Tips for traveling with kids

by Maureen Collins

 

This month, we are featuring a story of a family with 4 young kids who traveled Australia for 3 months! As parents recognize the value of exposing children to travel and world cultures, long trips with kids are becoming more common.  For those contemplating such a journey, I offer a few tips to get you started towards a fun and memorable trip for your entire family!

 

Packing – As you rush through crowded airports, bus and train stations, traveling with children is a chore to manage. You can make this a touch easier by keeping luggage manageable. Plan to find ways to do laundry while away so that you can pack minimally. Have each child manage their own baggage. Pack water and healthy, easy snacks that are the kids' favorites. I have always found it helpful to have a few “surprises” in my own bag that I can give the children when they reach those points of “are we there yet?”!

 

Jet lag – Depending on how far you are traveling, consider time differences and allow time for adjustment, both there and back. It is not recommended that long trips with young children be any shorter than 10 – 14 days as it can take almost that long to adjust to the time change. During the first days of your journey plan light activities and ease slowly into the sleep and meal patterns.

 

Culture shock – Although cultural differences are part of the glory of travel, it takes patience and understanding to make any needed adjustments for kids.  Common issues they face are language differences, food, transportation, security, and local customs and expectations. Sometimes locals may take a strong interest in your children, and although generally friendly, it can be difficult on your children and your feelings of safety and privacy. Some cities are very crowded, noisy and very fast paced. The best defense against any unexpected problems is education and you may want to involve all members of your family in some lessons on the language and culture of the area you are traveling to beforehand.

 

Tours for families – Today many tour companies are customizing itineraries for families with children. MyTripJournal partner sites G.A.P. Adventures and Adventure Center both offer an excellent variety of family-oriented adventure trips. These can be a great way to expose your kids to some more adventurous experiences but there are a few things to take into consideration before you decide to undertake this.

 

The itineraries for family adventure holidays are generally less demanding than those designed for adults. However, you should prepare your children realistically for what to expect and all members should be physically able to handle the expectations. There can be lots of walking, hiking, cycling, kayaking, etc depending on your tour. Read carefully and make sure that you can all handle what will be expected of you.  Also consider such physical attributes as humidity, heat and hygiene standards, and prepare your kids for them before leaving home.  G.A.P has a useful "physical" and "culture shock" gradings for each trip which takes much of the guesswork out of the planning process.

 

The positive experience of world travel is worth almost any hardship you may encounter. The more positive the experience, the more fond your children's memories will be. Generally speaking, try to think of what it might be like for your children to be experiencing this, go gentle on yourselves and them and never forget that the simple things are sometimes the memories that you all hold dear through time. It doesn’t have to be a grand journey – getting there is half the fun, and coming home to tell everyone what you saw is the other half!