Traveling with a small child 2. – Planning and other preparations

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Traveling with a small child 2. – Planning and other preparations
Traveling with a small child 2. – Planning and other preparations
Anonim

One of the secrets of successful trips with small children is careful planning. This does not mean that you have to look into such small details as whether the child's favorite baby food, creamed corn with turkey meat, will be available in the store closest to the accommodation on the seventh day of the holiday.

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142550011

It is more about the fact that it is worth choosing the destination taking into account the needs of each member of the family, and thoroughly researching the local conditions. It is useful to know some English to gather information: on international forums such as TripAdvisor, you can even look up questions about which brand of mosquito repellent should be used in a given region.

If the planning only defines the framework of the trip, we can handle unexpected situations more flexibly. It won't be a problem, for example, if we don't feel like walking around the country because teething is really hard on the child, or if we suddenly realize that traveling with small children isn't for us after all.

In Thailand, it was much easier for us to travel with the knowledge that in the worst case scenario we would go back to the beach, stay at the same hotel all the time, and then splash in the sea every day, look at the fish in the hotel lobby, and pet the fish wandering in the garden of the restaurant cats. (Fortunately, Anna enjoyed both this and the fact that we were on the road.)

Going with a travel agency relieves you of a lot of the hassle of planning - in fact, in the case of certain destinations, it is much more worthwhile, and that does not mean that we cannot become independent by breaking the chains of organized programs, folk songs, and camel rides. However, we can get to most places much cheaper if we plan the trip ourselves, and thus we have a much better chance of getting out of the "art world" reserved only for tourists.

But let's see what is worth paying attention to in the different phases of planning!

Choose your destination

Good luck to everyone. If the child likes the sea or animals (which is almost certain), mom would like to hike a bit, and dad would like to see some Gothic cathedrals, let's go where all of this can be found within easy reach

Why can't we go where the plane ticket is cheap? It was the many trips that made me realize that there is something good or interesting in every country, whether it is Iceland, which is considered the net furthest of our desires, or Azerbaijan, which causes a significant surprise with its very existence. If there isn't a discount ticket to Gran Canaria last winter, with an incredibly cheap apartment, I'll have to die with the stupid prejudice that the Canary Islands are only a reserve for pot-bellied, comfortable tourists whose greatest adventure they've been talking about for months is a perceived or real food poisoning

With small children, we should only go to a country with good public safety and adequate he alth care. If we leave Europe, we avoid areas infected with malaria with children under the age of three, because the little ones cannot take preventive medicines. This significantly narrows down the range of destinations

The very beginning or end of the season is always cheaper. Traveling during the Christmas break is very expensive

Traveling within Europe is relatively cheap, and a cruise that covers thirteen German cities and mountain villages can prove to be much more child-friendly than taking a stroller, taking the subway to Keleti and taking the train to Gyöngyös. In Iceland, there was even a clean diaper changing room in a cafe furnished in a container near the glacier, which can only be reached by land, in the toilet for the disabled. However, accommodation and meals are expensive in Western Europe

If we want to travel much further, the plane ticket costs more, but it is easy - especially in South East Asia - to get away with accommodation and food for pennies. It all depends on our needs, but for the price of two weeks in Italy, we can happily live in Asia for a month. What we save on travel, we lose on pizza and red wine

Even if we are experienced travelers, we don't have to start with Cambodia right away. When I took Anna to the pediatrician for her one-month status report, I was just as nervous as when we left for Thailand almost a year and a half later. For starters, the golden wedding of our uncle who lives on the other side of the country, planned for several days, or any place from which we can go home easily and quickly. (In fact, you don't even have to travel - it's just an option.)

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139822910

Before traveling

It is necessary to obtain some kind of identification document for the child. In most places in Europe, an identity card is enough, which is free the first time. The consent of both parents is required for the passport, i.e. mother and father must appear at the document office at the same time (or a statement of consent must be obtained from the notary). They take a photo for the documents on the spot, which is not easy for a baby a few months old: the customer service representative makes strange noises and shakes clumsy stuffed animals in his hands to direct our child's eyes in the right direction. (In some countries, it doesn't hurt to bring the child's birth certificate with us, because for the sake of the border guards who look for lumps in the poop, we sometimes have to prove that we really are the parents.)

Let's find out if you need a visa for that country. If so, the child needs it too

Make sure to take out the best available insurance for small children

It is possible that in countries outside of Europe other vaccinations are needed in addition to the mandatory ones - the family doctor or international vaccination centers are very willing to help. It is worth looking into this at the beginning of the planning, so that we do not find out in our pockets with the plane ticket that we paid for that there is something that the child cannot get

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Accommodation reservation

We don't have to book all the accommodation in advance, but it's worth planning whether we want to stay in one place and go on a star tour, or if we'll go further a few days

If we travel in the middle of the season and arrive in a city in the evening, it is safer to book accommodation in advance, otherwise it is worth leaving room for spontaneity. The selection on site often turns out to be wider than in the case of accommodation that can be booked online, and we can personally verify the features of the room. When making a reservation, it is worth checking how previous guests of the hotel rated the service on TripAdvisor, and there are also reviews on most hotel booking websites

If you are looking for accommodation locally, you can often bargain a lot. The reason for this is simple: let's say it's Wednesday, and we want to stay somewhere until Saturday. If you were unable to rent out your room (house, apartment) by Wednesday afternoon, you probably won't be able to rent it out by Saturday. In other words, you end up in the situation of less income versus zero income. In such cases, quite a lot of people prefer less income and give a significant discount

In many places, you can save a lot if you live on sandwiches/baby food during the day instead of restaurants, and grab some fast food in the evening - with a small child, you have to go home early anyway. The kitchen also comes in handy if our baby is not yet six months old (and is on formula) and her baby bottles need to be constantly disinfected. We didn't spend much in Iceland either, because we rented a studio, and after Anna's dinner and bedtime, we cooked or barbecued in the small garden belonging to the apartment, even at 11 pm, in the light of the setting sun

Cheaper accommodations can be found on Booking, Hostelworld, and Hostelbookers. On Airbnb, you can rent a room or apartment from private people, even for a week, depending on the country, even very cheaply

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78712374

In the next section, we will go through how and where it is worth hunting for a flight ticket, and also how to fly with a small child so that neither we nor the child are prepared, and even our fellow passengers are spared as much as possible.

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