6 Myths About Travelling With Toddlers
Before The Architect and I had kids we loved to travel! Once they arrived we were keen to keep it up but didn’t know how it would go. We’ve now down two overseas trips with the kids – the first was a 3 week trip around Vietnam when Bliss was 18months old and the second just recently taking Bliss, almost 4 and Bear, 16 months to Malaysia and Bali. We’ve loved our experiences thus far but often get met with strong apprehension when we talk about it so today I want to dispel the top 6 myths I hear about travel with toddlers…
1. Travelling with kids is really hard work.
It doesn’t have to be promise. But, it’s really a mindset issue. If you go into the holiday thinking you’re going to do and see amazing things and the kids will figure themselves out then, depending on the ages of your children, it’s going to be frustrating and seem like very hard work. If you go into it thinking that it will be a totally different type of holiday, willing to see things a little more like my husband did when we went to Vietnam declaring “parenting is not for holidays” and bribing Bliss with M&Ms, then you’ll be fine! ;)
Oh, and if they are tired enough kids will really sleep anywhere…
2. You won’t get to see everything you want to see.
In some ways this is true, travel with toddlers won’t be the same as without. But, traveling with a partner is different to traveling by yourself, traveling with friends is different to traveling with family and each scenario requires a different level and type of compromise. The expectations you have of a trip differ according to the purpose of it and who you are going with – it’s no different with toddlers. As you’ve seen from the pic above, kids can sleep pretty much anywhere – having them with you doesn’t mean you have to go back to the hotel whenever they need a sleep. You need to do it sometimes but not all the time.
When we traveled through Vietnam we met a lovely Irish couple during our first week and had a great time hanging out with them. We re-met up with them by chance at the end of our trip in a totally different city and they told us that along the way they had met people who had seen us and would say “He we saw this Aussie couple with a kid – the dad’s carrying her around on his back!” and they would say “Oh yeah, we met them!!”
It cuts both ways as much as we would have done other things had we not had Bliss with us we also met people and saw things we never would have seen had we gone without her!
3. It’ll cost a fortune.
It doesn’t have to. For us Aussies, travelling to Asia is pretty comparable to travelling around Australia. On our Vietnam trip we stayed in $10/night hotel rooms and $100/night resorts. What sparked the trip in the first place was that we were planning to put in heating that year as our house was just so ridiculously cold. Then we realised that for only a little bit more, we could go to Vietnam! We spent that winter sleeping on a mattress in the living room with Bliss beside us and spent the money on the holiday. Such a great decision!
4. There’s no point if they won’t remember it.
There are a couple of things I’d like to say about this. Firstly, since when did everything become about the kids? So they won’t remember it. So what?! If travel is something you want to have as part of your family life then they may not remember each trip but they will have an evolving member of doing cool stuff with their parents (not to mention some great photos to look back on!) Secondly, they may not have a true memory of it but you can bet that their other senses will be in overdrive and that being exposed to new sounds, smells, tastes, people will be great for them. If you don’t believe me, have a read of what an expert told us.
5. Travel is something you get out of the way before you have kids.
We’re big believers that life doesn’t have to stop when kids arrive. We’ve taken our kids to cafes and restaurants since they were born. We’ve slogged out months and months of teaching them how to behave in those environments, ready to give up but holding on knowing that if we don’t go, they won’t learn and then we won’t be able to go. Same with travelling. After leaving uni I went overseas every year until we had Bliss. It was amazing. The Architect also did a lot of travel and we both knew it was something we wanted to keep up. Going overseas doesn’t have to be about what the kids will enjoy or remember, but about the kind of life you want to live and the kind of family you want to have.
6. Home is where the heart is.
It’s true that as long as you are with the people you love, you can be anywhere. It’s also true that it’s really very nice to come home. We’ve found that 3 weeks is about the time our kids start to get a bit ratty and a bit more sensitive. Our kids are little and they miss their toys, and friends and the familiar. And that’s more than OK with us. We love our trips with the kids, but we really love coming home too.
Do you travel with your kids? Would you?
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Mummble
Stitch Baby + Kids
We’re heading off on our 2nd overseas trip with the kids who will be nearly 5 and 7. They still remember their first trip which was 18 months ago. It’s not easy, but we found the children were a great conversation starter and people were generally more accommodating when they saw us with littlies!
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That’s so great Steph!! Encouraging to know that they remember their first trip too! Bliss doesn’t remember Vietnam at all but enjoys seeing the photos. I think she’s got a better chance of remembering this last trip we did. Hope you have a great time on your trip, where are you going?
We’re heading off to Italy and France with an extended stay in the UK and Ireland. We’re staying in self-contained apartments most of the time, so we have our own space, and will be meeting up with familiar faces (my immediate and extended family) It is a bit slower, but there will be a mix of activities and sites for everyone to enjoy :)
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Wow! That sounds amazing! Hope you have a wonderful time!
My husband and I have taken our kids (now 4 and 6) on multiple trips around Australia and two trips overseas. While it was a little difficult for us to cope with not being able to see or do everything we wanted to (we LOVE action-packed holidays, LOL), I’m glad that we have made all of these trips with them. We found that the key to travelling with little ones was organisation (such as remembering to order kids’ meals for the flights) and flexibility. And while they may not remember much of their really early trips, they have still had fun on each trip and love to look through our holiday photos.
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Absolutely! How wonderful! I am hoping we can do an Aus trip soon – we do a lot of to and fro between Sydney and Melbourne but it would be great to get into some more of Australia for the kids. It’s such a beautiful country!!
before we had kids, me and hubs went on a South Australia tour (freebie given to us as travel agents).
