Let’s demystify traveling with a toddler! One key thing we have learned is to adjust expectations, know that crying and tantrums will happen but it’s a small part of the bigger picture, which is making lifelong memories with your little one.
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Why Travel is so Important to Us:
We both consider travel a priority in our lives. We made a point to travel at least 2-3 times a year since we’ve been married. We both also come from families where travel was part of our upbringing. Coming from an immigrant family makes that a given most of the time – a lot of time spent visiting family across the world. For me, that meant a lot of time in France and Jordan, and for Marcelo, a lot of time in Argentina and Mexico. Our families dragged us all over the world from VERY young ages. I think I was one on my first trip to Europe, and Marcelo about the same on his first trip to Argentina. And our parents did it without screens, internet, iphones, headphones, or half of the fancy, high-tech baby equipment available these days. So, I find it very interesting when we share our travel plans for our daughter that people seem amazed we would travel that far with a toddler. Obviously, we make good use of all the amenities living in this day and age provides us, and yes, it’s still a challenge at times, but it’s so worth it if you can make it happen!
We recently did a 10 day trip to Portugal with Mila – who was just about to be 2 years old at the time. The full itinerary is in a separate blog post, but we flew out of NYC and included a overnight stay on each end of the trip, which I highly recommend. It gave us less anxiety about potential delays or cancellations, and allowed some adjustment time before getting on the next leg of the flight. Within Portugal, we moved around a lot — Lisbon to Amarante to Porto to Lagos then back to Lisbon. All the articles I read strongly suggested to stay in one spot, but this is just not how we travel and we wanted to see as much as possible on the little vacation time we have. So, here are a few tips on how we made it happen:
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Get your toddler excited about the trip!
- We started telling Mila about our upcoming trip months before we left. We bought a few travel friendly toys and explained we would be going in an airplane and flying the in sky. She was SO excited to get on the plane and I really do think this helped with the transition.
- Buy them their own luggage/backpack for them to “pack”
- Check out your local library to find travel books. You might even find one on the specific place you are going!
- Little Traveler Books//Leap Frog Interactive Globe//My Suitcase Book//Minnie Suitcase//Unicorn Backpack
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Book an overnight flight:
- We were able to book a flight departing around 8:30 PM from the East Coast, which aligns with Mila’s typical bedtime at home. We fed her dinner in the airport and as soon as we were settled on the plane, we started getting her ready to sleep. We brought her blanket and lovey from home and simply laid her down between us (we did pay for a seat for her even though she was under 2 and I highly recommend you do this if you can afford to).
- The flight was only about 6-7 hours to get to Lisbon, but she slept for 90% of it. This allowed us to get some rest, and not have to pre-occupy ourselves as much with keeping her busy.
- Now, this can backfire — we did this on a flight to Maui and she only slept a couple hours. So just know that is always a possibility. You know your child best, so think through what you think will be best for them and their typical schedules.
- I do recommend to try to tire them out the day of travel — lots of outdoor time, physical activity to help encourage them to sleep and to get those wiggles out!
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Convenient stroller
- We use the Uppababy G-Luxe (an older model), but love that it reclines and has a UV protected hood. I know not all toddlers sleep well in their stroller but I definitely think the shade and reclining features helped her a lot.
- Combine a comfortable stroller with a lovey (just DON’T lose it) and a portable sound machine created a perfect environment for her to sleep on the go. It was not perfect — her naps were typically shorter than at home, but at least she was able to get a nap without us having to constantly run back to our hotel to let her sleep.
- Note — we recently upgraded to the Baby Jogger City Tour 2 and LOVE IT. It’s so much more compact (it even fits in the overhead compartment on the airplane. Can’t wait to put it to use this summer in France.
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- Enjoying her stawberries
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Recreate home sleep environment in your hotel/rental
- We did opt to bring our travel crib with us because we wanted to create as much consistency as possible since we would be moving around quite a bit.
- The Baby Bjorn crib is pricey but we have made so much use out of it and she sleeps very well in it. It’s compact and easy to carry around.
- We also brought a few of her favorite bedtime books. We use the Indestructible brand because they are lightweight and, as their name suggests, indestructible!
- After a day out, we aimed to get back to our hotel around 7-8 PM local time and worked on getting her in the shower or tub (didn’t happen every night but we attempted every night). We’d turn down the lights, and close the curtains — most hotels have blackout curtains which helped.
- We brought the Hatch mini so she’d have the same soothing sounds from her Hatch light at home.
- We’d read her books and lay her down and most nights she slept really well.
- She adapted very easily to the time change, but we did use a few Melatonin gummies the first 1-2 nights to help (clear with your Pediatrician first and I recommend a test run at home first to make sure your child responds well to it).
- Baby Bjorn Crib//Hatch Rest Mini//Indestructible Book Wheels on the Bus//Row Your Boat
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Rent a car (Maybe)
- Personally, for our itinerary renting a car was necessary. We like the flexibility of being able to go where we want when we want and not having to rely solely on public transportation.
