Traveling with Kids, Everyone’s Doing It
08. Oct, 2008 
35 Comments
Someone asked yesterday about traveling with kids– can you do it? I don’t have kids, but I do have two 80 lbs labs, and if I can fly them overseas, convince a landlord in Spanish to let us rent a loft and live in the heart of Madrid– then yes, I think you can pull off bringing your kids with you on your travels. But as much as my dogs are slobbery, need puppy proofing, run off if given the chance and insist on putting everything in their mouths– it’s not quite the same as having a two year old– even if they do most of the same things.
I would have loved growing up abroad. When I was in middle school, my step father had an opportunity to coach hockey in France. He’s a former professional hockey player, and the job meant we would all be moving overseas. In the end, it fell through, but I always think back to what could have been. I would have grown up abroad, become fluent in French and learned so much about the world at a young age. My husband and I have always said that when the time comes to have children, travel and second language skills would be a large part of their lives.
While I don’t have the experience to share on this aspect of travel, there are plenty excellent sites that do. Thankfully these families have blazed a path for living abroad, long term travel and even RTW trips, so if you have a question, they most likely have covered it.
DeliciousBaby.com Debbie writes about traveling with her two young children.
She says, “DeliciousBaby is for parents who want to travel with their children, but don’t know how to start or who already travel with their kids and want to learn how to make travel easier and more fun. I write about travel destinations, share my own travel stories (in the US and internationally) and share my tips and advice on issues like how to keep kids busy on a plane, surviving jet-lag, and flying with carseats. I also share new news and information that impacts traveling families on an ongoing basis.”
TravelingMamas.com Four travel writer moms talk about traveling with children, the best places for family trips, and more.
They say, “We’re Traveling Mamas sharing our adventures with the world. We offer tips on great (and not so great) places to visit with children and how to have the best family vacations — but it’s not all about the kids, of course! Romantic escapes, girlfriend getaways, and solo trips are also important to us. Plus, we cover industry news and review travel gear, and we love to give things away!”
TravelSavvyMom.com These mothers have lived as expats overseas (in places like London and Fiji) and travel extensively with and without their children.
Founder Jamie Pearson’s best travel advice?
“1) Never leave home without peanut butter, 2) No child is too big for a stroller, and 3) Bring plenty of new toys—$50 for three pounds of plastic crap will seem like the deal of the century at 3am in a London hotel.”
TheWideWideWorld.com This family of four is traveling around the world for a year and documenting every step of the way.
How it came about: “I had casually raised the subject with my wife over lunch at a local Latin American restaurant. “Would you think I was crazy if I said we should take a year off, pull the kids out of school, and travel around the world?” I couldn’t tell if Dani was humoring me or if she really meant it when she said: “Sounds interesting. Could we really do it?””
TravelsWithBaby.blogspot.com This blogger has literally written the book on traveling with a baby. Her site is chock full of practical advice for traveling with little ones with 47 article length tips and counting.
From her site, “I took my first flight as a parent when my daughter was 5 weeks old, and by the time she turned 2 years old, she’d crawled, cruised, or walked on 4 continents and a handful of islands, and had a brand new sister to boot.”
KidsGoGlobal.wordpress.com This Oregon based family loves traveling.
“The world is an incredible adventure for our little ones. Travel introduces all of us to new sights, sounds, food, weather, colors, music, and ways of thinking. If you start when they’re young, you introduce your children to the wonders of the world and gift them with a love and understanding for people and places that are different from them. You also teach them important life skills such as flexibility, creativity, new languages, new foods, even map-reading and world history!”
There are plenty more where these 7 sites came from! If I missed you, leave your link in the comments. For everyone else… any tips for our parenting travelers-to-be? Would you travel with children?
I had an art teacher in elementary school who grew up abroad and I always fantasized about how exciting her childhood must have been. She actually said she was often lonely and felt that she never fit in anywhere, but as an adult, she recognized the value of her childhood abroad and really appreciated the rich set of experiences they gave her.
Julies last blog post..Border Town: Tijuana/San Diego
Thanks for inclusion on this list Christine–I found something new here, and am heading over to Wide Wide World immediately!
