Travel Europe with Kids: A few tips and thoughts

Too often I am asked about how my children handle traveling.
The best answer I usually give to sum it up quickly is "They manage". 

The most annoying thing I hear from ignorant people is "It must suck to go places with kids".
Truth be told, I prefer to travel with them, and yeah I really mean that!

In this post I'll explain how I keep four kids happy while traveling, and I will also explain why traveling with kids is not as bad as some people think! You may be surprised.

First, let's keep the kiddies smiling.

In order to have happy kid adventurers, there are three major things required:
Food, engagement, and rest.

• FOOD

Food is the utmost happy factor with kids, no matter if at home or while sightseeing in London. 

If you have food on hand, 90% of the time you'll have content youngster travel companions.

Depending on what type of day it is depends on how our family handles the food thing. 

If I know we'll be on a time crunch, my husband will tote a backpack full of snacks. I'll individually bag anything and everything (beforehand) if it is not already packaged as such. 

Trail mix, goldfish crackers, whatever it may be. It's much easier to pass out individual snacks rather than have four kids pass around a bag, and individual packaging also allows more room in the backpack.

TIPS: 

1. Try avoiding salty snacks. Salty snacks make anyone thirstier, and when one is thirsty, one drinks more liquids. When one consumes more liquids, more time is spent trying to find a WC than a landmark! 
2. If you have more than one child, write names on each bag or container. It never fails that one (or more) kid(s) won't finish a snack, or even want it at the time. When snacks get mixed up, blood will spill. This helps keep arguments, about who had more Chex Mix in their baggie, at a minimum.

Things we pack: Granola bars, trail mix, crackers, sugar free gummy bears, teddy grahams, just to name a few snacks. If it's an extra long day, I'll throw in protein bars or low sodium beef jerky to keep energy levels at a good rate.

Seriously though, even if I am not out and about with my kids, bringing some quick snacks along is a must for me, so it's not as if bringing them for my children is a burden.

And if you're not into carrying a backpack, don't! Just be prepared to stop often for gelato, crepes, bratwurst, sandwiches, etc,. We don't always carry a backpack, but those days end up being a bit more expensive. And I must note, we personally do not use snacks in place of regular meals. I like eating real food, and my kids do too.

Gluwein in Nuremberg!

• ENGAGEMENT

Not sure what to do on day three in Barcelona? Ask the kids! 

When children are engaged, they feel included and are more than likely happy to be wherever you are.

I always set aside a decent chuck of time in our travels to allow for something they'd like to do. It's only fair. How would you feel if you were on a trip with friends, but had to do all of the boring crap they wanted to do, constantly? 

Uhhh, it becomes old, real quick. I know, I have done it. Blah.

When my children choose a museum, a park, a zoo, or wherever it may be, it means they want to be there. It's also a way to teach them compromise. 

"We'll go to the toy store you want to visit, and then to the [boring] castle I would like to see. After the castle, you pick again".

I don't let my kids control every other place we visit in a normal adventure day, but most times I will let them choose the next landmark based on a list that I already have. It makes them feel as if they contributed to our daily exploration, even if I already planned on seeing that particular attraction.

Also, one of my favorite things to do before we go on any trip is an 'Eye-Spy' list. 

My kids LOVE them!

My children are 9, 10, 10 (twins), and 12. They are all in the same age range-ish, so I have only ever made one list for each place and printed it out four times. 

If you have kids ranging in ages, you can tailor a list to their reading and comprehension abilities.

I made our lists into a game. Whomever crosses off all things on the list first gets a shiny €2 coin. 

If not everything is crossed off, we add the numbers at the end of our trip, and the kid with the most wins.

You can make an eye spy list pretty darn elaborate, but I keep mine simple and themed to each city (and I also base it off places I know we will visit within each city).

Examples:

Paris:  French Flag, Metal horse, Glass Pyramid, Stone beard, Statue of Liberty...

London: Union Jack, Paddington Bear, Furry black hat, Fish and Chips sign....

Barcelona: Christopher Columbus, Stained Glass, Tall Ship, Seashell...

Crossed Paddington Bear off the list. She was excited to see him!

If your children are younger, try making a list that includes clip art instead of words.

If they are older, you can incorporate the local language (pertaining to the city you are visiting), to make it more challenging. If you're super mom, you can make riddles for teens.

We'll be revisiting Paris soon, so instead of a broad Eye-Spy list like our first trip there, I made a list dedicated to a rather large museum (Louvre) we'll be spending a day at. 

Since I have never been to this museum (I only know about 15 of it's attractions off the top of my head), I just hopped on google, the museum's official website, and pinterest to gather off the wall (or on the wall?) ideas of what they'll see.

There are two more simple ways to keep kids engaged while sightseeing: Money and a camera.

