Junior Jetsetters
By Alison Townley

Believe it or not, international travel with children is possible and can actually be enjoyable.

[From the May/June 2007 ParentGuide^®]

Often enough, something as simple as going to the supermarket with my four children in tow seems akin to mounting a military expedition and best avoided, if at all possible. (Thank goodness for Internet shopping!) With this in mind, it’s hard to believe that we travel together internationally at least once a year. I must be honest here, the journey is without a doubt the most trying aspect of our vacations, and there have certainly been occasions when we’ve considered aborting the trip before we’ve even reached the airport. However, years of experience traveling with small children have taught us that there are ways to lessen the pain without resorting to sedatives.

As with many other things in life, preparation can make the difference between a pleasant journey and fistfuls of newly-grayed hair being wrenched out in utter desperation. An absolute essential is in-flight distraction, and as you can’t always count on the airlines entertainment systems, it’s useful to bring your own. Our three older children, ages 6, 7 and 10, pack their own carry-on bags. These usually include a couple of reading books, an activity/puzzle book, colored pencils, a notebook or plain paper, stuffed animals or dolls, a card game and a handheld electronic toy (e.g. GAMEBOY). By the way, these packing lists have evolved (with some parental coaching) from the initial attempts to smuggle an entire zoo of stuffed animals on board into what we see today. For our youngest, who is 3, we tend to put together a bag of similar, age-appropriate diversions. In addition, my husband and I carry drinks, snacks and a few surprise toys or games to pull out at crucial times.

While some airlines cater better than others for younger passengers, with special in-flight activity packs (Virgin and British Airways both do this pretty well), children’s TV and movies as well as kiddie meals, success often boils down to the cabin crew. Even without specialized goodie bags, we’ve found that a personable, thoughtful flight attendant can make a huge difference with simple but very valuable gestures like holding a baby while you go to the toilet, offering to come back with meals if the children are sleeping or playing peekaboo with a toddler. While I can’t offer any tricks for finding these in-flight angels, a little courtesy early on in the journey tends to go a long way—i.e. the nicer you are to them, the better the cabin crew are likely to be to you (common sense when we’re in a normal frame of mind, but not always the reality when we’ve just run the gauntlet to get everyone on board).

Assuming you actually make it to your destination, it can help to know that you’re not likely to be the only family there, sandwiched between dewy-eyed honeymooners and scowling senior citizens. This is the sort of detail my husband has always been more aware of than I, and it boils down to comfort levels. In effect, his thinking is that he’s likely to have a much more relaxing vacation if there are at least a couple of other families around. This is for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the possibility that the children will make fast friends with the others and will therefore entertain themselves and each other much of the time, letting us off the hook. Another reason is to minimize the nuisance caused to other guests by enthusiastic, energetic little travelers, particularly if they’re the only ones.

While we’ve never had a horrible vacation, some places have been better than others. One of the best trips in recent years was to the Ritz Carlton at Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. This was a beach vacation, pure and simple—no cultural excursions or shopping trips, just two weeks of fun in the sun. The hotel was particularly geared for children, to the extent that the rooms were equipped with safety items including socket covers and niceties like a toiletry bag with baby bath, shampoo, lotion, rubber swan and giant whale shaped sponge. There was a great kids club—in fact, the facilities were mediocre, but the staff were absolutely fabulous. This we found to be true of most of the staff we met in the hotel complex—all of them very welcoming and particularly charming with the children. Admittedly, we had high expectations of such a luxury resort, and we were not disappointed.

When our eldest was a baby, we had the good fortune to live in Turkey. What an amazing place for a child—a stark contrast to England, where we now live and where the attitude that children should be seen and not heard often prevails. In Turkey, it’s commonplace to see toddlers out with their parents at restaurants at 11 p.m., and they’re completely welcome. Although we tend to stay away from city breaks with the kids, there is so much to see and do in Istanbul that we are planning a trip back to visit old haunts and show the children some of the highlights of this magnificent ancient city.

We traveled to Dubai when our youngest was six weeks old and had a fabulous time. The climate was amazing (the months from May-Sept. are best to avoid because it gets too hot to move), the people were extremely gracious and the food was superb. It wasn’t cheap, but the resorts really cater to families in every conceivable way. Another notable point is that you’re never more than a stone’s throw from a fascinating array of construction equipment, bound to entice kids of all ages.

South Africa is another children’s paradise. One thing that particularly struck me was the apparent redundancy of shoes, which suited our barefoot-loving children to a tee. We visited friends in Johannesburg and were delighted to discover a panoply of child-oriented activities, the highlight of which was undoubtedly a lion sanctuary where my then 4-year-old was able to sit side-by-side with a lion cub.

We have spent several summers in Tuscany and, not surprisingly, always found Italy to be very family-friendly. The food is familiar while still being a bit different, the weather is reliably good and the culture is one which includes children to a great extent. In France, by contrast, we have tended to feel that children were tolerated at best, but generally regarded as a nuisance. Ireland is great with kids, and there’s loads to see and do as a family. The same is true of Scotland.

All in all, we have found one absolute constant to be true: in order to really enjoy a holiday with the children, it’s essential to make time for ourselves, too.