I don’t want to bore or patronise, but, for anyone interested, here are my best tips about travelling with children:
PLANES
- DO take lollies to suck for landing.
- DO take a small bag of toys – a bag they like to carry and full of things you won’t be upset about if lost like felt tips, colouring books, books. (But DO look under the seats at the end to avoid hysterics about losing their favourite colour pen).
- DO expect your child to press all the buttons on the armrest and endlessly call the steward.
- DO expect curious children to ask lots of awkward questions when reading the safety card. (It’s now on the back of the seat on Ryan Air planes so they can stare at it for the whole flight and try and work out what is going on).
- DON’Texpect your buggy back immediately you get off the plane, be prepared to carry your child to the luggage carousel.
- DO buy water once through security. (Apologies if this is obvious but a man next to me on our last flight said, in awed tones, “how did you get that through?” when he saw my children swigging from their water bottles.
- DO bring your own snacks – if only for the satisfaction of seeing how much the equivalent bag of mini cheddars costs on board.
- DO take your own blanket for night flights as they aren’t always provided.
- DO take a change of clothes in case of sick. (Including tops for you as well as them)
- Following point 8, DO take a spare plastic bag and consider travel sick pills if your child is over 2.
- DON’T expect cabin crew to help by holding your baby (they’re not allowed to on a lot of airlines, in case they drop baby and you sue). So, if travelling alone, DO practise going to the toilet with a baby on your lap.
- DO be prepared for jet leg. But I don’t have any decent tips for dealing with it!
- Contrary to point 11, DO be prepared for your children to surprise you by being completely adaptable and accepting – we arrived in Bishkek at 4am in a total black out and T, aged 3, ate a bowl of cereal in the dark and got into a new bed as if this was totally normal. On the recent Bangladesh trip, we kept the children up the day we arrived and they went to bed at normal time and slept through the night, seemingly unaffected by jet lag!
- DO expect people to glare at you when you get on the plane – they’re hoping you won’t be sitting near them. (Note: as the flight goes on they’ll become really friendly and enjoy your children as a good distraction for their boredom, unless they spend the whole flight crying.)
- DO stay calm. Having recently flown the three children to Bangladesh, by myself, this is my best piece of advice. Children take their lead from you and – hopefully – will stay calm too.
- DO expect some people to be nice. On the flights to and from Bangladesh, lots of people smiled and told me I was very brave, but also offered help – when I had three fast asleep children and lots of bags to carry!
CARS
- DO try story cds on long car trips.
- DO stop for picnics – it’s the best part of the trip.
- DO have toys handy.
- DO look under the car every time you stop for all the toys that have fallen out when you opened the door.
- DO take bags, buckets, towels for sick and consider travel sick pills if your child is over 2.
- DO be prepared to answer a lot of questions.
TIPS FROM FRIENDS
I asked some of my friends who travel regularly with children to share their best tips. Here’s what they said:
Francine: “I always have a few small presents wrapped up for the flight (even little packets of biscuits or crisps). I figure the unwrapping fills up 2 minutes, the gift perhaps 10 minutes more if you are really lucky!!”
Jayne: “Love the travel tips idea. Our top one - and this is probably a bit of a cop out but whatever gets you through – is the portable dvd player that we bought with a 9 hour battery life. We pack that and a load of dvds and she’s amused for ages. That interspersed with colouring, stickers and a bit of a walk round the plane works a treat especially as she doesn’t usually sleep on the plane.”
Katherine: “On our last flight back to Canada we learned to travel at night. We tried both ways, travelling on overnight flights there, and day flights on the way back (thinking the kids would be tired when we arrived home and go to bed at the usual time). But the day flights sucked! 11 hours with 3 wide awake kids was NOT fun. It was much better to travel overnight, and have them sleep some of the time, even if jag lag was worse. We also learned to be straight up about how long it will take. We started by saying it wasn’t all that long, we’d soon be there etc but the kids got frustrated (naturally!). Then we just said, “Yes, it’s a long time – and we have 2 more flights after this one!” They weren’t happy but at least they knew what to expect.”
Diane: “Don’t be afraid to travel with your kids, the more you travel, the easier it is. Be adventurous with food at all times, then the kids are more likely to find food to eat wherever you go. Carry a large handbag which always has some fun in it, a deck of cards, crayons and some paper. Try your best to pack light. The more you have to carry and keep track of the more frustrating your journey.”
Twinutero agrees with Diane about travelling light: ”Our carry-on bags were also as compact and simple as possible. The kids carried their own backpacks with their blankets, snacks and water. My carry-on was full of wipes, diapers, extra plastic bags, lollipops for take-off and landing, and a few surprise toys to distract when things got raucous. Best travel toys are silent and have few moving parts. We brought books, stickers, magnets (in a tin) and drawing boards. And we watched the in-flight movies – several times.” You can read her Ten Tips for International Travel with Kid here (she got into trouble for number 6…)
Susan: “I’ve been thinking about what I could possibly offer as advice. I kept thinking, there must be something, but encouraging folks to go out and buy nintendo products didn’t really seem like useful advice. These tips pertain more to taking a vacation than making a journey. But here goes, for what it’s worth.
1. Travel anyway. I’ve met so many people who don’t travel, citing how difficult it is to maneuver small children on flights, on taxis, throughout. Yes, it may be more complicated than traveling as adults without children. But do it anyway! Maybe the children won’t remember their exciting adventures, but you will. You can refresh their memories later with photos. Meanwhile, enjoy what the world has to offer! See something new! Chances are, your children will help you appreciate some of the simpler pleasures at your destination. They will undoubtedly help you keep your sense of humor!
2. Lower your expectations. You may not get to linger over every masterpiece in the musuem. Accept that now. Set your priorities, and set aside the rest for a subsequent visit.
3. Don’t shun predictable kid-centered venues, like McDonalds or a children’s museum. Yes, they may not capture the culture of your exotic city, but they may do wonders for your child’s mood. They don’t have to overshadow your experience. A happy child walks further than a grumpy one.
4. Indulge in ice cream, especially when expecting children to walk a long way through a new city. Is it a bribe? a reward? If it works, it works.
5. Consider alternative accommodations. Often renting a flat through vacation rentals by owner or similar sites like apartmentsapart.com, can provide amenities particularly helpful to families traveling with small children. Having a washing machine is invaluable. Any parent knows that a child doesn’t have to be in the midst of potty-training to need a fresh change of clothes suddenly. And, you would have a small kitchen, so you can make a simple breakfast before heading out for the day’s explorations. We have often found such apartments to have a more desirable location than major hotel chains, and a location close to the center of town means that it is much easier to drop back in for an afternoon nap. Everyone in the family benefits from a siesta!”
Cheryl: “When the kids were young, I bought them their own “travel suitcase” that they could pull themselves and depending on the age, put in one or two special things, like crayons, coloring books, maybe a picture book, and of course snacks, their own blankets or special animals and of course a change of clothes! Even though the planes provided food and toys/activities (they don’t all do the toys/activities anymore), they enjoyed having their own bag and “things” for the plane! Plastic ziploc bags for yucky clothes or sick kids I stuck everywhere just in case we couldn’t get to the airsick bags fast enough!
Long trips…….. walk, walk, walk…on the planes and long layovers in airports.
Also, tried to keep them on as much of a regular schedule before leaving and then for jet lag, tried to keep them awake when arriving in country (short naps) to adjust more quickly! Of course, they always did well, it was us old farts that couldn’t stay awake!”
If you have any comments or great tips you’d like to share, please email me at contact@saffiafarr.com