We loved Kangaroo Island for the seals, the honey and eucalyptus farm, the pelican feeding and ferry ride across. If you go to McLaren Vale, the McLaren Vale Motel & Apartments is awesome. The family that run it are so lovely. I was sick and they gave me some lemsip sachets to take with me when I left. The fibre optic mood lighting in the bathrooms is awesome and sure to be a hit with the kids.
We also went to Coober Peedy which was all kinds of strange. We stayed in the underground hotel, which was cool. Opal mining was fun but the 13 hour outback mail tour would be a bit much for kids I would think (was a bit much for me to be honest). But interesting, that’s for sure.
We actually moved to Australia for the purpose of travelling, but having kids changed things. I loved taking Millar up to Bright to show him the snow for the first time. I can’t wait to get back and show Xanthe the snow.
I could talk about travel forever – that’s why I was a travel agent. Hated that job though – but that’s another story.
Toushka Lee recently posted..Happy Waitangi Day, Kiwis
WOW – Kangaroo Island sounds amazing!!
We haven’t travelled with ours, but that has been lack of energy on my part, rather than anything particularly kid related. Plus, their tendency to run into traffic and meltdown made things hard for a few years. Isaac will now walk with us and Amy is practically an adult herself (I do not PLAY, Mother)(really, she said that) so a holiday is no doubt in our future. Maybe.
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That would be very fun! Traffic? Not so much!
We are passionate believers in travelling with children as well, hence how our blog began. We’ve trekked across Spain and backpacked for 8 months with our daugther. You are right it is a different kind of travel but we found people opened their hearts to us and we experienced an incredible level of hospitality that we know otherwise wouldn’t have happened.
We are planning to go travelling again as soon as bubs #2 makes his entrance.
Oh that’s wonderful! Looking forward to reading about your adventures – I completely agree, you receive a different level of welcome when there’s a little person in tow, especially in non-western countries I think.
Yes we love travelling with the kids – I want them to experience things and see things. One of the reasons we have put them in public school so we can afford trips! We haven’t been overseas since Hunter was 18 months (he is now 5), so Savannah hasn’t been overseas yet – but we are planing on going to Thailand this year. We have had lots of trips within Australia though – and try for at least one proper one each year.
I was thinking after I wrote this that there’s a whole post (probably much more) in travel in Australia. Travel is different to a holiday but Australia is such a vast, magnificent country I think it’s great when kids can explore their own home and not just see the rest of the world as “the exotic”. x
Oh absolutely! While my kids think it’s exciting to travel overseas, travelling around Australia is just as fascinating to them. And I managed to write five short blog posts about a 10 day trip we took to Alice Springs and Uluru in 2010, so there’s definitely lots to write about Australia!
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Wow 5 posts! Go you!! I had such an amazing time when I went to Alice Springs and Uluru – such a beautiful part of the world!
We were travelling when we had kids, technically. So there have been the obligatory trips back home to NZ. We took Millar to Samoa when he was ten months old and now we are in India with both kids. There are challenges, sure, but it’s like anything in life, you can’t expect it to be the same as when you are single. One of my favourite parts of being a parent is seeing the world through their eyes, so travelling is different but in a lot of ways, even better.
When I travelled through Europe alone, I spent a lot of time sleeping off a hangover. That is certainly not what I do these days… well, not everyday anyway.
As a single independent traveller, the only time I got up before 6am was to catch a flight. Now I get to see the sunrise every day. We are off doing things early and I may actually get to do more with kids than I would have without.
Good post – are you planning your next trip already?
Toushka Lee recently posted..Happy Waitangi Day, Kiwis
coincidentally, I have a guest post about travelling with kids happening on tina gray.me soon (I think it may even be tomorrow). My tips may contradict everything I’ve said above. But it’s mostly in jest.
Toushka Lee recently posted..Happy Waitangi Day, Kiwis
I will check it out!
So true – we see so much more at the other end of the day now too! We have a couple of things planned, the main one being a trip to South Africa next year for a family reunion. Exciting! Hoping it all comes together :)
Also (wow, I’m totally hijacking your post! It’s like I don’t have my own blog) anyway – also, it’s fantastic for kids geography skills. Millar has the leapfrog tag map thingy and a few other map related toys. Because we travel, we have shown him where we are, where we were and where we’re from. It has taught him that much and made him interested in the rest.
He can locate all 7 continents. I couldn’t even do that in my teens. I didn’t leave NZ until I was 18 but spent many family trips around NZ. My NZ geography is awesome.
Millar’s world geography is pretty awesome – especially for a nearly 4 year old.
Toushka Lee recently posted..Happy Waitangi Day, Kiwis
Thanks for the tips on the apps – definitely check them out!
I will disagree with you on one thing. Not every child will sleep anywhere. My son definitely wouldn’t. Ad young as 10 months, he wouldn’t sleep anywhere except his bed or the car. His sister was no better really. That can make travel wearing for both toddler and parent! The rest I agree with, tho travel in Europe can be quite expensive but airbnb and 9flats can make things a lot cheaper.
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Oh dear…that’s no fun. At all!!!
Ooh this is great, and so inspiring! We are thinking of taking our girls travelling, nice to know it can be done! xx
It sure can!! We are taking the kids to New York for 3 weeks in June – can’t wait! Where are you thinking of going?
We’re planning a six month trip in the second half of next year to SE Asia and UK/Europe and possibly some places in between. L will be 6 and E will turn 3 half way through the trip. It’s daunting but so exciting too! Hopefully the fact we will see family at different points (a wedding at the start in Thailand and family in the UK for Christmas) will help the kids with the missing home aspect.
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