3 unspoken reasons why you should travel with your children (while you can)

Traveling with (young) children is a wonderful experience. There are many excellent reasons why you should travel with your family.

·       To spend precious moments together.

·       To open youthful minds to other cultures, to educate young tastes to varied and delicious food.

·       To let children experience, more than study, art and history.

·       To teach to the new generation values of tolerance and openness.

·       To allow young lives to become fearless, adventurous ones.

·       And many more!

That said, I can think about at least 3 (more or less serious) reasons why traveling with my young kids is so great:

Crossing the border to Laos

Reason 1: Cut the queues at airport gates and customs. Air travel with young kids is so easy. Know these long lines that form when passenger board a plane or these endless queues at custom’s booths? Forgot about them! Thanks to priority boarding and lanes, you will not have to wait another minute in queues.

Reason 2: Seize your chance to travel - now. Many people I know dream of the journeys they will take “when the kids are older”. Well, when are they old enough? With 6, 8, 10 years? Think about these 2 facts and start traveling today:

1)      Traveling with young kids is cheaper. Infant and toddlers often get anywhere for free, preschoolers for half the price. Travel now before you have to break the bank for it!

2)      The more you travel today, the more you are likely to travel in future – simply because your kids will like, or even love it! Our children are ordinary kids but they are accustomed to travel, and thus fall asleep everywhere, eat (nearly) everything and enjoy (within reasonable limits) every church, museum and temple visit. 

Reason 3: Get full credit for your parenting job. This is probably the most unexpected reason, the one you’d never think about. When we share travel stories with family or friends, we often get admiring comments: “Wow, you really toured Cambodia with 3 children? Wasn’t it exhausting, difficult? You’re so brave!”. Here’s the truth: caring for 3 young ones is what we do on a daily basis. Feeding, bathing, solving conflicts, comforting, dressing and undressing... Indeed, parenting is sometimes challenging. But why would it be more difficult abroad than home? Our kids don’t suddenly turn into little monsters when we cross borders. So, thank you, dear friends and family, for the appreciative feedback, but we’re really just ordinary parents.

What do you do on a beach day?

White sandy beaches. Clear blue sky. Shallow, quiet sea. A few palm trees, maybe. That's the perception of a dream vacation day for many families. We sampled those days during our Asian trip. Nice, yet boredom is never far away. After a few hours, we have enough of it. Even the children grow tired, particularly the younger ones.

Beach vacation is very popular among families. I sometimes wonder why. What makes a day at the beach a perfect day for you? I listed my ideas of why beaches are fun.

1. For sandcastle building. One of my favorite activities as a child, which I still find enjoyable. Perfect for all ages, across generations. The younger ones create simple sand pyramids, the most skilled artists craft towers, stairs, bridges... At the end of the day, we all watch the tide wash our masterpiece away. 

When traveling, we often find ourselves dramatically under-equipped for this activity. No buckets, no molds. Building sandcastles with bare hands or improvised tools is definitely more complex.

2. For bathing, swimming, playing in the waves. Look at beach photographs, have you noticed how few people actually bathe in the sea? Strange, isn't it? Isn't bathing the prime reason why people come to the beach? Whenever we are at the coast, we spend most of our time in the water, no matter if mild or cold. That's fun in any case!

3. For collecting shells. Children love collecting shells. Bad news for parents who end up with full pockets and bags. Unless you're in a secret place with the most beautiful and precious shells, the collection is rather uniform and useless. Shell do perfect sandcastle decorations, though.

4. For selling paper flowers. A Belgian specialty. Belgian children craft paper flowers which they "sell", in exchange for a few shells, on the endlessly flat Belgian beach. A great tradition and a lot of fun for local kids!

5. To relax? Well, that one puzzles me. Many parents say they go to the beach with kids to enjoy a relaxed day there. How do they do that? No matter how good my daughter can swim and how many swimming aids I use for the younger ones, I can never relax or open a book when my children play in or near water. Can you?

What are your additions to this list?

The truth about long bus rides with children (and how to survive them) #cambodia #laos #familytravel

When I searched the Internet prior to our trip to South-East Asia, I found that many questions were raised concerning bus transportation. Long bus rides are no one's favorites. I share here some facts and feedback based on our family experience in Cambodia and Laos.

Fact Nr. 1: There's no way around bus trips. Unless you literally want to  fly over the country and hop to major sites and cities (Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Pakse, Vientiane and Luang Prabang in Laos) or you book an expensive luxury Mekong cruise, that will let you discover just a handful of remarkable places, buses are the only way to explore Cambodia and/or Laos within a reasonable timeframe.

Fact Nr. 2: It's cheap. Good news if you're on budget, traveling by bus is really cheap. One tip to bring the costs even further down: if your kids are young enough (mine are 4 and 6), they can share one seat and thus pay only one ticket. Babies and toddlers travel on your lap for free.

