What advice do you have for travelling with kids?

Andy La Gette on 04 June 2018
As a Travel Counsellor, and a dad, this is one of the most popular questions I ever get asked. I will reply, acknowledging that any answer is a subjective one. What is right for one family may well not be right for the next. However, intertwined with my attempt at a response based on our own experiences, are some unavoidable golden rules. For me, king of the golden rules is that if the kids are comfortable and happy, all will be well.

Being married to a fellow travel addict, the arrival of two young kids turned our own travel habits on their head. Grand plans for forays into tropical hotspots would now stay on the drawing board. Our world had changed irreversibly.

New questions came to the fore. Will it be safe? Will it be too hot? How far can we fly? Do they have cots in the room? What will we do for food? It was a whole new ball game.

For us it has been simple. Decide what you want to achieve. In the early years, just find somewhere that the kids will enjoy. Whether it is a pool, a beach or a campsite. If they have fun, everyone else will relax, and enjoy the holiday. There is no need to go beyond the UK, but Europe or further afield can improve the weather with the trade-off of the travel required to get there. Kids are resilient. Flying isn’t a big deal any more, especially over the age of two when they get their own seat. Long-haul, most airlines now provide seatback movies and games. Under two, you have the world of bassinets and cots to navigate. Then you have the baby entourage: nappies, clothes, arm-bands, change-mats, bottles, sterilising kit, food…

Still, if you’ve considered all of this and found a resort or destination that you think works for you - go for it. Lessons learned on our previous trips help shape future holidays. We found a great resort when the kids were 4 and 2 and loved it so much that we went back two years later. We love finding new places, and going to new countries, but as parents, the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” adage trumps all.

Some say it’s a waste taking kids somewhere unusual if they won’t really remember it. I disagree. We have great memories and photos of the kids having fun at the Atlantis hotel in Dubai, and Tulum in Mexico. Six or more years on, they don’t remember it, but we know how much we all enjoyed it. It isn’t important to us that those trips are stamped in their memory banks. They enjoyed the holidays, and we have the memories. Where the resort happened to be, is not relevant.

As they’ve got older, we have moved to the next phase. We want to take them to interesting places and have them start retaining holiday memories for life. With that in mind, when they reached the ages of 9 and 7, we were able to take them to Florida to Disneyworld. We had a few days out and back in New York and Chicago, but the main focus was Disney. They were old enough to survive the long days walking around, and old enough to enjoy and understand all that they saw – but crucially they were young enough to be completely taken in and won over by the magic of the place. In fairness, so were we, but the pre-requisite for this was the kids were enjoying it so much. We left feeling that we had done our Disney trip at the optimum age. And so it goes on. Last year, having seen endless TV ads for cruises, and with the kids now 10 and 8, we decided to give Royal Caribbean a try in the Eastern Mediterranean. A few days in Venice, a week on board enjoying the razzmatazz that this cruise-line provides, and some outstanding, interesting destinations along the way was another perfectly timed trip. The Med is a great destination, because unlike the Caribbean and other cruise hubs, we didn’t spend thousands on flight tickets. The weather was great, we had variety and culture, and we didn’t need the biggest ships in the fleet. This was a first experience of this type of cruising for all of us, and it ticked every box.

This brings us to our most recent trip. We’ve just returned from a wonderful holiday in Vietnam and Cambodia. Aged 11 and 9 our kids have now chalked up 16 and 14 countries respectively. Graduating to Asia was indeed a big step, but a natural one with the gentle progression over the years. The flights were long – but manageable (for the kids if not the parents!) The weather was hot. We had the relevant jabs from the doctor. For the first time, we didn’t have a set base – we were on the road/water/rail and had a blast. I am proud that our kids have now seen the stunning sites of Halong Bay and Angkor Wat.

None of this would have been as easy as it was had we not gradually built up over the years. The kids are accustomed to flying, but the gradual pushing of boundaries in terms of the types of travel, climate, culture etc has been quite deliberate.

We don’t need to keep pushing every time. Northumberland beckons this summer. After that, who knows? I know a lot about travel, but nobody can know what is right for your family. There are no right and wrong answers, but I would suggest a few bits of common sense:

You don’t have to go too far. Find somewhere you know the kids will enjoy and go for it.

Be careful with heat. Kids can generally handle journeys and time-zones, but heat can knock them silly. Let them sleep in the middle of the day if it’s really hot. Take Factor 50. Toddlers with tans are not cool. Sunburn really can affect the whole mood.

Don’t worry about their memories. My own view on this is to let them enjoy the “now” and you can keep the memories and show them as they grow older.

Don’t pick the hotel based on your requirements – think of the family. “Super cool” properties won’t appreciate noisy chaotic kids. Go somewhere they can have fun without you worrying about fellow guests. This carries into restaurants too. See if they have kid’s clubs, high chairs, cots. If they don’t then it may be a property keen to minimise numbers of young families. If you are a young family, accept that you are just that! You can go back to the cool, chic options when they’ve left home!

And finally, don’t be afraid to try new things. The cruise was our perfect example of this. It hadn’t even been on the radar but turned out to be a very fulfilling holiday that the kids completely loved, and just like Disney, we did too.

Parents like to think they’re in charge, but I urge you to pick your holidays based on what will work for your kids, and you won’t go far wrong.