How to prepare for international travel with kids

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“Wait, you travel overseas WITH your kids?”

This is a question-statement I’ve received multiple times, even at travel blog conferences. Traveling with kids is apparently something out of the ordinary, even among many travelers.

It can be an amazing adventure to travel with your kids, but you have to be bold. 

Having a successful trip with your kids starts with YOU.

Be cool – Almost everyone I know gets stressed when it comes time to travel, which in turn stresses out the kids! The more calm you can be yourself, the more the kids will stay calm. The kids will follow your lead, so do everything you can to stay calm and keep it together so the kids do too.

 

Prepare yourself – Sure, it’s important to make sure you are physically prepared (bags packed, carry-on entertainment for the kids sorted out, snacks prepped…) but you have to mentally prepare yourself too! Do what you you have to do to psych yourself out for the trip.

Maybe, it’s thinking through all the worst-case-scenarios and making a tentative plan for each. Maybe it’s telling  yourself that statistically all will be fine, or maybe it’s something like making sure you are prepped so all of your routines stay in place. Whatever it might be, make sure you (and your kids) are totally prepared for the trip!

Stick to routines – Everything changes on a trip, your in a new place, you have a new bed to sleep in, you might even be hearing a new language every time you step out of your (new) front door. This is part of the beautiful adventure that traveling provides, but it also makes it important to keep as many routines in place for you and your kids that you can.

Most especially try to keep bedtime routines and morning routines as close to normal as possible (and naps if your child still naps).

For example, with your child, make sure you sing the same lullaby you sing at home, or use the same variety of bubble bath with the familiar scent before bedtime. This will help them feel calm and safe, even in a brand new environment.

 

For you, think about your morning routine and try to stick with it, so you start each day in a relaxed and rejuvenated way!

Head to CVS before you trip and grab a bottle of LISTERINE® Total Care!

This can be a way that you stick to your morning routine and find your bold moments for the day as well!

Listerine Total Care boasts 6 benefits in 1, so it can help you start the day right as you adventure out into the world with your kids! It freshens breath, cleans your mouth, restores minerals to enamel, strengthens teeth, kills bad breath germs and helps to prevent cavities. Yes, please! Since brushing can miss 75% of your mouth, it’s important to use Listerine too, (especially as you travel and encounter different germs!) because it hits virtually 100% of your mouth.

 

Lastly, as you get ready to travel with your kids, keep your expectations low. Traveling with kids, especially their first few trips has to be done of their terms.

Sometimes, they won’t want to go see that super-famous-landmark, and they’d rather play at a new park instead. Other times, they’ll be excited to run outside in the gardens of a famous palace, but uninterested in walking it’s quiet halls.

Let your children explore new cultures and learn about them in ways that make sense to them. Sometimes, you can push them outside of their comfort zones to see and experience something new, and other times, you’ll have to put your plans aside and follow them to experience something new, to you!

All in all, traveling with kids is one of the most FUN types of bold things you can do!

How do you prep for your bold moments? Share with us in the comments AND on social media using #myboldmoments!