Traveling With Young Kids

Travelling with children can be somewhat like shooting a herd of wild goats in your holiday. Whether they're your own or somebody else's, factoring a child's needs to your travels involves far more than sticking on a CD full of pop songs and making toilet stops. Here two Rough Guides writers discuss their hard-won wisdom. To start, mum of two Hayley Spurway offers advice on traveling with toddlers, subsequently Ross McGovern shows how he handles to travel with older kids. Hayley Spurway's tips for travelling with toddlers

Keep the activities coming

In case you're heading out on a lengthy trip have a collection of toys to be handed out once an hour. Handheld puzzles, tiny colouring books, decals, wordsearches and even very small packs of Plasticine will pass time on a long flight or car journey.

Avoid sweets

Resist the desire to keep them going on a long journey by consuming them candies. Pack a mixture of savoury snacks such as cheese cubes, breadsticks, fruit and bagels - anything to avoid coming in a strange city with children in the middle of a sugar rush.

Be app-y

Thanks to toddler-friendly programs, there's no need to cram a toy box into your hand luggage when travelling by plane. By all means take a novel and a magic scribbler (crayons only get lost down the aspect of seats), but the most streamlined form of amusement is a device loaded with programs and games.

Engage and involve older kids

The best way to avoid a soul-destroying sulk out of the adolescent is to involve them in the planning of this vacation and ask them to get input on what they'd like to do. You may be amazed to hear it's not spending all day on the internet.