We want to inspire other parents to travel with their kids, not make them believe that family travel is easy peasy. Some days it is and some days it isn’t. Just like at home. Raising kids is a challenge, wherever you are. Can you imagine potty training your child while traveling? I’m so glad we didn’t have to do that! We don’t want to inspire you to travel and then have you find out that the reality is quite different. We’ve always been pretty upfront about what our travels are like. And really, there’s no reason not to. Travel with kids is fantastic, but it can be taxing.

Is it responsible to travel with such a young child?

This is a question all traveling parents have heard at least once… Of course, there are certain practical things to consider, insurance, healthcare, medical requirements. We made sure these were well taken care of before we left. And obviously, there are some locations we wouldn’t choose to travel with an infant, like a water bungalow or a tree house in the jungle. Those can wait till he’s a bit older. We think the best thing you can give a young child is lots of love and attention. While traveling we were together 24/7. What more can a child wish for than to have his parents around all the time and to do fun things with them? There really are a lot of reasons you should travel with your kids. Our little world traveler is very flexible, not a fussy eater and quickly at ease in new environments. Of course, we can’t be sure that this is due to our travels, but we’d like to think so.

Don’t just take our word for it, there are many family travel blogs out there who write about their wonderful and not so wonderful experiences while traveling! C
Be sure to check out these tips for traveling with a toddler from one of our fellow family travel bloggers who travels with her young daughter.

The importance of routine while traveling with children

Since we were traveling long-term we specifically chose to follow our son’s routine as much as possible. We started our 10-month trip when he was 17 months old. At that point and during the whole trip he napped once a day after lunch for 2-3 hours. We made sure to be ‘home’ for his nap as much as possible. Occasionally he would sleep in the carrier or stroller, but we preferred for him to sleep in a bed (or his toddler travel bed) because he would sleep longer. The way we traveled, we definitely didn’t get see as much as if we’d go out sightseeing and exploring the whole day. Even though we never stayed anywhere for more than two weeks and often only for a few days, keeping to our son’s routine meant that the days were fairly predictable for him. Keeping to his routine ensured that our little world traveler was generally rested and happy, which in turn made sure we could relax too.

Traveling with an infant: a typical day

So, we woke up when our son woke us and got ready to start the day, usually around 8. Then we either went out for breakfast or fixed some breakfast in our hotel room or apartment. After that, around 9:30 we were ready to start exploring. Generally, we chose one activity to do each day, which we did in the morning. Between 12:00 and 13:00 it was time for lunch and after that we returned ‘home’ so our son could sleep. This meant that one but mostly both of us would stay with him during his nap. The perfect time to write for our blog or do some work. After his nap it was snack time, followed by some discovering near our hotel or apartment, usually combined with finding a nice place for dinner. Dinner between 18:00 and 19:00 and then back ‘home’ and our son would be in bed by 20:00. We spend most of our evenings at home too, watching a movie, working or checking out new destinations…

Is traveling with kids worth it?

So, seeing as we (voluntarily) limited our sightseeing during our travels when our son was younger, do we still think it was worth it? Yes, absolutely! One thing our son taught us was to appreciate the little things and the cultural immersion. When you travel with kids, you slow down and see things from a child’s perspective. Even just going for a walk in a new environment, talking to locals or shopping in a supermarket in a different country helps you to really experience and appreciate your travel destination. A lot of things change when you travel with kids, it’s a whole new dimension of travel. We didn’t see as many of the large attractions as we would have when we traveled solo or as a couple, but we did get to truly experience what it’s like to live like locals. Other than that, the time we spent as a family was amazing and we’ve seen so much. Being together 24/7 can be taxing, but it was a fantastic gift for the both of us that we could spend so much quality time with our little boy. Other than that we simply love to travel ourselves. And kids are definitely more happy when their parents are happy.

Would we recommend traveling with an infant or toddler? 

Oooh, that’s an easy one… YES! I don’t think there’s a ‘best age’ to travel with your kids. Each age offers its own challenges and rewards. We actually found it very easy to travel with an infant. Infants don’t need much. Eat, play, sleep and be close to their parents, that’s about it. We’ve seen and done so many wonderful things: celebrated our son’s 2nd birthday in North Sulawesi, did an awesome motorbike trip in Vietnam, saw wild elephants in Sri Lanka, spent New Year’s Eve in Bangkok went island hopping in The Philippines… we made so many memories! Now that he’s a bit older our little world traveler is really starting to discover his individuality and have an opinion. It’s amazing to watch, but can sometimes be a bit of a pain when traveling. Luckily we’ve never had to experience a tantrum in an airplane at 36.000 feet (yet).

If you’re waiting to travel till your kids are older, you’re really missing out. Missing out on traveling yourself and also missing out on some amazing travel experiences with your kids. The best advice anyone ever gave us about family travel was to ‘just go!’ Don’t overthink all the reasons why you shouldn’t or can’t. If it’s your dream, make it happen!

The post The reality of traveling with a toddler, is it worth it? appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

This post contains affiliate links, you can find more info in our disclaimer.

Totseat: ideal high chair for traveling

We had a simple IKEA high chair at home, but when we started traveling we took the Totseat everywhere we went. This award-winning, portable high chair folds up to a small package and it’s very light, so we always had it in our daypack. On rare occasions, we would get lucky and there would be a ‘normal’ high chair for our son, but mostly we used the Totseat. We used this travel high chair every day and were so glad we bought it!

What is the Totseat?

So what is it? Basically, the Totseat is a fabric chair harness that allows you to turn any normal chair into a high chair. It will fit any type and any size chair, so it’s extremely practical and versatile. It folds into a small package that you can just put in your diaper bag, backpack or whatever kind of bag you carry. Another big plus is that it’s machine-washable. I don’t know about other kids, but ours wanted to do everything ‘by himself’, including eating. So obviously things could get a bit messy. The Totseat website says it’s suitable for children of 6-30 months. We used it til about 25 months. After that, he figured out how to get himself out of it by standing up

The Totseat is durable

This fold-up fabric high chair is a well-made product that’s very sturdy and durable. We’ve used it every day for about 5 months and no wear and tear. The colors faded a bit, but this didn’t affect the safety at all. And a great thing is that Totseat offers a lifetime guarantee for the products that were bought directly from them. It shows how sure they are of the quality of their products. Actually, when our little one grew out of it, we gave our Totseat away to another traveling family. It could easily go another round… or two.

The Totseat is safe

Unlike some other types we saw, this travel high chair is made of very sturdy material and it’s well-made with great attention to detail. And still, at 260 grams, it’s very lightweight. It fits almost all types of chairs. You do have to make sure that the chair itself is on a stable ground (which can sometimes be a bit of a challenge in Asia). The Totseat complies with all required international safety standards and even some that aren’t required. Just to make sure it’s extra safe for your child. Of course, like any high chair, it’s never safe to leave your child unattended.

