Tag Archives: flying internationally with a toddler

Travelling overseas with a toddler (Part 2)

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A lot of parents and hopeful parents ask how Amy went on our travels, because man, did we do a lot of travel. I thought I’d follow-up on a post I did back in February and share some thoughts and encouragements.

Trip Disclaimer: let’s be clear, our trip wasn’t a two-week holiday. It lasted seven months, crossed five countries and included many, many flights and lots of accommodation changes. We certainly learned a lot early on, although we are far from experts. Hopefully someone finds this useful.

1. You can do it too. Don’t let anyone tell you that there is no travel after kids. Admittedly, we were only travelling with one so the adults were in the majority, but if anyone asks me, I say DO IT! P1020790P1030099 P1040349 P1040878P1050532AAA - P1060649 2. You need to change your expectations. When Tim and I travelled to the US the first time, we arrived in New York after 31 hours of travel, dumped our bags and walked back out the door at 1am. Haha, oh that makes me laugh now that we have Amy. The reality is that with a two-year old who has day-time sleeps, you just can’t do as much. You have to think about your days a lot more and allow for down time. Yes, you will see amazing things, but instead of seeing that war museum or Broadway show, you’re more likely to go to the zoo or play in a park. AAA - P1050913P1060043 3. Children open and close doors. This relates to number two, but in a slightly different way. Obviously, travelling with a little one means that there are restaurants you can’t go to and tourist attractions you won’t see. However, travelling with Amy gave us amazing opportunities to connect with people we never would have. Because of her blonde hair and blue eyes, I don’t remember a day when we didn’t have a stranger come up to say hi or take a photo. We did have complete strangers touch her all the time and on a few occasions pick her up. Sometimes I was ok with it and sometimes I really wasn’t, as was Amy. Follow your instincts and don’t feel bad about being that paranoid westerner. Honestly though, having children allows you to connect with a culture on a different level. For us, people were so helpful and Amy received countless gifts we couldn’t fit into our suitcases. AAA - IMAG2620P1060301 4. Prepare well. Always have snack food. Always have some little toys. Always have stickers. Always have crayons. Take an iPad mini. However, being prepared also means being flexible. Be prepared to change your plans as you figure out the limitations of your family and your kids. If you don’t know what these are already, don’t worry, you’ll quickly learn. P1060199 Preparing for overseas travel also involves purchasing travel insurance. While in Thailand (the first time) Amy had two febrile convulsions and spent a night in hospital with Influenza A. Our travel insurance provider (Travel Insurance Direct) was wonderful and we didn’t have any major stresses. Don’t skimp on this one. I actually read the full terms and conditions (around 80 pages!) of three insurance providers before we made our choice. Most of the top providers have similar cover, so it really is much of a muchness. In hindsight I wish I had paid for no hospital excess, because we were there for four separate admissions, but hey what can you do.

IMAG2261 Lastly, make sure you have the proper travelling equipment (see here for some tips). The only change I would have made was to get a portacot with a zip top. While in one Brazilian city we had to cover ourselves in mosquito repellant all the time, I’m not kidding… every second of every day. Unfortunately Amy often woke up in the morning looking like she had chicken pox on her face. Poor sweetheart.

5. You’ll both need a break at times. It can feel risky travelling overseas with kids. We’ve all heard the horror stories of children going missing or being taken on holidays. With this in mind, you are constantly on guard and always in physical contact with your little one. As wonderful as this time is together, if you’re travelling for a while like us, sometimes you just need alone time. Tim went and saw a few movies by himself at night and I think I managed to get one or two massages. It’s not much, but taking the small opportunities when you can help greatly in the long run. AAA - IMG_20141002_105626 6. Don’t stay anywhere for less than two nights. For us, we tried no less than three. It’s just not worth it and you won’t get to see much. Very early in our trip we left San Francisco and drove down to Santa Cruz to spend one night there. By the time we arrived and went for a little walk, it was time for Amy’s bed, which meant we were accommodation bound. The next morning we packed up all our things and had to move on. We didn’t really get to experience Santa Cruz at all. After this experience we would allow about half a day to pack for each transition. AAA - P1050226 7. Other tips.

  • Take hard copy photos of those nearest and dearest to you. Try going through the photos at least once a week. It will help your little one remember faces and names.
  • Get/buy Whatsapp or a similar data messaging app. It’s an easy way to stay connected with family and friends back home as wi-fi is often available in most accommodations and cafes.
  • For long flights, sit at the back of the plane. If your little one goes crazy, at least you don’t have to walk through a plane full of people and wake them up.
  • Before a transition make sure you have a supply of essentials; nappies, wipes and snacks. You never know what you’ll have access to when you first arrive.
  • Once again, always have stickers! 🙂

AAA - P1030335  8. You can do it. Seriously, we are not the first parents to drag our almost two-year-old half-way around the world and we won’t be the last. The time we spent together was priceless and something we will never forget, so we say go for it! Get out there and explore the world with your toddler. If you’re sensitive to them and know how they’re coping you’ll be fine. You can do it and you should. AAA - 10460679_10153100064613065_2052060467692166776_n Love Jess xxoo

Travelling overseas with a Toddler by Jess

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“What about Amy?” many people ask me. I understand their curiosity and concern about taking a not-yet two-year-old half way around the world and back.

You know what it’s like when you see a child under 3 (or honestly, anyone under 10) standing with their guardian at the terminal waiting to board your flight. Whether or not you believe in God, most people will pray a few desperate words which usually end with “… please, oh please, not in my section.” I know I’ve said a few of those prayers myself over the years. Being stuck in a large metal cylinder with someone else’s child for 12 hours can be terrifying.

