Traveling with children

Our traveling family consists of two curious little children and their parents, who can’t resist the traveling spirit. Our travel is not limited to one place at a certain destination, but we wish to see as much as possible in the time we have at our disposal. In the past few years we’ve seen many destinations within Europe, but now we’re considering other continents as well. 

 

While telling about our trips and travels many parents often ask – did we really go with children! They usually say, they wouldn’t dare. Trust me, there’s not much difference. Sometimes I worry it’s a bit too much for them, but it all goes by without problems. The difference is only in choosing a place to sleep. If my husband and I were to travel alone, we would find a place upon arrival. We always put the health of our children first, that’s why we always carry our own drug store with us (antipiretics, rehydrating aids and such). To make travel easier we also bought a Trunkl – a backpack which can be converted into a baby car seat. It’s also very handy when we are using cheap flights – we fill it up with clothes. 

 

Planning the trip we always make sure the children will also have their highlights, such as the visit of an aquarium, riding camels and similar. We’re not visiting art museums, galleries and churches at the moment. The adventures we have bring us closer together, which sometimes makes it easy to switch back to the daily routine. Sometimes we get some interesting experience, like in Morocco, where the navigation gave up on us and we got really lost. We must have looked desperate at the crossroad, for a biker knocked on our car window and asked us what are we looking for. We tried to tell him everything is OK and when he signalled to follow him, we just drove on. He followed us, knowing we took the wrong turn and when we realized it, he said: “Are you from Slovenia? I work for this car.” Following his pink helmet we came to where we were headed. We also realized that in some countries there is a syndrome of a white child. And let me tell you, if you do not like strangers to touch or kiss your child, you should really avoid Turkey and Morocco.

 

For plane travel I suggest you buy a book and have it in the hand luggage, to have at least a few minutes of peace. Food and drinks for children should be with you. Many would advise against it, but a baby tea bottle really is allowed. You should also pack a snack, especially if travelling by cheap flights that do not include food. Planes are slightly cold, so I suggest something warm to wear even in summer, when the A/C can really blow. Car travel is a bit easier, but you should keep children in mind. It’s more important to take care of them than to reach the goal.

 

Lately we started taping our travels and edit them into homemade documentaries, for we wish our children to keep the memories, not only as pictures, but also as video. And they can show these videos to their friends and maybe even their own children. They have been premiered at the kindergarten and maybe we will put them on our blog sometime in the future, but at the moment they are our private recordings. The blog can, however, be reached at the following link: http://zotrocinaokoli.blogspot.si/.

 

I’d also like to conclude with a final thought: "Even the longest journey of thousands of miles starts with a single step."