Travelling with Small Children

I’m no travel influencer, no travel or parenting expert and neither are we able to travel in term time with unlimited resources. But I’ve always loved travelling and we were determined that having children will not stop our love of experiences.

First Travels

We first took our daughter on a plane when she was about 9 months old. We went to visit my family in Slovenia and decided to spend some time on Slovenian coast too. We managed the flight, using a carry-on pram, renting a car and booking an Air BnB in Ljubljana city centre.

Slovenia is a great destination for families with children, it’s safe, green and pedestrianised city centres allow you to walk around with a pram or have children run free(er). And heading over in winter gives my London born children a taste of snow.

From solo to family travelling

Over the last 6 years we’ve learnt a number of things about how travelling with children works for us, what we need to do, how we need to plan to make sure it’s a fantastic experience for all of us rather than a stressful one.

Before children we visited mainstream and off the beaten track places, we packed a lot in a day. That was the hardest to unlearn. Packing too much in doesn’t work with small children.

We are a family and we are a team

Are our children co-travellers or do they hold the reins?

What changed after we started travelling with children?

Not much as you can easily take children anywhere you want to go. It teaches them cooperation and being adaptable. We want to do something and we will do it and children will come along as they are a part of our family, our lives and we are a part of theirs. We need to adapt to each other, new time zone, new places, new culture, new food etc. And yes, it does sometimes result in big feelings (for all of us), but being able to handle those feelings is a part of life.

Travelling teaches children understanding of others as not everything is adapted to them. We can adapt the schedule and ability. Wherever you are, our dynamic doesn’t change as we’re a team whether we’re at home or away. 

Those who know me joke that there isn’t a playground I don’t know about and it may be true. However,  knowing where playgrounds are, is a winner when travelling with young children. I said we’re a team and we adapt to each other and for us this means giving our children the chance to play too and sometimes this means sitting in a playground while they run about. It’s also a chance for them to make new acquaintances. In Mexico they ended up playing with local children, we don’t speak Spanish, they don’t speak English, but they were all laughing together.

No overthinking

These thoughts are on repeat in my head when I plan our trips:

Don’t overplan, don’t overbook. It is tempting to pack the days to the brim, after all we’ve spent money to be here. But it will leave everyone tired and overwhelmed. Use some time to just sit down in a local park and people watch while children run around.

Don’t fret if routine goes out of the window. We like sticking to a routine, but sometimes it’s just not possible. Don’t worry if all kids eat is bread and chips. Once you’re home, you can go back to a normal diet. If they stay up later, that’s ok, holiday is a change of routine after all.

Pack a colouring book. Or similar. We have a sticker book or a colouring book per child in our bags. It keeps them occupied while waiting for food or while we want to have a break and a drink.

Allow them to be children. As long as it’s safe, they should be able to run, climb and be silly. We’re not in a place to win the best behaved and the quietest person award. As long as we’re not annoying people around us, children don’t need to be reminded to sit still all the time.

Find a playground or an activity children will enjoy. A hands on museum or a playground. Something that’s aimed at children to break up the sightseeing. For us this works really well in cities.