fiesty1

My husband and I have both traveled extensively, but never with children...we will have a two year old and a six month old. We would love some travel tips for those that have already experienced this "insanity"

julia_t

It is infinitely easier to please babies and small children than young teenagers..... Small children just want to be with you and don't really care where they are as long as you are there too. They won't remember anything much before the age of 4-5 anyway.

Rent apartments or houses where possible for the space, having a kitchen, laundry facilities, and not having to worry so much about the tantrums disturbing the rooms on either side!

And at least once in every trip, get a babysitter and have a night out on your own to keep the romance going!

kleeblatt

Take off and landing can be hard on your children's ears. Make sure you have pacifiers and/or bottles that they can suckle during these times.

Bring any medication that they might need. Here in Switzerland, they still use suppositories instead of baby aspirin for small children. Ouch!

Keep enough food and drinks with you. You never know when they will get hungry.

Renting apartments is a very good idea. Try to avoid being on the road too much.

Trains can be dirty. Bring enough wipes with you to keep your children clean.

jgg

My brother and sister-in-law travelled extensively before they had kids. Now that they have young kids, they have concentrated on cruises, as less moving around, etc. They find it a great way to travel with kids. Have done a mediterranean cruise as well as the Scandinavian one with St. Petersburg. Just another option to consider.

tondalaya

I saw several books on Amazon about this subject. Try typing in traveling with children.

5alive

My kids are ages 5, 7 and 10 and we are just now going on an international trip.

We did a warm up trip to Disneyland (which no one complained about!) last year.

We had a miserable trip to a wedding with an infant that caused me to shy away from plane trips with kids for a long time. My feeling was I made that trip for my very good friend, but I would not call that insanity a vacation.

I did have the opportunity to travel overseas once myself and saw Europe through a parenting perspective, and was glad I had gone alone.

During those years, we rented cabins or hotels by the beach,or various regional attractions. We also have had good luck with state parks and "yurts" -- which are much nicer than true camping in a tent.

If you feel the itch to get out of your own neck of the woods, I would consider going to other parts of the USA or Canada to start with. My in-laws have been traveling more and I have been reading up with them on some of their destinations -- I realized there were fascinating destinations that I had not strongly considered before.

Whatever you decide, please post back. It's always interesting to see what people decide and how it all plays out....

Pausanias

We travelled a few times out of necessity when our son was in that age bracket . . . and then put off any further international travel until he was seven or eight -- at which time we stayed with in-laws overseas. Wasn't until age nine that we took him to London on a pleasure trip. Since then he has been a great traveller -- he's now closing in on seventeen. So I disagree entirely with Julia.

My advice is, whether at home or abroad, rent houses or apartments, avoid long car or rail trips, eat at home or be prepared to bail immediately if the kid acts up in a restaurant, museum or other attraction.

Remember that this is all about you -- the kids don't care and won't remember a thing and would probably do better at Grandma's house.

If you insist on dragging them along, pity them first, then your neighbors, then yourselves.

wtm003

"If you insist on dragging them along" - give me a break. Obviously, fiesty is looking for tips that don't include leaving them with grandma.

Yes, it can be a challenge and no they won't remember a thing at their current ages, but they will enjoy the time with you and your husband.

The most difficult thing is the amount of stuff necessary for children in that age range. I always have a ziploc bag filled with medical items, Motrin, Tylenol cold, etc. I always make sure that it contains the essentials so a late night run to a drugstore in an unfamilar area won't be necessary.

I used a foldable umbrella stroller for my four year old when we were in Paris several years ago. He didn't use a stroller at home, but he was happy to be wheeled around Paris. Plus, it was convenient when he was tuckered out. We enjoyed the Louvre while he slept in the stroller.

We have traveled since my kids were infants and although it was insane at times, I don't regret it at all. They have really become great travelers and look forward to every trip we take.

djkbooks

Until our son was about 7 (and well-behaved in public), we did only car trips (when you can conveniently bring everything you could possibly need) to child-friendly, and of interest to the little one, destinations.

I cannot even imagine international/airline travels with a baby and a toddler. For one thing, little ones at that age require SO much of your attention you can hardly enjoy anything else.

For another, small children are very noisy and, I think, annoy others in many places. In museums, for example, I feel folks with screaming babies, fussy toddlers, are just being terrible inconsiderate to others. Worse is the parents' attempts to shush them. To me, it's torture for the little ones as well, who really do not care to be strapped down for hours, when they'd love to be making noise, climbing, running, touching, exploring, and otherwise enjoying themselves.

