Traveling Alone With Kids

After 5 years, I finally went back to my home country but I had 3 little obstacles. First, I was traveling from Egypt with my two toddlers alone 2) while breastfeeding and 3) being 4 months pregnant. My husband’s family upon hearing the news that I was traveling, exclaimed;

“Zey, y3ni.” How, (y3ni) stressing on the impossibility of this action.

My family upon my arrival stated;

“Nao sei como fizeste essa viagem. I don’t know how you did this trip.

Basically, I left Cairo in the dawn hours and had a 13 hour layover in Morocco and finally from Casablanca to Cape Verde. I have to say a lot of preparation and research was involved before the trip.

In this post I will list some tips I’ve learned through my journey of traveling alone with toddlers.

1. Travel light! I actually traveled lighter than ever in my life but I still feel like I could have traveled even lighter which leads me to the second point.
2. If you are traveling to your home country than bring almost nothing or just the essentials for one week. Believe me your family will shower you with gifts, especially for your kids and you will be doing a tones of shopping.
3. Prepare a variety of nutritious food for the trip. Skip the chips and candy because your kids will be exposed to extra germs and will be dehydrated which brings their immune system down. Making sure that they have a good variety of nutritious snacks will ensure that they will not get sick during the trip.
4. Be extra prepared! Bring extra clothe in your carry-on, diapers, plastic bags (in case of any potty accidents) and wipes.
5. Prepare your kids excitement before the trip. My youngest couldn’t understand it but I still communicated about the adventure we were about to embark on. I pointed to the sky every time I saw a plane and told them we were going to be on that too.
6. Surprise the kids with the knew toys on the plane. The plane we were on did not have individual screens so having knew toys defiantly kept them excited for a while.
7. Stickers and playdo work like magic, believe me! They could play with the stickers and playdo for hours.
8. Bring a toy that they love. Knowing that they have something with them that they love, ensures security during a very unfamiliar environment.
9. Be patient! This is not the time to be a strict parent, like me. You have to allow your child to do things that you would often not allow back home.
10. Show excitement through your body language. I had to always be cheerful and playful throughout the trip so they knew that we were on a fun adventure.

I hope these tips will serve you well, whether you are traveling with your kids alone or not. Traveling alone with kids is totally possible and not that hard but takes a lot of patients and resistance. Rest assure that when you arrive to your destination it will all be worth it.