Traveling with young children

Deciding how slow to go would be difficult with a young child, much less two children.
When we had our daughter, we put international travel on the backburner for a few years. When we started traveling again, my parents kept her when we left the country. She began traveling with us at age 11.
I'd hate to think how much "stuff" would be required to be hauled with two kids.

We took our 2 kids (ages 7 and 2) to France this summer for 22 days. Our pace at the beginning was fast- we landed in Paris and went straight to Giverny for 1 night, Bayeux for 4 nights, Mont St. Michel for 2 nights, Nantes for 2 nights- and by the time we reached our next stop in Amboise, we were ready to just spend a day recuperating and doing nothing. Unfortunately, given the nature of the places that we wanted to check out and the route that we designed, it was inevitable that we had a number of shorter stops strung together at first. We tried to balance this out by having longer stops for the remainder of our trip (4 nights in Amboise and 7 nights in the Dordogne). We really enjoyed the slower pace at the end.

I am in the beginning stages of planning our next trip for 2020 and my strategy for building our itinerary has been to look up places that we might want to see, make a list, map them out to see if we can make a coherent route with manageable driving times between stops (I should mention that we leased a car for our last trip, and plan to do the same for the next trip), look up what we want to see in each place and from there figure out how much time we would need in each place. Having learned something from our last trip, I am going to try to make sure we have longer stops (of at least 3 nights), and if there are places that merit no more than a 1 or 2 night stay, that we would make the next stop at least 3 nights.

Happy planning!

We've been taking our children abroad since they were babies. We've generally stay in one location simply because I hate unpacking, packing and moving about (the only exception is overnight hotel stays at airports or nearby prior to flights).

Sometimes we have split two weeks into two separate stays (Park City/Yellowstone, San Francisco/Three Rivers, Miami/West Palm Beach or Hilton Head/Orlando) and that's my tolerance for moving around. In Europe we stay in one place but that's primarily because we're on a beach/pool holiday or we're on a long weekend city break.

Our kids have never liked long travelling times (what kids do!) so once we arrive somewhere we tend to settle there and take day trips or spend the duration there. The beauty of being in Europe means that we don't need to try and see everything in a short time so our trips are limited to one city at a time before returning home.

We've left the kids at home once before when we went to Florence. I didn't enjoy leaving them behind, it felt selfish and I knew for certain that our eldest would have really enjoyed it and it felt like we were dumping them on my parents even though it was only for a weekend so leaving them at home is not an option for us.

I'd stick to as little travelling about as possible. This isn't going to be a trip where you'll be cramming in as many sights as you can, you have young children now who aren't going to be interested in doing that so for the next few years it's going to be more about playing and being near/in water. Priorities change once children come along, our city sightseeing trips were mainly put on hold for a number of years until our children reached the age where they would enjoy and appreciate them other than those times when we've gone away separately with friends and the other has stayed at home with the kids. An early trip to Rome concentrated more on activities in Villa Borghese or the kids science museum or the crypts rather than the big sights of The Pantheon or The Colosseum or a trip to New York when our youngest was three and more time was spent at the zoo or Central Park.

We’ve traveled all over the world with our kids since birth. In Europe for our summer, fall and spring vacations, we typically spend a week in one place. Summer break is typically two weeks so we pick two destinations. We always rent a house or an apartment so we can prepare our own food. You really don’t need that much extra stuff with kids. As a result of our lifestyle, my kids are so open to the world and really cool people.

In March we took our two grandchildren to Italy for 2 weeks (and their parents, too!). Ages 5 months and 3-almost-4 years.

We took a mountain of stuff (some of which I thought was unnecessary. e.g. a folding stepstool) including 2 carseats, a stroller, a baby front-pack, a travel cot (with sheets), the 3-year-old's pillow and blanket, and all the baby's disposable diapers. It did take all four adults to carry all of this. However, we had a wonderful time and are glad we did it!

We stayed in two places (airbnb apartments in Puglia) for 6 nights each and then 2 nights in Rome before the flight home. We had to rent a 9-passenger van, but you won't have to do that. We did day trips of no more than a hour's drive away almost every day, which was actually fine because the 3-year-old needed naps but could only nap in the car. We pretty much only did one or two things every day. We went to no museums, art galleries, or churches, except for a train museum. We did a cooking lesson at a farm, but our grandson was free to run around with me and look at the cows, chickens, dogs, etc. We didn't do anything (such as a tour or a boat trip or a concert) that would not allow us to escape easily if necessary.

