This post may contain affiliate links. We may receive a small commission, if you make a purchase. Read Disclosure.
Vacations with the little ones ain’t all tantrums and tiredness – seriously – there are many reasons for travelling with kids.
Take it from us, the good times of exploring near and far don’t have to end once you become a parent, which many people still believe, unfortunately.
We have been travelling with our two daughters from when they were babies to this day now they are teenagers.
Over the years we’ve noticed some valuable benefits to traveling with kids. Yes, it does mean you have to evolve your style of travel, but in my opinion, it’s usually for the better.
If you’re on the fence about taking your kids abroad, here are some reasons why traveling with kids creates a better traveling experience for the whole family.
Reasons For Traveling with Kids
1. Kids force you to SLOW down
My number one travel tip I generally give people is to SLOW DOWN and spend more time in fewer places.
When you travel with kids, you basically have no choice but to plan for a slower pace than you might usually attempt if traveling solo or as a couple.
They force you to be realistic about what you can and can’t do in the time frame you have. They don’t allow you to cram too much in to your itinerary (if you do you learn that lesson pretty quickly), and for the most part, I recommend you set the pace of your trip to what your youngest child can handle.
Plus, on road trips they force you to build into your agenda time for stops along the way for snack breaks, toilet breaks and play time – often this leads us to stopping at small towns or beaches we would never have visited.
Slowing down allows you to practice your patience and gain a better appreciation for the destination you visit.
Other benefits of slow travel include
- You spend less money – the more you move around by taking flights, buses, trains or road tripping the more you spend on tickets and fuel. Too much transport can really eat into your budget.
- The less you feel you have to see, the more enjoyable and stress-free for EVERYONE.
- You get to know a region well – instead of racing from one end of a country to another, or tearing through 6 countries in 6 weeks, you’ll get a better feel for a place and learn about the best things to see and do, and build a connection with the locals.
- Less burnout – having to pack and unpack, deal with many airports, bus terminals, boarder crossings and even visa issues can lead to burn out.
Relevant Reading: Bbest travel gear for kids to keep them happy and safe
2. Kids force you to meet people
Kids are incredible ice breakers for conversations, and they can be best friends with total strangers within 5 minutes.
For adults, we can stand distant from others for hours, even days minding our own business without ever saying hello to someone.
Kids, they just look at each other and they’re off playing like long lost cousins.
When our kids start playing with other kids, of course, we then engage with their parents, it’s rude not to right? And it’s an easy conversation starter.
Because of this, we’ve met so many other interesting travelers we may never have had a conversation with, which can lead to friendships or at the very least, the sharing of tips, stories, and a chance to learn about different cultures – maybe even a different language.
Same goes for meeting the locals in foreign countries. From our experience, people just come up to us and start interacting with our kids, and in Asia they love to cuddle your babies!
Be prepared for your children to be picked up, cuddled, and have photos taken of them in some foreign lands. Breathe, and enjoy the new experience of meeting friendly strangers.
3. It’s an excuse to stay in apartments
Before family vacations, we never considered staying in apartments as a way to save money on accommodation. It was mostly cheap hotels or hostels.
But now we love staying in apartments, whether it’s inner city or on the beach, and it’s mainly because of our kids we gave them a shot.
Most big-city hotel rooms were not built for families with young kids. They usually have no refrigerator or microwave, floor space is at a premium, and neighbors can hear every tantrum.
But with an apartment, you get more space, thicker walls, a kitchen, a washing machine, and separate bedrooms.
These extra facilities, especially for a long stay, can make your trip so much more enjoyable. Try it, and even consider sharing a 4-bed apartment with another family to really make it economical.
4. Kids force you to stay in safe, central locations
When it was just us adults, we’d often stay wherever we got the cheapest price, and sometimes those neighborhoods were out of the way or in dodgy locations and especially creepy coming home late at night.
Now that we have kids we are conscious of staying in a safe, central location that’s also close to local attractions, food outlets, the beach, the park, and all preferably within walking distance.
This has a flow on effect of saving us time and money in getting to places, and provides more options for cheap local eats, especially if we’re staying in a hotel or motel as we don’t want to have to eat in their expensive restaurants.
Relevant Reading: 15 travel safety tips for travel with kids
5. They force you to go on road trips
Before we left on our road trip around Australia, we seriously considered doing a big trip through Asia. That was until we spent 2 weeks in Thailand where the only real option was using public transport to get around the country.
At the time, Savannah was 2 years old, and in those early years it was tough to deal with in Asia and we longed for having our own vehicle and going at our own pace.
If your kids are still at an early age, road trips are the best. By having your own vehicle and a place to store your stuff, and you have LOTS of stuff with kids, it makes for a more pleasant experience than having to load and unload everything constantly on planes, trains, mini-vans, tuk-tuks – you name it.
And by having the flexibility to stop when you want to stop, to be able to slow down or speed up, or divert from your initial route, is priceless. You can’t do that so much when relying on public transport.
6. They become citizens of the world
There is only so much your child can learn in school, but there is nothing that travel can’t teach.
Travel enables children to become citizens of the world – that means they will have access to and the chance to learn from new cultures that they may not have the chance to mingle with at home.
By mingling with diverse cultures and communities, they will learn about different ways of life, see how other people live, maybe those people live with more frugal lifestyles or have other ways to find happiness. They may also learn a new language.
Whether you go to Europe or Asia or South America, the cultures they integrate with will teach them more than any classroom could.
7. They push you out of your comfort zone
Travel allows you to expand your horizons and try new things. If your kids have a sense of adventure and love to climb trees, or talk to new people, then travel will be the perfect outlet for them to push their comfort zone.
Whether it’s trying new foods or going on ATV tours or riding in hot air balloons. Travel gives you a chance to conquer your fears, or do something more daring than you would at home.
8. You become an all-round nicer person
As you visit new places, you will see all kinds of different experiences – such as chaotic traffic in Bangkok, or crowds of people in India, and these experiences can make you reflect on what life looks like back at home.
This reflection is a strong foundation for becoming a more compassionate and empathetic human being.
Travel sparks curiosity, but it also builds empathy, tolerance and understanding. By managing the stressful situations, and by allowing your kids to see you manage those situations, they can grow their self-confidence and learn to try and solve any problems that come up for them.
Travel can also inspire creativity, especially if you take your children to interactive museums, galleries, and to take part in workshops. We love doing cooking classes when we travel with our kids, and our daughters have grown up loving cooking because of it.
9. You get used to broken routines
If you live like on a schedule, travel allows you to break that. This is a good thing, as when something interrupts our routines or schedule, it can often leave you feeling anxious.
Some people travel with a schedule, but rarely do these schedules go as planned. Travel allows you to embrace the chaos, embrace that things don’t often go how you want them to, and it means when you return home, you don’t get that anxiety when things go off-piste.
10. The memories last a lifetime
Even when travelling with toddlers and young children who haven’t developed their long-term memory yet, you will find that those experiences will still last a lifetime.
Our kids have grown up patient and respectful of others, which I put down to their travel experience as young children.
Travel for us is all about family bonding, and we have a very close bond that will last for a lifetime. I am sure even when my daughters leave home, or start their own families, we will be forever bonded by our shared experiences in their upbringing.
Now, how can that not be a reason to travel with kids?
You may like our 10 principles to creating epic travel memories every time and 55 lessons learned from a life of travel.
Pin To Save On Pinterest
What do you think of these reasons for traveling with kids? Can you think of any more? Let us know in the comments.