10 Must have's on the road with a toddler!

10 Must have's when Travelling with a toddler! 

1. Child back carrier, this has been a life saver when Zach has been too tired to walk or on long walk's.So this is our top must have item for going away on a long trip(or any trip to asia). I recommend you take one of these if you're planning on doing the same. For us it has meant not having to deal with the im too tired tantrums, and there are barely any places we cant go because we have this! and it can be used as a seat when there aren't any around. Dont get me wrong he doesn't sit in this all day, but we love ours and probably couldn't travel without it until Zach is out of toddler mode.
The one we use is the Deuter Kid Comfort 1which has a bag at the back to carry essentials like wipes nappy's change of clothes etc!

2. Books; Bedtime books, Number book's Letter Book's They are really portable and we make sure to get paperback so they are lightweight too. All such lifesaver's for long road trip's and Evening's in the hotel.

3.Crayons and a Colouring book, Zach wont colour for long but it keep's him occupied when ordering meals and trying to multitask!

4. Essentials like wipes, nappy's, cotton wool, bum cream, Sun lotion, after sun, Mosquito repellant. If you have a favourite brand of nappy take them along, but all of the country's we have visited have had there own brand for reasonable prices, and they are generally good quality. Mama Poko and Dryper's are what we have found to be the most frequent. We usually have one pack of wipes but mostly use the Bidet shower spray and then dry. Sun lotion is very expensive abroad so take advantage of 2for1 offers at home, I also recommend buying Mosquito repellant at home because many country's don't sell it containing DEET.

5. Favourite toy, we have one stuffed teddy and a couple of few small car's, then a few bits and bob's that we have picked up on the way! Just don't go overboard on toys, they can do without.

6. Laptop, For DVD's Skyping and social networking. We have the small Macbook Air which is super small, so it doesn't take up too much space in the bag.

7. More T-Shirts than bottoms/pants, and Warm clothes. Zach is so messy, We have six T-shirts for Asia Including one Longsleve. Obviously what you take will depend on if where you are visiting is warm or cold! We only have one pair of warm clothes and it does us fine for here.

8. I-pod's and book's, Playing Cards, for downtime for Mum and Dad, we would lose our sanity without these thing's, Sometimes Clive draw's too!

9. We bought a silk Sleeping bag for Zach whilst in Vietnam, but a sheet would do the same Job, for cold air con.

10.Semi-Organisation to avoid toddler meltdown's we all know that you can't have a fixed schedule on a long trip, but bed time's and food time's are something that help keep Zach to feel secure.

Happy Travelling!

Teaching on the road.

Teaching Zachary whilst we have been away has been hit and miss. There are big things he has learned that wouldn't have necessarily been taught at home, then there are things that are difficult to teach out of our backpack.
Zach has learned heaps about Asian culture just by being in Asia, In Asia baby's and toddlers are everyone's and it is not uncommon for the waitresses in restaurants to take kids to meet the rest of the staff while Mum and Dad order food. He has seen other religions in practise and learned that people are different.
Sometimes it is hard to teach that not everyone is a friendly waiter or happy tourist, so this would be a drawback, I have tried to instill that its only okay when Mummy says so.

Travelling is such a wonderful thing there are an array of animals in every country. Zach has been enabled to learn about animals in a bigger way than seeing them at the Zoo. Touching animals that you wouldn't very often get to touch in a western country. Seeing animals in the wild that dont exist in our 'so called wild'. These are just some of the things you're kids can learn whilst being away from home for long periods of time.
On long bus trips we work on speech sing lots of songs and go through our ABC, 123, and Shape's and colour books. I suggest getting a good one of all of these in paperback, we keep ours in a plastic folder and they are super light weight. We also have a couple for bedtime which are really good.

Sometimes whilst travelling Zach misses out on socialisation with other kids his age. Dont get me wrong he gets to play with other children because you meet loads on the road in villages, local parks, Play area's, and hell in shops and on the market because a lot of asian people take their kids to work with them. I just would have hoped for a little more social time for him though as he has took a liking to wearing scuba gear outside of the pool!

There is so much to be learned just a plane ride away. So go and book a ticket travel Mummy's! x