Travels with Tots

My husband is from France, and I am from a city that is 400 miles away from where we live. Family is important to both of us, so we’ve already logged some major travel time. I love the packing and planning that precedes vacation and I look forward to the increased activity that comes with being in a new environment. I even used to look forward to the actual travel time, the calm between the flurry of packing and the hurry of arrival.

With a child, travel still has its joys, but oh how things have changed. On a twelve-hour flight to France when our son was six months old, I didn’t watch a single movie or read a book. What used to be a six-hour drive to see my family is now an eight-hour one. I once read every sign at museums and contemplated every work of art; I now study the museum's offerings beforehand and pick out a few things that I want to see. No longer do we leave in the morning with our packs and return at the end of the day exhausted; instead, we aim to get back to home base in the middle of each day for either a nap or quiet time. This is necessary for all of us because vacation no longer means sleeping in.

We are still learning about what works, but we have found that travel with our little guy works best when we are able to strike a balance between familiar and new. We also are mindful of selecting a few meaningful activities rather than committing to a bunch of "must-do" activities. And whether traveling or at home, it is good to know everyone's limits. A happy two hours in a museum is better than experiencing a tantrum in the fourth hour and needing to rush back to home base with a cranky, hungry, bored, or exhausted family member.