The Totseat is versatile

When you’re traveling, and especially when you’re traveling long-term and/or on a budget, you don’t have all the ‘luxuries’ that you have back home. No playpen, no high chair… We didn’t only use our Totseat for going out to lunch and dinner, but also around the house. It was great to have him secure in his chair when we were in the kitchen making breakfast (when we occasionally rented an apartment), when we were cleaning or when he was watching tv. The only downside we found is that because the Totseat uses a normal dining chair, your child sits quite low. It isn’t easy for your little one to eat when the table is at eye level. That doesn’t outweigh the advantages though and it helps if you just place a pillow under their bum.

Of course it’s much easier to show you how it works than tell you. Here’s a short video that demonstrates the use:

Summary

To summarize the above we made an easy pros and cons list.

Pros of the Totseat

[check_list]

• Lightweight & folds to a small package
• Complies with international safety standards
• Can be machine or hand washed
• Sturdy material, suitable for everyday use while traveling
• Turns just about any chair into a high chair

[/check_list]

Cons of the Totseat

[delete_list]

• It’s not a real ‘high’ chair, your child sits quite low
• Although the website says ‘suitable til 30 months, I’d say 22-25 is more realistic

[/delete_list]

Our recommendation

Rating:

Would we recommend the Totseat to traveling parents? Yes, definitely! The Totseat is easy to use, small enough to fit in your bag and it ensures that your little one always has a safe and comfortable place to sit. Funny enough in our case it also turned out to be a great conversation starter! Lots of people had never seen such a product and were curious about it. The perfect icebreaker

Check prices and availability of the Totseat travel high chair on Amazon >>


 

Amazon Services LLC Associates Program
FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon.it and amazon.es. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

The post Review: Totseat – travel high chair appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

If you’re coming to The Netherlands, Haarlem should definitely be on your list of places to visit. It’s one of the nicest cities in The Netherlands. Not just because it’s our hometown (if you do come to Haarlem, drop us a line and we can show you around!). Haarlem has beautiful old architecture in the city center and there are lots of activities in and around the city, for both kids and adults. If you’re staying in Amsterdam, to go from Amsterdam to Haarlem by train only takes about 15 minutes. Some people call Haarlem ‘small Amsterdam’, the same type of architecture, but smaller and much less touristy.

Combine sightseeing with rest & play

Meneer Paprika

Yoghurt Barn

Minimarkt

Veerkwartier

Kweekcafé

Ikea / Smaland

The post Best kid friendly places for lunch in Haarlem appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

I’m not (yet) seeing how we can combine tropical, scuba destinations, short term and affordable travel and a home base in Holland, but hopefully we can come up with a solution! We have a rental apartment in Haarlem, that we would keep as a base. Because it’s social housing, it’s affordable, but we aren’t allowed to sublet. So while traveling we would still have substantial costs back in Holland.

Our wishlist

(luckily we’re not asking for much ;-))
[check_list]

• Relatively cheap to reach
• Cheap to stay (accommodation and food)
• Good wifi
• Enough time for me to work
• Sunny and warm
• Scuba diving destination

[/check_list]

Here are 7 ideas that I’ve come up with that tick at least a few of the boxes.

Budget travel tip #1: Long term home base abroad

Very often you get a discount if you rent for a month or more, and moving around is expensive. So it makes sense to choose one location and stay there for an extended period. If we’re in the same place for a few weeks we can establish a routine with Jace, and if we choose a location with good wifi, working shouldn’t be an issue either. So this option might work. Downside is that even with the discount the costs of the accommodation might still be high and now that Jace is almost three, we have to pay for his transportation (plane, train, bus). So we would have to look at destinations that are relatively cheap to reach AND offer affordable accommodation. Airbnb.com is an obvious choice to look for accommodation, but good alternatives are Flipkey.com, Homeaway.com, 9flats.com and Wimdu.com

Budget travel tip #2: House exchange

As mentioned before, in Holland you aren’t allowed to sublet if you rent social housing. But, you can arrange for a house sitter. Officially you can’t ask for rent, but you might be able to exchange other services. It would be a great solution if we could do a house exchange! Haarlem is a great city to visit and our apartment is in a pretty strategic location, close to a supermarket and other shops, very near a bus stop to the city center, about 10 minutes away from the center by bike, free parking in front. Our apartment is quite small (about 40m2), which might be an issue, but the major downside to this idea is that the minimum period is three months for an official, housing corporation approved, house sitter. Also both parties need to be in Holland at the same time for an appointment at the housing corporation to sign a contract. If we had a house of our own, this would be a lot easier, for instance with Guesttoguest.com or Homeexchange.com

Budget travel tip #3: House sitting

This seems like a great option to stay in a new place for a while, with minimum costs. We might have to spend a bit more on transport to get there, but accommodation would be free. Since it most likely involves pet sitting too, we would be at home a lot and should be able to minimize our spends on eating out and sightseeing. Of course with Jace we want to make sure that there’s enough to do and see in the direct area and that it’s easy to reach stores etc. We might be able find a house sit a bit closer to home for the first time, so we can travel there by car and have our own transport while we’re there. I’d love to give this a try! There are so many house sitting websites though that it’s hard to choose, Trustedhousesitters.com is one of the biggest, but Nomador.com also seems like a good option.

Budget travel tip #4: Work exchange

Mau could make use of this building and renovating experience in exchange for accommodation and food. The challenge might be to find a place where they wouldn’t mind hosting a family though. And I would have to have enough time to work, so I can make enough money for us to live and pay rent at home. I guess for the hours Mau would have to put in, it’s not really worth it. He’d make a lot more here in Holland for the same work. But still, it might be an interesting option, as it would be a whole new experience. HelpX.net and Workaway.info are great sites for this.

Budget travel tip #5: Buying a campervan

Some friends of ours are away most weekends in the summertime in their Volkswagen campervan. Their pictures always look amazing. Such freedom! We recently connected with a Dutch family with a baby boy who sold their house and are now traveling around Europe with an RV. What an adventure! Of course since I dislike the cold so much, we would have to make our way really far south in the winter and it would be quite costly to return home for shorter periods. But budget airlines might offer a solution there. Of course camping grounds aren’t free either, but if we stay in one location longer we might get a discount and save on gas too. This option wouldn’t allow us to go to those tropical diving destinations, but it’s still worth looking into some more.

Budget travel tip #6: Scoring deals by booking long in advance

We generally don’t like to plan ahead. You never know what will happen and we like to be able to change our plans whenever we feel like it. But, we can save loads if we would book a lot longer in advance. Plane tickets are much cheaper and you have a lot more choice in accommodation. It would also really help our motivation to know that we have travel plans coming up. The way we’ve traveled the past year and again when we were in Vienna, Prague and Berlin in May was to only book a day or two in advance. I feel we were lucky to get the apartments that we did, but I’m sure we would’ve had a lot more choice and more affordable options had we booked ahead. We might have to become a bit more organized (oh oh….).

