We’ve all had those days. You know, the days when nothing quite goes right when traveling. One kid after another is having a meltdown, you can’t find where you’re needing to go, or something just didn’t go as planned. How do you get out of such a funk?
This list of ideas is for those times when you aren’t near your current home base and you just need to figure out how to get your family back up and in sync again. Here’s what has worked for us in our travels around the world:
1. Ice cream
Just bite the bullet and pay for a scoop of ice cream for every member of your family at the closest ice cream shop you can find. Make sure it’s a sit down ice cream shop, so you have some down time. Pick your flavor, find a seat, sit and relax, and talk through your options for the rest of the day. Take your time eating your ice cream because part of the ice cream experience is being able to rest and refuel and hopefully cool down and be ready for your next adventure.
2. A local park or playground
This may not give you the cool down like an ice cream stop, but the park is a free option and a space for kids to be themselves. Many of the activities us parents plan are great, but they do not give kids time for free play. Playgrounds are the same the world over – kids can run and climb and get all their anxiety out. Try a few hours at a park or playground and you’ll find your family ready to hit the ground running again. *And added bonus, your kids might make a few new friends!
3. The grocery store game
We love visiting grocery stores in new places. One way we give ourselves down time when we are getting cranky is to make a game of buying snacks in the grocery store. Before entering the store, we will give the kids a type of food and an amount. So for example, in Cairo, we told them that they had 30 Egyptian pounds to buy one bag of chips and one candy. We spent over 30 minutes in the two aisles comparing new chips and candy we had never seen and making decisions on what we would try. It was Aircon, the kids were invested in the outcome, and it meant we all had a snack at the end!
4. Find a bookstore
If your kids are readers, happening upon a bookstore is the best possible rest stop. Everyone browsing a bookstore gives each person a quiet space where they can zone into their own world for a little while. I have also found that as I sit and read to my toddler in a quiet space of the bookstore, the older kids join and listen in.
5. Take a walk and look for coins
Traveling with kids is always a happier adventure when they get to do something. If you must keep walking even when everyone is falling apart, a great game to play is looking for coins on the ground. It allows you to walk a little slower, and when a coin is found, the excitement from the kids is contagious.
6. Try random items in a vending machine
We have often found ourselves finishing at a museum or outdoor tourist attraction and everyone is so hot and tired, but food in that area is outrageously expensive. So we find a vending machine and try the strangest, exotic drink and give it a try. We pass it around and everyone takes a sip and gives a verdict. We are filled up and can venture out to the next activity.
7. Sit down and do a read aloud
When all else fails, we just stop. We find a spot wherever is feasible, sit down with our backpacks, and read. We don’t need anything else but to let our imagination soar. Push our current thoughts out of our head and relax with a good story. This one method specifically has been a game changer for us in our big travel days. Broken down trains, hours of immigration lines,
As always remember that traveling with kids takes flexibility and patience. It’s not worth continuing on with a planned out day if the family is falling apart. Make space to choose one of these activities mentioned to get back energy and attitudes.