"What a dad!" said
Solbeam "Keep me updated on your winter whereabouts - I'd love to meet this travelling family!"
Sounds so adventurous doesn't it? Well, whilst we'd highly recommend the experience, it isn't always what you might imagine and is very different from our carefree travel days when we were younger and could travel hard from morning to night.
For a start it has to be in much smaller chunks. And it is much much slower
The routine that we found worked best with a 20 month old toddler and a 3 and a half year old was if we got out somewhere in the morning for about 4 - 5 hours, headed 'home' for a late lunch and a nap (or just some quiet time) before heading out again in the cool of the evening.
One peculiar advantage of doing less and being forced to do it more slowly is that perhaps we end up noticing more.
Everything is a bit hit or miss. Some days works, others don't. You just have to have a go and have the energy to keep having a go, and there will be some warm and wonderful experiences in there somewhere. Perhaps this isn't so different from 'normal' travel but is magnified somewhat. (And we end up even more knackered than ever we were ...)
Although young children get tired easily, we found that our two handled the days pretty well and although often only got to bed about 10pm, they slept beautifully until 9am the next morning without a murmur!
Bliss!
And, as you can see, they LOVED riding the Tuk Tuks. Kai insisted we bring one home, which alas, we were unable to do!
Further tips for travel with children
- ALWAYS carry a wet cloth inside a plastic bag. Great for wiping grubby hands after meals
- Bring along some plastic plates, the odd fork and spoon and a penknife: great for impromptu take-aways from the local night market
- Pack a couple of Chinese take-away lunch boxes as these are useful for storing unused fresh fruit to snack on later
- Put some washing up detergent in an old shampoo bottle and take it and a sponge: you'll need it to wash those plates
