun tent, and a stroller.  The bags were also a lot fuller than when we started!

I thought I had packed light.  But I hadnt.  I had packed a few things that we just didnt even use. Not much, but a few bits.  Like the heavy book on American National Parks - now when was I going to get a chance to read that with 2 kids!  And the winter coats, just in case we hit some bad weather (we were travelling in the summer!).  The 4 jumpers for Matthew, I could have got away with 2. The 10 pairs of socks for Steve - he wore sandals for 99% of the time. The walking boots for Steve that he never really liked, and didnt wear once!

Doing something different
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The list goes on.  So pack your gear.  Then unpack and re-assess what you REALLY need.  If it is a "nice to have" then you dont need it.  If your kids are growing rapidly (as Lloyd was) pack for the next sizes up, and be prepared to throw away clothes they have grown out of.

Think about the weather you are entering.  We packed about 4 pairs of trousers for Matthew, but he wore shorts all holiday. We only needed 1 pair.  We also found that we bought clothes along the way, firstly because he didnt have many shorts, and secondly just to have a change of scenery!  If you are hitting america from england I recommend you just take clothes for the first few days, then buy the rest!  It is so cheap in the states you will be going mad shopping anyhow, so why not go with empty suitcases?

Matthew loved this game, we played it all over New Zealand
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9) Slap on the sun protection, then slap on some more

Sun protection is essential, especially when you hit a new country and you have no idea about how strong the sun is initially.  We religiously slapped on the cream on Matthew after breakfast each morning, after a while he got used to the routine and just accepted it.  Sometimes he moaned about us doing his face, but we had to do it.  Dont let the kids put you off.

With Lloyd we did use suncream, but not all the time as he was so young.  We tended to keep him in babgros when we were out as these offered near all-over coverage.  We also kept him in the shade wherever possible, as remember the sun can go through clothes.

In Wellington - I remember the park, not much else!
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Whats the best sun cream?  Well we tried aerosols, sprays, creams, and sticks. I would say the creams are the best, as they give the best coverage, and can be packed in the suitcase easily. The sun sticks were okay, but the kids didnt really like using them, and were hard to apply.  Try to get factor 50 if you can, and a kids version.

8) Find the parks!

You have to look at what your children enjoy doing. In our case Matthew liked going to the park.  So we could be in the most beautiful spot in the world, but we had to forgo the scenic photographs temporarily to go find a park!  We found if we did this he would be so much happier the rest of the day. Sometimes we could goto 3 or 4 parks a day.  You just have to accept this as a part of your holiday, and enjoy it.  By the end of our time in New Zealand I was quite a connoisseur on the different types of parks.

Paradise for the parents, paradise for the kids
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If you arent anywhere there are parks, as we were in Fiji, then make up some new games.  We managed to get hold of a bucket and spade and play on the beach in Fiji, and some of the staff enjoyed partaking in a game of football with Matthew.

7) Dont plan too much

If you plan your day out meticiously you will fail.  Trust me, I know.  Kids are unpredictable.  One day they might be all happy and co-operative, the next they turn into screaming nightmares.

Even just stopping to look at a view can be fun - here we stacked stones as high as we could
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I had an overall plan.  I knew which country we would be in each day, and where we were sleeping.  I planned all this long before we set off on holiday.  But I didnt know what we would be doing in each country, or necessarily where we would be.  For instance in New Zealand all I planned was that we would live in a motorhome for 2 months, and pick up and set off from Auckland.  In America we had a motorhome for 25 days with hotels either side in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Taking the kids fishing (and the locals!)
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Each day we would decide what we were going to do.  Sometimes we acheived it, sometimes we didnt.  For instance we planned originally to go to Te Anau and then visit both Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound.  But we realised that Doubtful Sound was a step too far, as it involved a coach journey, and being away from the motorhome all day.  We couldnt have managed this, the kids would have driven us mad, and all those around us. So we settled for driving to Milford Sound instead.  Sometimes we woke up and it was raining. That put paid to any plans for the day, and we usually tried to drive.

This was a really stormy night - a 4 month old baby is under that coat!
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6) Its not all about the kids - enjoy yourself

I've said about this in my blog on a few ocassions.  The holiday, its not for the kids, its for YOU!  It so used to wind me up when people said things like "they wont remember it you know", or "they are too young to be travelling".  Sod them, of course they wont remember it, and WHO CARES!!!! Why should your life suddenly stop when you have children?  Do you need to change and start taking holidays in Mallorca where there are kids clubs and beaches full of scorched bodies?

Share your kids, they will be richer for it
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If you want to go to the middle of Africa because thats what rocks your boat - then go.  Dont let the kids stop you.  Just bear in mind that you will have them with you (unless you can find some unsuspecting grandparent  to look after them). Of course it's going to be different, but you can still have a good holiday, just a different good holiday!

