Traveling with Children

I like to say that traveling with children is like living your life somewhere else without all of your conveniences.

I remember very distinctly how most people thought it was pointless to take my first to Europe at 7 months old. “He’s too young to remember!”, “You’re going to be miserable!”, “What’s the point?”….

The point was that I love traveling and being with my child. Most importantly, I wanted my child to love traveling. Of course, he wouldn’t remember sticking his toes in the ocean in the south of France or being schlepped up 6 flights of stairs in a baby carrier while I also wrestled a suitcase. He won’t remember playing peek-a-boo on the entire car ride from Paris to Lyon or refusing all pre-made baby food, trying foie gras, and eating his first croissant.

But those experiences and that trip are the beginning of the foundation for his love of adventure and travel. Equally important is my memory because those moments are something I cherish so deeply.

Traveling is a skill, that needs to be practiced. The earlier you get children traveling the better they get at it. If being on a plane is something that a child does with some frequency it becomes just another part of their life, not something scary and unknown that causes lots of behaviors. My eldest now seven years old has a well-established airplane routine, and despite the pandemic putting a halt to our travels for over a year when it did come time to take our first trip he still knew what to do, what to pack, and proper plane etiquette.

Vacationing with children won’t be like the vacations of your past, and that’s OKAY, setting those expectations before you leave can be really helpful for your mindset, and also planning some kid-free vacations to look forward to help.

One of my biggest tips is to bring help or hire help! Bringing along a nanny or hiring a babysitter at your destination can make all the difference in the world. It will free you up to go out to explore while your child naps or has some midday downtime. Allows you to go out to dinner after bedtime.

In November of last year after being grounded for over a year due to Covid we packed up the three smallest (6 years old, and 11-month-olds), as well as my teenage sister and our amazing nanny, and went back to our favorite spot, Sayulita Mexico. We were also traveling with my best friend, her family and my parents also joined. We had ten of us staying on one Airbnb. It was utter chaos in the best sense of the word.

it wasn’t my first rodeo traveling with infants, or even twins. I knew what to pack and how to pack to make it manageable. We had enough hands to keep the twins occupied on the flight. Though I was starting the weaning process and there just wasn’t enough milk from the tap to keep the boys sufficiently happy (we had bottles, but they wanted to comfort nurse).

It was a major trip with many moving parts, but we knew that by taking that first trip we were working towards making future trips more routine and enjoyable.

Recently we went back to Sayulita right between our oldest 7th birthday and the twin’s 2nd. We went with my mother and took our amazing high school babysitter with us. We fine-tuned our packing list and made each kid their own activity bag for the plane and plenty of snacks. It wasn’t perfect, but we arrived in one piece, and for whatever trouble getting to our destination caused, it was well worth it.

The twins were at the perfect age to take an interest in swimming, they loved running from the ocean waves. Daily trips for ice cream, and running around the main plaza. We introduced them to our favorite Chocobanana drink, and fish tacos. They were delighted with every new experience, and we were enchanted to watch them.

During nap time we would take our oldest out for mini-adventures, or trips down to the pool and beach where we could devote our attention to him fully. When bedtime came around we could go out together and know that our boys were well cared for by someone we know and trusted.

It was a perfect trip. We relaxed, and enjoyed some much-needed time together as a family after an insanely busy year.