Traveling with a toddler during Covid?
One of the major things that is impacted during the pandemic is Travel. After staying locked down and inside our homes for more than a year, we started doing small road trips to places nearby my city – Bangalore.
Road trips with kids in times of pandemic helped me learn a lot and hence I am sharing few tips that you definitely need to follow.
Well, things are different when we travel alone or without kids, and things are way much different when we are traveling with kids since we have to do lots of preparation in terms of many things.
So, we went on a road trip in December 2020 to a nearby location name Chikmagalur in Karnataka and since it was our first trip with our newborn who had just turned 2 years then, we did learn a lot of things from our mistakes.
So, let’s dive in.
Things to keep in mind when going on a road trip with kids during times of pandemic.
Tips for travelling with a toddler in a car
1. Location:
We did a lot of research on finalizing the location and the Hotel or Resort that we are going to halt in.
Many small babies do have motion sickness while traveling by road and they might feel the need of puking due to continuous traveling or jerking of the vehicle, hence be prepared and carry a good motion sickness relive syrup prescribed by your pediatrician.
Since we traveled by road for a good 6 hours and more by road, my baby started feeling dizzy and uncomfortable. Also, my child had motion sickness which we realized during that journey, hence we decided that we will not travel on a road journey that is not more than 3 to 4 hours. Ensure you do not travel by road for say 500 or 600 km which will be easily 8 to 10 hours of the drive as this may exhaust your baby of the Journey.
2. Destination:
Since you will be traveling with kids and also for your own safety, ensure that the place that you decide to go is not crowded, avoiding the public holidays as this ensures that not everyone is on the road trip traveling to the same location that we are going to.
3. Hotel
Before making the hotel booking, do proper research on how far the hotel is from the main city, what are the ratings of the hotel, how is the hygiene maintained and food, etc. Kids are very sensitive to their surroundings. If the hotel that you are going to stay at has lots of greenery and flora and fauna then ensure you carry good mosquito and other insects repellent for your kids.
4. Lots of Clothes:
Carry 3 to 4 extra pairs of clothing for children as they soil their clothes more often. If possible, carry full sleeves light cotton clothes if the place is humid or hot, and jackets, sweatshirts, and full pants if the place is cold. Also, try and carry your kids’ own bedsheets and blankets to ensure that there is no insect or bug infection to your baby.
5. Snacks, Snacks and lots of Snacks
Yea, you heard it right. Carry lots of snacks since snacks are the only thing that will keep your kid busy and occupied while on the road trip. Have a separate handbag only for Snacks. It can be fruits, homemade snacks, parathas, Makhanas, Trail mix, and the list is endless. This includes fruit juices and also water bottle for your kids.
Visit my blog : Travelling with kids? As a mom, what wonder food you must carry for your kids.
6.Sanitization
We carry sanitizers and extra pair of Masks for us as well as for kids. As a rule, we carry individual small bottles of sanitizers in our individual bags so that whenever we get out of the car, we have it with us immediately. Carry wet wipes wherever necessary.
7. Medicine box
Carry a medical box which will have basic medicines for your kids like fever, cold, motion sickness, rash, Dettol, Band-aid and for fever, cold and pain medicine for us adults as well.
8. Travel Toys for toddlers
Yes, you heard it right. Carry your child’s favorite Car (since in my case I have to carry my son’s favorite red and yellow car), Doll, or any other Toy that your child loves as this will keep them occupied for some time.
9. Pillows and Bedsheets
Carry a separate pair of Pillow and bedsheet for your kids, in case you child wants to sleep in the car and you might want to put the baby on the car seat and sit next to your child, you should be prepared with this situation as well.
10. Car seat for your child
Since you will be traveling by road, ensure that you have a car seat for your child as this will keep your child sit comfortably in one place, you don’t have to make your child sit on your lap for long and for of course for the safety of your child.
So, after my first road trip with my baby, I realized the lots of things that I missed and I ensured that I made a list of things that I will follow in my next road trip. My first road trip gave me certain learnings that I have mentioned in this article and you too ensure that you carry things that I learned from my first road trip.
Soon I am planning for my next trip and will come back with yet another post on my Trips soon.
Till then
Cheers!
Sapna