I’m writing this post from Prague at the end of our annual month in Europe. Czechia is our 47th country with kids and our 10th this summer alone. Over dinner we started talking about what we’ve learned through all of this travel and quickly came up with ten pieces of advice that we’d give to anyone traveling, with or without kids.
Advice for Travelers
1. Check Your Passport Expiration Dates Annually
On January 1st of every year I physically check all of our passports to see if any are expiring in the next year and a half. A lot of countries won’t let you in if you have less than six months on your passport, and the renewal process takes a few weeks, so I make a note in my calendar seven months before expiration to start the process. And if that date falls near a school break, I move it back so that there’s no risk of not having valid passports when we need them. I’ve seen a lot of friends and frequent travelers get caught on this recently. Don’t take a chance!
2. Learn How to Say Hello, Goodbye and Thank You in the Local Language
And use them! Some languages are easier than others, but it’s always possible to learn the basics. I’m amazed at the people I see in Europe who make no effort at all to speak anything but English. Even in places where English is the language of tourism, locals appreciate you making an effort.
3. Say Yes
If someone asks you if you want to go somewhere or do something cool/fun/unique, say yes. Life is short. Fill it with adventure. Don’t have regrets. The highlight of your trip will likely come from an impromptu decision.
4. Don’t Expect Everything to Be Like Your Home Country
And that’s a good thing. The differences are what make travel interesting.
5. Look for Small Menus
The fewer items on a menu, the better the odds that those things are amazing. Some of our best meals have been at places where we weren’t even given a choice – whatever the cook was making that night we would be eating. Never go to a restaurant with a 10-page laminated menu on display with everything under the sun and, even worse, photos of their dishes. The simpler, the better.
6. Eat Local
Find out what the regional specialities are and search them out. We have a list of eight new things we’ve found this month in Italy, Greece and Czechia that we absolutely love and are going to make at home when we get back. My son liked Czech honey cake so much that he’s requested it for his birthday cake next month. Every country’s culture is integrated with its food, so the more you find out about the food, the more you can understand where you are. And because my kids have grown up doing this, they have nicely sophisticated palates and have never been picky eaters.
7. Don’t Visit Florence, Rome or Santorini For a Day Off a Cruise Ship and Check It Off Your List
This goes for any great city/destination in the world. If you visit on a shore excursion, you’re not getting much of a feel for the place, and you’re doing it at the worst possible time – in the middle of the day surrounded by thousands of others doing the same thing. Enjoy cruises but use them as an opportunity to get a small glimpse of a place. Then go back for several days or a week, wake up for sunrise, become a local and see why it’s special. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you judge a destination based on a few crowded, rushed hours there.
And I feel so strongly about Rome and Florence that I wrote this blog post!
8. Never Pack More than You Can Easily Carry
You’ll frequently need to get your bags in and out of airports, onto trains and ferries, and to and from hotel rooms. Make it easy on yourself. And bring an extra duffel for the things that you purchase on the way and make sure you’ll be able to carry that too. It doesn’t matter if you wear the same three outfits for a month. No one is paying attention. You can do laundry in hotel sinks.
9. Take Your Kids Everywhere (But Be Realistic)
There are children everywhere in the world – there’s really nowhere that’s off limits. But that doesn’t mean that all activities are appropriate or easy with kids. Skip the long museum visits. Maybe don’t climb that mountain until the kids are older. And incorporate downtime! Kids can’t keep up an adult pace for long.
10. Travel For Yourself
Don’t let others tell you how to travel. Ignore all of this advice if you want (except 1 and 2)! If you’re in an amazing cultural destination but all you want to do is relax at the beach, do it. If you really just want to see the Eiffel Tower and not explore Paris, that’s fine. We like to travel deeper and explore cultures, but we’ll take whole days and go to parks and play. There are no rules.
What would you add to this list?
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Don’t let a minor inconvenience or unmet expectation ruin your experience. Move on and look for the “magical”.
Excellent one!
Great list. Letting your kids play is such an excellent, perhaps initially unexpected, way to see the culture and meet locals. We’ve gotten wonderful insight into the places we’re visiting as well as so many fantastic recommendations talking with other parents at the playground.
Absolutely! Time at playgrounds is never wasted. The kids are always much less grumpy after a good playground stop.
Agreed! “Find the nearest playground” would be in my top ten. Kids can run off steam while parents plan the next steps. 🙂
Absolutely!!!
Fantastic list, looks a lot like mine! I have a few more that work for my family. I limit our trips to three different locations even though I personally could do dozens. For a family of four we only ever take two carry-on bags so I like somewhere w laundry facilities half way in. And no shame in using bribery if the promise of the visit to the park or ice cream gets you a bit of peace. 🙂
When packing we have a list the gets printed out and as things go into the suitcase it gets crossed out. That way we don’t leave the house without the goggles, allergy meds, etc.