Budget travel tip #7: Setting price alerts & watching deals sites

It seems that flexibility is also a great way to score travel deals. Platforms like
Secretflying.com, Booking.com and lots of airlines often have great deals, but you have to act fast. Mostly that doesn’t mean you have to be able to leave the same day, but you do have to decide quickly if you can leave on a certain date, even if it’s a few months away. Since we’ve never traveled that way it would be a big change for us. But I think we definitely have to start paying better attention to these kinds of websites!

Now that I’ve written this post I definitely feel a bit better! We need to do some more homework, but it seems we have a lot more options than I originally thought. Of course it’s so much easier to feel depressed, and sit around and complain, but if we want things to change we need to take action! Hopefully these ideas will help!

Booking.com

The post 7 budget travel tips for short-term travel appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

Great to meet fellow travelers

I connected with Jason on Families on the Move, a fantastic Facebook group for families that travel long-term. As I love meeting fellow travelers and showing them around Holland, I immediately responded when I read his post that they were in Amsterdam. Luckily we could match our schedules and they were able to come to Haarlem. It was great to meet them!

The grass is always greener…

When you live somewhere you often don’t appreciate it as half as much as you would when visiting as a tourist. Haarlem is actually a great town and still we don’t want to be here long-term right now. There was some debate a while ago on Families on the Move that it’s because of the routine and obligations you have when you’re back home. It gets boring, regardless of where ‘home’ is. People who are infected with the travel bug generally don’t like routine that much I think this is certainly true for us. Jason and his family felt there were worse places to get ‘stuck’. And they should know, they’ve been around!

Inspiring plans

It was inspiring to hear about the Marshall’s plans. They’ve already extended their travel plans once before and are now planning to travel a whole extra year! And next year they want to settle in Bolivia. How cool is that?! Their son James has his own travel blog called Round the World Kid and is writing a fantasy book with a friend back home in the US (they take turns writing a chapter, what a great way to stay connected!). Michelle is a photographer and visually documents their travels. Listen to this great podcast on An Epic Education where Jason explains their reasons to travel and the way they managed it. We look forward to follow them as they continue to explore the world!

Booking.com

The post Families on the move: Meeting the Marshalls appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

Since the market attracts a lot of tourists as well as local Berliners, don’t expect to score a lot of bargains at the Mauerpark Flohmarkt. You can find awesome, unique products there though. There are some private sellers who sell second-hand stuff, but mostly they’re small businesses with fantastic handmade stuff. There’s also a big section with second-hand kitchenware which we didn’t check, so you might find some good deals there. One of the sellers was a Dutch guy selling ‘drop’ (licorice), which we thought was funny. He actually said they now have 9 stores in Berlin. I thought nobody but us Dutchies liked our kind of licorice, but it turns out I was wrong.

No early birds at Mauerpark Flohmarkt

In Holland markets usually start around 9 (even earlier at King’s Day) and you really have to be the first to get there to find good deals. In Germany, or at least at this particular flea market in Berlin, it doesn’t work that way. When we got to the park at 10 o’clock some sellers were still unpacking and it was very quiet. It wasn’t until lunchtime that it got more busy and by 1PM it was really crowded. We talked to one of the food vendors however and he said it wasn’t a very busy day, on a good Sunday the market has up to 10.000 visitors.

Nice food court at Mauerpark flea market

A lot of people came to the market around lunch time. There was a food court, with lots of options from all corners of the world. Korean marinated beef, Mexican burrito’s, German bratwurst, Turkish pizza’s, French crepes and Brussels waffles, to name a few. There were also some vegetarian and vegan choices. And of course, lots of different drinks, from homemade lemonade and juices to various kinds of beer. It amazed us but apparently, Germans can drink beer any time of the day, even very early in the morning…

Festival vibe in Mauerpark

The Mauerpark flea market was nice, but mostly for looking, not buying. There were a few bargains to be had, but most things were quite expensive. It was great for some new ideas though. The real attraction for us was not the market, but the park next to it. When we first arrived it was still quiet, but before long it was filled with people. Lots of live performances attracted quite a crowd and there were people sitting everywhere chatting with friends while enjoying a beer or a picnic. It had a great festival like vibe. Of course, it made a big difference that the weather was great. We actually tried to find a place to sit in the shade with Jace because of the heat.

Mauerpark flea market with kids

As with any crowded market, it’s not really the easiest place to visit kids. We brought our stroller, which was fine when it wasn’t very busy yet. If you go later in the day a carrier might be more convenient, but we saw many other people with strollers and didn’t have any issues. Our little one really enjoyed the positive vibe. In the park he could run around and play. And he had fun watching the performers, even did a bit of dancing himself. He loved trying the different foods (especially the bratwurst, haha) and the graffiti artists were quite an attraction too.Actually we really recommend visiting Berlin with kids. Did you know there’s now even a Legoland in Berlin? How cool is that?!

Mauerpark Karaoke

We read later that around 15:00 they’re doing karaoke at the amphitheatre in the park. Apparently the Mauerpark karaoke is quite famous and it’s supposed to draw a big crowd so we were sorry we missed it (although… lots of horrible karaoke in Asia so maybe it was for the best).

Mauerkpark Flohmarkt: Where & when

Location: Mauerpark (Penzlauer Berg) / Bernauer Strasse 63
How to get there: bus 247 or tram M10 to Wolliner Strasse
When: Every Sunday from 9:00 – 16:00
Website: flohmarktimmauerpark.de

If you’re wondering what to do in Berlin with kids or without, on a sunny Sunday we definitely recommend a visit to the Mauerpark Flohmarkt.

The post Berlin: Mauerpark Flohmarkt / Flea market appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

We spent about a week Vienna (if you’re traveling without kids I think you can probably see most of Vienna in two days) and really enjoyed it. The weather was great when we were there, so we spend most of our time outside. But even when it’s a bit colder I think you’ll find more than enough things to do in Vienna to fill your days. Also check out our previous post about our visit to Vienna.

Also read:
Tips for succesful city trips with kids
The best places to visit in Europe with kids

Getting around: public transport in Vienna

Vienna has lots of public transport options. There is a subway, trains, trams, and busses. You pay €2,20 per person to reach most of the city. The idea is that for this amount you can keep traveling as long as it’s in one direction and it’s valid on all modes of public transport. If you want to go back, you need to buy a new train ticket though. If you go a short distance it’s actually not that cheap, but for longer distances it’s great. And best of all, kids under 6 travel for free and for older kids there are very good discounts. Most of the time it’s extremely easy to figure out which line gets you to your destination, especially those destinations closer to the city center. The new trams are very simple to board with a stroller, the older ones can be a bit of a pain because they have some steps. Same goes for the trains. All in all, even though we didn’t have a car, we found it really easy to move around.

What to do in Vienna with kids?