As a child I moved all over (my Dad was a nuclear engineer, so we lived in a lot of garden spots: Arkansas, Eastern Washington, and so on), but my experiences living in Taipei at 10 were really formative. In college I did a semester at the UNAM in Mexico City (followed by 4 weeks of picking coffee beans on a plantation in Veracruz). As an adult, I jumped on an opportunity to live in England for 2 years.
Travel is genetic and contagious. I’d be surprised if your (hypothetical) kids didn’t get the bug.
jamies last blog post..Dude, Where’s my Ranch?
Thanks for bringing up this topic as I think it is an important one! The world is getting smaller and there is no better education for our global citizens of the 21st century than world travel. Some say it is a way to peace for our world.
Thanks so much for including us in your wonderful collection of family travel websites!
Family travel is much easier, cheaper and more rewarding than most people realize. We started our open ended tour of the world when our daughter was 5 and have visited 4 continents, 25 countries, traveled over 50,000 miles ( most on land and sea) and live large on 25K a year ( even though much of it has been in “expensive” Europe).
The keys are slow travel and extended travel to both keep prices down and immerse deeply. It has been enriching beyond our dreams and my daughter has already seen more of the world than most people will ever see. We stay long enough and match our homeschooling to our travels to deepen her experiences. Life as a field trip is beyond compare!
The other reward of family travel, especially extended travel is family bonding and shared experiences. My daughter rode a camel into the Sahara at 6 to play a violin concert for 60 Berber nomad kids who had never seen a violin and live with no running water. That was a peak experience that none of us will ever forget.
We have had so many of those and I am also grateful that my child has more time with her father than most do.
She has made friends with kids from all over the world, some that speak one of her languages and some that do not. Today she played for hours with German kids here on the Romantic Road. Soon we will be in the south of France and she will switch to French. Many of these kids she will be friends with for the rest of her life, especially the ones she meets while in our 15th century village in Spain for the winter or our longer stays elsewhere. She has even made friends from the internet and through our school collaborations!
Show your child the world! It is easier than you think and worth the effort. You will be so rewarded by the joy of viewing the word through a child’s eyes and as a family.
We love the RV style for families so much that we will ship our RV to Africa and then onto South America next, both for long stays. We also like long term rentals, although we have tried every possible accommodation from 5 stay hotel in a 5000 year old cave in Turkey to a boat house in the middle of Amsterdam.
Books make travel more rewarding for kids as much as it does for adults, so I encourage you to do that. We do many itineraries based on good children’s literature. There is nothing like reading Homer in Greece or Troy, Turkey and Harry Potter in UK or Astrid Lindgren in Sweden…even for a young one!
Remember too that slow travel and play is so important for kids, so schedule that in between the museums and sites.
Go for it, you will never regret it and you might just become hooked! It is a beautiful world, let your children experience all the glory!!
This is a great article! Can I share it with my family travel groups? I’ll make sure to give a link back.
Gretchens last blog post..Wordless Wednesday
I’m heading over to WideWideWorld, too! I’ve got a blog post coming up later this month w/ author of “Live Your Road Trip Dream” addressing just this topic — how realistic is it, really, to “drop out” and travel w/ your kids 6 mos. to a year.
I *know* of so many families doing it (Hi SoulTravelers3!) and in creative ways (I have a Q&A on TravelingMamas.com re: the family biking from Alaska to southern tip of South America — with their 11-year-old sons). But could *my* family really do it? I think hubby has to hire someone really great to replace him at his current job, training for a while, or sell his part of the company for us to be truly free-wheeling.
For now, we vacation as often as we can. But taking off on a road trip – or 6 month sabbatical in a foreign country w/ one home base and local travel – is one of my dreams. Gotta make it happen if going to make it a reality.
Thanks, Christine!
What a great list and you named some of my favorites! I travel extensively with my children but don’t blog exclusively about that. Probably because there are some memories I’d care not to memorialize.
Amber’s Crazy Bloggin’ Canucks last blog post..Mr. Lord of the Gourds Visits the Super Bowl of Pumpkin Weigh-offs
I definitely agree with the sentiment that traveling with children is an education for all involved. I find that my children are always up for adventure and love trying new food, seeing new places, and meeting new people, something I attribute directly to all of the travel we’ve done with them.
