10 Tips for Traveling Abroad with a Toddler
Click the image to save these ideas to you Pinterest.
A few months ago, we took our first international trip with our daughter, who was 16-months old at the time. We prepared well, learned a lot, and decided it went so well…that we’re already planning our next one!
It will be a new destination, she’s a few months older (aka walking now!), and I’m not going to blindly hope that this trip will be just as seamless as the last one – but nonetheless, as I’ve been looking at hotels and mapping train routes, I’ve been reflecting a bit on went well last go-around and what we should take into the next one.
If you’re thinking about traveling with your toddler, here are my top 10 lessons learned from traveling abroad to Europe with a toddler.
Author’s Note: At first glance, several of things on this list may seem to be expensive suggestions. But one of the reasons we love traveling to Europe so much is because the cost always shakes out to be so much cheaper than many popular places in the US – we often can get several nights of a hotel in Europe at the same price as one night is in the states! This means we can redirect some of that savings to little luxuries that make traveling as a family easier.
Buy them their own seat.
I know this isn’t an option for everyone. And even if you can swing it, I know it’s so tempting to save that money or spend it elsewhere.
But a full row of seats for such long flights made it worth every penny.
She had space to wiggle, stand, crawl, watch her own screen, and, critically, sleep for a real stretch of the flight in a nest we built her out of blankets and a small pillow.
Getting a seat for our toddler was the best decision we made for a long-haul flight! Our airline allowed inflatable foot rests, so she had her own little bed!
Pick a destination for everyone, not just yourself.
For your first international trip, prioritize convenience over excitement. Of course, Spain has been on our bucket list for years, but absent a toddler, I don’t know it would've been our next trip.
But three things put Barcelona at the top for our first trip abroad with a toddler: it has excellent public transit so we didn’t need a car seat, it’s the shortest direct international flight for us, and their culture treats kids like little celebrities.
Some other places we have traveled pre-kids that I also think would be great first Europe trips with a young toddler are Paris, Lisbon, and the south of France.
While there are children anywhere you go, research destinations that particularly family-friendly. We found Barcelona to be awesome with a kid!
Go when the weather is mild.
Since we became parents, weather has climbed to the top of the adventure-planning decision chart. While we treasure some of our memories of sunsets at 10pm in Italy, choosing to travel in May meant highs in the 70s, long enough evenings, and no fighting crowds. If you can time your trip to a stretch where everyone is easily comfortable — do it. This is the least sexy tip on this list and possibly the most important.
Book an apartment, not a hotel.
Our two non-negotiables for this trip were apartments with a separate bedroom and a balcony. The bedroom meant she could adjust to a new sleep environment easier, laying down in a dark room, with the door closed and her sound machine on. The balcony meant the night didn't end when she went down. We poured wine, ate late-night snacks, planned the next day, and generally felt like adults on a trip rather than parents whispering in a Marriott.
All of our Airbnbs provided clean and safe cribs and high chairs!
Use public transit.
Whether to bring a car seat is probably one of the bigger decisions you'll make. While everyone is different, we decided not to. Our daughter doesn't love car seats, so we made sure to pick a destination where public transit could take us everywhere. This worked great.
Although it wasn’t necessary, we did splurge on a private car with a provided car seat for our airport transfers. For this, I used Blackbird, and the drivers, cars, and provided car seat were all top-notch. It wasn’t very cheap, but it is nice to know for future trips that this is a reliable back-up in a pinch.
Streamline the airport.
Because we plan to take more international trips as a family, we went ahead and got Global Entry. It saves you from standing in a long customs line after a 9-hour flight, plus it includes TSA pre-check. It lasts for five years and for the price we paid I think it’s well worth it!
Don’t forget, when traveling with a toddler they need their own passport and some also ask to see a birth certificate.
Buy travel insurance and do medical research.
I always get travel insurance and it has saved us more than once! I typically use Allianz, where I think you get the best bang for your buck (our last trip was about $150 for 10 days of coverage).
This time, I also did some research beforehand and compiled a document listing the nearest hospitals, urgent cares, and pediatric clinics with English-speaking staff near each place we stayed, with directions. We fortunately never needed it, but if we had, this prep could have been the difference between a scary problem and a solvable one. Plus, being prepared gave me peace of mind.
Don’t fret the time change.
Our first trip with a toddler was a six hour time change and I didn’t go in with much of a plan. I figured we would just feel it out. We landed in Barcelona at 10am after a red-eye. Our daughter had napped a couple of hours on the plane, and she napped again in the stroller as we walked the neighborhood that first afternoon. That night, we put her down at 7pm Spain time — noon back home — and hoped for the best. She woke up for an hour or so, but we just coaxed her back down with a short bedtime Ms. Rachel video – we kept reminding her during it that when it was over we were going back to bed. At the end, we said “okay, wave night night to Ms. Rachel!” and then turned it off and laid her back down. By the third day, she was sleeping through the night and fully adjusted to the time change.
I know other parents who have adjusted their toddler’s bedtime by a few hours – so they were staying up later than normal and sleeping in – but just plunging her right into the new time seemed to work fine for us. I’ll note here that our toddler was not some super-sleeper…in fact, for many, many months before this trip she was a horrible sleeper and our trip abroad seemed to turn things around. I can’t say this is how the adjustment to sleep will work for everyone, but am just sharing our experience. Ultimately, I think you just have to be prepared, manage your expectations, and pay attention to your child’s signals.
Be strategic with naps (for everyone).
We made sure she napped in the crib at the apartment at least half of the days, to help her be more comfortable and well-rested. On those days, my husband and I took turns staying back while she napped so the other could go out and explore, shop, or sit at a coffee shop for a few hours on their own. On the other days, we let her nap on the go. She slept in the chest carrier during our hike in Montserrat. Or she would fall asleep in the stroller, reclined flat with a blanket draped to block the light, while we sat at a cafe and could talk without interruption. With this approach, naps felt like valuable structure that added to the trip, instead of a logistic that held us back.
Oh, to catch a nap while your mom hikes you through the mountains of Montserrat!
Prepare well and be open-minded.
When I was researching tips for traveling with a toddler before our trip, every blog and reddit post tells you to lower your expectations. But nobody ever really said what that means, but I found out what it meant for us.
We made a list of everything we wanted to do, ranked it by priority, and assumed we'd do one big thing a day, but wouldn’t be able to do it all. We ended up doing more, because she was more adaptable than we gave her credit for. She was happier out in the world than at the apartment. She smiled through a full day at Montserrat that would be taxing even for childless travelers.
But the reason we could flex up was that we'd built in the option to flex down: a nap at 10am if she needed it, a full afternoon at the apartment if she was overstimulated, a playground detour on the walk to the sightseeing. And we were super prepared – we always had backup snacks, a change of clothes, a carrier and a stroller, whatever might help the day extend a little bit easier.
I was SUPER nervous before our first trip. Although we are experienced travelers, I had no idea what to expect with a 16-month old in the equation!
Even though not everything went perfectly, it was better than I could’ve imagined.
While hindsight is 20/20, it helps to know now that we quickly forget the hard parts and now have such treasured memories of traveling abroad as a family.