The kids were absolutely great in restaurants, although our son and daughter-in-law were nervous the entire time that they wouldn't be. Pretty much everything we did was planned around the kids except for one ceramics shop (which made all of us nervous, but again, was fine). We walked around the historic centers of towns, looked at boats and the little Italian trucks called Ape, threw pebbles into the water at a pebble beach, visited farmers markets, ate gelato, ran around in every piazza, etc. Our grandson was enchanted by all the things that were not like home, such as hanging up the laundry outdoors and seeing how different toilets got flushed and all the pedestrian-only streets.

My guess is that our grandson (the 3-year-old) would have been fine with 4 nights in one place. He did have trouble sleeping the whole two weeks, but he has trouble sleeping at his own house. I could not tell if either child had jet-lag during the day, but I've heard that kids do have it for a couple of days and are awake at night.

In general, I would say that what was hard for the kids (especially our grandson, the older kid) was not moving too fast but moving too slow --- that is, all the times when they were stuck in airport lines, waiting for trains, waiting at the car rental place, waiting while the adults got Italian SIM cards for our phones, waiting while the adults packed and unpacked, etc etc. Travel involves a lot of standing around! Of course, we had ways of keeping the kids occupied and not too cooped-up, but still, anything you can do to minimize such times will help.

I should mention that, unlike our two sons (who we traveled with a lot), our grandson is not real patient or self-entertaining, so your baby and toddler might be different. Our granddaughter, now exactly one year old, is both patient and self-entertaining, but also really needs to run around and explore and do active things, so I imagine that a trip with her now would be a whole 'nother adventure!

Our son and daughter-in-law were definitely surprised that the kids turned out to be such good travelers and could be so flexible about their daily routines, especially napping. You never know until you try it! A lot of pre-trip strategizing went into this trip we took, so I'm glad that you are planning your own trip now and thinking it through --- it will really pay off.

Don't have kids so haven't traveled with them. But this caught my eye...

We are thinking we will mostly stay in places for longer periods of time and do day trips

Much of Croatia is done best by car - there are ferries (note that ferry schedules are highly seasonal, check schedules carefully if the ferry you need actually runs outside of high season) and some bus but not as much easy public transportation as one might expect. Also, much of Croatia is tough to do as a day trip from some central base - specifically most islands are hard to really enjoy unless you spend a night or more on the island itself.

What time of year are you planning to go? Seasonality makes a big difference here.

We have traveled when our youngest was 10 months, then when she was 22 months, then a year after that. Our oldest was 7 when we started. We carried her around in an Osprey Poco plus backpack. It was large enough for her to move around and nap in. She loved it. We did not have to worry about steps or curbs. We did discover that it was best to see the important sites first thing in the morning when it opened, we would not wake the baby, just put her in the backpack. We averaged four sites a day. We stayed centrally so we could go back and nap at midday. We stopped by a park or piazza so the kids could play and run around. Gelato was always a bribe to calm them down. They did not know we were going to get it anyway! For each site, one of us would be designated to take the kids outside if they became noisy or a problem.

Italy, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland where we visited loved kids. In Italy, normally someone would come out from restaurants and feed our 10 month old daughter. We had more interactions with locals because of the kids.

We travelled by train. It someone needs a diaper change, no need to pull over, just do it. No need for potty breaks, rental cars, parking, ZTL just sit back and pay attention to the kids!

We normally take two week trips. I have discovered that everyone does better with two rest days about every five days.

We start learning the local language as soon as we decide to go. We make our oldest order a meal in the local language. We also start cooking local dishes so they can get an idea of the food they will encounter.

Taking the kids has been a great experience.

You will enjoy it.

Hi Jesse,

We've taken several trips to Europe with our kids and one when they were 23 months and 9 months. We found the following helpful for our destinations to Germany, Austria and France: car, double stroller with rubber tires, baby carriers, car seats (also took on plane for 23 month old), minimum three night stays, apartments with washing machine, accommodation near a park. We brought, but found we didn't need, a play pen for sleeping.

We planned travel to our next destination during nap times and avoided relocations longer than 4 hours. Also, for the first few nights of jet lag, we found it helpful to have an extra space where one parent could be with one or both of the early risers so the others could sleep. And of course, tons of wipes, tide to go and snacks.

