Over the years we get a few family travel questions that come up repeatedly. We wanted to do a post answering these often asked questions in one place.
Here are our answers to your most frequently asked family travel questions:
When is the best age to start traveling with kids?
There is no ‘perfect’ time. Whatever your child’s age, there will always be a made up excuse for you not to travel. “I don’t want my baby to get sick”. “My toddler is so tiring”. “I will travel when they are bigger and can remember”.
We started travelling when Berlin was 6 months old. It did require a bit more organisation, but throughout the day his activity was basically eating, sleeping and pooping. We can put him to chill in one spot and he won’t run away. We chose flights around his usual nap or sleep time, so he slept through most of the flight.
Is travelling with kids hard?
We always mention to our friends that our boy is much better behaved when he is travelling!
Too often we hear parents say they would rather leave their kids behind because it is too hard. Draw inspiration from friends who regularly travel with kids instead of those who say it’s too hard. There are MILLIONS of parents who travel with children each year. Also checkout countless families who blog their travel adventures.
What is your best advice for families planning to travel?
Don’t spend hours flying to your holiday destination only to rush through tourist sites.
Instead of rushing through as many cities you can, stay longer in one place and set a more relaxed schedule. Days of constant packing and unpacking, dragging your suitcases from one hotel to the next is exhausting. There is nothing worse than coming home exhausted and needing a holiday from ‘the holiday’.
How can you afford to keep travelling?
Most of our friends and travelling families we met while travelling don’t necessarily earn high salaries. However, we prioritise family travelling. We no longer make impulsive purchases and always saving up for the next trip.
Check out our 7 Best Tips to Save Money for your next family holiday
Do you spend much on shopping when you travel?
We used to, but not anymore.
We would rather save that shopping money for our next holiday. As parents, we think our son will appreciate growing up with tonnes of experiences rather than tonnes of toys. The memories we get from travelling last a lifetime, the ones from buying stuff are only short lived.
What travel stroller do you use?
If you browse through our blog, we only ever travel with one stroller and that is the Maclaren Quest stroller. It’s light, compact, easy to carry and affordable. We purchased our travel stroller second hand, that way if it gets ruined while traveling we won’t be too heartbroken.
This stroller has been used on hard terrains from dirt road in Nepal, to the snow in Germany and cobble stone streets in Belgium. It definitely has our seal of approval.
What baby carrier do you use?
Initially we used Ergobaby performance carrier, but this was quickly outgrown when our son was about 23 months old. Later we opted for the Tula toddler carrier and it really distributed Berlin’s weight evenly.
We personally prefer to push him in his stroller as much as possible but there are times when that’s not an option.
How do you schedule your days when traveling?
When planning our itinerary, we consider sights we want to see as well as our son’s needs. For example – if we are planning to spend a day visiting museums, then we would plan to visit a playground or toy shop in between. We also allow for some parent’s “me time” too. That way everyone can have an enjoyable holiday.
When travelling, how long do you normally go out and about for?
On average we would spend about 10 hours of sightseeing. We would leave our hotel about 9 am, have early dinner and be back by 7 pm. We use our son’s nap time to do things he doesn’t necessarily enjoy.
Do you set a strict schedule of nap and sleeping times?
We are not too strict on our routine when travelling. As this makes the holiday very inflexible and only causing stress! Since our boy has travelled since a baby, he can literally sleep anywhere.
Is it safe to take children travelling?
To put your mind at ease, there are websites you can look up such as www.smarttraveller.gov.au. It provides handy and updated advice on travel safety.
As an example – for as long as we can remember – travel advice for Indonesia is always: High degree of caution. Yet each year thousands of families, from all over the world have a wonderful time visiting Bali and other cities. Many of our friends even choose to live there!
Always practice family travel safety common sense such as not bringing excessive cash, keep an eye on your children at all times and not stopping in the middle of a busy street looking for directions. Even in the safest destination there will be good parts and bad parts of town. So stick to the safe family friendly areas and always be street smart.
Do you usually book return flights?
It depends. Advertised holiday airfares are usually for return flight to a particular city. While you will pay cheaper airfare upfront, this may not be the best option if you are planning to visit more than one city.
Before you book that cheap return flight, take into account any extra costs you end up paying for. This may include the cost to return back to that original city, any extra night travel accommodation or added airport transfers. In some trips we have bought multi city tickets, for example: Perth to Amsterdam back from Brussels. And Perth to Manchester back from London.
For the small extra cost, it saves us time and we get to maximise our family holiday time.
Do people treat you differently when you travel with children?
Yes yes yes! People are so much nicer to us!
We find most locals to be more interested in saying “Hello”. Some would even go the extra mile, making funny faces to make our son laugh.
Travelling with kids (especially babies) is almost like travelling with a VIP ticket. We had priority lane opened for us at airport immigration, people giving up their seats for us on public transport, even restaurant wait staff offering to carry your baby while we were finishing our meals. These random acts of kindness definitely restore our faith in humanity.
Can traveling with kids be fun?
Definitely. Since we both are working parents we absolutely cherish our traveling days, where we get to spend a few weeks in each other’s company. Traveling with kids can be tiring at times (with the added eye-rolling moments), BUT parenting at home is just the same!
Which countries are in your family travel bucket list?
Russia, Egypt, Brazil, South Africa, Mauritius, Myanmar, India again, US again, China again and the list goes on and on.