I cocked an eyebrow at the title of the post because I wrote a book about traveling with my one-year-old for 13 months and was unable to find a publisher largely because editors felt like no one would want to read it (“I find it hard to believe that many other parents would want to take a trip like this one” is a direct quote from one rejection).
Like others in this small network, I’ve never seen WideWideWorld either and will be heading that way.
My blog is called The Mother of All Trips, and I describe it thusly: The Mother of All Trips is a place to get tips on traveling, to savor the adventures of other families, and hopefully to find inspiration for your own wonderful journey.
I tell lots of stories of both current and past adventures including recent trips to Vermont and Paris with my two sons.
Mara’s last blog post: Mondays are for dreaming: Boston
Maras last blog post..Mondays are for dreaming: Boston
I grew up overseas, and I’m so grateful to my parents for it! I speak French fluently, as well as Spanish really well (because I was in a French system where English was mandatory, French obviously first language, and then we STILL had to pick a second language, so I picked Spanish). If I hadn’t been raised overseas, probably wouldn’t have happened. And that was just one of the many perks! Of course not mentionining growing up around kids of all backgrounds, seeing various countries and learning from the local culture, etc. etc. Travel is just an amazing thing and growing up overseas makes it so much easier for you later (when you’re an adult) to adapt to any country in the world.
Hi there!
I currently blog about my various travels with my kids, accommodations, book reviews, and trip plans at http://www.wandermom.com. I’m also currently working on a book ‘Traveling with Kids’ in the Wanderlust and Lipstick series (http://www.wanderlustandlipstick.com).
Since my husband and I are both from Ireland, but we live in Seattle, I’ve had to travel with my kids – just to keep in touch with family. But, independent of family, we also love to travel, so we’ve been around the US, to Mexico, Australia, Fiji, Greece, Portugal and Italy with our boys too. We’re currently planning an RTW trip, so I’m excited to read about the family on WideWideWorld.
Great post!
wandermoms last blog post..special times in seattle
I’ve recently launched Have Kids Will Travel (www.havekidswilltravel.net) where I share my advice, insights and rants about traveling with children from fetus to teenagers. I’ve lived in nine countries, have traveled throughout countless others and am currently based in the Caribbean. Globe-trotting is such a part of my life, I couldn’t imagine not sharing the world with my kids, despite the trials and tribulations of bringing them along. I’m a big fan of most of the bloggers you mention. It helps to know I’m not alone with my family wanderlust!
That’s http://www.havekidswilltravel.net. Darn hyperlinks.
Catherines last blog post..Deck Smarts
Thanks for sharing this great list! When my son was born 3 1/2 years ago, it seemed like there was almost no information about traveling with very young kids (and the little information there was made it seem impossible) For me, one of the best things about starting DeliciousBaby was the opportunity to connect with so many other parents who have the same desire to travel that we do… and aren’t willing to let it go because they have kids.
I’ll admit that my world view is a bit skewed since I spend so much time reading travel blogs, but Mara, it’s funny to read your comment, because I can’t imagine (especially on the heels of Eat, Pray, Love) that parents wouldn’t want to read your story & see the world through your eyes. Maybe the strength of the community we are building online will help change the mind of one of those publishers.
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Debbie – I hope you are right! Maybe we need to start working on a Mother of All Trips anthology…
Maras last blog post..Mondays are for dreaming: Boston
I love to see this – as there has been such an overwhelming amount of negative press for kids on planes in the past. There are so many travel resources now and everyone focuses on what he/she is passionate about!
I wrote the book “Jet With Kids” to address the flight process- from planning to arriving. I interviewed the people who see it everyday (flight attendants, gate agents, pilots, travel agents, pediatricians, etc.) for their expert advice.
As a nurse I cover the practical/medical side of travel – Have ear pain? Try http://www.EarPopper.com Safety on Planes? CARES harness. Organization in flight? TrayBien Hygiene concerns? PlaneComfort Cool snacks? IcyBag Food Allergy? PlaneSheets
I work with manufacturers, inventors, entrepreneurs, travel experts, physicians, etc. to find the best travel tips, products, and services.