Certainly all travellers and destinations are different-this is just what worked for us. On the next trip to Italy (3 and 4 years old), the stroller was a bit of a hassle, especially in Venice, but it was wonderful on the previous trip.

I hope you have a great trip!

Thank you for the replies - it is great to hear so many people have had positive experiences. Sounds like a lot of people try to stay in once place for a long time (1-2 weeks). We typically travel light and have been able to try that style with domestic travel.

To Davids question:

Also, much of Croatia is tough to do as a day trip from some central base - specifically most islands are hard to really enjoy unless you spend a night or more on the island itself. What time of year are you planning to go? Seasonality makes a big difference here.

This is exactly why I am asking. My sense is that we would have to move through Croatia faster due to less ability to do day trips. Planning to go mid to late September (open to feedback on that, we are flexible). But I am trying to get a sense of how we will fare if we have a few 3 days stops in our trip. In Italy, we are planning to spend longer periods of time in a central location (likely Florence and Tuscany). We have flexibility in length of time for our trip, but likely 3 weeks.

Still interested to hear the experience of others, particularly on how a shorter (2-3) night stay was tolerated when mixed with longer stays.

csu15269 - this is helpful! Can I ask, what were your itineraries like (how long in each location)? What does "rest" usually look like for your family?

Lara - I really appreciate the detailed information. When it comes time to decide on stroller vs carrier, I will probably reach out to you again for thoughts.

We always park ourselves in Croatia for a week and do day trips - with kids. Do it every year for years! Croatia is the perfect place to make a week long base. Our favorite is to rent a villa in the center of Istria. Still haven’t run out of things to do after many week long visits. We also loved our long stay on the island of Brac.

I am very well travelled and my wife is not. My first trip was to show my wife Switzerland, Rome and Venice. The second trip was to see Switzerland, Castles, and the Rhine River. The third was to make my wife happy (Sound of Music Fanatic) and see Hallstatt. Each trip had scenery and different cities.

First trip, flew into Milan, spent the night, next day took a train to Montreux Switzerland to pick up the Golden Pass train to Interlaken, where we spent three nights in Gimmelwald, one was a rest day. When we left, we went straight to Rome for four days, then finished in Venice for four days before returning to Milan for the flight home. Kids 10 months and seven years. Mountains in Switzerland were covered in clouds and my seven year old wanted to come back.

Second trip, flew into Frankfurt, went straight to Bacharach for three days then a long travel day all the way to Wengen Switzerland and stayed into an apartment. We spent a week here. Took a train to Fussen, spent two days, Neuschwanstein one day and rest day the other. Train straight to Munich for three days, with one day trip to Heren Chiemsee then flight home.

Third Trip, flew into Vienna, three days, train to Hallstatt, spent seven nights, train to Salzburg for four days, then returned to Vienna for flight home.

Rest days for us is sleeping in. Doing laundry. Picking up momentos. Shopping for groceries. Going to parks and playgrounds for the kids. My wife and kids do best with rest every five days. I try to plan a long busy day after a rest day.

We took our (then) 2 year old to Ireland in 2017, and moved around frequently. We were there for a wedding and rented a car. My in-laws traveled with us as well. The longest we stayed in any destination was 3 nights, and we also had a few 1 and 2 night stays. Moving around wasn’t too bad, then again it was only with one child. My son slept for about 20 minutes of the 9 hour flight, but on the plus side he adjusted to the time change quickly. We brought a car seat (our lighter back up one), an ultra light travel bed, and a hiking backpack. The airlines were great about letting us gate check the hiking backpack. I was so glad that we didn’t bring a stroller because the hiking backpack was so much easier, especially for walking through the airport. My husband and I packed light which helped offset all the kid gear. Good luck with your trip and feel free to ask if you have any questions!

It can be done, but you have to think about how much they are actually going to get out of the trip, vs how much you are going to have to sacrifice in terms of things you would want to see and do but will have to give up doing because of having them with you, the aggravation of all the extra stuff you will have to be carrying, and the extra cost to bring them along. Seems a pity to spend what it costs to bring a kid on a European trip they may not even remember later, let alone fully appreciate while they’re on it. Better to leave them with grandparents or set aside international travel til they’re older.

We took 'em...traveled far and wide. We often stayed for only a night or two in some locations, so what? All good for us, they have very positive memories and travel widely as adults to see more of the world. Decide what's right for you and your family.