Traveling with kids is something a lot of people are afraid of.
But even as a little kid, I have always wanted to travel. Growing up my favorite movie was A Little Princess because of the beautiful scenes of India. I was interested in the little windmills my grandma collected from Holland or clay lamps from Israel. I wanted to go to all these beautiful and interesting places too!
But growing up one of 6 kids (with a high school teacher and stay at home mom as parents) there was no way we could afford to travel like that. This is a huge reason I hear for many people not traveling with their families, it’s just too expensive!
Until we figured out how to do it for cheap.
We went on so many great trips: scuba diving, ziplining, hiking, eating (my favorite), visiting museums and exploring great destinations together.
Traveling is one of the best gifts you can give your children because it strengthens your relationship, opens their eyes to the world and inspires them to be better people. It’s better than almost any “thing” you can give them.
Traveling with bigger kids
My two little brothers spent some of their souvenir money they brought to buy a donkey ride in this little Mexican town. (This is an old picture since both are grown now. The one in green even lives in Brazil!)
Traveling with older kids and teens is amazing. It helps bring your family together in really fun ways.
At ages where kids are becoming more independent, travel lets them broaden their views while also helping them appreciate what they have.
When you travel as a family, you get a rare moment where family is all you have again. No distractions of friends and work and school. Often times, no tv or computers or phones either. So you have to talk *gasp* to one another more than you do at home.
Traveling as a family isn’t just about getting away from the stress of your everyday life, it’s about getting back in touch with the people you love!
Make your travel more meaningful by involving your kids and their interests into your plans. You get excited about your itinerary because you took the time to plan it! You know what the important things to do are, the best things to eat and the timeline it all has to happen in.
When you are traveling with kids, it helps get them excited when they know what’s going on and have a say! Let them look up and choose a restaurant or activity and they will love telling everyone about it. A young boy at my church was just excitedly telling me all about his Spain trip this summer. His job on the trip was to use his middle school Spanish to order all the family meals. He loved it!! And he told me about each place they visited, carefully pronouncing each name with a great Spanish accent.
When you get your kids involved like that in your travels it helps them grow so much! They get out of their comfort zone and get an opportunity to take charge.
If you can, plan service activities while traveling with older kids. Volunteer in big ways on big projects or in little ways like bringing a box of items to donate to local orphanages. (You can learn more about these things on sites like https://www.volunteerforever.com/ and https://globalvolunteers.org/)
Most importantly, serve communities in ways that are important to your family. Animal lovers? Find a group that helps with wildlife rescue. Social people? Spend time volunteering at orphanages or retirement communities. When you serve together your kids learn the significance of giving to others and you grow closer together as a family!
On that same trip with the donkeys, I asked my high school Spanish class to donate things and brought boxes of clothes and toys to bring to a local orphanage. It was my project and I was so excited to plan it all!
With older kids, traveling opens their eyes to the different ways people live. It’s an important thing to realize that other people don’t just do different things than you, they think differently than you! And no matter where we went as kids, traveling always made me more grateful for what I already had.
At the same time, your kids (and you!) will learn how much people are all the same all over the world. Others’ hopes, dreams, concerns and goals are so similar to their own. What a cool experience to share and have with your children!!
“Ok,” you say, “traveling with older kids sounds great”. Yep! Because they can do all the activities you want to and don’t need naps!
Ok…we can’t be the only people that take pictures of pictures after rides so we don’t have to pay for them…
We are in the back row. My mom (in red), me, and my teenage brother who looks really excited. (He’s the same little brother in red on the donkey!!)
So what about traveling with little kids?
Is traveling with little kids, toddlers or even babies really worth it? You have to bring so much more stuff. You miss out on things because kids aren’t allowed or they’ll need a nap. And they aren’t even going to remember it!
I wasn’t sure of this either when I started. I had just finished up nursing school and been working my new job for a year and half. I had been so busy that I hadn’t had any time to travel for a few years but I had the travel bug bad!
I also had a 6 month old and everyone told me that you can’t really go on big vacations with a baby. It’s just too hard! …So I booked tickets to Paris.
Then we went to Arizona, then Disney World, then Barcelona and will be going to the UK in a few months. All within 14 months!
I can tell you from experience... 100% yes! Traveling with little kids is worth it!!
You get to explore and see amazing places with your favorite little people.
Yes it’s hard, but the good stuff outweighs the bad. This is the honestly hard things about it:
- Sleep is a struggle. Where are they going to sleep? When will they sleep? Are they going to sleep? Am I going to sleep? What about naps? Lincoln was NOT a good sleeper when he was little and this was hard enough at home with set schedules and routines.
- Food is a struggle. Nursing is hard in general, throw in jet lag and being unsure if it’s ok to nurse in public in other countries or where to do it! Do you pack baby food? What if you have a picky eater? Will they starve or eat nothing than ice cream the whole time?
- Temper tantrums and high energy babies. Link is a bouncing off the walls kind of baby and always has been. He’s not a bad baby, just sooo curious and thinks he need to be involved in EVERYTHING. We have had meltdowns on airplane, in restaurants, waiting in line, or in a quiet cathedral. He has wanted to run like crazy on a boat with low side rails and didn’t like me holding him.
- You miss out on stuff. There’s some restaurants we would love to go to or activities to we want to see but don’t because of Link. It’s either not allowed, or safe, or logistically possible.
But in the end.... You figure it out.
Remember that all flights eventually end. You trial and error (and repeat, and repeat, and repeat) sleeping arrangements. You go to KFC in a historical European city because you know they’ll at least eat chicken nuggets.
Give yourself (and your kids) a break if you need it. Sometimes a “pool day” or “walk around the city day” with nothing planned is what you all need.
Let things go Elsa.
I know the struggle you are feeling to keep your baby on their routine. I’ve cried on trips when we had to give Link formula because I desperately wanted him just to nurse. He wouldn’t stay asleep in the new environment on just breastmilk, but I felt like I failed. But the truth is, it helped all of us sleep better each night and it was ok.
Maybe let them have the binky when you normally wouldn’t. Or let them take a nap in your arms (or the baby carrier) even if you are trying to teach them to sleep on their own. Buy the chicken nuggets if you need to.
It will be ok. It might be some work to get them back on track at home, but you’ll figure it out. Because you’re a parent and parents are good at figuring it out!
Why should you go through all this effort?
Because traveling with little kids is amazing.
You gain confidence and independence as a parent as you put yourself in new situations to solve problems that you would never encounter at home.
You also will be amazed by how kind people all over the world can be because kids bring out the best in them. Strangers offer to help you, they come over and talk to your family, they sing to your baby.
There’s a universal language of parenthood they makes it easy to overcome our differences. Link was entertained for hours on a train by a group of cute Chinese grandmas they talked to him and played with him. A young Spanish woman showed him different things in her purse to help distract him in a line. A man in the Louvre saw us arrive with a stroller and took us to the front of the line, helping me through security with a wink at Lincoln.
Plus you don’t have to miss them because they are with you!
Yep he’s missing a shoe. Luckily a stranger found it and brought it to us!!
If you have been thinking about traveling with kids, but you’re holding out because it makes you nervous… try it! You can start small, but getting out of your comfort zone will be good for you and it gets easier the more you do it.
Yes, some moments will be hard. But it works out and it is so worth it!
What things have you found rewarding or hard with traveling with kids?
2 comments
We are a family run dive centre in Cyprus, we love your content!
Thank you! We love diving and I’m really excited to Link to do it when he’s big enough. What has been your experience traveling with your family?