Are you planning to visit Vienna with kids? Don’t worry, Vienna has a lot to offer! We visited both Prague, Berlin, and Vienna in one 2-week holiday and found that some of the best playgrounds and public parks could be found in Vienna. Find our tips below for the best things to do in Vienna with toddlers.

Vienna Tiergarten Schönbrunn

On the grounds of Schloss Schönbrunn (Schoenbrunn Castle) you will find a really nice zoo. It’s very large with a huge variety of animals as well as many exhibitions. We didn’t see them all, but the tropical rainforest, aquarium, and insectarium were impressive. There’s a nice playground in the zoo and also an area where kids can experiment with water. Fortunately, it was dry while we were there, or Jace would have been soaked. Like most kids he loves to play with water. We spend about three hours in the zoo, didn’t even go to the playground and didn’t see all the animals, so you can easily spend most of your day there wandering around and visiting all the exhibitions. To save some money we brought our own snacks, but ice cream was priced very reasonably, €1,50 for one scoop (pretty big portions). To enter we paid €18,50 per person for two adults and Jace got in for free.

Schoenbrunn Castle gardens

Schloss Schönbrunn was the summer residence of the Habsburg dynasty, making it one of the most important heritage sites of Austria. We didn’t actually enter the Castle but wandered around the castle grounds a bit after visiting the zoo. You have to pay to get inside and there was a huge line. And the zoo was expensive enough for one day. But you can enter the gardens for free, so that’s a nice bonus. They were setting up a midsummer night’s concert, so there was a podium, chairs and security messing with the view in the main section, but it was still impressive. Our feet were a bit sore from walking around the zoo, so we didn’t get to see a whole lot. But I think if your kids are a bit older it’s very nice to spend a morning exploring.

Josef Strauss Park

Vienna has many parks and in almost every park you will find a playground. Usually they’re quite big playgrounds too, not the tiny ones we have in Holland. We researched some of the expat sites and found out that Türkenschanzpark, Stadtpark and Rathauspark are among the favourites for expats with kids. But by accident we stumbled upon Josef Strauss Park and we liked it a lot. Even more important, Jace liked it too. There was a section for the little ones and a separate section for older kids. He spent about two hours playing, climbing, sliding and running around. The weather was fantastic, so we didn’t mind at all. We were very happy we found this place.

Böhmischer Prater kids amusement park

Of course, the Prater is very famous in Vienna. But for a small child it’s not much fun to be in such a huge amusement park, with all the noise and crowds. So we opted for the less famous Böhmischer Prater (or Boehmischer Prater) which is located a bit outside the city, near Grillgasse station. To get there you have to go to Wien Hauptbahnhof and change to the S60 train that will bring you directly to Grillgasse. From there it’s about a 10-minute walk. I messed up a bit and we took the wrong train at Hauptbahnhof, so we had to walk about half an hour. To be honest we were a bit disappointed. It’s like a Dutch ‘kermis’ (carnival) but quite old and not as picturesque as I thought it would be. It’s quite a long street though and there are a lot of rides especially for kids, with a great variety suited for both young and older kids. And lots of places to get food and drinks. It’s not a ‘must see’ in Vienna, but if you have a half day free and nothing else to do the Böhmischer Prater is a nice place to visit. Do bring your wallet, the rides at the Böhmischer Prater are €1 to €2 each.

The best children’s museums in Vienna for toddlers and older kids

There are lots of fun kids museums in Vienna however, we felt that at almost three Jace was a bit too young still to really enjoy them. So we definitely need to come back here one day when he’s a bit older The best children’s museums in Vienna that we read about are:

[check_list]

[/check_list]

Vienna with kids? Yes!

I read a few blogs where they said the Viennese don’t like kids, but that’s not our experience. Vienna offers a lot to do for kids, from fantastic free playgrounds and lovely parks to cool kids museums. Getting around is easy, finding nice and affordable food is easy, what’s not to like? And it’s easy and cheap to get there from other European destinations by airplane or train. So Vienna with kids? Yes!

The post Things to do in Vienna Austria with kids appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

Also read:
Tips for succesful city trips with kids
The best places to visit in Europe with kids

We weren’t sure what to expect of Vienna. We picked it because it was one of the destinations we could go to with our saved flyer miles (lucky for us Emirates has partnered with Easyjet for European destinations). But Vienna absolutely exceeded our expectations! We could have easily spent more time there. It’s a very child-friendly city. Lots of parks with great playgrounds, drink water points all over the city and very easy to get around with public transport. Read our next post about things to do in Vienna with kids for more tips. Actually, I would not mind going back for a solo weekend in Vienna.

Maximum flexibility

We’re taking things slow and are actually traveling much in the same way as we did while in Asia. With no set plan and as much flexibility as possible. It even works if you’re only on a short trip We booked our train ticket to Prague and our apartment there while we were in Vienna and still have to book accommodation in Berlin. Some might say prices are lower when you book well in advance, but we like to keep our options open. And very often something good comes up, like the three bedroom apartment we now have in Prague for only €25 a night.

Travel tip: great Airbnb apartment in Vienna

We stayed in a nice Airbnb apartment in Vienna owned by a student called Rosalie. We booked it very last minute, but it turned out great. The only thing we felt a bit weird about is that she didn’t clear away any of her personal stuff (including her bra in the bathroom…). But although not spotless, it was a very nice place. A large, new apartment with a separate bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom with bath and a separate toilet. There’s both a supermarket and a bakery less than 5 minutes away by foot. The apartment is located in Floridsdorf, a bit outside of the city center, but it’s only a 5-minute walk to a tram stop that will take you to Floridsdorf station. There you can catch either the train (S-Bahn), metro (U-Bahn, line U6), bus or tram to anywhere in Vienna. We would definitely recommend this place. If you do want to rent it and you’re not registered with Airbnb yet, please use our Airbnb affiliate link to sign up. This will give us both extra travel credit. Win-win

Taking things slow

Because during this trip we’re visiting three big cities in two weeks, we’re not doing the standard sightseeing rush one might normally do on a short city trip. That would most likely be a bit too much for our little world traveler (who is doing fantastic, by the way). We’re basically just following his pace, waking up when he does, taking our time in the morning and doing stuff that he likes Running around tourist style, trying to do as much sightseeing as possible isn’t our style anyway. Instead, we simply like to enjoy our new environment, new foods, new people, new sights and new smells. So even though Vienna is a city with a lot of history, we decided to choose a few fun things to do and just enjoy our new surroundings.

What we did do was walk around the city a fair bit. Even if I didn’t read up on all the history of the city, it’s fun to wander around and check out the beautiful details on all of the old buildings. I personally really enjoyed our stroll around the Innere Stadt with the Volksgarten and the Parliament building. Amazing and impressive architecture all around!

