Travelling with kids enhances the whole experience by opening up conversations and enriching encounters with local people. Kids are a wonderful common denominator. Children don’t care about cultural divides and naturally gravitate towards each other, and parents across the planet share empathy. Families are met with friendly smiles almost everywhere, and I’ve enjoyed the warmest welcomes and most magical unexpected moments while travelling with my children.
Off-piste places are often safer and more relaxed destinations to explore with children of any age than big cities and tourist traps. The less accustomed to visitors locals are, the more welcoming they tend to be. Also, children are far more resilient and open-minded than we give them credit for.
Let them meet children whose lives are utterly different to their own; our daughters spent a day in a school on an island in Fiji and have never forgotten it. Wildlife encounters and experiences that are out of the ordinary, like sleeping outdoors in a hammock or on a boat, always make a lasting impression too.
Most kids are inherently adventurous, and the wilder an experience feels, the more they will enjoy it. Involve kids in the planning, so they’re aware of what’s coming up. Children are not passive passengers – they know what they enjoy. Deciding every little element of the trip yourself and then dragging them along will end in tears. Present them with some options so they feel involved.
Don’t overcrowd your itinerary or insist on sticking too rigidly to it. Do a mix of independent exploring (which you can cut short or change if it’s not working out) and organised activities, and make sure the latter involves other children – no matter how exciting something seems, kids don’t want to be surrounded by boring adults.
Leave plenty of gaps for just messing about on the beach, in the park, at the pool, or some other area where they can be their noisy, boisterous, delightfully daft selves (and you don’t feel like you have to reign them in). And minimise the amount of moves you need to do – children love to have a semi-familiar base to come back to after a day of exploring.
Pack goggles (or a mask) – there’s always water around somewhere. And a little headlamp, for those moments of serendipity when you come across a cave or tunnel that needs to be explored, and to facilitate after-dark adventures (a lamp with a red or green light option is ideal, so you don’t shatter your night vision and can still enjoy seeing the stars, planets and animals). Also, take clothes that no one (including either parent) is too precious about. And carry a first-aid kit with some essentials, just in case.
Patrick Kinsella has enjoyed wild escapades all around the world with his wife Steph and daughters Ivy and Alice. Their next stop is the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
