Tips for travelling with children

I have been meaning to do this pretty much since day one but feared scaring off the childless audience... with few blogs left if any it had to be done! I also spent last night chatting to Emmy and Patrick - parents of a 14month old - and trying to encourage them (they didn't need much) to take the plunge.

The subject is a funny one - as we talked last night they mentioned friends of theirs who haven't left the UK since the birth of their 2 children... and I do have several friends who I love dearly - but will remain nameless - who think we are seriously insane for undertaking such an adventure.

But my overall, biggest, top, star, number one tip is DO IT!

yes there were awful moments as anyone who has read the blog knows - and yes there were every day intense challenges - but when I really think about it all I can think is 'why wouldn't you do it'. If you are fortunate enough to have time and money then go for it.

We have spent the last 3 months 24 hrs a day with our lovely 3 year old boy - seeing the world through his eyes, the world seeing us as a 3 and I know it has made him more confident, more sensitive...

anyhow onto tips

equipment:
babies are nowadays - like so much in modern life - an excuse to shop. I was pretty wary of buying crap that we didnt need for the trip... but handed over the job of stuff buyer to Matty who rather excelled at it.

Things we took:

Nomad Travel Bed (0-4) tent like structure with built in mossie nets, self inflating matress, weighs 2.5kg and fitted in our rucksack. Believe the instruction video - you can put it together in 5 mins! Altho Tobes grew out of it for the final month he used it for about half the time and it was a great home from home for him - he had practiced with it in the UK. It was familiar, clean and I could zip him up in it secure in the knowledge that no mossies and Probably not any other creepy crawlies could get in. Worth it's weight in gold in mossie infested areas. Also saves money as most hotels charge anything from £2 - £10 for an extra mattress.

Portable DVD player Matty had bought this second hand off a friend. I hated the idea of taking it. But we also took Postman Pat dvds, Thomas, Pooh Bear counting and then picked up some films for him and us in thailand. It was great as a time out for him from hectic cities, at the end of mad busy sightseeing days... a time filler on the big airflights out and back. We didn't use it on general public transport - would have been a bit much. Also bonus / bad parenting - on the occasions we were shattered and unable to get out of bed at 6/7am we did stick him infront of a film in our beds while we dozed!

IPOD and headphones + audio books Matty put Winnie the Pooh, Thomas stories, Mr Men all onto the Ipod before we left! We used this on the long 8-20 hr train journeys particularly - as a time filler and a calming tool. It was especially brillant for bedtime stories on the overnight trains - he would listen to an hour of it then we would turn it off, close our curtains round the bed and try and make it like as normal a bedtime as poss - seemed to work overall!

Ergo Backpack We originally planned to take no pram just this! I've had it since he was 6 months - he now weighs nearly 2.5 stone and I can still just about carry him in the back sling. I love this sling. It was fantastic - to put him in at manically busy airports/ train stations where we just couldn't risk him running round - we could then just focus on baggage and transport. We then also used it when we were hiking - when his legs gave in or the ground just was too tough for him, we used it on long days out when he was exhausted - he would sleep on my back with a sarong securing his head to my shoulders... in Varanasi it allowed us 2 long peaceful walks along the gats. I think he's just about getting too big for it now but I still love it!

Pram We ended up buying this our first week in thailand realising quickly it was the key to nights out! This was what we used it most for. We would put him to bed,wait till he was heavily asleep - then smother him in organic (!) mossie repellant, transfer him to pram and then head out for dinner - sleeping Tobes next to us at the table! It was fantastic and he only woke up once. After a few times I told him in the day that we were doing it - so occasionally he would flicker open an eyelid and then seemed to get what we were up to and be ok - as long as he was comfortable and safe. TIPS - buy a strong metal framed pram. M bought the cheapest one he could find in Tesco in bangkok and it broke on its way from supermarket to meet me! Also try and bring a mossie net that fits a pram too - nice extra security. NB Pram worked best in Thailand. India with its crumbling pavements was not great - esp in cities - altho we did do well in Kerala and Goa with it!

Washable nappies Toby was out of day nappies but still needs them for nightime. Many places we travelled to didn't have nappies so we would have been stuffed without these. They were great - dried quickly in the sun - and BIG bonus - you aren't adding to the imense litter problems in these beautiful places.

toys
we took 6 thomas trains, 4 tiny animals, 4 dinky cars, a small amount of mobilo ( a kind of junior lego) - enough for him to build a v.small plane/ boat, one puzzle, crayons, playdough... then about 8 books!
We had more than anyone else we met travelling with kids. But we lost some, replaced lots (don't forget that you can get toys anywhere - kids don't understand quality - one of Tobes favourite was a paper train I had saved after being given it free by network rail in the UK!!!), and towards the end gave a lot away. we also bought more books while we were travelling as we love reading to him and we were all getting a bit bored.
The toys were great for him. Whenever we reached a new room we would get them out first and give him his own little area for them.
He created imaginary worlds for them in rooms, on beaches, on lawns, on boats, trains... he told constant stories, drove them over us while we slept, shared them beautifully... Didn't really mind too much when he lost one - he realised he had more than most children we saw - esp street children -= and would hope they would be found by one of the children who had none or few. He coined the phrase - "home is where my cars are"

medicine
we had a lot and I would not have cut this down in anyway! Inevitably the first thing I needed was the one thing I had kept meaning to get and had forgotten - tweezers - he got a leaf stuck in his ear!!

