130 Traveling with Toddlers

If has been a while since Tamara and Kim traveled with toddlers, so this week we check in with Lydia Blanchard of My Adventure Gang to learn her best tips for traveling with toddlers. Also hear all about Tamara's recent trip on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas and her visit to the brand new "Perfect Day at CocoCay." ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking Tamara’s trip on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas 18:49 - Talking with Lydia 20:58 - Travel with toddlers 23:21 - Trying to be prepared 25:38 - Finding destinations 30:01 - Car trips with toddlers 33:25 - Flying with toddlers 43:05 - What to look for in a hotel 48:47 - Travel gear 52:33 - Final tips 54:24 - Lydia’s favorite travel gear 55:56 - What’s next for Lydia and her family 57:20 - Next week's episode ABOUT LYDIA BLANCHARD Lydia Blanchard is the adventurer in chief behind My Adventure Gang. She strives to treat every day like an adventure, whether it is in your back yard to traveling around the globe. Follow Lydia Blanchard on Facebook, and Instagram. TIPS FOR TRAVELING WITH TODDLERS You should definitely keep in mind that your toddler will act the same way no matter where you are. Whether you are staying home, taking them to the store, or going on an out of country adventure. You can’t really be prepared for everything. But you will have moments when things are working out great, even if they only last that moment. When you are looking for where to visit with your toddler, you can try and plan trip to places you know your child will have interests in. Places in Europe seem to have more support to families with young children; more accommodations when it comes to public transportation, the offer of warming up a bottle when you are out. You may think driving overnight to a location with a young child will work out great, and it just might depending on your child. Though traveling during the day can also work, depending on your child's sleep schedule. They can watch the cars going by and having some toys to play with. Though you should make sure to stop places where you child can get out of the car and run around a bit. Number one tip for traveling with young children, no matter if you are flying or just going on a short trip is to bring plenty of snacks. Airlines specifically may not offer anything you child will like or depending on the length of the flight they might not offer anything. If you have the Netflix app on your phone or tablet you should look into downloading kids show/movies onto the app so that you can play them in offline mode. But make sure you do this before you even leave for the airport so that you don’t have to worry about being able to get the videos to download in time for your flight. If you child likes to color you should think pack some paper, washable markers/crayons, a small pack of stickers. If you don’t already have these you could even find activity packs that have magic markers that only show up on the pages that come with it. When looking for a place to stay you should look to see what kind of amenities the place has specifically for children. For example if the place has a pack and play that you can use, that means one less thing you need to pack. FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Lydia loves her Cosco Scenera next car seatfor traveling. This car seat is 8 pounds and very versatile and it is FAA approved so you can bring it right on the plane. Lydia also loves their GB pockit strollerbecause it folds down easy and can fit under the seat and likes to bring a soft child carrier like the Boba child carrier,even if she thinks they will walk most of the time having that carrier comes in handy. Personally Lydia loves to pants with pockets so that she can hold her plane ticket, phone, ID and that extra crayon or stickers her child hands her to hold. She also likes to wear layers so that if that juice spills or another mess happens she can take off that dirty layer. MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Monsters Don’t Ride on Airplanes Cosco scenera next car seat GB pockit stroller Boba child carrier FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, orGoogle Playand leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email or leave us a voicemail at +1.641.715.3900, ext. 926035#. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcaseand We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebookor Twitter. Thanks for listening!