Traveling with little ones...

Not traditionally what I'd post, but here's some hints, tips and tricks about traveling with little ones!

Recently a good Mummy friend asked about traveling with kids… She was the second Mummy in as many days to ask about traveling with a baby.  Funny they should ask now - we’ve just returned from both the best and the worst holiday we’ve ever had.  In any case, I thought I’d share some of our wisdom and wit when it comes to traveling with little ones.

Firstly you should know you will be fine.  If you do want to go to New York from Newcastle, Paris from Perth, or Stonehenge from Sydney or Shanghai, do it.   Don't let having a baby/a toddler/ a six year old scare you into not going - seriously it's fine. Yes, it can be hard work and you’ll need to think carefully about every aspect of the travel and the sightseeing, but you don’t have to miss out because you have a family.

Maybe its a generational thing but our parents didn’t travel as much because it was expensive and inaccessible - traveling is no longer a privilege for the wealthy. My parents are constantly saying how “well traveled” and “lucky” Little O is for all the places she has been in her short life. She is both of those things, but she needn’t be the only kid in the class who has left the country.

I’m not saying that you’ll be able to do everything your single, childless traveling girlfriends can do.  But really if you have kids you are probably past the need to stay in a grubby backpackers hotel, right? And really, do you need to hear another Swede talk of “good vibes” between Jack Johnson songs? Granted, it might be nice to have a drink in a bar with your significant other.  Instead I am content to whisper on the balcony after dark, drinking a bottle of champers we remembered to pack and chill for the evening. See right, this was our sunset over Monument Valley.


The most obvious part of a holiday is picking the destination.  Whatever it is, start thinking now… do you want to lay by a pool/beach/lagoon with the kids? Or do you want to explore a city/ National Park/Theme Park with them?

Something we didn’t think of on one of our trips was whether or not the start time for the trip would work for Olive. It didn’t.  She didn’t sleep and we couldn’t rest. After nine hours sitting on a bus with an 11 month old we rolled into our hotel. Another thing we didn’t think of, does the hotel have room service? It didn’t.  Was the hotel near anywhere we could by take away at 11.30pm? Nope.  Some lessons here for the uninitiated are - don’t travel by bus from Washington to New York on Thanksgiving. Book a hotel that can provide you with something to eat!

If you’re flying pack carefully. Our most recent trip saw us huddled in front of the check in counter discreetly moving our underwear back and forth to balance the suitcase weight. At home it seemed like a great idea to pack everything three people needed for a week and a half into one case.  Two smaller cases will be a good idea next time. But yet another lesson learned. If you do have to repack, use the scale to weigh a pile of removed items so you know how close you’re getting to the weight goal. And another trick - the car seat and travel cot don’t count as your luggage in terms of their weight so you can add things to their bags...

Arriving 90 minutes early might be a great guide if you are traveling alone but, with kids in tow, the best advice is to arrive as early as you can. Make sure you arrive with plenty of time to check in, repack at the counter, deal with a tantrum, get in the security line, remove everyones clothes and shoes, fold the stroller, take off the baby carrier, put it all in the silly little trays, watch husband and or his shoes be tested for goodness knows what and then put yourself and you family back together on the other side. Honestly the most stressful part of traveling by air is the security process. Something else we didn’t think of - a ball filled with glittery water is going to cause you grief and get confiscated.

We always used a baby carrier to get through the airports. It leaves you with free hands, and it will also help at your destination incase you want to explore behind Niagara Falls, which isn’t stroller friendly!

On the plane, in the car, at dinner, in the hotel room or whenever a tantrum is brewing from boredom our trick is an episode of Play School, or Handy Manny, on the iPhone (see right, Play School did the trick).  But take a back up, there is nothing worse than the phone running out of battery before you find out if Manny and the Tools really were able to fix that clock/oven/cart… Books are great too, but remember you have to lug them around for the holiday.  So just as Coco Chanel said “take one thing off”, take one thing out. 

So long as that ‘one thing’ isn’t the spare clothes you might need. Carry on a spare outfit (or two) for the baby/child, and at least a shirt that will either fit both parents or one each.  Friends of ours were unfortunate enough to have their two year old lose her lunch on both of them on a flight - she had arrived in a crisp new outfit; they flew to Phoenix smelling a little.


I eluded to the fact that Little O was sick for the first part of our most recent trip. Without going into detail I can recommend finding a hotel with a laundry with a 24 hour pharmacy nearby. Choose your hotels wisely - a wigwam in the middle of the Arizona desert is cute, but devoid of any utility you might need as a parent.


Now that Little O is older we try to schedule in some 'play' time that we didn’t have to when she was smaller. Though that has worked in our favour too - it gets you off the beaten track to find local haunts and hang outs not to mention providing an opportunity to meet local parents and get local kid friendly tips.  Our Santa Fe discovery led us to a brilliant lookout over the city which we wouldn't have thought about otherwise.

The only way we're really limited when traveling now is at night - we try to be back in our hotel by around 8 to make sure Little O gets a good sleep. Before we could let her sleep in her car seat or stroller, it may not be a great look to have a baby under the table while you eat and drink into the evening. But hey, she was safe and we were happy!

When you do get to the hotel, you will need a good travel cot for the little one to rest their head.  While many hotels offer cots, having your own provides an extra piece of mind in terms of safety, cleanliness and familiarity for baby.  Make it light weight and easy to put up. It's well worth the investment.  I remind you of our story of rolling off the bus at 11.30pm - no rest, cranky Mummy, Daddy and baby… Flicking a bed up and getting everyone to bed within 20 minutes of arriving at the hotel was priceless.  A car seat bag is also an incredibly valuable investment, if you check you car seat in at the airport it will get filthy.  Same goes for the stroller bag.

I can’t think of much else! Just try to be prepared, remember you can buy almost anything you’ve forgotten at your destination and hotel laundries may just save your sanity.  Enjoy your holiday!