Money: I pick a random day where I know we'll be close to touristy spots in a city, and before we leave our hotel I'll give each child €5-10 (or whatever currency the city uses). It seriously doesn't take a whole lot of money for them to be happy. With it, they can buy whatever they want, but I remind them not every key chain stand is equal. Haha.

Camera: I tote my DSLR everywhere, and unless it's a photo with myself and my husband together, nobody holds it but the grown folks. But I always pack our waterproof/shockproof point and shoot for the kids (with a massive SD card. Kids are snap happy). Each kid gets to use it for an hour at a time, per day, and can take pictures of whatever. This is also a super cool way to see what they saw when we get back home and upload! Some of the photos are redundant, some are pretty good, and others are embarrassing...

Finally, explain to your kids what it is they are seeing. Tell them the history, even if you know very little. Ask them what they think about the cathedral, the castle, the art, etc,. Let them ask you questions. Again, it makes them feel included, get's their minds in motion, and helps erase boredom. 

• REST

For both kids and adults, traveling can be tiring. It's common for adults to brush it off and get through the day (even if miserable), but for children, it's not always that simple.

Find a park. Let your kids be kids for a moment. This also gives parents a minute to breathe and recuperate, or to evaluate what's next on the list. It doesn't always have to be a park, find a garden, and sit for a bit. It's also fun to 'people watch' while in a foreign place!

Diana Memorial Playground in London

If your hotel or apartment is in the middle of the city of where you are visiting, make plans to pop into your room midday and get a nap in, if possible. In Barcelona's summer heat, we popped into our room to take cool showers every day, which refreshed us for the rest of our day.

Even if I don't have my kids in tow, I still make time for a quiet place during my travels.

Well, those are my top three survival tips for traveling with kids, tried and true, and used every other weekend! I know there are many other tips out there, but if you stick to these three things, the rest is easy breezy.

My kids are troopers, 99% of the time. We only ever had one melt down while visiting Munich last year. She was just having a really bad day, even before getting in the car. 

They're actually pretty awesome travel companions, which leads me to my next topic:

Traveling with kids is NOT as bad as it seems.

I must clarify, I said kids, not babies. 

When my children were babies, we didn't do a whole lot of traveling, so I cannot personally speak on the subject of traveling with wee littles and strollers and bottles. 

But kids...not so bad!

Errrr, well mine aren't.

A few reasons as to why it's not that bad:

1. Having someone on hand to snap of photo of you and your partner/spouse is nicer than asking a stranger that doesn't speak your language. And is way better than having a ton of selfies.
2. Locals seem friendlier to people with children. Never fails, in any city, older locals stop and try talking to my children, and then to us. Sometimes we understand them, sometimes we don't.  
3. FREE macarons in Ladurée Paris, free lollipops at Hampton Court in London, and free ice cream in Germany because of the kids! For all of us, not just them. No complaints there. 
4. Most times when boarding the metro trains, people will gesture us to go first (same with some WC visits). With some Euro airlines, folks traveling with kids up to 11 years old get to board first (whereas it's usually families with small children first in the US). Oh, and you do NOT get free Legos when traveling with Lufthansa unless you have children. Boom.
   
5. Most pubs are family friendly, so if you want a beer, you can have a beer.
6. Kids get into most sightseeing attractions and museums free throughout Europe anyway, so it's not as if they're an added expense. There are very few places we have visited here where I actually had to pay for my kids' entry fee. Actually, I can only think of two out of the many.
7. Kids give adults a reason to carry a backpack. See a dad/mom with a backpack and you're like "Oohh, how nice". See a single dude/lady with a backpack and you wonder what he/she has in there, and why.
8. Having children means you can visit the coolest playground ever; The Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens, London. If you don't have kids while visiting, you'll look like a creep and may be kicked out (it had guards at the gate).
9. Children are a good excuse to ride the famous carousel in Paris without looking like an idiot tourist.

   

   She looks thrilled. No?

10. Ever heard the saying "Be careful who you make memories with. Those things can last a lifetime"? Yeah, about that. My children will always be my children, and who better to see the Eiffel Tower with for the first time? I won't have to look back at my vacation photos and cringe at a sleazy ex-boyfriend or regret my 'girl's trip to Cancun' with backstabbing ex-friends in my photo album. Thank God.

Overall, I am glad I have the opportunity to teach my kids about different cultures, places, history, and travel. It's something I wish my parents had the ability to do when I was growing up. 

I have learned so much about myself by being immersed in foreign places, and it's nice to know my children have too, but at a younger age than I. This is something, I think and hope, will stick with them throughout their lives. 

I smile politely at the people who say "That must suck to travel with kids" because at the end of the day, at least I am traveling. Funny that most of the people who say this rude statement are not. 

Now that must suck.

Living abroad has been the experience of a lifetime thus far, and I am happy the memories I am creating are with people I love more than anything else in this world. I wouldn't have it any other way!