Fact Nr. 3: It's not as bad as it seems. Why are you so afraid of long bus rides? Many families I know travel to south of France for their vacation. It's an 8-hour car ride, excluding the long queues at toll gates, the waiting time in crowded rest areas, only to receive poor food and access barely clean restrooms. Does that sound more exciting than a long ride through beautiful landscapes in Laos? After all, busses offer more leg space, more opportunities to have a relaxed family chat or to get to know other travelers.

Fact Nr. 4: Be prepared. Your survival kit for a long bus ride with children include:

- an iPad or a tablet. As much as I like my children to play, read or write while traveling, nothing beats tablet applications on a bus ride. Let's face it: roads are rough and bumpy. Cards and game parts fall off trays, writing and coloring is nearly impossible. A tablet, loaded with fun apps and cartoons, keeps the kids busy and happy. 

- sufficient food and water supply. Bring large bottles of water and straws. Always ask for straws when buying water, nearly every shop has some. They are very useful to prevent children from splashing water all over the bus (remember, the ride is often a bumpy one). Snacks (candied pineapple, banana crisps or imported cookies) are perfect to keep little hands and mouths quiet. Don't forget to offer some snacks to nearby passengers! Lao and Cambodian people are very generous and will easily share food with your children too! 

Note: the bus will also stop for food and drinks along the way, but not necessarily at the usual lunch/dinner hours.

Fact Nr. 5: Don't cover too long distances in one day! A distance of 250 km is covered  in approximately 5 hours. Plan your trip accordingly. If you want to ride a longer distance, consider adding a night stop in a small town along the way (it's often a pleasant surprise) or just fly directly to your end destination.

Fact Nr. 6: Road safety is always a concern. There is little you can do about it. Bus drivers are fairly cautious and usually drive slowly, partly due to poor road conditions. By all means, avoid traveling at night. Prefer large busses over minivans. Some companies that operate minivans follow a tight schedule, and drivers will speed to stick to it. The company GiantIbis in Cambodia has a reputation of safe driving.

Fact Nr. 7: Enjoy! It will be sometimes boring, noisy and bumpy, but you and your family will see beautiful landscapes, meet friendly people and experience unique moments.

Baby cot or not baby cot?

When travelling with a baby, one of the big difficulties arises when the night comes. Where will you put your little one to rest? If you selected a family-friendly vacation resort and decided to drive there by car, you have probably packed one of those travel baby cots. All young parents know what I am talking about: bulky, heavy and a nightmare to fold and unfold too!

The theme of travel bed’s folding and unfolding would deserve a separate post, let us stick to the weight and size of the indispensable baby item. Now that you’ve packed it, your trunk is probably jammed and will not let another child’s bike or pair of rollers in. 

On a flight, you will hardly want to carry a heavy baby cot and risk to pay a overweight fee.

What's the solution?

Many hotels offer to fit an additional baby bed in your room, but what if the bed is already booked, unavailable or just too expensive as most guesthouses will charge an extra for the service?

It’s time for creativity, here are a few good - or less good - ideas we experimented:

1)      Sleep on the ground: Travel to Japan and sleep in ryokans (traditional Japanese guesthouses). Our daughter was 8 months old when we experienced it. Every evening we unfolded one additional futon bed next to mine, and there she slept, close by her mother, but on a separate mat.

2)      Camp: Camping is probably the easiest option and a fun one too! If you have the right camping equipment, it is just as easy and relaxing as it gets.

3)      Sleep in single or double beds: How many times did we end up with only that option? No baby cot available, no other place to stay overnight… We spent the night in a standard family room and tried to turn the bed in baby-friendly place. Displaced the beds, moved our suitcases next to it, re-designed the interior space. We were more or less successful in family-friendly design. I remember a very cozy hotel with high, comfortable beds and thick carpets on the floor. I remember waking up in the middle of the night, crossing the room and almost stepping on that pile of dirty laundry that my careless children had left on the floor. Luckily I didn’t: it was my baby boy who had fallen from the high bed and crawled a few meters towards the thick carpet where he resumed sleeping, all curled up on this comfy mat.

4)      Sleep in a tent: A tent that you can carry with you. The ideal way to travel with babies. Compact, light and convenient in any situation! 

      An image says more than 1000 words. Look at our ingenious set-up in the R.V.: two kids in the large bed and one baby in the tent!

      It's also perfect for a nap on the beach!

      Note: we found our travel cot on the internet where it was sold under the Deryan brand. You will probably find other brands in sports or travel shops. I mentioned earlier in this page that travel beds can be difficult to fold and unfold. The travel tent can represent a challenge, if you're not used to it! It takes 2 seconds to unfold. Folding it back in the carrying case without knowing the proper instructions would be like folding an origami crane for the first time without any guidance. Make sure to learn the folding steps, take notes, film it, and practice before you leave on vacation! I am now an expert and folds the bed back in its carry-pack in less than a minute.