Vienna with kids

Like we said before, Vienna is a very good city to visit with kids of all ages. You’ll find our recommendations for things to do in Vienna with toddlers in our next post. If you’re traveling with older kids, definitely check out this post with 10 more suggestions for fun things to do in Vienna.

The post A fantastic time in Vienna appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

This post may contain affiliate links, check our disclaimer for more info.

Let’s start by saying that obviously your list with most used travel accessories changes with the age of your child. Ours was 1,5 when we left and almost 2,5 when we returned. I’m sure we’ll need different travel gear as he grows older, but this top 5 is what we used during our 10-month trip across South East Asia.

How to save money on kids travel accessories

Let me give you a tip that saved us a lot of money. Travel accessories, and especially travel products for kids, are expensive. But, they are also super durable so they can easily go two or more rounds. As parents, we know all things designed for kids always cost more right? So I’m sure a lot of parents, us included, already buy a lot of second-hand stuff for their little ones, from toys and books to clothes. But you might not think about it for travel accessories. We did and bought most of our kids travel accessories from eBay and other online marketplaces, often saving us at least 50% on the retail price. Call us crazy, but we’d rather spend our money on traveling

Our top 5 travel accessories for kids

1. Nomad kids travel bed

Our little one’s Nomad travel tent. His safe and familiar place to sleep each night.

One of our most used travel accessories has to be the Nomad travel tent. We bought it second hand as with most of the kids travel gear we bought specifically for our big adventure we were not sure if we would use a travel bed much. We had no experience in traveling around with our little one and online reviews from other parents showed mixed experiences. But we thought we’d bring one just in case. And we used it A LOT. The obvious choices are either the Deryan Travel Cot or the Nomad Kids Travel Bed. We opted for the Nomad because pictures showed it standing on legs and we mistakenly thought that meant he could sleep off the ground. Turns out it doesn’t but we were still happy with our choice as it’s quite a bit lighter than the Deryan and it’s really sturdy. Like I said we bought it second hand and even though it’s been all over Asia and isn’t as shiny as it used to be, it can still easily go another round. I firmly believe that having his own travel bed and therefore a ‘safe’ place to sleep that was constantly the same, even though the environment changed, has made a huge difference for our little world traveler.

2. Manduca babycarrier

In the Manduca at the hospital cave at Cat Ba Island in Vietnam

Number two on this list is our Manduca baby carrier. I can’t believe how often we’ve used it, when at first we didn’t even think to bring it. We hardly went anywhere without it! We put him in the carrier whenever he got tired or whenever it got too crowded, and we felt it would be safer for him to be on my back. I carried him on long walks, but also in the metro, while getting on and off planes or boats, when we were at crowded markets and… on motorbikes. Read all about it in our review of the Manduca baby carrier.

3. Totseat foldable travel high chair

Our little world traveler opening his birthday presents in North Sulawesi while sitting in his Totseat

The Totseat is a clever fabric construction that turns any seat into a child’s seat. It folds into a small package that you can easily carry in your backpack. So it’s ideal for traveling! Not many restaurants in Asia have high chairs for kids. And since our little one was very active, having the Totseat was invaluable if we wanted him to eat during dinner. I accidentally came across the Totseat while searching online and bought it second hand. Check out our review of the Totseat. By now the colors are a bit faded but the material used is still really strong. Hopefully, we can pass it on to another family traveling on a budget.

4. Diaper pouch

This very cheap diaper pouch is a bit worse for wear after traveling around for 10 months. But we’ve used it every day!

I’ve never seen this appear in a list of kids travel products, but it’s just so practical it had to be in our list. Might be that everyone assumes all parents of diaper wearing kids will simply have one, but I know lots of people who don’t so I’m putting it on the list just in case. We brought a really cheap plastic diaper pouch (I think it cost me €2,-) and it’s falling apart by now, but we’ve literally used it every day on our trip. Everybody who travels knows how important it is to keep your stuff organized, well… the same goes for your diapers! This way we were never without diapers and baby wipes because we always made sure the pouch was restocked. Since it was a really ugly checkered red color it was easy to spot and difficult to forget. If we’re doing a long trip again before our little one is potty trained, I think I will make one out of fabric. It might get dirty more easily, but it will be more durable too. I’ve since come across these diaper bag backpacks which look great to keep your stuff organized too.

5. Reusable straw

Like the pouch, this may be incredibly obvious, but we wanted to make a complete list of items we used most for Jace, so here it is. Initially, our little one drank from a reusable BPA-free water bottle with a flip straw, but even though we brought two, somehow during our 10 months on the road we managed to lose both. Luckily we also brought a few reusable straws and we always carried one in our daypack. I would recommend everyone who travels with a young child to take a few as soon as they can drink from a straw. It makes life so much easier and less messy! With the straw, our little world traveler could drink from any bottle or cup spill free. We didn’t buy a special kids bottle for him again after we lost the first two. We just bought a regular BPA free bottle and always carried the straw with us. We also used it when we ordered fresh juice on the street. People looked at us a bit funny, but not using plastic straws was bit plus for us.

Not on the list but worth mentioning

Baby monitor

Actually our baby monitor should probably have been in the top 5 as well. A real life saver! We got it when our son moved to  his own bedroom at 8 months old and it’s still going strong. It’s traveled with us everywhere. Our son is terribly restless in bed and often ends up with his feet on his pillow or wedged sideways. So we regularly check to see if all is well. It’s so much easier if we don’t have to enter the room (and risk waking him) to check! I’d not be comfortable sitting outside in the evening or during naps while our little world traveler is sleeping all by himself, but with a baby monitor to keep an eye on him I can relax and enjoy my free time. When we were in Bunaken we could even sit in the restaurant while he was sleeping in our bungalow. Such freedom Do invest in a good baby monitor with a camera. There are wifi baby monitors that stream to your phone or tablet, but you need a good internet connection for them and we prefer a monitor with a closed system that can’t be hacked. Call us paranoid, but even though it’s not very stimulating to watch we’d prefer other people not to see our son sleeping.

Child’s car seat

After some debate, we decided not to bring a car seat. There are some travel choices like the Bubblegum inflatable booster seat or the Trunki Boostapak, but none that were suitable for our 1,5 year old. And since we were planning to travel around a lot we didn’t want to bring a bulky car seat. To be honest, we traveled by car much more than I would have thought, from taxi’s to private transport and it would have been much safer to have a car seat. But we had so much luggage already and unless it would have been an inflatable one, it would have been almost impossible carrying it around everywhere. Now that we’re back I’m reading about Volvo creating an inflatable car seat concept, which looks great. I don’t think it’s for sale though and I wonder if it would have been suitable for a 1,5-year-old. Of course we were very fortunate not to be in any accidents.

