I was Afraid Having Children Would Interfere with my Ability to Travel
I didn’t want kids. All I wanted was to travel and have adventures. I thought having a child would put a damper on that. After spending a long time going to school (undergrad and then law school) and starting my career, I didn’t want anything to interfere with finally travelling. I was very adamant about my no kids policy, but like everything else in life, things change.
By the time I got pregnant I had already travelled to Paris twice, London twice, Tokyo, Lisbon, Salzburg and Vienna, Austria and a few destinations in Mexico. But I wanted more. A condition of mine (both to myself and to my husband) for having a child was that I would get a stamp in my passport every year. Having a child was not to interfere with that. My sister, also a wanderlust soul, had her child five years before I did. Throughout those five years she was been able to maintain travelling and that had given me hope.
I Now Realize that Travelling with Children is Possible and Even Fun
So, starting at year -1 we started our travel journey with our daughter O. At five months pregnant we went on a trip to Rome. Rome in the heat of summer and pregnant was difficult. But I realized if I can enjoy travelling in the heat with a bowling ball in my belly anything is possible.
Unfortunately the first year of O’s life was difficult to travel. My husband exhausted his vacation staying home with us for some time and I was off for six month with her so takig vacation after returning to work felt wrong. O did take her first plane ride at 3 months to go visit my sister. It was a short flight from San Diego to Santa Rosa but she got her first taste of flying. Right before she turned one year we did sneak in a trip to Mexico, sans O, for a friends birthday. So I barely got my requisite passport stamp.
But then a year and a month into O’s life the pandemic hit and the world shut down. My dreams of a yearly passport stamp went up in smoke. Travelling out of the country halted for us. For three years there was no travelling outside of the US because even when travelling opened with vaccines, vaccines were not available for children her age. So we started her adventure journeys in the US. By the time she boarded her first international flight she had been to New York City, New Orleans, Natchez and Kauai. The upside here is that she got to take several smaller flights before a long haul flight.
O has turned out to be a phenomenal traveller. Every flight I have taken with her I get comments about how well she travels and behaves on the plane. She gets settled in so easy into her flight routine and is happy and clam. O gets so excited when we are going anywhere, doesn’t matter where. She can’t wait to go on the plane and go to a hotel (or an airbnb). She says hotels are exciting because they are full of new things. When she sees pictures of random places she will ask if we can go there. She enjoys seeing new things and is open to trying new food. Which is what I want for her. I want her to love the world and appreciate the differences in people, cultures and food.
I actually enjoy my trips more with her. Even if they don’t entail doing everything I want to do all the time. O’s excitement brings me joy and makes up for anything I didn’t get to do. I can enjoy my relaxing mimosa at brunch but also revel in her excitement. Just watching her play at the park is fun as she tries to communicate with kids that speak a different language than she does.
Keeping Travel Fun for my Little
I only remember taking one family vacation as a child to Hawai’i when I was nine years old. My memories of that trip are not the best. Because of that trip I really wanted to make sure that O enjoys travelling. It is important that my husband and I enjoy our trips and do the things we want to do, as it is out trip too. However, it is also important O has overall good memories of our time together too. There will be times of boredom because that is life but so long as she feels included and we do things she wants to do too it is a success.
In order to keep boredom at bay we try to choose restaurants with an area to run around. This allows the adults to enjoy their meal and maybe a drink but O to get her energy out. We also stop at the parks that are next to any of the attractions we see. That way while she stays patient in a museum she knows she is gonna get to go play. We usually stay at the park for at least an hour but usually longer until she asks to eat. When shopping we make sure we also stop into stores that are catered to her age group. Even if we are not buying anything it lets her know that we are doing things just for her.
We try to stop at museums or attractions that are kid specific. Like when we were in Paris we went to their dinosaur museum which is at the Jardin de Plantes. That was a huge hit with both O and my nephew R.
Because she gets to do new and exciting things (and eat lots of treats because of course we need to try everything) she cannot get enough of travelling. She can’t wait until her next adventure. Travelling with children requires a little different planning but is very enjoyable.