Oh and my preschooler and I fly every month to meet with these experts. My son will be visiting his 15th country before he starts kindergarten. I grew up going to Germany where my grandma lived her whole life. My 4 yr. old was able to visit her twice before she died this year at 97.
Travel is an incredible gift. A personal invitation to join our traveling community at http://www.JetWithKids.com
I’m so impressed with all of you that take the dogs and little ones abroad. I really can’t imagine having to take care of more than me. I have a hard time keeping my backpack in tact. Well, I guess this is reassurance that my traveling days won’t end with pregnancy.
Saras last blog post..Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Iowa
Sara – I wrote the book because I was freaking out that I would have the screaming baby. Had traveled the world and had a trip to Singapore and Japan when I found out I was pregnant. (A bit of advice – do not go to Tokyo when pregnant w/morning sickness- fish soup smell not good when nauseous….)
However, I was overwhelmed by how different it would be to travel with a child. So I asked the experts-
The key really is preparation – and paying attention to the small details. I can honestly say that I love traveling with my child – and I see the world differently and experience so much more by interacting with the locals (children are a conversation started all over the world!)
If you have questions – there are plenty of experts out here on the Internet to help!
http://www.JetWithKids.com
Great news and information on travelling abroad with kids. However, my experience of travelling with my 2 kids was terrible and tense that I would rather forget it.
My 2 cents’ opinion is kids should be brought along to travel when they are 5 years old and above as not much memories before that they could recall in future…
It’s inspiring to see that so many people take the opportunity to travel with their kids.
I never travelled until I was 19 (went to Japan to study and stayed there for 10 years) but my daughter is my travel companion now. She’s still 5 but have been to 5 countries. She spent 3 years in Japan and 2 years in Dubai, the place where we now live. I can see that children who travel at a young age are so much different. At least, I was different when I was her age.
My experiences with travelling with her are all pleasureable. She is so calm inside the plane (despite long haul flights). No problem whatsoever for me. I am lucky. We will travel again to Jordan and Istanbul next spring.
Sandier Pasturess last blog post..13 Great animes by Hayao Miyazaki
Thanks, Christine for the mention.
My wife and I are so grateful to have the opportunity to share this experience with our children. They are learning a lot, but honestly, we’re learning as much if not more from them… Seeing the world through their eyes.
When I was younger (before I had children), I didn’t have the courage to take a trip around the world. I think I found the courage knowing that I would be with my three favorite people for a year.
Taking a year off to travel is very difficult for many families – and more difficult than ever considering the economic mess the world seems to be slipping into… But it is the most rewarding thing I have ever done, and I feel confident it will have been worth every penny and more.
Lastly, I want to say to others who want to do extended travel with their children – it is possible. It can be done. There are as many ways to travel with your kids as there are families that travel.
I have compiled a pretty comprehensive list of RTW families at http://www.thewidewideworld.com For anyone considering such a trip, I recommend spending some time reading through the blogs these other families have kept. Somewhere in that list you will find the right model for your trip.
Best wishes to all.
Craig James
Thanks for highlighting these great sites. Traveling with young kids is one of the hardest things ever and being able to read about other’s experiences makes me feel a bit better about myself. In fact I wrote a post calling all business travelers to be friendly to parents traveling with kids.
http://www.thegoreport.com/family-travel/traveling-under-the-influence-of-kids/
Great write-up! Another great link for My Inspiration Lounge!
Safe Travels!
Misty, Founder
My Inspiration Lounge
http://www.myinspirationlounge.com
Let me also add that we took our 2-year old daughter to New Zealand and they were super family friendly! They had no worries about her participating in activities…well except for bungy jumping! I think that was the only thing off limits!
Cheers! Misty
My Inspiration Lounge
I go on press trips 3-4 times a year and we take the kids on an international vacation once a year. I feel it’s extremely important for American children realize that there’s another world outside of the U.S. as early as possible. My 12-year-old has been begging to go on a family press trip with me. I think that she’s finally old enough but juggling pre-teen attitude and trying to make sure I have enough notes on a particular activity just doesn’t excite me. To me, that’s the dark side of traveling with kids–doing the same juggling you do at home only in a different country and differnet language.