Motorbike helmet

While we didn’t take a car seat, we did buy a child’s motorbike helmet at the beginning of our time in Asia. We bought it at Hardy’s in Sanur, Bali. It felt a lot safer to have a helmet for our little one and most places where we rented a motorbike didn’t have any child’s sized helmets. So we were always happy we brought our own. Of course, we knew from our time in Bali that Jace liked being on a motorbike and the two of us love it as well. So we figured we would be driving a motorbike fairly often (and we did, in every Asian country we visited). Of course, it only makes sense to carry a helmet around if you’re somewhere where it’s easy to rent a bike and your little one is allowed to be a passenger on a motorbike without all kinds of difficult safety regulations.

Travel stroller

There are numerous expensive lightweight travel strollers for sale, but we decided to take a cheap second hand Chico umbrella stroller that we could leave behind if it turned out we didn’t use it. We bought it via an online marketplace for €5. We hauled it around all of Asia, but only used it in the big cities and in the airport. Looking back we could have done without it, although especially in airports it did make our lives a lot easier. But the carrier might have done the trick too. So the stroller didn’t make it to the list of our most used kids travel gear.

Small and lightweight toys

Everywhere we went we always carried around a few of the small metal toy cars. Especially in restaurants they worked very well to keep him occupied until dinner arrived. Children are happy to play with anything, from paper napkins (tip: learn how to fold a few origami animals! :-)) to table mats, but somehow toys hold an extra appeal. At least for our little one. Of course, if the toys failed there was always the iPhone…

So this is our list of the travel accessories that we’ve used most for our toddler. What travel gadgets do you take for your little ones?

The post Kids travel accessories – our top 5 appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

For parents with young kids, the big question for New Year’s Eve is always ‘Do we let the little ones sleep, or do we wake them?’ For a second we considered letting our little world traveler sleep, but we decided to be a little bit selfish this year and wake him up so the three of us could find out what New Year’s Eve in Bangkok was like. Our little world traveler’s first New Year we spend with friends in Holland, his second New Year we were with friends in Egypt and this year it was just the three of us in Bangkok.

Would you rather celebrate New Year’s Eve in Thailand on one of the beaches in the south or surrounded by the amazing green hills in the north? Check out this family-friendly beach in Phuket and this post about spending three days in Pai. Or, if you’ve already experienced New Year’s Eve in Thailand, why not try any of these other amazing places to celebrate New Year’s Eve?

Why did we choose Bangkok?

Well, that’s an easy question. We love Thailand and Bangkok is a fantastic city! We love traveling in Thailand and Bangkok always feels a bit like coming home. Busy as it is, family-friendly may not be the first word that comes to mind when thinking about Thailand’s capital. But you’d be surprised about the sheer amount of things to do with kids in Bangkok. There’s also a number of great day trips you can do from Bangkok with kids.

Where to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Bangkok?

It’s easy to find info about celebrating New Year’s Eve in Bangkok. Lots of information online about all kinds of parties in the coolest rooftop bars and big clubs. But absolutely nothing about where to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Thailand’s capital with a child. Not too much info about fireworks either. Then we discovered that there was supposed to be a fireworks show over Wat Arun. So we decided to go to the riverfront near Wat Pho with our fingers crossed that we’d be able to see it.

Like any other day

The last day of the year we really didn’t do anything special. There are a lot of fun things to do in Bangkok, but we decided to take it slow this day. We knew we’d be waking him to go outside later in the evening. Therefore our priority was to make sure our little world traveler did an early nap and we had an early dinner so he could get some sleep before we woke him.

Nice vibe during the day and early evening

The day went remarkably well. It was nice and busy in the streets when we went outside after his nap. We felt really happy to be in our favorite city and our little world traveler was very happy and cheerful as well. After our early dinner, we walked to Khaosan Road to see what was happening there. It was already really crowded, with a DJ spinning tunes (the Thai way, so quite loud) and a big clock counting down the hours until 2016.

Fairytale lights in the streets of Bangkok

We walked around a little bit before returning to our guesthouse. We specifically chose Erewan House on Soi Rhambuttri because of the location near Khaosan (click here for more ideas of where to stay in Bangkok). The whole area around the democracy monument was lit up with thousands of little lights. It was really pretty. Of course, we had to take some pictures! We went home early and were lucky that our little world traveler decided to cooperate that night and went to sleep without a fight around 20:00. He was a bit grumpy when we woke him up at 22:30 but quickly became his cheerful self again once we were outside.

Large crowd heading to Chao Phraya riverfront

There were a lot of people in the streets and there was a good vibe. As decided before we headed to the riverfront near the King’s Palace and Wat Pho. We took it easy and stopped for a drink along the way. Our little guy loved all the pretty lights. With maneuvering around all the people also going in that direction it took us about an hour to get there. Big banners shouting ‘Countdown 2016’ told us we were in the right place.

Waiting for the fireworks

Again we were lucky with our little world traveler. In order to see the fireworks, we had to get close to the river bank and wait for about 25 minutes in a huge crowd. Fortunately he didn’t mind. He was happily sitting in the carrier on my back, watching people and pointing things out to us. Finally, the clock on the big screens showed it was time to count down the last 10 seconds of 2015! 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… BANG! Lots of really loud and beautiful fireworks, exactly as we had hoped Our little man was a bit scared and first, but once we started pointing out the colors and the amazing lights in the sky he really liked it.

Crowded Khoasan Road

Since there wasn’t too much going on besides the fireworks, we decided to head back. Our little guy was remarkably cheerful for the late hour. We did a quick detour to Khaosan Road and even entered the street a few meters, but then decided not to go further. It was crazy busy and very loud. Would have been fun if it had been just the two of us, but not with our little man. We didn’t mind though, the evening already went so much better than we could have ever hoped for.

Late night pancakes!

So we walked back to Soi Rambuttri and our guesthouse. On the way we stopped to get a banana pancake. Being up so late makes you hungry! Actually, simply walking around in this area makes you hungry, there are food stalls everywhere! Even though it was already past 1am, our little world traveler wasn’t complaining and had some pancake too.

A night to remember…

Again, our little world traveler proved us proud. By 02:00 he was back in his bed. He went to bed without fussing and slept until 09:00! Lucky us! We didn’t get to party like we would have before our son was born, but we still had a really good night and got to experience the crowds and the cheerfulness of a New Year’s Eve in a big city. For us New Years Eve 2016 is definitely one to remember! Would we do it again? In a heartbeat! Traveling with kids is different from traveling as a couple, but this trip has shown us again and again that so much more is possible than we originally thought.

The post New Year’s Eve in Bangkok… with a toddler appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

We decided to split the journey into two days to make it a bit easier for Jace and for ourselves. Luckily last time we were in KL we discovered a great hotel called EV World Hotel Enstek, which is pretty close to the airport and in a nice area with lots of places to eat. The perfect place for a layover.

So we spend one night there and met a cool Czech guy now living in Australia who was traveling alone with his two year old daughter. He was on his way to Nepal to stay in an ashram with his Swedish wife, who was already there. Jace and his daughter Ingrid hit it off strait away and had a great time playing together. We had dinner together and he talked about how he and his wife used to travel the world by sailboat. It’s so cool and inspiring to meet people like him on the way!

