Have you travelled with kids and lived to tell the tale? Share your tips with Essential Baby members!
After three long haul trips with kids – at 8 weeks old, 12 months old and most recently with a 6-month-old and a 2-and-a-half year old, we have picked up some great travel tips along the way.
It’s not easy travelling with kids, especially if you have expectations of your trip being like the old days backpacking around Europe! You need to manage expectations and enjoy their experience on the holiday, as much as your own. Be flexible, adapt your routines and go with the flow.
Here are ten fantastic products that have made our trip smoother every time.
1. Packing cubes
They not only revolutionise packing and unpacking, they make living out of a suitcase easy and tidy, seriously!
We have always travelled with packing cubes, our clothing cubes are colour coded ribbons. We had two each for the adults and one for each child, one for electricals (chargers, spare video tapes and memory cards for the camera, hair straightener, adapters, powerboards etc). We also had one for toys and books, another for the food basics we decided to take with us and another for swimming and outdoor gear (swimmers, swimming nappies, hats, sunscreen, goggles, sunglasses, floaties).
We also took one for the plane, which we then used under the pram – with nappies, wipes, creams, spare undies for toddler and spare clothes for both kids, nappy sacks etc. We now actually use a packing cube under our pram all the time.
Packing our luggage was like a game of tetris!
2. Powerboards
Yes, you read right, powerboards made the top 10 list. It is definitely worth carrying a couple of 4 socket powerboards along with you. They obviously make your travel adapters go that much further. These days there are so many things that need to be hooked up to power each day - phone, video camera, still camera, portable DVD player, hair dryer/straightener and MP3 player.
Take a couple of them so that you can keep one somewhere you can access when the kids are asleep (if you’re sharing a hotel room you can keep one in the entrance or bathroom).
3. Portable highchair
On our first few trips with just one child, we struggled at restaurants and even in our hotel room with a solution for a highchair. Most of the time we ended up holding our son during meals. This was possibly one of the most frustrating things for us and him.
Before our most recent trip, we came across a fantastic portable highchair (the one we have is the Metoo, made by Phil & Teds) to take with us which clamps on to most tables (and other surfaces if you’re creative). So when travelling we didn’t have to rely on places having a highchair, and we could also use it in hotel rooms, on outdoor picnic tables and even on the plane.
We also used it as an alternative to our then 6-month-old playing on the floor as it gave him a new place to play with a new perspective and great view! Our 2.5 year old also used it a few times instead of kneeling on his chair during mealtimes. And it is small enough to carry under a pram.
4. Portable DVD player
We are pretty conscious of how much TV our kids watch, but sometimes you just have to give in to it. It gives you and them some much needed quiet time during long flights, long car trips and long waits.
Not all flights offer individual on demand TV screens. Even if you do get your own screens you can’t guarantee that your kids will enjoy the shows on offer. Bring along a range of favourite DVDs. It also comes in handy if you want to head to a restaurant for a nice, longer meal.
Just make sure you get a DVD player with a battery life of at least 3 hours.
5. Favourite music CDs
Bring a few music CDs that you know your kids love, or load them onto an MP3 player or smartphone. They’ll especially come in handy if you are doing some driving. Many hotel rooms now have DVD players, so you could probably play them through the TV for some in-room entertainment.
6. Portacot
If you’re staying at hotels, more than likely they will have cots available for you to use – make sure you confirm before you arrive. Alternatively, if you happen to know people at your destination, you can ask around to see whether you can borrow a cot during your stay. But don’t forget that different countries have different standards for cots that may not be as stringent as Australian Standards.
So, depending on the age of your baby, the length of your stay, and information you might have from others, you may want to take your own portacot. Another benefit with taking your own is that it gives baby some comfort and consistency (you can get them used to it a few days before you head off).
As you all know, most portacots are pretty cumbersome, but we discovered the lightest full size portacot available (weighs less than the baby) made by Phil & Teds. If you happen to have two kids who are still in a cot then this is a fantastic option for you, rather than fast tracking them to a bed on holidays.
7. Backpack carrier
If you have the room (don’t forget that generally kids under two get around 10kg luggage allowance) a backpack carrier is a great way to get around with kids – they love sitting up high!
It’s also a good idea where it’s hard to get around with a pram (think, narrow European cobblestone footpaths or Bangkok markets), or if you have two kids and a single pram. Again, they love love love it up there, and the carriers often come with sunshades, raincovers, rearview mirrors and compartments to carry stuff.
8. Home comforts
Make sure you take the items you really rely on (and that your kids rely on). Things like sleeping bags and sleep comfort items, favourite toys, favourite books, drink bottles / sipper cups, storage containers.
9. Usual cereal and snacks
Make some room for some basic food that you know you rely on when you’re at home (especially if it’s unlikely you’ll find it where you’re going). I’m all for absorbing new culture and cuisine, but this doesn’t necessarily apply to the kids all the time – they love some familiarity and continuity.
Our kids have Weetbix each morning, so we took enough for almost every morning (they still tried other stuff but we could always default back to it). We also took some cruskets, sultanas and pretzels and other small snacks to tide us over for the first couple of days. It also leaves a nice surprise at the end of the trip – with all the food eaten up, you have extra room in your bags for shopping!
10. Reusable shopping bags
We took a couple of super-compact reusable shopping bags with us – the ones that compress to be small enough to hang on a keyring. We always kept them on us for any extra shopping, to take down to the beach (one for dry stuff, one for wet stuff), and to give our toddler so that he could feel like a big boy carrying his own stuff.
Authors Anthony and Ronit own Adventure Megastore, Sydney’s largest adventure, travel and camping store (505 Kent Street, Sydney). They have 2 boys aged 1 and 3, who are already quite well travelled. They endeavour to encourage more parents to be adventurous with their kids - whether it's a weekend picnic or bushwalk, a domestic or international trip, and night or 2 camping, or just a stroll to the local park.
Do you have any great travel tips, or questions for Anthony & Ronit? Head to our Family Travel forum.
