International Travel With Kids

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Before You Go

International Travel
With Kids

the parts that actually go wrong

The short version

Taking children abroad is not harder than taking them anywhere. It is just longer, and the mistakes cost more. Almost everything that ruins a family trip is decided before you leave the house: how far you flew in one go, what you packed, and how honest you were about what your kids can handle.

The decision that matters more than the destination

Pace, not place. A seven year old in Rome is fine. A seven year old in Rome, Florence and Venice in five days is a meltdown with a train ticket.

The rule that has never failed me: one big thing a day, and nothing after it. A museum in the morning means a park in the afternoon, not a second museum. Children will forgive you a long flight. They will not forgive you a day with no food, no bathroom and no break.

Pick fewer places and stay longer in each. Two nights somewhere is one real day once you take out arrival and departure. Three nights is where a place starts to feel like somewhere you stayed rather than somewhere you passed through.

The long flight

Book the flight your family sleeps on, not the one that looks efficient. An overnight eastbound to Europe works if your kids sleep on planes. If they do not, a daytime flight and a rough first evening is the better trade.

Seats matter more than the meal. Book them the moment you book the tickets, and check them again after any schedule change, because airlines reshuffle and families get split. Most US carriers are now required to seat a young child next to an adult at no extra charge, but the system works better when you have already picked the seats yourself.

What goes in the carry on: a full change of clothes for anyone under about eight, and one for you, because the spill lands on the parent. Snacks they already like. Headphones that actually fit a child head. A charged tablet with things downloaded, not streamed. Wipes, a plastic bag, and any medicine in its original box.

Do not save the new toy for the plane and then hand it over at the gate. Hand it over at hour four, when it is needed.

Jet lag, honestly

Kids adjust faster than adults do, but only if you make them. Get outside in daylight the first afternoon, even if everyone is wrecked. Sunlight resets the clock better than anything you can buy.

Eat on local time from the first meal. Push bedtime as close to normal local bedtime as you can survive. Expect one bad night, sometimes two, and stop treating it as a crisis.

Do not plan anything expensive or unrefundable for the first full day. That is the day you lose. Build it in and it stops being a problem.

Packing, and the mistake everyone makes

The mistake is packing for the trip you imagine instead of the trip you booked. Nobody needs seven outfits. Every place you are going has a washing machine or a laundromat, and doing one wash mid trip halves your bags.

One carry on per child who can pull their own bag. It sounds strict and it changes everything, because you are not carrying it.

Things that earn their space: a light rain layer, one pair of shoes each that is already broken in, a small first aid kit with childrens pain relief and rehydration sachets, and a folding tote for the day you buy too much.

Things that do not: shoes for the one nice dinner, full sized toiletries, and anything you packed because of a hypothetical.

A produce stall in a covered market hall
A market solves more picky eater problems than a restaurant ever will.

Feeding a picky eater in a country you have never been to

Street food and markets solve more of this than restaurants do. Kids can see the food before they commit to it, portions are small, and nobody is trapped at a table for ninety minutes.

Let them eat the safe thing sometimes. Bread and cheese in France is not a failure. It is lunch, and it buys you a child who will try the next thing.

Learn the words for the two or three things your child will not eat, and the phrase for a food allergy if you have one in the family, written on a card in the local language. Allergy cards work better than an app when the room is loud.

Supermarkets are the best cheap meal in every country and a good way to learn what people eat. Go the first evening, buy breakfast for the week, and stop paying hotel prices for cereal.

The boring things that prevent most problems

Photograph everybody passport page and keep the photos somewhere you can reach without your bag. Do the same for insurance details.

Agree a plan for getting separated before you need one, and make it concrete. Older kids: this is the meeting point, here is my number written down. Younger kids: this is what a staff uniform looks like, and you stay put.

Know how to call emergency services where you are going. It is 112 across Europe, 999 in the UK and Ireland, 000 in Australia, 119 for an ambulance in Japan.

Carry your child medicine in the original packaging with the label on it, and a copy of any prescription. Pharmacies abroad are excellent and often diagnose minor things on the spot, but they cannot help with an unlabeled bottle.

Every family I plan for gets the version of this that fits their kids rather than the general one. Ages, sleep, patience, what everybody actually wants. That is the whole job.

Questions people actually ask

What is the best age to take a child abroad?

There is not one. Under two is cheap and portable and they remember nothing. Four to six is hard work and full of delight. Seven and up is when they start carrying their own bag and forming real memories. The right age is the one your family is at.

How many places should we visit on a two week trip?

Three, at most. Two is often better. Every move costs you the best part of a day and a chunk of everyone patience.

Do children need their own passport?

Yes. Every traveler needs their own, including a newborn. Child passports are also valid for a shorter time than adult ones, so check the expiry date before anything else.

How do we handle time zones with a baby?

Shift onto local meal and sleep times immediately and get daylight in the afternoon. Babies actually adjust quickly. The parents are the ones who suffer.

Is it safe to take kids to Europe or Asia?

Most of the places families ask about are as safe as home or safer. The real risks on a family trip are boring ones: traffic, water, sunburn and getting separated in a crowd. Plan for those and you have covered the odds.

More in Before You Go

ASTA Verified Travel Advisor

Written and kept current by Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with Adventures We Seek. If something here is out of date, tell me and I will fix it.

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01Ways to TravelCruises, rail, road, foot, guided or entirely your own.02Themes & InterestsHistory, books, food, wildlife, festivals.03Tools for FamiliesJournals, history hunts, activity books, Poppy’s Files.
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