Then on October 12th we had our flight with AirAsia to Sri Lanka. Two days of flying in a row are pretty rough. Not so much because of the flights themselves, but the packing, getting to the airport and waiting in the airport are tiring. We’re lucky all the traveling made all three of us a lot more flexible. In the beginning it took Jace about two days to settle, now he doesn’t need any time and just sleeps wherever we put his little Nomad travel tent, or… in the train, on the bus, in the airplane and even in the jeep during a safari

At Colombo airport we met Alena, a German student who was doing her first Asia trip. She had some trouble getting money at the ATM so we offered to share our taxi so she could get to Negombo and try one of the ATM’s there. Turned out she was planning to go to the same hotel we were so it worked out really well. The Marine Tourist Guest House in Negombo was disappointing to say the least (we’ll write some more about that in another post), so when Alena said she would leave Negombo the day after we decided to join her. We discussed locations and since Anuradhapura could be easily reached by train that seemed like a pretty good option.

The next morning we had to rush to get to the train station in time and we had had no time to look for a hotel at our next destination. That was a mistake we’ll try to avoid in the future! The train ride in third class was a lot of fun. The train went really slow and we had plenty of time to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. And everybody on the train was very interested in those weird foreigners with the red haired little boy. We got a lot of attention

The hotel owner in Negombo had suggested we take a train to Puttalam and from there private transport. Great idea, but finding transport turned out a lot more difficult than we thought. Once we got to Puttalam station we got assaulted by tuktuk drivers. Because we had so much luggage we actually had to take two tuktuks with the four of us. They drove us everywhere but where we wanted to go, which was extremely frustrating. We wanted to go to the bus station to find a minibus to take us to Anuradhapura, but they kept giving us ridiculously high prices and kept insisting that it was better to go by tuktuk…. three hours with and already very tired little boy. We didn’t agree. Finally we managed to get the price down to 7000 rupees. Still too much, but all we wanted was to get on the road.

As mentioned we didn’t book an hotel in Anuradhapura upfront. Alena knew the name of a guest house so we asked the minibus driver to drop us off there. Unfortunately it turned out to be a bit too expensive. So while Mau and Jace waited at a hotel terrace with a drink and the iPad, Alena and I went out to scout for a more affordable place to stay. After we’d been to one or two places it started to rain. Luckily we brought our ponchos. After checking out yet another too expensive place it really started to pour and there was thunder and lightning as well. So we waited out the thunderstorm in the lobby of a very fancy hotel where we unsuccessfully used the incredibly slow internet to find a place to stay.

When the rain slowed a bit we decided to continue our search. I was getting a bit desperate. It was getting dark and we had no place to stay. This was exactly why I always want to book ahead! I thought that Mau had probably already decided to take a room at the hotel where he was waiting with Jace, and since it was getting dark we figured we’d try just one more place before heading back. We had to wade through a small river to get there. Later we saw a snake on the road, luckily we didn’t see it before! It didn’t look very promising from the outside and even less from the inside. There was water leaking from the ceiling and Alena and I both had a funny feeling about it. We almost turned around and left, but then one guy that was there finally managed to get his phone working and he called a friend to see if he had any rooms available. Apparently this was a good and affordable place to stay. And… even better, he could take us there in his car! No more walking in the rain, yay! We insisted that we had to get back to the other hotel first to collect Mau and Jace and all our bags (and to see if Mau hadn’t taken a room yet).

In the end we were so lucky we met this guy. His friend’s hotel, Bevary Holiday Home, was really nice and we got a very good deal on the price. Both our good Samaritan and the owner of the hotel restored our faith in the Sri Lankan people!

The post Our first introduction to Sri Lanka appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

So far:
We traveled by plane, train, car, bus, boat, motorcycle, scooter, horse carriage and becak, 
visited 5 countries,
went to 16 destinations,
took 11 flights,
and stayed in 20 hotels, apartments and bungalows and 1 night on a boat.

And some more general things we love about this trip:
being able to spend so much time together as a family
discovering new places together
watching Jace try loads of different types of food and loving most of them
meeting lots of new and inspiring people
being outside so much and seeing Jace run around and play with everything he finds
watching our little boy grow and learn and seeing him so at ease wherever we are

Of course it’s not always easy. Like all young parents we struggle with raising a very active and stubborn toddler, but we’ve added an extra hurdle by doing it while traveling. Also we’re still adjusting to this new way of traveling as a family. If you’ve read our post about traveling with a child, you’ve noticed that there’s quite a few things that change when it’s not just the two of you anymore. That being said, we’ve had so many amazing experiences, met so many fantastic new people and seen so many great places, we wouldn’t have missed that for the world!

Jace is generally a very happy child and it’s a lot of fun to watch him discover all these new places, new people, new tastes, new animals… He smiles a lot and is constantly running around checking out his new environment. He loves to go exploring with us We know he won’t actually remember this trip, but we hope this sense of discovery, the idea that anything is possible, all the impressions he gets and the foods he tastes will stay with him when he grows up.

We’re very much looking forward to our next 6 months on the road!

The post Six months on the road… appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

Fortunately we received a really quick reply when we send a message to inquire about availability. We learned later that two of the Dutch owners were actually staying at the property at the moment. Being in the same timezone made communication a lot faster and easier. We booked the flight and they arranged transport for us from the airport. We could have saved some money by finding our own taxi and normally we would have, but this was the easiest way with Jace.

Since we booked only one or two days before the flight, all direct flights we’re sold out and we had a stopover in Ternate, Maluku province. Otherwise the flight would only have been about 1,5 hours. But it took us until 14:00 to get to Manado. Mexi, our driver had been waiting for us a long time, but fortunately was pretty cheerful about it. Of course we were also paying him a hefty IDR 500.000 for the transfer, so maybe he was happy about that too We stopped at a big supermarket on the way to Amurang and then we were really ready for some peace and quiet. And for a nice place to celebrate Jace’s second birthday the next day.

The post Makassar, South Sulawesi to Amurang, North Sulawesi appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

Having traveled a fair bit as a couple and before that solo or with friends, we both have our fair share of travel experience. Based on that, we thought travel with kids simply meant taking things more slowly and staying in one place longer than we normally would. In practice, it’s a little more complicated… Check out these 7 steps to adapt to family travel and this advice on how to get the best vacation experience with kids. There’s definitely a bit more to international travel with kids than we initially thought.

Of course, since we’ve taken a year off to travel, we have the luxury of letting our son set the pace and take our time. It’s a bit different if you’re on a family holiday and want to make the most of your three or four weeks abroad. We’re very lucky that our little world traveler likes to see and do new things, loves to go exploring with us and generally is a very good natured and happy child.

