A little girl in a big world.
She’s only 3. People have told me a million times that traveling with my kid is a waste of money because she won’t even remember it. I beg to differ. If you’ve never tried it, you really won’t know the difference.
Yes, it can get difficult – especially when they reach the age of meltdowns and tantrums. Yes, it is expensive – we started paying for her plane fare at 24 months. Yes, you will get those looks – most flyers want peace and quiet in a plane and don’t want to be seated next to a crying kid. But above all, it is a wonderful experience.
We started traveling with Jellybean when she was only a year old and we’ve done so two or three times a year thereafter. At her age, she’s already been to 7 international destinations and countless local ones. So why do we do it? Here are my top reasons:
- I am a master packer! When I was single, I learned how to travel with only a carry-on. Well, with a kid, that’s really impossible. They take over your luggage space just like they take over your life. So mastering the art of packing breastfeeding covers, pump, sterilizing liquid, bottles, toys, an abnormal number of clothes for every possible situation, a ton of diapers and one or two pieces of clothes for myself is part of the joy of traveling with a child.
- I learned how to hold it in for a 16-hour flight…great practice to avoid incontinence in my golden years. I flew single-handedly with a two-year-old from Manila to Germany with a connecting flight. Just imagine how I managed to not go to the bathroom the entire time because I couldn’t leave my little girl by herself.
- Great cardio and marathon practice. Connecting flights are hell. Especially one coming from a late leg and you have about -10 minutes to make it to the next flight (and seeing as they were only waiting for my daughter, me and another girl, we really could have been left behind). I sprinted the entire Changi Airport from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 in less than 5 minutes. If you’ve never been to this huge Singapore Airport, I’d say that distance usually takes 20 minutes to walk at normal pace.
- I have amazing upper body strength. I carried my child across Europe for hours and hours on end. I assumed that working a stroller through cobblestone streets was not the brightest idea (and I still stick by that decision), so even now my arms have such great muscle strength I could still carry a 15-kilogram (she’s about 34 lbs) toddler for three or four hours straight without breaking a sweat.
- I learned how to throw the itinerary out the window and just go with the flow. I work in the travel industry and planning has taken over most of my life for the past 10 years. But when you land in a new country with a sleepy/hungry/grumpy toddler, you cannot plan for anything. Just go with the flow (and her mood) and you’ll be able to experience so many new and wonderfully unplanned things.
- It’s a great way to disconnect from technology. This is for the whole family. My kid loves watching videos on her tablet and my husband and I are almost glued to our smartphones for work and social reasons. When we travel, we turn off the phones and just enjoy where we are and really spend quality time together.
- My daughter got over her picky-eater stage and became more adventurous with food. For the longest time, my daughter wouldn’t eat anything but white bread. However, in Tokyo she ate an entire order of rice and tonkatsu for the first time. Now, she loves sushi and sashimi and eats it every chance she gets. She eats a lot when we are traveling and she really tries new things. I’m so proud of her for this.
- She may not remember the destination, but she does not forget the feeling associated with it. How do I know? She reminds me of that wonderful sunset picnic every time a Paris scene comes on when we’re watching a movie and she sees the Eiffel tower. I travel with my toddler for the same reason I read to her. She may not remember it, but it teachers her something. The brain is a complex little thing and every little experience matters. I want the world to be her classroom.
- We met a lot of people while traveling and it has improved her social skills. As with most parents traveling with kids get special treatment wherever we go. She’s a natural ice breaker and we often have conversions with people on the streets because of her. She’s more open to talking to people from different cultures and this has greatly improved her social skills.
- She started developing an early interest in learning different languages. At three, she already knows the difference between English and Filipino. And when talking to non-Filipinos, she automatically uses English now. She is fully aware when we are in a country and the main language spoken is not one she is familiar with. She has even become curious to learn words that are different from what she knows. She often asks me how to say dog or cat or some other animal in another language (I only know how to speak English, Filipino and intermediate Spanish so this is becoming a challenge!). How has travel influenced this? We were watching Spongebob in Italy and she was the one who called my attention to it to tell me that it is not English. She then started point to the TV to tell me they are calling familiar things by different words. She would repeat these foreign words to me. I’ve started letting her watch videos and cartoons in Spanish and Chinese just to see if it’s something that would stick. So now, she already sings some songs in Spanish.
