Traveling With A Toddler Tips

Travelling with kids can be a bit like shooting a herd of wild goats on vacation. Whether they're your own or someone else's, factoring a kid 's needs to your travels involves a lot more than adhering on a CD full of pop songs and making toilet stops. Here two Rough Guides writers share their hard-won wisdom. To start, mum of 2 Hayley Spurway offers advice on traveling with toddlers, subsequently Ross McGovern shows the way he manages to traveling with older kids. Hayley Spurway's tips for travelling with toddlers

Pack Pull-Ups for potty training

Planes and public transportation during the potty training days could be a nightmare. As in the event that you didn't have enough in your hand luggage, now you're expected to bring a potty, three changes of clothes and bags of wet, stinky pants. Potty-training gurus may disagree, but if toddlers are still having lots of little accidents then I'm all for placing them back into Pull-Ups on the plane.

Give them a camera

Giving toddlers their own (strong, child-friendly) camera encourages them to observe their environment and concentrate on what interests them. You could be amazed by the results from their knee-high opinion. Amongst pictures of wheels and feet, my three-year-old has shot flowers, animals, helicopters, boats, stones and rabbit poo.

Brand them

If you're going to be travelling through active, crowded airports or transportation hubs, write your mobile number on your child's arm at biro if they have lost.

Book ahead

If you're camping or staying in hotels, it pays to book ahead. Attempting to keep the spontaneity of traveling BC (Before Children) doesn't repay in the event that you arrive at your destination to discover you can't bag a mattress or pitch and need to hit the road again with exhausted, hungry toddlers melt at the backseat.

Invest in a child locator

In my experience, toddlers aren't fans of reins, backpacks with a leash, or any infringement on their freedom. Keep tabs on them at airports, train stations and packed attractions with a child locator. The child wears a small unit (strapped to a belt or shoe) and you keep the transmitter. If you lose your child set off the alarm and follow the sound to find them.