Tips On Traveling With A Toddler

Travelling with kids can be somewhat like shooting a herd of wild goats in your vacation. Whether they're your own or somebody else's, factoring a kid 's needs to your journeys involves a lot more than adhering on a CD full of pop music and making toilet stops, look more here. Here two Rough Guides writers share their hard-won wisdom. To start, mum of two Hayley Spurway offers advice on traveling with toddlers, then Ross McGovern reveals how he manages to travel with older children. Hayley Spurway's tips for traveling with toddlers

Take your time

The greatest thing you'll be able to choose - whether in the airport, sightseeing or getting from A to B - is additional time. Toddlers love to explore and don't care for the time pressures of traveling, which means you're prone to retain your cool if you factor that the faffing, gawping, stalling, toilet stops and tantrums into your own timeframe.

Bear in Mind the Medication

It should be on in your own travelling list, but having children combined means carrying out a tiny first aid kit is all the more critical: plasters, antihistamines and sachets of painkilling syrup can spare a whole lot of stress in the future. Antimalarials are also available in liquid form.

Use public transportation

Most toddlers love the novelty of travelling by train, boat and bus, so ditch the hire car and use public transportation where possible. Back in Switzerland, my two-year-old would repeat the names of the metro stops as they were announced - provoking ripples of laughter and making him even more enthused about boarding the train every day.

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 them at airports, train stations and packed attractions with a child locator. The child wears a small unit (strapped to a belt or shoe) and you maintain the crate. If you lose your kid set off the alert and follow the audio to find them.

Maintain the actions coming

If you're heading out on a lengthy journey have a collection of toys to be handed out after an hour. Handheld puzzles, tiny colouring books, stickers, wordsearches and even tiny packs of Plasticine will pass time on a long flight or car travel.