- She’s getting better at traveling as she ages. The first time was surprisingly easy. Then she turned two and it became a little bit hard. Now that she’s three, getting her to settle down in her own seat and enjoy the flight is like a walk in the park. It gets easier and as parents, we also feel more comfortable taking her everywhere with us.
Travelling exposes children to many great learning opportunities that we may not otherwise see in a classroom setting (I know, I studied to be a teacher). It exposes them to different cultures, food, people and experiences in general. There are probably hundreds of other reasons to travel with younger kids but we don’t see how this affects them until they are much older.
VioletDolor, first, I want to give you a HIGH FIVE and then HUG YOU!
We are on the same boat, my Panget brings our daughter on all trips abroad. We’ve been given stares, raised eyebrows and doubtful looks. But for us, we don’t care – we feel that traveling exposes the child to many different things. I also honestly feel that they learn so much whenever we travel.
I was always lectured that it’s waste of time that the kids don’t remember and so on, but we don’t care. We enjoy having her around even if we’re both extra tired. Even if our pace has slowed down significantly – we have enjoyed these travels a a family.
Experience can never be quantified with money, that is my opinion. I respect the views of others when they choose not to bring their kids when they travel, so I also expect the same kind of respect from other WHEN we do travel with our kids. But I guess masyado pang immature and mga Pinoys kasi – they always shut down the idea as BAD. Wala naman sanang basagan ng trip diba?
I want to shake your hand and tell you, you are doing a WONDERFUL job!
Napahaba pa tuloy and comment.
Safe travels! Hope to bump into you!
Love, Didi
Hi Didi,
I love meeting other mommy/family travelers online!So hugs right back at you
I do hope to meet you one of these days — in an event, on the road or even better, in flight! And I will be one of those smiling moms proud to see other traveling kids. It’s a big feat but truly worth it for our little ones. Safe travels to you and your family, too.
Love,
Mommy Jade
I also believe that our kids (regardless of age) should be brought everywhere!!! Haha! My son was only 2 months old when we flew him to Australia and he’s still okay. I love taking my kids everywhere! I believe they also learn a lot when we travel.
Awww I love this post! Such an inspiration for someone (ME!!) who dreams to be part of the travel industry and have the means to the family to wonderful places. The more I read posts like this, the more I get motivated to save up for our family travels.
wow, no words. i just think youre amazing.
We used to travel nung wala pa lo ko, nakakamiss shempre but I know someday we could travel again but with lo this time. Hopefully next year (lo is 1 by then) matuloy na yung hongkong trip namin. Thank you for sharing, will bookmark it!
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This is Runner Rocky, a blogger-runner. I’m also joining the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs 2015, Hope you can include my blog http://www.runnerrocky.com in your list. It’s all about sports, fitness, marathons, and fun runs.
Thanks and more power!
I found myself nodding with every point! Apart from developing my upper body strength hehe, there’s just too much learning experience when we travel.
She’s so lucky to have a mother like you. Great job! Hope you can share more of her traveling experiences from other countries
This is so interesting! I love it when you say, “Travelling exposes children to many great learning opportunities that we may not otherwise see in a classroom setting”…
When i was a little girl, my parents knew i always vomit in a car, jeep or worst on a bus. But they still decide to take me everywhere. Para daw masanay akong mag travel. Unfortunately, even now i hard some hard time travelling. My travelling partner seems the nausea. But still, i love to travel. My kids are the same with me. But even when they were babies, we don’t leave them that much when we travel.
They’re a bit bigger now and i’m sure they will always remember where we have been, and they will always learn something new about our travels.