We did lots of things that werent child friendly activities.  But then again we did lots of things that were.  We compromised.  I really didnt want to go and play on the beach every day in Akaroa, but I had to because Matthew enjoyed it.  But he didnt want to watch a speedway in Tauranga, but he did as I wanted to see it.  He didnt care for sitting in a tin can plane whilst we saw Mount Cook, but he sat there and didnt moan (actually I think he did quite enjoy it!).

You will cope, honest!
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5) Have a positive attitude to plane flying

I have met a lot of people both before and since our journey who have said things like "how did you cope with the children's ears on take-off", or "New Zealand is too far for me (an adult) to travel to", or "were the kids an absolute nightmare on the plane".  Well, actually they were great.  And I think a lot of the reason they were great was because I was confident they would be.

The ear thing, I know everyone is different, and I dont suffer from this.  But if you do then dont tell your kids about it.  They pick up on what affects you.  Both our kids didnt suffer any problems with ears on any flight, we didnt give them sweets or tell them to swallow at set times, we just ignored the problem.

Enjoy and they will enjoy
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The trick to travelling with a toddler is to not let them know they can get out of the seat.  Its like being in a car, they have to wear the seat belt, and if they dont the air crew wont be happy (or so we told Matthew).  I did let him have a walk around, but only a couple of times, and only when there was a reason (loo visit).  I know, I should be worried about keeping the blood circulating and so forth, but trust me he wriggled around enough in that seat to keep it all working.

In the Helicopter - Matthew hasnt stopped going on about this ride
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If you have a baby try to get the bassinet for them.  Its a real pain without, especially if you want to eat.  We also got a seat for little Lloyd, even though he was obviously too small to use it.  This ensured we didnt get people sitting next to us, but sometimes it was a little inconvenient as instead of a bank of 3 seats they would give us 2 banks for 2 seats.  So make sure you talk about this at check-in.

4) Travel when the kids are tired, stop when they are not

We found that if we drove too much the kids got fed up.  This is natural and to be expected.  As a result we tried to only drive if they were tired, or if we had given them a few days of running around a lot.  Otherwise there is no point, the kids will be fed up, and then you will be fed up.

We did meet people that were attempting to pack more into 2 weeks of a trip to New Zealand than we were doing in 1 month. And with toddlers in tow too.  You could see it was stressful for both the parents and the children.  But its upto you, the kids will survive the travelling, and if 2 weeks is all you have then you have to decide how best to use it.  Personally I'd say do half the things and do them well, then come back again for the other half.

We thought about travelling in the evening when the kids were asleep, or early morning.  But we were too tired in the evening, and in the early morning if we got up then the kids woke up, making for an even longer day!  We found a good time to travel was between 12 and 3pm.  We played with the kids in the morning, then they would go to sleep and we would get on the road.  Its tiring, and we didnt do this all the time, but it seemed to work.  Sometimes we would just wait until Lloyd was asleep then make a run for it!

We had the luxury of time to make breaks aswell.  Sometimes we just holed up somewhere for 2 or 3 days, and had some fun.  It was like lots of mini-holidays for us.  And the kids got a breather.

3) Establish a routine

This is so essential.  When we arrived somewhere the routine would be all up in the air.  It was strange how we had to re-establish a new routine at each place we visited.  We were affected by things like the time the sun went down, the availability of food, the activities we were trying to do.

But a routine is essential, and not just for the kids.  We all need a routine, otherwise it becomes too stressful and chaotic.  Dont stress over it though, accept for the first few days that it will be chaos, and try to gradually improve things.  You will learn what works and what doesnt.  We found that eating in the afternoon was better than trying to eat early evening.  We also found that it was best we all went to bed with the kids, then got back up once they were asleep.  At home we never do this, but in an enclosed space we found it necessary.

2) Do an activity every day

If you sit around a hotel room, or are couped up in a motorhome with small children it will drive you mad, very very mad.  You have to get out.  So in the morning have a routine whereby you get up, get dressed, get breakfast, then go do something.  Now this activity might not be anything big, it could just be walking 200 yards away to the park, or visiting the local supermarket. But get out and do something.  The kids will be easier to cope with, and you wont get cabin fever.

Actually this is something I believe you should do when at home aswell.  Sitting around the house with kids is harder work, in my opinion, than taking them out to some activity centre or down the beach.

1) Chill and relax

This is so the most important tip if you have children when on holiday.  You have to learn to count to 10, to chill out, to expect the unexpected, and just well relax and enjoy yourself.  The kids will be kids.  They will trash the hotel room, throw apple puree all over the floor of the motorhome, mess their nappies when you are 10000 feet up, and various other things besides.

If you stress the children will stress.  If you laugh they will laugh.  Enjoy your children, they will be grown up in the blink of an eye.  Enjoy your holiday and make the most of those special days.  Its surprising, you will remember that holiday for the rest of your life, yet it is just a brief period in your day-to-day life.

Listen to you children, laugh with them, play with them, and make the most of them.  Dont stress over the small stuff. Enjoy!