We have been fortunate enough to have always travelled with our children. Starting off as short breaks, making use of annual leave, to now travelling full time. Having children should never put you off travelling. Children open up a magical world and allow you to experience this world through their eyes.
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Whether you are travelling with your children for a short holiday or are thinking about travelling long term, we are armed with some top tips to help you
Travel time
No one likes the thought of a 5+ hour journey with unsettled children. In fact, I don't even like the thought of a 20 minute journey with unsettled children!
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We have been travelling full time now for over a year and one of the main things that causes us stress when travelling is the thought of long journeys. Back in January, we travelled for 3 months around Europe in our self-converted van and found that slow travel worked really well for the kids. By slow travel, I do not mean staying in one place for a long time but instead, making our drive times short, allowing us to slow the pace as we travelled through each country.
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The majority of our drives were under 2 hours and we always planned it around snack/nap time.
Understandably short travel times are not always possible, especially if flying, therefore we always try to plan in breaks every few hours to stretch and recharge.
Don't over pack
It's really easy to assume that you need to pack lots of things for children, including endless spares. But the truth is, you don't. Learning to pack light is an even more important skill now that you have to pay extra for luggage on many airlines. This can rapidly bring the costs of travelling down allowing you to travel on a budget. Last October, we travelled around Albania for 5 weeks with just small carry on bags.
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So far, we have never been in a position where we haven't been able to get something we needed. We've left coats at airports, sunglasses in cafes, even a pair of kids shoes in the park and we have been able to replace them all whilst on the road.
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This October, we will be backpacking around South East Asia for 5 months, therefore we are going to need to ensure we pack as light as we possibly can!
Involve the children in your travel plans
This is such an important thing to do when travelling with children. Our boys love getting involved in our travel plans and creating lists of places they would like to visit or things they would like to do. We are currently doing lots of research into Vietnam ready for our upcoming trip to Asia!
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When the children are involved in the planning process, it also becomes their adventure. They have an understanding of how a trip goes from planning to actually experiencing it and they become involved in every step of the way. I find it makes my boys more excited and engaged when they are a part of that process.
Ensure you have everything you need
Travelling through busy airports, train stations, border controls etc can become a very stressful experience for us adults. Especially when the children are around us asking for snacks, are unsettled or mostly in our case, bickering with each other. In order for a smoother journey, it is important that you have everything you need like passports, money and important documents on you at hand.
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I am notoriously known for loosing things. One of my highlights being loosing my passport a few hours before flying back from Sweden! I therefore ensure that all those important things are literally stuck to my skin!
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I always make sure I have snacks at hand at all times ready to throw them at the children (not literally, maybe sometimes). Snacks are up there with the important stuff!
It's no big deal!
Even though we all get really excited travelling around different countries, we try not to make a big deal about the travel. It can be really easy to feel like you need to pack loads of activities to keep the children busy when travelling, however we have found this isn't always the case.
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We have always travelled, even before moving into the van full time so our children have always experienced travel. We have never piled them up with games and activity books for our journeys. The travelling part is very much part of the journey and our boys have had to learn to take some down time during this time and essentially, learn to deal with boredom.
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Travelling with children is wonderful, but at times it can feel overwhelming. It is important to remind ourselves that we are all on our own journey. Everyone is trying to navigate through this world together. When in busy environments such as airports or on public transport, we like to tell ourselves that we are not the only ones there with children. There are probably many families who are feeling the same way as us! It is completely natural and normal to feel a little overwhelmed or stressed out when travelling with children. The challenge is what makes it exciting!
We love the adventure and chaos that the children bring to our travelling experience. Learn to embrace it. You only have one opportunity in this life to make these memories, so go for it!