SAnParis

My daughter is now 3 1/2 & has been to Europe 3 times & once to Puerto Rico, as well as various other, shorter trips. Prep work is certainly important but the airlines we have flown on (US Air & Lufthansa) had amazingly helpful staff on all of our trips abroad. A small, portable DVD player would be a good thing to take along if you don't have your own personal video screen on the flight(s). Snacks & quiet toys are also a must. Our motto has always been the earlier you start them, the earlier they learn, & we have had little in the way of problems. Once in Europe we tend to do things based on the childs schedule (even w/time changes) to allow them to still take naps, eat etc. when they want to. I believe we have pictures of my daughter sleeping on nearly every park bench in Paris. I would also advise taking the apartment route as it gives you the space to actually relax & 'spread out' while the children may be sleeping. Doing so in a small, cramped European size hotel room can be a challenge. Our next trip will be to the Carribean in the Winter & will include (my now 7 month old)as well. This will be his first extended trip but I don't anticipate any problems. For those parents who don't expose their children to these things at an early age, well I pity them & their kids. My daughter stills talks about the merry-go-rounds in Paris & the rain forest in PR. I hope I am instilling the same love for travel & knowledge in my children, that I have...

PatrickLondon

Happily or otherwise, I don't have any personal experience of this, but have followed with interest a series of articles about travelling with children in my regular newspaper. The author's set up an internet forum for people to exchange views and tips - it might be interesting:
http://www.deabirkett.com/forum.htm

fiesty1

THanks so much for all the input...I would welcome any other ideas that you found, or learned the hard way!, that you would never leave home without. I definitely will back the umbrella stroller, thanks! I kind of chuckled, because I failed to mention that for a big chunk of the trip, we are going to visit Grandpa in Germany. But we are going to spend about a week in Spain, with the kids, (and a three days in Rome without!! Looking forward to that!) The time in Spain and the plane rides have me the most nervous. We have a mini-DVD player, and we have already put away a few favorite quite toys, to bring back out on the trip so they will be new. With all the stuff, I think we are going to look like a traveling circus! I told one friend that we should take tranquilizers, it remained to be seen if it would be for the kids or the people around us! Thanks for all the great ideas so far!

SAnParis

The umbrella stroller is a must...ours has literally been all over the world & is still going strong on baby #2. Certainly the best $20 we've ever spent.

StephCar

Fiesty1,

I have a 3.5 year old and a 20 month old. We took them to England last summer. It was my 3yr old's second international trip abroad actually, I also went when I was pg with my second child. We also do 10-16 hour road trips on a regular basis to visit family. To tell you the truth, we love travelling with our kids. I find it fun and they do too. (Well, at least the 3 year old can say he likes it, word is out on my little one.)

The challenges...the flight this summer was looong. It helped to have a good sense of humor about it. We are very considerate of other passengers, and do not like to have them inconvenience anyone, so we try to accomodate them when we can to keep the crying/screaming down. So really, there wasn't much of that, but mommy and daddy were constantly getting this or that, singing, reading, walking...it was a lot of work. Of course going over there is much easier, I think my 3 year old slept at least 75% of the flight. Coming back was harder. And then of course there was jet lag to overcome, one did great, the other took awhile. You never know.

You have a lot of good advice about what to bring. I can't emphasise the umbrella stroller enough. It is just so much easier than those big things we use at home. I imagine your 6 mos. old still fits in a Baby Bjorn. That would be necessary as well.

Also, yes, a flat of sorts is critical, if you can swing it. The laundry alone is a big thing for us.

Do you have more specific questions?

fiesty1

Great info so far- I have specific questions about: Availibility of diapers if we run out, do we pack them, or just plan on buying there? Anyone have tips to help the jet lag? What items are "must haves" for easy access, I don't mind packing majorly in checked bags, especially since we will have a "base" with my father-in-law's house where we can leave stuff we don't need for our little jaunts from there. But, I hate feeling like I have stuff strung from one end of the plane to another, and with a couple of stops, I don't want to lug it all around the airport for connections. My husband and I (Pre-children of course) would each pack a backpack for a three week trip-we like light, but I don't think that is realistic for children! So, we would like to keep the bags in flight to a minimum, but not be without something really important. The DVD player will be definitely in the in-flight bag! (My mother flew frequently from Alaska to the lower 48 with three kids, how did she do it without the miracle of portable dvd???)

StephCar

Fiesty1,

Oh I forgot to mention, we got a great double umbrella stroller. It is by Jeep. Less than $100, light and easy. If you don't want to buy one I have seen those attachments which enables you to link 2 together at Toys R Us/Geoffrey. Probably won't fit through doors with those though.

I bought diapers over in England. They were more expensive. I packed some too and replaced the extra space later with items we purchased on travels.

