A Traveling we will GO!

People often ask us (both here and in the US), "How do you travel so many places with your kids? Don't they melt down? Is it stressful?" And in answer to these questions, I guess they travel well because we really don't give them a choice since we have traveled with them since they were born. Yep, we just drag them with us. Andy and I love to travel, so for us it became travel with kids or don't travel (since traveling without them just doesn't appeal to us). While there are special trips we have taken just the two of us, for the most we enjoy taking the kids with us. I think sometimes the thought of traveling with little people can be worse than the actual deal. And yes, our kids melt down just like yours do. And I have lost count the number of places where our kids have gotten sick. I am sure that you don't want those details! But over the course of our travels, we have learned a few hints that can turn a trip from stressful to enjoyable. I hope I don't come across that we have it all together and our kids are always well behaved on every trip. In fact, most of these we have learned through crashing and burning  - the hard way!

Hint #1: Begin traveling with your kids when they are young. Don't be afraid that you can't do it. Andy and I have a theory that ours have adjusted well to traveling here because we took MANY car trips with them in the States. And if they are used to waiting in a car/bus/train/plane then each time gets easier. Well, at least in theory. Surprising for many people that when I do the 24 hour+ trip from the US to China with the kids (by myself) that the hardest part is the not the 14-hour plane ride. Yes, it is long. But the hardest part is navigating the airports themselves. Even the standing in long immigration lines is not hard. Tiring, yes. But not hard. Because our troupers know what to expect. While it is not their favorite of things, they know that it has to be endured.

I think that since we traveled with her since she was born, she can fall asleep ANYWHERE! (on the train from Shanghai)

Yes, she is asleep! (on a boat on the Li River, South China)

Hint #2: Pack snacks. Or find them on the way. When we first would travel and our kids were little, I applied "home rules" to travel time. You know, things like, don't eat too many snacks, don't eat them too close to meals, yada, yada. . . But I have found, when our kids get grumpy we eat. Whether it is 10AM or 3:30PM, we just stop and find a snack. Or even a complete meal. Then often in these down times, we have a great time with our kids. We talk, laugh and have time to just enjoy them. We have found Starbucks in crazy locations and then enjoyed. . . (well, this leads me to our next one)  reading a book together.

Kids choosing a snack while I bargain for a good price (Xi'an, China)

Mmm, meat on a stick! My boy's idea of the perfect snack. (night market Hua Hin, Thailand)

Hint #3 Have a bag of tricks. It could be as simple as a few crayons and a notebook or a handful of small toys. One of our kids absolutely favorite things to do when we travel is to read a book as a family. We pack a longer book (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was our first and recently we read Redwall) and whenever we have to wait somewhere, we pull out the book and read a chapter. And suddenly our tired kids who have been waiting in line for over an hour perk up and are ready to go on. (and this is not an exaggeration, we have waited in lines for 3 hours or longer. After all, this is China with SO many people and sometimes you just have to wait) Find what works for your family.

my iPhone would be part of my bag of tricks (Starbucks in Chengdu, China)

Hint #4 Be flexible. While we generally have a plan of what we want to see and do, we have learned to allow some flexibility in the midst of that plan. If you have a particularly busy day, follow it up by a low key one. Often when I let go of my plan and am just enjoying is when we find those unexpected things: a lake where we can rent row boats, a man painting Chinese characters on the sidewalk. Another thing we have started experimenting with is letting our kids take turns to plan a day, excursion or even part of our time. They come up with things that we would never have thought of!

Skipping rocks on the bank of the Li River (Guilin, China)

Totally unexpected -- a puppet show that the kids got to participate in. (Xi'an, China)

One of those finds - a fountain that had a nightly light show (Chengdu, China)

Riding stone lambs (Hangzhou, China)

Our kids were getting tired of all the walking in the Yellow Mountains. Becca and Josh came up with the idea to count all the steps and see which was the longest. (Huangshan (Yellow Mountains), China)

Now we will need to apply these as we are scheming and dreaming about our fall trip. We are undecided about where to go, but on the list of possible places are: Tibet, Xinjiang (the northwest province of China, on the border with Kazakhstan), or Inner Mongolia. Oh, yes a traveling we will go!