Number one rule is just go, no two families are the same. Figure out what works for you along the way!
I usually limit our destinations to 3 or 4 too, but this summer it worked against me. I booked Lake Como, Naxos, Santorini and Prague over 30 days. Lake Como though was boring for the kids, so we did an impromptu trip to Florence for 5 days, leaving most of our things at the villa we rented in Lake Como, and it made for a much better overall trip.
We’re great with laundry on the road. And we live by “summer rules” when we’re traveling – if it’s not really dirty, keep wearing it! Instead of a packing list, we have a packing cube filled with all of the must-haves that we throw into our suitcase automatically so we don’t forget anything – blue tape, kids’ meds, a Frisbee, a picnic blanket, a sharpie, scissors, etc… And yep, we forgot goggles two summers ago and will never make that mistake again!
Blue tape? We have a must-haves bag too but still use the list, it’s like a security blanket when you’re Type A! 🙂 (Did I mention my husband has an Excel spreadsheet with everyone’s Passport numbers and the date it expires which turns RED when the date reaches 9 months out??)
As an aside, I really enjoy your blog. I remember binge reading when I discovered it; It has inspired me to allow my daughter to pick her birthday destination when she turns 13 in the Spring. It’s nice to know that there are families out there that view travel the way that I do.
Thanks Shadi! Let me know what your daughter chooses.
We use blue painters tape for everything. I want to do a blog post soon on everything we automatically take with us since I get the question a lot. I’ll explain more about the blue tape there!
This list is fabulous and glad to see I’m already doing these things. I would add in be prepared to go with the flow and don’t plan too much in advance. I work out a rough schedule but leave room to flip flop activities depending on a change of weather or tired travelers. And work around your most important must-sees so they are sure to happen.
Agree! I’ll book a few things well in advance, like cooking classes or unique tours, but for the most part we decide every day what we want to do that day.
One on our list – remember in the hairy/stressful moments that these experiences will be the source of much family laughter for years to come!
Yep! People always remember the good things and the good stories, and quickly forget the negatives.
Get the kids involved! In the planning and in the learning before you leave. When we were planning our next adventure, 25 days and counting, our girls (13 and 11) both asked if we could do London. They really wanted to go, so we are.
Each member of the family has a country to investigate as well, our eldest is learning French, so she has Paris, no 2 is turning 12 in London, we’re visiting family in Munich and Mr 5 just started learning German so he’ll have the basic greetings nailed by then, I’m turning 50 in Seville so I’m trying to learn some Spanish and hubby has Italian.
Five weeks, five countries. Wooo hooo!
Sounds great! And I agree about involving the kids – our kids help choose destinations and plan activities.
Make sure you do something that’s going to get you involved with locals at your destination. I did that this summer in England. I reserved a spot, before my trip, for an embroidery class in the West Midlands of England and met some really nice women from the area who were also there for the class. Our instructor was lovely and so talented and we talked and laughed all day while working on our projects, leaving at the end of the day with a beautifully finished embroidered picture to frame and keep as a remembrance of the day. I also took a few photos of everyone in the class and am so glad I did that. Once I was back home, I shared a couple of the photos with the instructor via email.
My “aha” moment was realizing, like you, that no one cares what you wear when you travel. My one family travel rule is to let everyone have a voice in deciding what to do. It’s helped our kids feel like it was their trip too!
Love all the great trips.
I would say my best tip is don’t listen to the all the people who tell you not to go.
Everyone told us it will be to hard, the kids won’t adjust, you can’t manage it with 5 kids, they won’t remember, and on and on.
I believed all of those people for years so we never traveled. Now I am just not listening and we are going and doing and it is working. Life is too short.
Absolutely Ebene! That should be number one on any list!
I love the “small menu” advice. It applies to family travel and adult solo travel. With kids, I always pack a small first aid kid including ibuprofen… just enough to tide me over until we can locate a pharmacy or doctor. Kids always get sick at night and there’s nothing worse than panicking about locating what you need.
Yes! I’m just running across your blog, and I couldn’t agree more!
So true about down time! And agree…take your kids everywhere! Love these rules!
Very nice tips. I really really love these rules. I want to add some more tips here like install a language converter on your mobile, merge with the local, take a map of your destinations with you, pre-book your accommodation and transportation will really take a lot of burdens off from your shoulders.
I love traveling with my five year old daughter. She’s been to over 50 countries so far and we have no plans to stop. It has changed the way I travel or the pace but it’s so remarkable seeing the world through her eyes.
That’s awesome Lesley! I honestly like traveling with my kids far more than with friends or solo. I’m hoping I can keep our annual one-on-one trips going through college and marriage and everything else.