How to Travel Internationally With Kids and Still Have a Good Time
Some tips and tricks I learned along the way
Anyone who’s ever been on a trip with a child knows of these facts: 1) kids have short attention spans, 2) even the simplest things can excite them for hours (magic eight ball, anyone?) and 3) the things that you think are exciting may not be exciting for them at all. That said, I came back from our European train escapade in May 2023 full of thoughts, both of the practical (“should I pack this and not that?”) to the not-so-practical, (“How many pounds of cheese am I allowed to bring home?”) but most importantly, a sense of awe at the fact that we even took a trip at all.
Because I love lists, I can’t resist making a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” when it comes to traveling with kids. Take it from me. Do as I say, not as I do.
Please do
Check all of your passports before booking the trip. My husband and I failed to check our daughter’s expired passport, so we had to wait two weeks before departure to book an appointment with a U.S. passport agency in Seattle, drive 3+ hours there (all four of us), spend several hours waiting in line with 500+1 people, present all required documents, and come back the next day. That, and pay an extra $200 for expedited processing along with the cost of rebooking certain things (which costs more the closer to the date you get).
Bring along accessories that will allow you to charge your devices. In Europe, they don’t have the same outlets as America. Make sure you research what type of adapters, connectors, and/or gadgets you’ll need to make sure you don’t run out of battery. And while you’re out and about, bring along a portable phone charger like this one, in case your phone dies quickly like mine.
Accept technology as your friend. To entertain children, make sure to bring along an iPad. Some airlines have free entertainment and meals for children, but it’s not always the case, especially with budget airlines. Plan accordingly.
Turn on roaming on your phone. Seriously, that’s all you need in order for your phone to work overseas. Yeah, you’ll be charged an extra fee (most likely) by your cell phone provider, but try spending over a week desperately searching for Wi-fi because your phone can’t call, text or search the internet.
Consider a travel journal. I took two small notebooks, decorated with fun stickers and my kids’ names on it, then gave it to them to record the events of our trip. We made ‘em do it every day, and they loved it! Many things they will not remember, but if they ever find their travel journal one day…it may spark some old memories.
Bring snacks. Lots of snacks. Carry it in a small backpack, and offer it to them before they say they’re hungry, because kids don’t want to bother adults when they know we’re stressed, so they wait until they’re truly, exceptionally hungry. Then they whine and complain, and by then everyone’s grumpy.
Book a hotel with free breakfast. Your wallet will thank you later. Also, you can grab a few items from the breakfast bar for your day trips out to wherever you want to go that day.
Take public transit, if possible, in the city you’re visiting. This is a great way to get to see the crowd and discover new things, such as restaurants, bars, museums and cultural monuments with interesting history that you wouldn’t have found otherwise.
Please don’t
Book multiple trains with only minutes to transfer. You can read more about it in this post. Give yourself at least thirty minutes.
Forget to bring enough money for snacks, souvenirs and any potential mishaps that might require you to buy something to resolve it.
Forget to double-check with your credit card company about spending your card overseas. Some banks and credit unions require their customers to let them know via an online form or phone call, so make sure you do that so they don’t block your card thinking it’s a fraudster. Banks will do that, you know.
Book budget airlines. But if you want to save some money, that’s fine, be sure to NOT select the ‘Economy’ option because that’s the worst. You’re the last to board, you don’t get a free carryon and a personal item, and you’re probably going to end up next to that annoying family/person who snores or reclines their seats allllll the way back, which will reduce the space you have with your own seat.
Plan everything out. Have a rough itinerary but be open to changes! We did this with Bath, England and it turned out great!
Forget to bring good walking shoes. Very important. If you purchased new shoes for the trip, be sure to try it out beforehand at home. This applies to both children and adults.
P.S. Join me every Friday on Notes!
P.P.S. Be nice and share, will you? Here, let me make it easier for you.
I’m not joking. That agency was so packed (and hot!) it was mostly standing room only.
Good tips, especially re snacks. They are vital for adults and grownups We chose not to turn on our roaming when we were overseas and it made for some fun times, (eg getting the wrong train in Portugal and then being completely lost) but we didn’t have any children in tow so that made it easier. Every morning we would map out a route to our destination using the hotel wifi, and then just take it from there. One tip I read regarding using your phone overseas is to leave it on airplane mode but turn on wifi and Bluetooth. This worked a treat for me and was easier than turning things on and off all the time.
So many good tips, Hoang, even for those of us whose kids have long fled the nest! Checking passports’ expiration date is a big one (some countries demand a 6-month window too!), as is the importance of not booking trains too close together, bringing the right cables and alerting your credit card company that you’re traveling (we’ve found some care, others don’t). I always bring a little currency of the country we’re visiting, though these days, with credit and debit cards generally accepted, cash is less necessary, but you never know when you might need it. Wi-Fi roaming is essential, though we discovered that it often didn’t work in areas where we were traveling, and the bars were so low that having a good old-fashioned paper map could be invaluable. That was especially true on our summer road trip when on certain unpopulated stretches of highway (in Wyoming, for example) even the GPS didn’t function. On a train in Europe, of course, that’s unlikely to happen. The most frustrating issue there was our phones went dead from overuse. A portable charger or backup phone is helpful in that case.