I don’t know…I’ve met a lot of “Third Culture Kids” (people who moved around abroad a lot when they were young and therefore don’t belong to any culture) and they all seem to have a chip on their shoulder. They don’t come from anywhere in particular, and that can be very destabilizing, not to have a “home.” I’m not saying it can’t work for everyone, I just would be careful before moving my kids around all the time, or wishing that I had moved around all the time as a kid.
That said, I do think it’s very important to travel with kids. My family constantly went on trips all over the USA in our minivan and I learned so much about life and myself on the road. Now as an adult, I can take those lessons learned and choose to move around as much as I want but I will always have a homebase and that feels nice.
And I didn’t need my parents to make me learn French, or any other language for that matter – they tried that with piano lessons and I rejected it because it was forced on me. Learning French was my decision, I love it, and am now fluent. If your kids want to become language learners and world travelers they will. If not, hopefully those family vacations at least opened them to the possibility and to how other people live. My sister took the same trips I did as a kid, but just isn’t that interested in travel or foreign cultures. And that’s ok.
Tanyas last blog post..The City of Headlights
I just wanted to speak to that “Third culture kids” comment Tanya and I am so glad that you brought that up, because I think it is something people think about. I know we thought long and hard about how to do our extensive travel in a way that would eliminate any of the possible negatives of a TCK and accentuate the positive!
I grew up living all over and I think it was absolutely the best thing in the world for me and made me what I am today. I have had such a full and rich life due to that and I think it has increased my flexibility, adaptability, thinking on my feet, creativity and willingness to take risks, follow my dreams and own drum.
I want my child to have these same advantages and more. I want her to really know about the world and you can not really do that in a two week vacation. I would have been an extremely unhappy child if I had to endure life in one small town my whole life. The world is my home, so I am a free spirit, at home any where in it! That is what we want for our child and we find this journey enriches and expands her in such positive ways. Some personalities just thrive on freedom and change!
I have just the opposite experience than you with adults raised as “Third culture kids”. I find them the most interesting, successful people I come into contact with! I am sure there must be some duds and I am sure some people who never left their small town can also be great, but over and over in my life my favorite people have had very enriched “third culture” lives.
Also many famous people have had that kind of upbringing and clearly it worked for them. I’ve read some interesting thoughts about Mozart and Michelangelo, proposing that they would not be who they were had their lives not been impacted by travel. They were both exposed to much more than their peers.
What happens in a young life does impact the future, but most of it depends on HOW it is done and also on the individual child. You will find the same thing with something like adoption or even catholic schools; some will thrive on it and others will always have a wound.
Today it is easier than ever to do extensive travel internationally as a family and more and more families are doing it. The internet takes away many of the disadvantages that supposedly make a TCK. ( Some people say there really is no such thing). Remember they were studied and named long before free Skype webcams, blogs and twitter etc, which all allow people/expats to stay close with their friends, family and home culture, while immersing deeply into another. Snail mail & expensive calls are a thing of the past. I know some traveling homeschool teens who collaborate from several states and countries, writing and making music for their band! We live in a fast changing world which is getting smaller and smaller.
My daughter talks constantly on free Skype webcam calls to grandparents, cousins and friends. She is not isolated like a child in the fifties living with missionary parents in China would be. We also are aware of the possible problems and make sure we support her in ways that the downsides can be avoided. Funny, but we are even closer as a family and closer and more connected with family at a distance than when we lived 20 minutes away! My daughter is still close to her friends at home and has deep connections in our village in Spain where we will spend our third winter soon. Meanwhile, she has more time with both her parents than most kids get which is the primary thing children need.
I like this Doctors take on it:
“It is never too late to build family foundations,” says Dr. Nicholas Levy, a pediatrician affiliated with the Univ. of California, San Diego, who advocates traveling sabbaticals for families. “Travel, particularly international travel, exposes families to different lifestyles that intrinsically bring families together.”
“Adaptation and accommodation are probably the most valuable lessons that we can teach our children,” Levy says.
That’s funny you mention your two labs. My wife and I really miss our cat when we go out of town, and he gets so lonely when we’re not around. My wife suggested that we bring him on an overseas trip (which is just an idea at this point.)
Have you heard of anyone traveling overseas with a cat? It seems like they would be more of a hassle since they generally don’t go for walks. Dogs you can take basically anywhere outdoors. Any traveling-with-pet blogs out there?
