Best Way To Travel With Kids

Travelling with kids can be a bit like taking a herd of wild goats in your holiday. Whether they're your own or someone else's, factoring a child's needs to your travels involves a lot more than sticking on a CD filled with pop songs and making bathroom stops. Here two Rough Guides writers discuss their hard-won wisdom. First up, mum of two Hayley Spurway offers guidance on traveling with toddlers, then Ross McGovern reveals the way he manages to traveling with older children. Hayley Spurway's hints for travelling with toddlers

Bear in Mind the Medication

It should be on in your travelling list, but with kids along means carrying out a small first aid kit is all the more critical: plasters, antihistamines and sachets of painkilling syrup may spare a whole lot of stress in the future. Antimalarials are also available in liquid form.

Don't overlook the medicine

Whether they're out of routine, jet-lagged, or eating less healthily, kids always seem to get ill on vacation. Dampen the impact of broken nights, frayed temperaments and fevers by packaging an easy-to-swallow medicine like Calpol in the united kingdom. Other basic ingredients in your first aid kit should include antiseptic wipes, plasters, sting therapy, and a thermometer.

Keep fleas

Whether you're travelling to Paignton or Peru, antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer are handbag essentials. A wipe of this cutlery in restaurants at which you're unsure of hygiene, or a squirt of hand sanitizer if there's no washing machine, can zap several germs and stop toddlers catching some common bugs.

Invest in a child locator

In my experience, toddlers aren't lovers of reins, backpacks with a leash, or any infringement on their freedom. Keep tabs on these at airports, train stations and crowded attractions using a child locator. The child wears a little unit (strapped to a belt or shoe) and you keep the transmitter. In the event you lose your child set off the alarm and follow the audio to find them.

Invite them to keep a travel journal

Get your children drawing and listing things that they 've observed and interesting foods that they 've tried. Who knowsthis might also encourage them to try different foods. Collecting postcards from places you see and asking them to write themselves a message on the back means that they can reach adulthood with a library of memories all their own.

Engage and involve older kids

The best way to avoid a soul-destroying sulk from your teenager is to involve them in the planning of this holiday and ask them to get input on what they'd like to perform. You may be surprised to hear it isn't spending all day online.