Re: Jet lag, I have decided all kids are different on this. My eldest, even when he was just a year had no problem. We just kept him up until normal bedtime and then put him down, he slept all night like it was nothing. My second child, who was almost the same age on his first trip did not do so well. It took about 5 days of early wakeups before he was adjusted. And we did the same thing. Nature took over nurture, again.

Must haves on the plane--food! And lots of it. Their favorites, special treats, whatever works. A change of clothes for them, and for you too. Not a full outfit, but on both flights I had milk spilled all over me and was glad I had a clean shirt on hand. Also little toys that are new. Oh, trash bags! I know this is weird, but for diapers, trash, food etc. I kept whipping them out to clean up messes and whatnot and handing them to flight attendants. Like you, I don't like to leave my stuff all over the place. On that note you can never have enough wipes. I used a whole pack. Books! My kids had a ton of them, but the little ones that didn't take up much room. (This means you have to read to them though, over, and over again, LOL.) I actually did not bring a portable DVD, they had movies on our plane (played Madagascar even, and cartoons). The 3 year old watched some, the 20 month old does not watch TV yet really. He is too active, unfortunately.

You can still pack light if you have access to laundry facilities. I do recommend packing for a range of climates--short sleeves for layering and coats, sweatshirts, jeans...just a variety. You will need that since Spain is on your list too, followed by Germany. (You probably already thought of this, sorry, I type faster than I think.)

Hope that helps. It really is fun. The sense of humor is a big thing. Our motto is that which does not kill you makes you stronger.

When you get there, as you undoubtably know, you will move at a much slower pace. But you are probably already used to that with 2. You can still do fun things, but we just aimed for 1-2 activities daily, which were organized in between nap times.

SAnParis

We took enough diapers/wipes, etc. to give us ample time to find a place to purchase said items then bought wherever we found a place. We carried everything on, 2 roll-alongs, a diaper bag & gate checked the stroller. Not sure we'll be able to pull that off w/2 though. Another reason why an Apt. (& the ability to do laundry if need be) is most helpful. My daughter will eat most anything & was actually still breast-feeding the first trip, so food has never been an issue. Although while in Germany, nearly everything she ate was considered a 'hot dog'. BTW, on the return trip one of those times, she was wearing the last diaper when she got off the plane...lol

kakalena

When I was in Italy recently I was thinking about how difficult it would be to navigate around Florence with an umbrella stroller (I can't even imagine a double-wide one). It's interesting to me that so many here have traveled so easily with them. Some sidewalks are so narrow that they require single file passage and buses with rear view mirrors go zooming by close enough to thump you in the head. There are so many cobblestone streets that I would think it would vibrate the poor kid's bones. It seems that handicapped accessibility has not been as well addressed in Europe as it is in the States. Venice is prime example of that.

It sounds like you will go to Germany Grandparent central and then only have to contend with traveling in Spain for one week with the kids. Correct?

I can imagine that toddlers and younger children might enjoy running in the parks of some cities (maybe the a stroll along the Ramblas in Barcelona if it's not too crowded ) in good weather. You'll probably be able to muddle through this bit of the trip but I can't imagine it will be much fun for the kids.

Could Grandma and Grandpa keep them in Germany while you did a little exploring of Spain (and Rome)on your own?

All the best for your trip!

StephCar

Oh I forgot I posted a thread a few years ago on this topic, the title was Travel with a 1 year old: Tips and Tricks. I don't have the link, but it is under my old screen name which is SRC51102. (Which I only changed b/c it wasn't user friendly and I kept forgeting it!) I got lots of good idea from it and posted a return trip reply on how it went. Seems so long ago...plus, one child is MUCH easier than 2!

amcc

In May, we took our 2.5 y.o. to Spain to visit family in Madrid. It was fun, in a completely different way than our previous travels. We enjoyed a looong walk along Paseo de la Castellana letting him play on all the playgrounds and in, on, and around all the fountains and benches. We probably would never have done this walk without him and it was beautiful. He loved little things, like a bull's head in a bar at La Plaza Mayor that he couldn't stop talking about. But, our trip was necessarily slower, less full of the usual tourist things we do. If you don't have too many expectations of places to go, things to see, you will probably have a great time with the kids. Flexibility becomes key with them.

I guess basically I'm saying that it will be fun if you sort of take it in stride - kid's stride. We didn't make it to a museum this time, for example, to my dismay. We bought pampers at a pharmacy, not a problem, not too much more expensive.

Now, he never got over his jet lag (in a week), so he was bouncing off walls (and ceilings, and sofas) at odd hours, and he barely ate, maybe a croqueta here or there. So whomever said that jet lag affects kids in all different ways is totally correct.

Try gift wrapping some of the little toys for the plane as that keeps them busy for a bit and they love it. Stickers were also a hit.