Traveling with Baby!

If traveling with babies or toddlers sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth - think again! Shelly Rivoli, author of Travels with Baby, explains how to travel with your little ones - and have a great time!

Travel expert and mom Shelly Rivoli knows a thing or two about traveling with young children.  Having traveled to locations such as Riviera Maya, Phuket and Barcelona with her little ones, she has learned how to help your child conquer jet lag, manage cultural differences and get your child to eat when there is no macaroni and cheese!   In her informative and easy to read book, Travels with Baby:  The Ultimate Guide for Planning Trips with Babies, Toddlers and Preschool-Age Children, Shelly shares her tips on what items to bring on your vacation, what to do if your child gets sick, and how to find a vacation spot that is just right for your family.

CommitmentNow:  Travels with Baby:  The Ultimate Guide for Planning Trips with Babies, Toddlers and Preschool-Age Children is a great resource for parents travelling with young children.  What inspired you to write this book?

Shelly Rivoli:  My husband and I had assumed, like many people, that having a child would put an end to our traveling ways. But after our first daughter arrived, we found that even short outings—though hard to push ourselves out the door to do—were really worthwhile and enjoyable.

As I thought more about it, I started realizing that travel abroad actually wouldn’t get any easier or cheaper for us for years to come, so I started investigating how we might do that with our baby and where we might go. There were other resources on traveling with children out there, but most were fairly vague whenever it came to the specifics of traveling with an infant or baby.

Since I’d been a writer by profession before having children, creating this book just seemed like the perfect way to combine my interests and talent with the new chapter in my life. I knew there was an audience for it because I was sitting front row and center myself! If I could create a book that helped me travel better with my baby, I knew it would help others, too.

CommitmentNow:  What are the advantages to traveling with young children?

Shelly:  At first most people often think of traveling with children as nothing but a challenge and series of compromises from what travel may have been before kids. Once you actually slow down though, and realize that traveling with your children will actually help you see the world through new eyes, have conversations you might not have had otherwise, and live more like a local when you stay abroad, you really appreciate what these little ambassadors of goodwill can do for your travel bug!
Of course, there are other advantages, too, like the flexibility of traveling in mid or low seasons without having to make arrangements with their schools, it’s not critical if someone misses a ballet or music lesson, and you can go places that are not so much kid-themed as you may find yourself vacationing at when they are older.

CommitmentNow:  Travels with Baby includes guidance on everything from installing car seats to getting medical help while on a trip to preparing toddlers and preschoolers for travel!  How much research went into this book?

Thank you for asking—a lot! There is a certain amount that I really only could have contributed to the guide by having lived it and, in many cases, by learning the hard way. One example is when we almost missed a flight to Europe because even the travel agent didn’t know that we were supposed to have a paper ticket for our infant in order for her to leave the country, even though we were flying on e-tickets and had paid her infant fare, and she was documented as a lap child on my ticket.
But there is also a great deal of information that went well beyond what one person could have possibly experienced, as with the differences in airlines’ amenities for babies and children and available infant or child discounts, and also the cruise lines’ childcare policies which can differ quite a lot by age and toilet training status.

I interviewed several traveling families and prospective traveling families with babies, made tons of phone calls, consulted the medical resources, and did whatever it took to get the answers I knew I’d want if I were planning any of a dozen kinds of trips with my children.

CommitmentNow:  Sleep and schedules are two things parents of young children are often concerned about.  How should parents deal with these two issues when traveling with their children?

Shelly:  Well, first I recommend that all parents make peace with the idea that sleep may not come as often or as easily during travel with babies and toddlers, but that it doesn’t always come as easily or as often as they’d like at home with little ones either!

Sometimes it’s energizing for parents just to have a great change of scenery and escape the demands of home life, so you may also find you have an unexpected boost as you travel. But do be sure to build enough flexibility into your travel itinerary that you can make up for some lost sleep or jetlag if needed. Even in the same time zone, you may find yourselves needing to adhere to someone else’s schedule or routine if you’ll be staying with relatives or friends, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But also be prepared to assert when your child clearly needs his nap or to go to bed.

It can be helpful to have a good travel stroller along to help walk him to sleep in strange settings or while you’re out sightseeing, and a portable sound machine that plays waves or soft music can also help drown out disruptive sounds at the airport or even in your cousins’ home.

CommitmentNow:  Do certain types of vacations lend themselves better to families with young children?

Shelly:  So much can vary depending on the child’s age and stage, like a beach vacation may generally be great with small children because of the physical freedom and built-in entertainment. Yet during a certain window of time, it may be nothing more than a sand-eating fest that leaves you all frustrated.

Also the child’s and parents’ temperaments can really make a difference in what will be an enjoyable vacation for the group, that’s why I felt it was important to include a section on travel and temperament with suggestions for families with fast- or slow-adapting, high- or low-energy, and other types of children.

CommitmentNow:  Your website is filled with photos of you and your children in exotic locales!  When did you start travelling with your children?

Shelly:  We took our first flight as parents when our daughter was 5 weeks old. We took her on her first camping trip at 3 months, and worked our way up to a road trip at 5 months. By the time she was 7 months, we were in Thailand!

CommitmentNow:  What are some of the places you and your family have travelled?

Shelly:  Thailand, Mexico, Hawaii, Spain, France, Italy, Tunisia…

CommitmentNow:  It seems that young children require so much stuff - toys, diapers, snacks – that it even a trip to a local park can seem like an idea!  How can parents limit the baggage when travelling with kids?

Shelly:  When possible, rent the baby gear you’ll need—or that might make a big difference in how much you enjoy your time—at your destination.

Otherwise, bring baby and toddler gear that travels well, like the products I recommend in the book and on the website. When you’ll be staying somewhere remote or when there’s not much time for shopping around in your schedule, you might use a baby supply delivery service to ship your diapers, baby food, or formula to meet you on arrival—that alone can save you on baggage fees and space in the taxi cab trunk.

CommitmentNow:  What advice do you have for parents who are fearful of travelling with their young children?

Shelly:  Start small, but start. The more often you get yourselves out of the house together, the easier it will get.

Shelly Rivoli has made radio and TV appearances, including the Happy Housewives Club, Childhood Matters, and is a frequent guest on ABC San Francisco's The View from the Bay (see more in media section). She is also writes the nationwide "Travels with Baby" column at Examiner.com: www.Examiner.com/travelswithbaby, where she's featured a special series of interviews with Moms Around the World.

Shelly travels as often and as far as she can with her husband and three young children. The rest of the time, she hangs her hats (as mother and writer) in the San Francisco Bay Area. She blogs at Travels with Baby Tips. Browse travel photos from some of her family's adventures in the Photo Gallery. Visit Shelly at www.travelswithbaby.com.

To purchase Travels with Baby: The Ultimate Guide for Planning Trips with Babies, Toddlers, and Preschool-Age Children, click here.