Traveling with kids

The photo above captures David on our way to the beach in Thailand (Krabi) in February 2018. What a fantastic trip it was! Despite long hours of travel and many changes in means of transportation, we have fantastic memories from this trip!

Summer is around the corner and I have lots of exciting travels coming up that I’ll be sharing with you soon.

Last January we went on skiing with kids for two weeks. That was a great adventure but it was one of those travels that require concentration before departure. Why?

After having 2 babies that become bigger children, travelling around Europe very often not to say every month for several years, back and forth between countries, I feel like I’m getting kind of good at it by now, so I’ve decided to write a post about that to share my tips!

First thing is packing:

Personally, when I’m packing, I prefer my kids to be out of the house, so I can prepare in total focus and with ultimate concentration. So, let’s departure:

• Try to avoid packing every single thing you have in the house to entertain/feed/care/clean/change them – remember pack as little as you can!
• Personal backpack: each child carries a small backpack with a notebook and a pencil-case, a sunhat, sunglasses (for summer trips) and glowes and scarfs for (winter breaks ), one favorite doll or stuffed animal, and car or train, a book or magazine, snacks and some small games (a deck of cards, UNO Dobble, Memory are good examples and fun to play as a family).
• Shampoo and samples: a little bottle of shampoo doesn’t just wash hair, body and hands, it’s also great to use as laundry detergent — to quickly hand-wash some underwear or t-shirts when on the road. Pack little samples for toiletries instead of the big bottles!

If you travelling alone with children:

• Be in advance, and give yourself more time. Leave plenty of time for: nappy changes, snack breaks, security check in, all takes more time solo.
• Make sure your kids use the toilet before boarding the plane to eliminate any extra trips to the bathroom on the plane (there’s nothing worse than your child telling you he has to go potty when the plane is taking off and the seat belt sign is on!)
• Dress (you and your children) in comfortable clothing. I dress them in normal comfortable clothes, and make sure everyone has an extra layer (like a hoodie or a cardigan) in case it gets cold. I always bring a scarf for myself because I always get cold on planes.
• Ask for help if needed and when people offer help, accept it.
• Let your kids help. David found it so fun to push the trolley or help me caring the bags (he feels like a big responsible man of the house then).
• Play. Make the airport (or train station, etc) a place to explore. I Spy, rhyming games, counting planes that fly by, etc.
• For travel with kids that have just started crawling or walking, let them use the airport as the place to release energy.
• Pre-plan this before doing the trip: Support. Make sure that once you arrive at your destination you have help because probably you will want to collapse…

I hope these tips were somewhat helpful and not just redundant things everyone already knows. Please feel free to add any tips I may have forgotten below!

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With love,

Joanna