- We’ve driven in Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal and found all countries fairly easy to navigate and are able to download Google maps and use them offline to make sure we didn’t get lost
- Depending on where you are going, public transport can often extend the total travel time which was important to avoid for us. We wanted to maximize our time in our destination and spend less on getting from one place to another. This may not be the case depending on what your itinerary looks like!
- If you do opt to rent a car, I recommend to bring a travel car seat that your child is comfortable in. We love the Cosco travel car seat. It’s inexpensive, lightweight and easy to install. We used a cover that doubled as a backpack to make it easier to carry around.
- Cosco Travel Car Seat//Cover and Backpack
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Leave itinerary flexible and plan to walk A LOT
- Book a hotel near the majority of the places/sites you want to visit to minimize walking time
- Plan for one main activity each day, two at most (ex – tours, sites, etc)
- Try to pre-purchase tickets for any sites that may have lines or if you know the lines will be long no matter what, maybe avoid
- We found the best way to explore most European cities is to simply walk and wander anyways!
- Traveling with kids means you may not be able to leisurely look at artwork in museums or climb up the tower of Pisa but learn to enjoy the moment and go with the flow. Explore small local shops and markets, stroll in city parks, have a picnic, etc.
- Look for outdoor activities, things that involve animals, food (especially little treats like ice cream), music, etc to keep them entertained. A few things we did with her in Portugal:
- Saw the peacocks at the Castelo de Sao Jorge
- Enjoyed ice cream in Sintra
- Strolled in the gardens and vineyards in Amarante
- Booked hotels with pools to have some water time
- Stayed a few days in the beaches of the Algarve to enjoy more water time
- Found local street art
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- Pool Time
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Save parks/playgrounds to a Google map or better yet use Wanderlog for easy access
- I have looked for years to find the perfect app or website to plan trips and Wanderlog answered all of my desires! It’s a great way to have all of your itinerary in one place. You can even create categorized lists of potential places to check out that are mapped for you to return to.
- We saved lists of parks and playgrounds in every city we traveled to. That way if we needed a break we could pull up our map and see where the closest park was located.
- Most European cities have ample play areas for kids so this should apply well to most cities/towns
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Don’t worry about bringing diapers/wipes and basic snacks
- Bring enough for the plane ride and 1-2 days, but don’t waste precious luggage space on bringing all of these items!
- I highly recommend to visit a local pharmacy or grocery store and pick these up on your first day. Most towns have at the very least a local pharmacy that you can buy these items at.
- We bought diapers, wipes, diaper cream, face wipes, toddler friendly snacks likes fruit pouches, yogurts, crackers, and even individual milk boxes.
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Don’t worry about screen time
- We try to limit screen time at home as much as possible but we relax the rules a lot when traveling with a toddler!
- We have an Amazon Fire tablet and have a child case. It’s an inexpensive tablet and I prefer her to use that over our phones
- Download a few movies and shows your toddler likes ahead of time for use when wifi is unavailable.
- We also have a few toddler friendly game apps to mix things up a little — she loved doing these in the car.
- Headphones are useful so as to not disturb others. These were nice because they fit her toddler head pretty well.
- Screen time was mostly isolated to car rides, plane rides, and meal times if we were at a busy restaurant. However, our threshold to use it was very low! Your vacation time is very short in the grand scheme of things and you can get back into your routine and re-establish limits and boundaries once you get home. Don’t feel bad about it – especially if it allows you ALL to enjoy your trip a little bit more
- Amazon Fire Tablet//Toddler Headphones
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Look for quick bites, food halls, and takeout options!
- No blog post from the Migoni Kitchen is complete without talk of food! This was a big adjustment for us. We previously would build entire itineraries around Michelin restaurants (see our Modena trip in 2019) and travel is always very intertwined with dining for us. So, if you’re a foodie and dining with a toddler here are a few tips.
- Food Halls: These are the perfect option for dining as a family! Choices for everyone, large dining area for littles ones to run around most of the time, and no waiting on waiter or waitress for the bill. Win/Win for everyone. We loved the Time Out Market in Lisbon for this option.
- Search for street food, food trucks, or quick bites before your trip and make a list of potential places. Fortunately, there is GREAT food to be had all over the world that does not require a formal sit down meal. We had tons of delicious foods from croquetas, empanadas, and sandwiches to sweet treats like ice cream and pastries.
- Don’t pass on grocery stores! Yes, that’s right – the grocery store. One of our favorite things to do is head to a local grocery store or market and buy a few local items and fresh fruits and make a picnic. It’s a great way to try some local foods without breaking the bank and making it toddler friendly.
- Finally, do plan a few nicer meals! Most restaurants offered a high chair and were very friendly with Mila. Bring a few toys and games for them. Dine early in the evening and make your selections quick to cut down on total dining time. Eat outside, if possible, so you can walk around with your toddler a little while waiting for your meal.
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