Tips for International Travel With Toddlers

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Sevilla

Traveling with kids is EVERYTHING.

It’s exhilarating. Humbling. Comical. Exhausting. Unforgettable. At times maddening. Always, always, worth it.

My husband and I both love traveling. We’ve traveled internationally with friends, each other, our daughter when she was a baby, and our two toddlers. Exploring new places brings us so much joy, and it’s something we’re committed to continuing through all the stages of our lives.

That doesn’t mean we’re only scheduling trips to “Adults Only” resorts without our children. Quite the opposite. This summer, we packed up our things and embarked on a two-week adventure to Spain and Portugal. Because it was our first time traveling internationally with two toddlers, I received a lot of requests for tips. I want to share my thoughts on our experiences and what made it work for our family.

  • Book Family-Friendly Airbnbs

As Airbnb Superhosts ourselves, we’re a little picky when it comes to choosing accommodations. It’s important that our home-away-from-home is somewhere we truly feel at HOME after a day of exploring. When researching where our family would stay on our trip, these were a few of my key requirements:

  1. Outdoor space
  2. Separate bedrooms or sleeping spaces for everyone
  3. Pack and Play 

Pro Advice: Filter your Airbnb search results by “Airbnb Plus.” Each Airbnb Plus home is inspected in person to verify it has a long list of amenities, including a fully-equipped kitchen, fast internet, a coffee maker, great design, and cozy spaces. For us, this was especially helpful because it was a quick way to filter results that always had a crib and washing machine!

  • Limit the Luggage

We packed two carry-on suitcases, two small backpacks, and one small rolling bag. 

    • The two carry-ons included “Stow-N-Go Storage Cubes” with outfits for half the days we would be staying (we washed laundry a lot in the Airbnbs): two pairs of shoes, two pairs of pajamas, and two swimsuits per human; plus a limited amount of toiletries/medicine.
    • One backpack held electronics (iPad, laptop, kid headphones, an old phone to use as a sound machine, chargers, etc).
    • Another small backpack served as a purse and diaper bag (we only packed a few diapers and bought the rest when we arrived).
    • The small rolling toddler suitcase included specific activities for each child (see next tip).
Stow-N-Go Storage Cube
  • Make an “Activity Bag” for Each Kid and Download Shows

Choose new activities/toys so they are exciting. Some of our kids’ favorite activities were puffy sticker books, coloring books, “paint” with water flipbooks, and tiny figurine people and cars to play with Play-Doh.

Pictured below are the contents of the two bags and the type of bag used to store their in-flight fun. We put both bags inside of a small rolling toddler suitcase that we purchased for our daughter specifically for this trip. It stayed under her seat the whole flight, and she loved pulling it around the airport. The kids would watch a 20-minute show, play with their toys, eat a snack, and repeat. Click here for tips from another Charleston momma!

  • Read Family Travel Blogs for Each City

I can’t believe my own parents planned our family vacations without the Internet. I have vivid memories of my dad on the phone with various airlines to purchase plane tickets, and alternatively, an Atlas and Sharpie to trace routes when we would be driving. How did they ever figure out what to do once we arrived? Maybe they went to Walmart and bought travel books. Regardless, I feel so fortunate to be able to Google “What to do with Kids in Sevilla” and find an endless list of blogs. But, you may be thinking, after reviewing 10 blogs, how do you remember all of the tried and true spots to see? This leads me to my next tip.

  • Organize Kid and Parent Activities in a Spreadsheet Before You Leave

I’m linking a copy of a spreadsheet I made for our trip to Europe as an example. Basically, we did all the research beforehand and documented everything in one place. We absolutely did NOT do everything, but it was really nice to have it all laid out. Plus, it got us so excited for our trip a few months in advance and limited the chaos of figuring out where to go once we arrived.

Pro Advice: Make the spreadsheet available offline so you can review it when you don’t have Internet access. (I only had access to my phone when we had WiFi, so this was especially helpful!)

Porto
  • Think Hard About Strollers and Car Seats

Every trip is different. Will you be driving once you get there? Is a car seat necessary? Are you taking multiple kids? Should you take two single umbrella strollers or one double stroller? We took a double stroller to Europe and on day two we found ourselves inside a department store buying two umbrella strollers and leaving our double stroller in a hallway by the bathroom. True story! It was way too hard for one person to push the double stroller up and down hills all day!

  • Adjust to the Same Schedule as the Locals, and Be Sure to Still Squeeze in Nap/Rest Time

In Spain, restaurants don’t even open until 8:00 p.m., so we took that into account and adapted our sleep schedules to match the life of the locals. That means our kids were going to bed at 11:00 p.m. and our 2-year-old was napping until 5:00 p.m. some days. Adjusting our schedule to what everyone else did was helpful with acclimating. 

  • Order the Sangria at Lunch

You deserve it.

Is traveling with children as simple as when it was just us? No. Is it as memorable? More so. You never know how many years you’ll be blessed with in your one precious life. So don’t wait. Book the flight!

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Brandy Wales
Born and raised in Indiana, Brandy spent a decade as an elementary teacher and instructional technology specialist in Chicago. After getting married to her husband Chad and starting their family in the Midwest, they decided it was important for their family to live somewhere where they could be outside year round. In 2020, they traded in their snow boots for swimsuits and purchased a duplex in downtown Charleston. Since then, they've renovated 8 properties - you can check them out @thecharlestonsuites on Instagram! Brandy loves spending time with her husband, their three kids, and two dogs. She also enjoys being outdoors, taking pictures, exploring new restaurants, blogging, and organizing anything and everything! From being landlords and Airbnb hosts to parents and travel enthusiasts, you can get a peek at her family's adventures at www.thewalestales.com.