Travel With Kids Tips For Dummies

Travel with kids tips blog posts are thick on the ground and often carbon copies of each other. Every family travel blogger has his or her own take on how travel with kids should be done. They’ve all got experience and they all offer advice that works for their family on how to make it smoother or more affordable. But we’ve not all exactly the same, some bloggers do things that we wouldn’t even consider and I’m sure plenty of travel bloggers think we’re crazy, so here’s our (slightly tongue-in-cheek) travel with kids tips. We all pump out these same posts, all virtually identical, so just to be different, here’s ours.

We travelled around the world full time with our kids for 6 years and counting. We think we got this thing nailed! Hopefully we can help you with these travel with kids tips for beginners.

Travel With Kids Blog, The Usual Clichés

Should You Travel With Kids?

Absolutely! If you leave them at home they’re likely to trash the house and you may get locked up for negligence.

If we didn’t think travel with kids was an excellent idea we wouldn’t have turned our lives upside down, sold everything and set out into the world to travel full-time with our children. You may like to check out these posts to see why we do this crazy bizarre thing: One Year of Travel: Educational Highlights, Travel with Kids, What’s it really like?.

Is Travelling With Kids Expensive?

Only if you put them in charge of the holiday money.

Seriously, yes, of course it costs more, but we signed up for bankruptcy when we took the parenting gig. The younger they are, they cheaper they are. They eat less and sometimes stay or travel free, but if you have big kids like ours, yes, it’s expensive. Despite that, we still managed one year of full-time travel on around $100 per day. Find our budget tips for travel with kids here.

Tips For Flying With Kids

Adults are usually far more irritating on planes than kids. That’s because they are bigger, have some really nasty habits and there are more of them in the air.

If other adults have a problem with your kids, don’t worry. They’re probably just having a bad day and you will never, ever, have to see them again.

Do not expect the kids to suddenly transform into the kids-they-aren’t.

They will be exactly the same on the plane as they are at home.

You have an advantage on planes, if you tell them that seat belts have to be left on at all times, they won’t move, much.

If your children are used to having computers all the time at home, they will wonder why the rules have suddenly been changed. If they’re not used to them, they won’t miss them.

Do not expect to get a break from being a parent. There are no baby sitters on planes.

The nice cabin crew take care of feeding them for you (usually) and clearing up after them (always) and in-flight entertainment is a wonderful thing. (if you’ve got it.)

Do not drug them. They’re your kids, I know, but if you drug them I’ll be really cross.

If your child kicks the seat in front, stop them. I’ve only ever come across a seat kicker once, in all my years of flying many times every year. It’s incredibly annoying. In this case, the mom was asleep. I let her rest, junior was OK, just irritating.

Where Should You Stay When Travelling With Kids?

Where do you normally stay when you travel? In a tent, a hotel, a guest house? Any of those are absolutely fine.

If mum and dad are happy with the accommodation the kids won’t complain.  If mum and dad grumble, so will the kids. Monkey see, monkey do.

My kids have never, ever posted a bad review on Trip Advisor.

When Travelling With Kids, What Will They Eat?

Wherever you go in the world you will find an abundance of restaurants, shops, cafes and markets. All of these places sell food. You will even find amazing kid havens like Mc Donalds and Starbucks in even the remotest corners of the world. If that fails, there is fruit and eggs.

Do not let your kids pick all of the food, this will cost you more and too much ice cream is bad.

Will My Child Get Sick While We Are Travelling?

Does your child get sick at home? It’s same same.

There are doctors everywhere in the world and you usually find that they are good and, outside the USA, affordable.

If you don’t need a doctor care for them as you would at home. Most parents have had lots of practice at this. The things you need at home for child sickness should be in your travel bag, in our case a travel thermometer, paracetamol, dressings and antiseptic are always at hand. See what we’ve used from our travel medical kit over the last year here.

Will My Child Enjoy Travelling?

Kids don’t always enjoy everything, parents don’t always enjoy everything either. It’s up to us to make their trips full of memories, engaging, fun and, my favourite, educational. They will get out of it what you put into it.

If they’re really miserable just remind them that they could be stuck in school.

Where is it Best to Travel with Kids?

That is totally dependent on personality and expectations. Beach people should go to the beach, outdoorsy people should climb mountains, culture fiends should trawl museums and temples. It’s a very big and wonderfully diverse world out there, everyone can find something to enjoy.

When Travelling With Kids, What Should I Pack?

Clothes, unless you’re going to a naturist resort.

Wash kit, unless you’re a soap dodger.

Medical kit, unless your kids never hurt themselves or get sick.

Any particular bear, blankie or pillow they can’t live without.

That’s it, you don’t need anything else, if you don’t pack enough of any of the above there are shops, don’t stress, everything will be fine!

Shops sell really cheap toys, the kids usually get more fun out of a new toy, whatever the price, than the expensive whatever that they absolutely had to have back home. Local shops will sell clothes suitable for the local climate, maybe pack less, buy more.

That’s it, I really can’t think of anything else. Travelling with kids is really just like being at home with kids with more interesting scenery. It’s do-able, it’s fun and it’s great for your family. If you still have doubts just talk to me in the comments section below. Happy travels!