I’m about to join that very… shall I say ‘courageous’ group of parents who endure the interesting hurdles and hazards of taking their wee ones overseas with them. Needless to say I’ve read a lot of blogs looking for tips about travelling and flying with toddlers. They all say one thing, expect the worst and prepare for the worst. Great.

So, why would we do a trip (especially one like this) with a toddler? A few reasons really, 1. because it’s the right time in our lives and 2. we believe that having Amy on this crazy adventure will make it all the more fun. Honestly, life is just more fun with Amy. More tiring? Yes. Messier? Definitely. Truthfully, sometimes I do go a little mental, but life is still richer and better with Amy in it. I could never imagine doing this adventure without her. It would be easier if it was just Tim and me, but not nearly as much fun.

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Taking a little person overseas also means taking little people things and catering for little people needs with a few Government regulations on the side. I thought I’d make a detailed list of things we’re taking. Who knows, maybe this will help someone else like me.

A few trip details:
In case you’ve just stumbled across this blog, here are the basic trip details.

We’ve heading off overseas at the end of March 2014 for about 16 months.
> 1 month in the USA (3 states, two internal flights). This will include a road trip, a few mountainous hikes and goodness knows what else
> 3 months in Brazil (3 cities, 3 internal flights). We’ll be having a two-week holiday plus doing about 9-ish weeks of volunteer/missions work in three different locations
> 3 nights in Istanbul. We’ll be staying close to the main sights, so we’ll do a lot of walking
> 1 year in Thailand (mainly 1 city, but we expect a few internal flights). We’ll be renting somewhere, so once we reach Thailand we won’t be travelling around as much.

We estimate there’ll be a minimum of 12 flights by the time we return to Australia.

Airplane:

I won’t go into all the tricks you can use (other mamma’s have hilarious and informative blogs about those), I’ll just say what we’re putting in Amy’s carry on bag:

  • IPad mini – filled not only with games and TV shows, but also videos of family, us and any animal we come across
  • Child ear plugs
  • Toys – Light plastic figurines (with no small parts), her favourite stuffed teddy and turtles, colouring books, pencil case and stickers
  • Food – As Amy is under 2, she won’t get fed by the airline, so we’ll have to do that
  • A spare change of clothes
  • A realisation that there’s not much I can do once we’re up there. I just need to take it easy on myself (and Amy). We’ll eventually get to each destination

Handbag:
After realising that the $10 hand bag I had been using for the last 6 months or so was about to die, I knew I would have to get a new one. Here’s the thing… I don’t actually technically have my own handbag anymore; I’m a mum, so I have a mum bag now. With this in mind, I knew that I’d have to have a multi-purpose, secure and easy to wear bag, suitable for a variety of locations and situations. I’ve ended up buying an anti-theft cross body travel bag made by Travelon (off eBay). I wanted a cross body bag, because without a proper pram, I know I’ll be wearing it a bit. Sure I could probably get something smaller, but not only is it a mum bag, it’s also an all-day tourist/volunteer bag. That means water bottles and passports, maybe the iPad mini or camera, food and toy etc. This bag… has got to be a goodin’.

I’ve been using this bag for a little while and I’m a happy buyer. There are only two things I’d say. The first is that it’s not as large as the video makes it out to be. The second is that there aren’t any ‘secret women’s pockets’. You know the kind inside the bag that you put your Panadol and other miscellaneous things in. There is one, but it’s see through. No secret about what’s in there.

I’ll keep you updated on how this bag goes during the actual trip. If it’s crap, I will absolutely let you know!

Portacot:
Tim did the research on this one. He read a lot of reviews, thought a lot about the weight etc. and finally decided on the Phil and Teds Traveller portacot. We also got it on sale which never hurts.We’ll pack this into our checked baggage when flying.

Kid Carry pack:
We’re doing some hiking and a bit of touristy walking in ares where a stroller is just not practical. After reading countless reviews, I found a great Phil and Ted carrier on eBay for a bargain. Once again, this will be packed into our checked baggage.

Luggage:
Thinking about flights, until Amy turns two, she won’t have her own seat, hence no luggage allowance. This means we will pay the extra for her little bag and that’s ok, we’ve incorporated that into our budgeting.

Stroller:
After one false start we have bought a Babylove Maxima stroller on sale. It’s light weight (which we need for our flights) and not too expensive. That way if something happens to it, it’s ok. We’ll take this as a carry-on when flying, so it has to be an umbrella stroller.

Car seat:
This one is the trickiest. We’re hiring a car seat while in California and probably when we head to the East Coast. In Brazil we have no idea, but we may have to buy one for the 3 months. In Turkey, we’ll just walk and in Thailand… we’ll see. It’s very much a make it up as we go kind of thing.

One more thing – Potty training:
Ek! I was chatting with my mum about this recently. I saw this Baby U Potette Plus at My Baby Warehouse and thought it would be a great idea, however once I got it open, I was disappointment with the quality. So, I’m not sure what we’ll do for potty training. I’ve just decided not to stress out about it too much. There is no official completion or award for how soon you learn to use a toilet, so we’ll probably wait until Thailand and see how we go. With Amy experiencing so much change, why would I put more pressure on her and myself? I wouldn’t 🙂

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So folks, that’s some of the stuff we have organised for our little one. I hope it’s useful for some, eye-opening for others and amusing for those who have been before and know what’s in store.

Love Jess xxoo