When Michael was recording the top tips for travel with babies en toddlers, I was silently mumbling in the background, because I felt there was so much more to say! I decided to write an addition on the blog! (It’s been some time!) There is also some info here, where I told you about our USA road trip with our 8 month old baby. But since then we gained some more experience – this time in Indonesia and Thailand- and our girl is a bit bigger – so here we go! Needless to say, this is what worked for our little family, based on the countries we visited.
Toys/Books
As Michael said in the vlog, I always wrap some small inexpensive gifts when we travel by plane. This makes the trip a little more exciting for our daughter. We limit the toys we take with us, so it’s important to choose wisely. Big hits are (for our 2 ¾ year old) puzzles, a coloring book and crayons, an activity book with erasable marker to use again and again. We also found that she will find stuff to play with, she is imaginative enough. Sticks, sand, water, spoons, …
Walking Bridge near Pai
Screen time
How you handle screen time at home may differ from when you are on holidays. My approach is to be less strict about it when we are on the road. Of course I still prefer real play over games or movies on the iPad. But an iPad doesn’t take up a lot of space and the good thing is that you can download some stuff in advance so you can select the less crappy games and movies. If you have a Netflix account you can download some favorite shows to watch offline. I’m a fan of interactive games for our daughter, because at least she won’t stare at the screen like a zombie. The Lego games are good (for example Lego Train), and she also likes games by Bimi Boo.
Our kid loves reading, but we can’t take all her books with us. Our library gives members free access to a website where a lot of children’s (picture)books are accessible online; you can look at the illustrations and listen to the story; if you want, you can also take a quiz with questions about the book!) For the Dutchies: here! If you’re not a library member, you can also purchase a membership.
Laundry
We noticed it’s very easy and cheap to get your laundry done for you in Thailand and on Bali, and I imagine it’s not very different in other countries in the region. Just wait a day and pick up your bag of nice smelling, neatly folded clothing. We took one week’s worth of clothes (a bit more for the little one because she is prone to spilling) and just had them washed a couple of times. There are also self service places where you can do it yourself, but having it done is so cheap! For example in Thailand it was 40-50 baht per kilogram, which is like one euro or so!
PS I noticed this in Asia: Do you know how insanely good it smells when you walk past a place where they are drying the laundry?
Swimming on Koh Lanta
Swim diapers
Chances are, if you’re like us, there is a lot of swimming and splashing involved when you take your kid on holidays to a warm climate, whether it’s in the hotel pool, in the sea or at some fun waterpark. We’re still in the process of potty training, so to be sure, we use swim diapers. We could use disposable swim diapers like Huggies Little Swimmers, but when we swim all day everyday, we don’t want to use those: bad for the environment, bad for our wallet. We like the reusable ones, like the ones from Happy Bear.
Cot/co-sleeping
Maybe your hotel has a cot available (often you pay a little extra), or you brought something like a Deryan travel cot, which easily fits in a suitcase. Sometimes there is an extra bed in the room, and we barricade her with pillows so she doesn’t roll off (I wouldn’t do this with a baby) One time in an Airbnb they were friendly and put an extra mattress on the floor for her, which was great. If we stay in a place with a king size bed, our daughter sleeps in our bed (she is small, but MAN does she take up a lot of space in the bed! And she kicks in her sleep!)
Nap time
Naps have a huge impact on our schedule when we travel. Unless we are on our way in a car/train/plane to our next accomodation, it means we go back to the place where we are staying during the afternoon. We plan around it. When our daughter was younger, she sometimes slept in the baby carrier (we had a Marsupi and a Manduca), or in the stroller. But napping in a bed – with airconditioning- is more comfortable for her, and well, we don’t really mind, because who doesn’t like a siesta when it’s hot outside!? It gives us time to relax a bit, edit the vlog, read, etc.
Bananas on the road side!
Food
We used to have a very flexible eater. Now she is two, and a bit more picky. She doesn’t care for rice and noodles, at the moment – which is a bit unfortunate…I mean with two long trips to Asia and all. Still, we didn’t have to resort to the kids menu. Fortunately, she still likes most raw vegetables, egg, bread, fruit…hurray for hotel breakfasts! But most restaurants serve stuff like that too during the day, and then there are the beautiful markets with everything you could desire on display. Did I say she adores chicken? Fried chicken was always on the menu (minus the skin; she doesn’t like that….how?!) Oh and she has a soup addiction! So when I ate tom ka kai, half of it went into her mouth! This diet, plus sandwiches from 7 Eleven, kept her happy and full. And if you’re worried about tummy troubles: we had none! Not in Thailand, not in Indonesia. Just drink bottled water, and eat where you see a lot of locals eat.
Ok, time to go. You can leave any comments, additional advice or questions below! And a very happy and adventurous new year by the way! – Anna