If you’re interested in traveling with kids, also check out:

• 10 tried and tested tips for flying with infants & toddlers
• 5 tips for a succesful city trip with kids
• Best strollers for traveling
• Best toddler travel beds buying guide

Travel with kids, a new dimension

We’re now in the fourth month of our journey and are still adjusting to our new way of travel. Some people think their traveling days are over when they have kids, but we’re discovering quite the opposite. We’re saying goodbye to a lot of things we liked about being on the road, but we’re also welcoming lots of new experiences. It’s truly amazing to travel with our little one, to see how happy he is, to see him grow and develop and discover all these new places, new people, new foods, new animals… We’re so happy we’ve made the decision to go travel with our son! If you’re considering long-term travel with kids, here’s what you need to know.

What we found out about travel with kids

1. More planning & more luggage

There’s a lot more planning involved when you travel with kids. What to bring, where to go… We’ve never been so stressed and overpacked as when we started this trip (tip: check out this list of things to leave at home!) and take a good travel toiletry bag and packing cubes to keep things organized. We prefer that have at least one big backpack, but you need to figure out what luggage configuration for your family. Check out this post which compares different types of backpacks. But, while trying to be more organized than we ever were when traveling as a couple, we try not to have a set itinerary and keep the freedom to decide fairly last minute where to go next. Make sure to update your phone with these must-have travel apps. Mobile internet often works better than the hotel wifi.

2. Predictable is better

Whereas the most unpredictable situations were always the ones we enjoyed most when we were traveling with just the two of us, now predictable is definitely preferable. Somehow getting stuck behind a religious procession after going out for dinner just isn’t the same when you’re trying to get home quickly so your very tired 2-year old can go to bed.

3. Your accommodation requirements change

Finding suitable accommodation is much much harder. Before, we just booked a plane, bus or boat ticket somewhere and always managed to find a place to stay when we got to our destination. Any room that was moderately clean would do. With a child a two bedroom accommodation is so much easier. Sneaking around in the dark so you don’t wake up the little one when you go to bed really gets old after a while. But even if we do share a room with the tree of us, our demands have changed. It needs to be clean, have a hot shower and either have a child’s cot or be big enough that we can use our own travel bed without tripping over it constantly.

We’ve definitely become fans of Airbnb. If you’re new to Airbnb, why not use this link and receive a €30 discount on your first AirBnb booking.

4. Researching new destinations takes more time

Deciding where to go next can be stressful. Even though we travel with a toddler, we still don’t like to set our itinerary in stone. For us travel is about flexibility (as much as possible with a little one of course). But deciding where to go next is more difficult then it used to be, especially because of accommodation (see point above). We spend much more time then expected researching destinations and accommodations. Obviously certain locations are off-limits until he’s a bit bigger, no tree huts, rainforest shacks or floating bamboo bungalows for a while.

5. More contact with locals

When you travel with kids contact with the locals is even easier than before. A child doesn’t know language barriers. And in all the places we’ve been so far they really appreciate and welcome kids, much more so than back home. Everybody wants to know his name and age and they love it when he waves to them. The waiters in restaurants spontaneously pick him up and take him to see the kitchen. He loves the attention

6. Traveling with kids is intense

You’re much more active and yet do a lot less exploring. Since we follow our son’s pace and try to be home when he needs to sleep, we can really only do stuff in the mornings. He’s really active and inquisitive, so the hours he’s awake are very intense, with us constantly watching him. Fortunately, he naps 2-3 hours after lunch, which gives us some time to relax. But nap time also it means at least one of us needs to stay ‘home’ with him.

7. No nights out together

We’re always home around 8PM. Not that we were such party people when we traveled together, but there was always time for a few drinks after dinner. Now we need to be back home around 8 so that the little guy can go to bed. And of course one of us needs to stay at home with him in the evenings. Out of solidarity the other one usually stays home too. We’re not comfortable leaving our little one with a babysitter.

8. Dinners are more ‘interesting’ than before.

While family dinners can be a bit of a ‘thing’ with little children, now that we’re traveling we’re eating out a lot more than we normally do at home. We’re lucky Our little world traveler is fairly easy, but still, dinners can be a bit frustrating. He gets distracted and our little one who used to eat anything and everything now has the pickiness of an almost two year old. At the moment he’s on a diet consisting mostly of white rice and chicken. A quiet dinner is definitely out of the question.

9. You meet less other travelers

In large, this has to do with us not going out at night, but also with the accommodations we stay in. We immediately notice that it gets easier to meet people when we stay in a bungalow type place. We do talk to people at dinner. Usually they comment on the Totseat travel chair our little one sits in But they’re not the RTW traveller or backpacker type people that we’re used to. It almost seems like travellers who don’t have children are afraid to talk to you when you travel with kids. A shame because we really get a lot of energy out of meeting new people and sharing stories with others.

10. You phone home a lot more

A short txt when you’re moving to say where you’re going next and that everything is ok isn’t enough anymore. Jace’s two sets of grandparents want to see him and talk to him at least every few days, which makes us spend a lot more time on FaceTime and Skype.

If you’re considering travel with kids or are already on the road, the Facebook group Families who love travel is a great resource. Families on the move is also a great group, but it’s a closed group that you can only join if you’re planning to travel for more than 6 months.

The post Travel with kids: 10 major differences appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.

We weren’t even sure if we were going to bring it, since we had too much luggage and weight already. But on a whim we decided to take it anyway. Our first two months in Egypt we didn’t use it at all as we could borrow a pram with air tires, which was a lot more practical and less warm for all of us. But since being in Indonesia we’ve used the Manduca almost every day.

It allows us to take our little one on the motorbike. A very practical means of transportation when you’re traveling around Asia. I’m not sure if this is what they had in mind when they designed the carrier, but we love it The locals think it’s very funny and keep waving and taking pictures of us when we’re driving around. Still it seems a lot more safe than the way they transport their kids, the little ones standing between their legs or sitting in front of the parents on the seat holding themselves steady with their feet on the dashboard. Now that’s a sight!

Anyway, back to the Manduca. I didn’t use it a lot when Jace was younger because I wanted to carry him on my front and my shoulders were too narrow to use the Manduca. It kept sliding off. Now that he’s older and heavier and I’m comfortable carrying him on my back I don’t have that problem anymore. He sits very comfortably and sometimes even falls asleep while in the carrier. We mainly use it on the motorbike, but also while hiking.

Our little one weighs over 12 kilo’s now, but with the Manduca I can easily carry him on my back. It’s made of very sturdy, but breathing, material, with clips that secure very well. I would actually prefer to have metal clips instead of plastic, to make them even more strong, but I guess that would bring both weight and price up. The €89.90 that we spend on it seemed a lot of money at the time, but considering that our son is now almost two years old, it’s actually pretty good value for money. And I’m sure we can sell it again when we’re done with it, it’s great quality.

For more info, check out Manduca’s official website

The post Review: Manduca babycarrier appeared first on FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com.