Follow one family’s footsteps in the adventure of a lifetime. You might just be more ready than you think…

While the month of September might not exactly be travel time in most parents’ books, it actually is a good time to start thinking and planning ahead for your family’s next vacation. Once the back to school routine has settled in, why not spend some quality time together as a family during dinner or after, and begin discussing what types of things you and your children would like to see and do on a future trip. Do you dream about seeing the world but aren’t quite sure if your tiny tots would make ideal travelling companions? Where do you begin? Can you afford it? What happens if your child falls ill? How do you deal with language and cultural barriers?

Well, we’ve decided to take some of the guesswork out of this daunting, yet exciting task by following the adventures of Elle, our very own Mom2Mom Editor, and her family as they spent two months travelling abroad.

Here’s what we asked her:

1. Airplanes are not the most comfortable places to be confined to for an extended period of time. How did you survive two overseas flights with 2 very young children.

Well actually, we ended up taking 7 flights in total! The longest stint being the flight to Munich, which was about 8hrs. While I realize it sounds overwhelming, somehow it wasn’t. We brought a ton of activities and snacks in our carry-on. Things like coloring books and flash cards for my 3 year old and teethers and small toys for my 7 month old son. Out of everything though, our iPod ended up being the best item we brought. We downloaded a bunch of episodes of our daughter’s favorite shows: Dora, Backyardigans and Little Einsteins. Needless to say, these kept her attention without fail. Another plus, is that most airlines offer loot bags for kids, complete with activities and snacks, so that proved to be a nice distraction as well. And lastly, you should never underestimate the entertainment value of a new environment. Our daughter was so fascinated by all the buttons on her chair, the reclining backs, the drop-down trays, etc, that these things alone were often enough of a distraction. Another good thing to know, is that most airlines offer a free bassinette option if you’re travelling with an infant. You have to reserve this feature in advance, but it’s well worth it. It made mealtime and diaper changes sooo much easier for us.

2. What about culture shock? Even when travelling to countries rather similar to our own, there are always differences. What sorts of situations did you face that you were not prepared for?

Overall, it went rather well, just because both my husband and I had already travelled extensively before we had children, so we were pretty used to navigating our way through foreign countries, but if I had to pick one specific moment, I would say that it was when our daughter fell ill in Portugal. She had been bit by a venomous insect, but we didn’t know it at the time. We just knew that she was very ill and getting sicker with each passing day. We went to 3 clinics and none of the physicians spoke English, French or Italian (all languages we speak). They only spoke Portuguese. Finally, we ended up taking a taxi to a hospital in another town where we were promised that there would be an English physician. Luckily, there was and they were able to diagnose and properly treat her, but for awhile, we were pretty close to cutting the trip short and booking the next flight out of there!

3. Europe is where people travel to experience culture and history, not a typical destination for children. How can parents still see the sites they want to, but keep the children happy?

Yeah, that’s definitely a tricky one. What we did differently was the length of our stay in each city. For example, while most people stay in Venice for about 2 days, we stayed for 5. We would wake up early and reserve the museums and masterpieces for the mornings when the kids were most cooperative, then we would break for lunch and some park time, gardens or a kid-friendly activity (scout out kids’ attractions in advance and local parks upon arrival – you’ll be happy you did.) And then we would reserve the afternoons for naptime. By breaking down the days like this, we were able to see what we wanted to see and still maintain happy travelling companions. Yes, it took us longer to see the city, but it was at a realistic pace for our family. We would also turn a lot of museum visits into games, ie: Games of “I spy.” Count the statues. Lets count how many steps we have to climb? Etc, etc…

4. When planning family vacations, what are the key things parents should keep in mind?

I think the biggest thing to keep in mind is to respect your travelling companions and know their limitations. You have to realize that if you’re going to push your child to go through an entire day without a nap, you yourself are probably not going to enjoy the day either: You’ll be tending to fussiness, whininess and outbursts instead of soaking it all in. Plus, for every day that you push too hard, you need to calculate a day to recover. So why do it? Another thing to realize is that food and meal times aren’t always going to be like home. While children are adaptable if given the chance, you still need to be realistic and try to stick with some familiar foods. When we were challenged, we would hit the local supermarkets or fruit markets and pick up favorite home-like items for snacks, such as Yogurt drinks, granola bars, apples and such. Also, even though you might not see something on a restaurant’s menu, it doesn’t mean that they won’t make it for you if you ask. Just about every place will make you some form of pasta and I don’t know many kids who will refuse a plate of noodles! Another trick that worked well in Italy was the promise of gelato when our daughter was willing to try a new food or eat 75% of her meal. See, the reward system even works overseas!

If you have questions for Elle, feel free to post your comments and we’ll do our best to answer them.

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