It’s great to travel when the kids are younger as long as you can slow down a bit to their pace. Once they get to the tweenie & teenage years it’s a whole different ball game. My experience is that there’s a whole different set of compromises – you need to factor in lots of shopping, swimming pools, internet access, and if you’re lucky they might try the local cuisine or begrudgingly visit that art gallery with you.
Nevertheless I persever in the hope that some of the experience will rub off – currently planning visit to Berlin with teenage daughter and friends in tow.
Heatheronhertravelss last blog post..Medieval frescos at Orosei – in Sardinia
Thanks for taking the other side, soultravelers3. I’m glad to hear about how you make traveling with kids work and it sounds like you’ve got a great thing going on there. As a kid who herself traveled extensively around the US with her family, I know how much it can help to bond family ties and teach kids about the world outside their front door.
I guess traveling internationally is like anything else people do with their kids. Some of the kids will thrive and love it and live their lives similarly in the future, and others will reject the lifestyle they were given and resent the way they were raised. Ah, the joys of parenthood
I can’t wait!
Tanyas last blog post..Dollar vs. Euro, Round Two
Hi Christine
As a mum and a frequent traveller for my business, I write for the Cookie Magazine travel blog http://www.cookiemag.com/magazine/blogs/goingplaces.
Tamaras last blog post..A pressing matter: cider-making in Herefordshire
My daughter is following us everywhere since she is 3 and it’s great (she is 7 now). She is much more adaptable then we would have thought at first, but there is still some limits. I have a picture of her on the grand canal in Venice where you can see it in her eyes that she’s totally fed up by the trip.
It was time to slow down a bit, plan some more time for her too.
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Re:Have you heard of anyone traveling overseas with a cat?
Yes, I know two women who traveled over a year in Europe by RV that took their 2 cats with them! We also traveled extensively with a cat to Mexico ( via small 6pack camper) and car using hotels.
Many RV fulltimers in US travel with cats and dogs.
In some ways cats are easier than dogs because they are small and you do not have to walk them.
Ah–I can’t believe you missed my favorite: http://www.kidcityny.com!
We only have one child and we’ve made it a priority to make travels part of our lives Children are amazingly resilient, non-judgmental and more flexible than some adults we’ve met from our travels. Our daughter has been traveling since she was only weeks young and she is 6 now. We’ve been in the US for 30 yrs. We spend a lot of $$ on all three of us returning to Asia (and other parts of the globe). It makes more sense to us to base in Asia (first) so that we can slow travel the entire continent and revisit our roots- one continent at a time, eh!
Currently, we live next door to a former mayor who has traveled and lived in many parts of the world with their two young children. Now, they are in their 70′s; their adult kids in early 40′s. They can name many other parents/families who did something similar years ago without the luxuries that we have today!
i agree with Anya that travel is an incredible gift to our child(ren). We feel privileged to provide ours this gift now and allow her to decide how she wishes to live her life when the time comes!! We started our blog because of our daughter. We want very much for her to understand the reasons why we do what we do as her parents. It is our way of documenting our journey so that one day she can review it at her leisure.
I’m amazed by the way my daughter’s teachers at Montessori school communicates with her– like a little adult!! I do believe that parents have a responsible to guide and provide age appropriate explanations to their child(ren). Preparation is key!!
@GotPassport´s last blog ..Our Beloved New Orleans Series Part 2 – Rebuilding
Good idea to make a list of these sites. I’ll have a look at all of them.
My experience has simply been that travelling with children has been so much easier than I had expected. Don’t feel like I’ve had to change very much at all about how I travel, except perhaps slowing down a bit and staying longer in one place. No hectic nightlife, of course, that was never my thing anyway.
I’ve travelled with kids since my oldest was 11 weeks old. At that age, it’s a bit of extra work, but mostly of a practical nature. From the time she was 4 (she’s now 21), we had a deal where I decided what to do in the mornings, she in the afternoons. A morning of Bangkok’s temples, would mean an afternoon at a pool – no matter the weather. Same with food: If I decided where and what for lunch, she had dinner, even if that meant something horrid, like hot dogs with butter.
With two kids, we now share decisions 3-ways. Works a treat.