But I would list these as vital:

-Calpol - infant paracetamol (I don't think ibuprofen is good for stomach ache - so make sure you do have just the plain paracetamol)
-rehydration salts: they did great ones in India that you just mixed with a litre bottle of water and sipped all day - orange tasting which toto preferred to diorahlyte - he called it his medicine drink. this was pretty much all that we treated the squits with. I am a firm believer of "better out than in" when it comes to squits!
- antiseptic wipes: bad for the environment but vital for every day first aid on the move I am afraid.
- plasters
- iodine antiseptic ointment - dries fast, you can see it clearly - good instead of the creams you get in the UK and v.cheap in asia
- ARNICA - cream and tablets - I love this stuff.
- Medised - paracetamol with a slight sedative effect - we didn't use this a lot - but it was v. good on a v.delayed overnight train where he got hyper and just couldn't calm down to rest.

i had a big first aid kit with antibiotics, needles, bandages, calamine, antihistimine (v.worthwhile just in case of nasty reaction to bites) etc. Then I took a smaller purse out with us each day!

Food
I will not pretend this was easy. We took enough vitamins to see us thro the whole trip - and this was a nice fall back! Someone also recommended giving kids up to 5 ... or older I suppose ... formula milk as again then you just know they are getting vits and minerals. We couldn't really find this so didn't - but it sounds like a good idea just for reassurance.

Tobes did not like spicy food and this did not change. He also didn't really like noodles. But he did like rice, eggs, cucumber, tomato, pineapple, bananas, bread, pasta, chips!!! And for 3 days he liked veg fried rice! Of and he did discover tomato soup in our last month in India.

We found a lot of places did porrige of varying quality - we would try and always start him off with this... supplemented at times with fruit salad, eggy bread, pancakes. Then we relied on a lot of plain rice, egg and chips, and then would dive into anywhere with Pasta if poss to fill him up.

There were good moments - he did once tuck into a thali - southIndian buffet and enjoyed the pappadums, yogurt etc.. But it could be difficult.

We also stocked up whereever poss on snacks - bananas, raisins, nuts, bread
TIP - take a knife and make your own fruit and veg snacks.

TIP - feed small amounts and often - as anyone with a kid knows - a hungry child is 100 X harder to deal with. There were days when he just ate bananas - as many as 10!

Sightseeing
STORIES - Make an effort to bring the place alive for them. We told Toby the stories behind the places we were visiting - albeit often very edited - and yes they did elicit endless "WHY Mummy, But Why"... but they also gave hima chance to really enjoy them.

He played soldiers (I had a long internal debate about telling him about war/ violence - decided I had to when it came to forts etc), Matty and I were held prisoner in small rooms in moghul forts/ tombs, he imagined the sounds of canons, he pretended to have a shop in old cities, he hunted for tigers, elephants, pretended he had lived in castles (either that or was reincarnated from some very wealthy maharajas). Our last night in the desert on a camel trek Toby and i wandered out into the dark dunes and pretended we had been travelling for weeks without food and water and had stumbled apon our camp. He was truly delighted and his own story telling is now extensive!

JOY RIDING We did feel it was worth letting him have the joy ride whereever possible - that did mean - the tired horse up a hill in ooty, or a ten minute camel bump about in Mysore... it was such a treat for him at the time

Animals win again and again and on a similar vein - really anything with animals is a bonus - from tame-ish squirrels in a moghul tomb to imagining the long dead elephants that inhabited ruined elephant stables in an ancient city. And of course safaris, elephant riding, bathing etc!

Missing home
Toby missed his friends more than we ever anticipated. TIP we took 2 tiny photo albums/ flick books for him with pictures of top friends and family so he wouldn't forget faces and could remember times with them. He didn't look at them that much but when he did he really enjoyed it and I think it helped a 3 year old remember what home was too!

Routines
We didn't have a strict routine of times of the day - but instead we kept up a bed time routine what ever time it was and pretty much where ever we were - of bath, PJs (we took one pair), story and then sleep. Then our other main thing was just keeping to meal times and being quite strict on table manners. We did try to give him 4/7 earlyish (8pm) nights a week... too many late ones and we all suffered.

TIP - but obviously read your child and yourself... we think you can push them etc and do a lot at times - but equally don't ignore signs of tiredness and under the weatherness - stop and rest. Easier said than done - don't do the big walk - take a taxi etc!

Customs
Find out yourself and then explain these as much as poss to your child. Clearly not all customs but the ones that will effect them. For us one of the ones that effected T most was cheek pinching which a lot of Thai and Indian people do to children. Toby hated it. We also learnt to be firmer and say No/ Don't do that to people.

Bonus
We found the trip a great time to break habits - we certainly didn't think this would be the case. But Toby decided to give up his dummy one night in thailand and never picked it up again. he also gave up his favourite blanket which we had dutifully travelled with etc

Clothes We packed 2 pairs of trousers (both could be rolled up into shorts), 2 pairs of shorts, 3 t shirts, one thin sweatshirt, one long sleeved shirt, one pack-a-mac, one sweatshirt jacket, one pair of velcro sandal, one pair of leather shoes, 2 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of pants, 2 washable nappies, 2 sun proof swim suits. It worked well. We added to it 2 kurtas in India - long sleeve long shirts which were great!

Poverty
we saw a lot of this and Toby definately noticed it. We talked a lot about children living on the streets, needing money.

to be continued....