The Travel Bug Hits My Kids

When I was a kid, my family, like so many others of my generation, took a road trip every summer. My parents stuffed seven or eight of us in the back of a station wagon (before the days of seat belts, air conditioning, or installed TV/video games) and drove from Denver to San Francisco and called it a vacation. It must not have been as torturous as it sounds because out of those trips grew a life-long love of travel which I'm afraid I may have passed on to my own kids (although I've only subjected them to one road trip).

I have discovered that children can be very adaptable and can be trained to be good travelers from a very young age. My first born took her first big trip at six months old, flying from her birthplace of Germany to Denver and Tucson to meet grand parents. While hard work for me, we encountered no major problems on the trip. Some of my secrets involved a full diaper bag with plenty of diapers, changes of clothes, formula, toys, and plugs (pacifiers). I had heard that one way to counteract the effects of altitude changes to baby's ears is to make sure they are sucking during ascent and descent so we were able to avoid the " throw the screaming baby out the window" act in that way.

The most difficult age to travel with is from one to three years when being restrained in a seat is pure torture and they're not old enough to benefit from a logical explanation as to why they can't race up and down the aisle and meet every person on the plane. One of the easiest ages was two months. Andrew slept most of the way from Denver to New York waking only to nurse during the descent. Obviously, another helpful hint is to choose flight times around nap time and bed time whenever possible.

If your little one has never been on an airplane, prepare them ahead of time by getting books at their age level and talking about what it will be like when the airplane goes up in the sky. Don't try to dress the little ones up like fashion models - keep them comfortable. If they have a "lovey" such as a blanket or doll, take that along, but keep a close eye on it - if left behind you may have a lot of sleepless nights. Snacks, books, and a few toys can provide a good distraction.

It's a good idea to involve the kids a little bit in the trip planning. When I took the family on a two week trip to Germany to revisit the area that I had lived in ten years earlier, I purchased a set of German language video tapes and books, "Muzzy", They were able to pick up a few words and phrases in German and had seen pictures of the area before landing in a foreign land. I remember that the landlady of a "gasthaus" that we stayed at was quite impressed when Andrew, then 2 ½ years old, told her "danke shoen" when she gave him a chocolate bar.

My kids, like most, enjoy the trips that involve an amusement park the best, but they've also had some great trips that include history or science. We've been to Six Flags Amusement parks all over the country and on several cruises. My kids have been to most of the states and to several countries. Favorite spots have included: Williamsburg, Plymouth, Washington D.C., the museums in Chicago, and the aquarium in Monterey Bay. Travelling with kids has sometimes been a challenge, but it has also always been an adventure to remember. I hope my kids will pass the travel bug on to their kids.