Take Those Trips and Travel With Your Children

I am writing this while my boys are napping and my husband is at the gym. I just got back from an acupuncture treatment my husband booked for our anniversary and it was such a rejuvenating treat! I have to say as I’m sure many of you can attest to, traveling with two toddlers is no easy task. It takes lots of physical planning and preparation, and the mental (and emotional) fortitude to stay mindful through it all. Admittedly, it takes conscious effort to remind yourself that traveling with kids is an opportunity to learn, grow, explore, adventure, and ultimately bond together as a family, despite the challenges that WILL come up.

If you weren’t keeping up with my Instagram stories, my family went on an Alaska cruise for a 7-day sailing. We took 2 flights to get there, experienced 3 time changes while being on the cruise ship, and the 4 of us slept in the same room all week long. 

Throughout my trip I was getting tons of messages: 
“wow I don’t know how you’re doing this” 
“how are they functioning without their naps?”
“I’m so inspired by you, I have yet to take my kids on a trip. The big adventures make me nervous” 
“traveling with toddlers is rough, so amazing you’re doing this”
“your trip looks insane, how are your kids managing?”

And it led me to this: my husband brought up this idea about the big difference between taking a trip versus going on vacation. I couldn’t stop thinking about it over and over again. From our perspective, taking a trip consists of traveling with children, being on the go from one thing to the next, taking care of their needs, always being on the move, it’s a completely active experience. Going on vacation is more of an experience happening to you enabling you to constantly be in a state of calm and relaxation. That’s very hard to feel when traveling with children especially when you’re dealing with one, or in our case, multiple time zones because it completely disorients you. It is very easy to feel uncertain, stressed, nervous, and/or drained when anticipating traveling with children. People often delay traveling with their kids because they want to wait until their kids are a bit older, but I have to tell you that younger children are sooo resilient and as long as they’re eating and sleeping well, they adjust easily after the first few days. A child at any and every age comes with his/her own challenges, and there will always be valid reasons that make us pause before deciding to venture off with our kids. Don’t let those reasons be good enough to stop you. Try to find things that work for you that will make the whole experience easier. 

Here’s what worked for us and I hope it helps you the next time you journey off with your family. 

Get your children on the new time zone as soon as you can! Either push off their naps and bedtime, or make it earlier depending on your location. Once you knock that out, everything else flows much smoother. In terms of us as parents, our goal was to find ways to accommodate each other so that both of us had some time to ourselves each day in order to refill our bucket of patience. My husband and I did this most when we coordinated our “self care” hours around our boys’ naps. As I mentioned on Instagram, when we were at different ports and cities, we were exploring and adventuring alongside our kids and they would nap on the go at any time, at any place. There was no expectation of a schedule or a structure except for the excursions we had on our itinerary. However on sea days, we really took advantage of being able to put our boys down for a nap which often lasted 3 to 3.5 hours. This is when we would take turns going to the gym, the spa or just grab a coffee and we would take turns watching the boys. This is how we sustained our sense of vacation while on a trip with our children. 

So if my position isn’t clear, take those trips and travel with your children! Take them through all of life’s beautiful adventures because time is fleeting. As parents, we are the providers. Provide them with the opportunity to see the world! My husband and I are strong believers that though our kids won’t remember these trips, their very being will be permanently changed by their experiences. Oh and one more thing, of course the trip will be special for your kids, but what’s even more special is that YOU get to see the world through their eyes full of awe and wonder. What could be better?