Around the World with a Kid in a Week Survival Tips

Around the World in a Week with a Kid: Survival Tips

 

Ever been around the world with a kid in a week? I'm in the middle of traveling around the world with the munchkin in about a week, mainly for work, to visit key Virtuoso hotels and resorts for TravelSort Hotels clients and experience a couple new first class and business class products for my Award Booking clients. Crazy to do this with a kid? Probably. But I'd rather not leave him in the care of a babysitter, as he has the week off from school this week anyway, and my husband doesn't have any vacation days left.

Let me be clear: I don't recommend traveling around the world in a week, with or without a kid in tow. I much prefer spending time at destinations, if I have the time. But being in the travel business, I don't always have the luxury of time when trying to walk through and review several different hotels and resorts my clients are considering.

In any case, if you ever find yourself in the situation of considering a wide-ranging trip with a kid, whether because that's all your vacation days or your kid's vacation days allow, here are my tips so far, based on the last few whirlwind days:

1. Know Your Kid's Temperament

I probably wouldn't have attempted this trip if my son had a different temperament or personality that was very risk averse. So far he seems to thrive on seeing and experiencing new places and he's naturally gregarious, enjoying meeting and talking to new people. He loves the thrill of being in an airport and looking at the departure signs with all the different destinations, of taking night flights, and increasingly, of learning about the history of a place.

On the other hand we have friends whose kids are currently very shy and don't like to be in new situations or to travel much, and if the munchkin was more like this, I wouldn't have taken him on this trip at his age.

 

2. No Checked Luggage

This has been a cardinal rule in our family, ever since we got out of the baby/toddler phase where a fair amount of gear was needed. Now, with just carry-on luggage, it frees us from having to wait around at baggage claim or worry about things getting lost or delayed, which is especially frustrating when doing a short, fast-paced trip.


3. Build in Time for Your Kid to Sleep

While I haven't gotten as much sleep as I'd like and even the munchkin hasn't gotten as much sleep as he normally gets at home, I've really focused on trying to give him as much sleep as possible on the flights, and also, when we arrived at one of our cities very early morning, booking the hotel from the night before so that we could go straight to our room and catch up on sleep. 

You want to be careful not to overdo things or run yourself ragged with a kid along, since young kids need 10-11 hours of sleep and it really affects everything if they don't get enough rest.

 

4. Bring Emergency Snacks and Buy/Refill Water Bottles

Similar to sleep, lack of food or water when needed is a real crisis with a young child. Even if you think you'll always be able to buy food somewhere, just bring some organic cereal, dried fruit, etc. as emergency healthy snacks that won't send your kid on a sugar high but will tide him/her over to the next regular meal. It's amazing how much energy kids burn.


5. Stick to Regular House Rules and Routines as Much as Possible

It can be easier, with work demands, to let regular routines and house rules slide, but it's important to keep cherished bedtime routines while on the road for comfort. The manners we're training him on at home apply at any restaurant we go to, and I try, not always successfully, to have the munchkin keep up with his Russian homework just as he does at home.

 

6. Leverage the Power of Two for Lines

This has worked well for us on a couple of levels: faced with long immigration/passport control lines, we stand in two nearby lines and pretend we're having a competition. The munchkin has fun, and one of us moves over to the shortest line.

 

7. Allow Time for Serendipity

One of the temptations on a brief trip is to try to squeeze too much in. But kids can only go for so long, before they need a change of pace, some running around time, or just want to soak in a street performance or festival. Leave time for these serendipitous occurrences, and let yourself be led by your child sometimes–you'll learn more about the person they're becoming. Childhood is fleeting, and most of us only get a few chances to travel with our children at a given age.

Have you ever traveled around the world in a week with a kid? What are your tips?

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