Tips for Travelling with Kids

Introduction

Many parents delay their overseas holiday plans, until their children are older, to ensure their young children does not impact expensive holiday arrangements. I’ve decided to explore the merits of this decision further, as I have travelled with small kids to exciting destinations myself.

Travelling with kids - Is it a joy or a disaster?

Holiday travel is big business these days, with lots of tour operators offering varied travel packages for all kinds of holiday makers, age groups as well as the independent traveller. Family travel has also entered this spectrum, with tour operators starting to offer family orientated travel opportunities.

Taking the above into account I've decided to put some focus on some of the things to keep in mind when travelling with young kids. If your planning is in place prior to your trip you are guaranteed to have a most fantastic experience with your children.

Some of my fears, prior to our trip.

So why must you as a parent, be concerned about travelling with your youngsters to far off lands? I can speak from my own experience and the concerns I had before I took my small children to Egypt a couple of years ago. My boys were three and five years old respectively, at the time.

Some of the concerns I had were the following:

• What if my children become ill on the trip?
• Will we as a family be safe?
• What if my children become rowdy and unmanageable affecting other travellers?
• What if they become bored spoiling my experience?
• Will there be enough kid’s related entertainment?
• Will it be a lot more expensive to travel with the kids?
• Will my kids remember their experiences if they are so young?

Working through my fears.

So I had quite a lot of concerns to deal with. To make things even more interesting, in my situation, was that I also included the grand parents in my travel plans. This added further strain, as I also had to ensure we take out comprehensive travel insurance. Let me however focus on the kids for now.

I had to make a well informed decision to proceed with the travel plans or to stay at home. I worked through each concern, looking at the probability of any of it occurring.

What if my children become ill on the trip?

There is 50/50 chance that something like this can happen. One however has to plan correctly to limit kids getting ill. So what can one do?Never travel to extremely cold destinations with young kids. Remember that if you travel to a different hemisphere the seasons are swapped. The best seasons to travel to certain popular countries are the following:

• Europe – Summer, early Autumn
• Middle East / Egypt – Autumn, Winter
• Australia, New Zealand – Summer
• South Africa – Spring, Summer
• Tropics Africa, South America, Asia – Winter (Dry season – less risk of malaria)
• United States, Canada – Spring, Summer

Ensure that you take preventative inoculations where required. Take the necessary cold, flu and diarrhea medicine with you. Ensure you have comprehensive travel insurance for those unfortunate situations where you need a doctor or a hospital.

Will my family be safe?

Ensure that you are well aware of world politics and international safety notices. Don’t take your kids into dangerous territories. You also need to be aware that kids are not always allowed on adventure sports, so if you plan this, remember you will require a baby sitter.

What if my children become rowdy and unmanageable affecting other travellers?

This you will have to manage as it happens and believe me, there is a very good chance that your children will act up. Kids will be kids. The important thing to keep in mind is to limt the disturbance to fellow travellers. It is important that you constantly remind your kids that travelling is fun and that if they are naughty, they limit the fun that the whole family can have. Try and start to enforce this at least a month prior to your trip. This will assist to condition your kids that travel means fun.

What if they become bored and spoils our experience?

Here you will have to go through the necessary planning to organize a well-balanced itinerary that will have the necessary aspects that will make it interesting for kids.

Many travel companies (e.g. Trafalgar Tours) these days offer child friendly tour itineraries that will ensure your young ones are adequately stimulated.

Will there be enough kid’s related entertainment?

As mentioned in the previous item, you need to ensure you have a balanced itinerary with enough activities for the kids included.

Will it be a lot more expensive to travel with the kids?

This is one of the biggest misconceptions that parents have. Travelling with kids does not in reality increase your holiday budget by too much. There are usually big discounts linked to family travel. Kids also usually share hotel accommodation with a parent.

Will my kids remember their experiences if they are so young?

This is where you as the parent needs to play a big role in ensuring you keep the memories alive. Take as many videos and photos during your holiday. It will ensure the memories stay fresh in the minds of your kids.

Conclusion

Overall I feel that you should not exclude your children from the magic of travel. Every trip is an adventure, with new discoveries for you and your kids. Family travel is fantastic to make families grow closer as a unit. Enjoy the time with your kids, before they go off to college.