Of the many things I wanted to experience in my life, solo traveling with kids somehow didn’t make the list. I bet it didn’t make yours either. After all, who ever really plans to be parenting alone in the world?
While I have always loved traveling alone, for some reason, traveling solo with my children seemed like this impossible task, and as I sought advice from many of my other solo parenting friends, I learned that it also felt impossible to pretty much everyone else I knew.
I started this blog to share what I’ve learned along the way and hopefully help other nervous first-time parents traveling solo with children overcome their fears and achieve their dreams with a little help from a friend.
Traveling Solo With Your Kids 101
How To Prepare For Your First Solo Trip With Kids
Do you remember the carefree days of dreaming about visiting some exciting new locale and having tickets in hand for that trip the following day? Yeah, so do I. It was magical. Traveling solo with children doesn’t work that way.
If you plan to travel solo with your kids, you need to start the process months in advance. The exact time can and will vary based on many factors, including their ages and their level of experience in travel, but don’t think you’re just going to go out and snag the quickest plane ticket you can find like you did when you were 20.
What does work? Having a game plan. When traveling solo with your kids for the first time, you absolutely need to have a game plan for 4 things:
- Make sure that you’re prepared for the trip to the fullest extent.
- Make sure that they’re prepared for the trip to the fullest extent.
- Make sure everyone has the right gear for the trip.
- Make sure everyone has a safety plan for the trip.
Easy peasy, right? If you organize your focus to nailing these 4 things, it will be. You’d be surprised how easy it is to travel with your children when everyone’s on the same detailed page.
How to prepare for traveling solo with your kids
The best way to make traveling solo with your kids a successful and happy memory is to prepare yourself. The more prepared you are, the more confident you will be and the safer they will feel.
Once you have a destination in mind, you must ensure you have the proper children’s travel documents for that trip. If your child doesn’t yet have a passport, we put together a simple guide to children’s travel documentation to get you through the process.
Documentation can take several months to a year, depending on your family’s circumstances, so we recommend you get started on this before you book anything. Traveling solo with your kids or traveling solo with children at all, really, comes with some additional scrutiny along the way, so be prepared.
Once you have your documentation in place, you’ll want to review and submit any necessary visa information and review the vaccination requirements that are required or suggested for your destination. Some vaccinations are long-term series and may take several months to finish.
Finally, you need to review your medical insurance policy. Many insurers provide minimal healthcare coverage overseas, and in a true emergency requiring you to be flown back to the U.S. for treatment, it can be extremely costly and leave your child or children abandoned in a strange country with no means to get home.
Do some due diligence here and opt for travel insurance if you’re even the slightest bit unsure. If you’re traveling solo with your kids, you absolutely have a responsibility to ensure there’s a proper emergency protocol and that they know it front to back, GOD forbid.
How to prepare your children for traveling solo with you
Once you’ve done all of the steps above to prepare yourself for traveling solo with children, it’s time to help them prepare for traveling with you.
Older children can handle and retain much more information than younger children. For children 13 and up, you’ll want to ensure that they know your emergency plans inside and out and have a copy of their emergency contact information in their gear. You’ll also want to give them a brief airport and security etiquette primer.
When traveling solo with children younger than 13 you need to do a bit more to help them prepare, especially if they’ve never traveled before. Airports and foreign destinations can be overwhelming and downright scary for younger ones.
Consider it briefly: a million people are milling about with security personnel barking orders to keep things moving. There are many rules about what goes in a bin and what doesn’t, which type of x-ray you go through, and what to do once you come out the other end.
What your silly, cheeky little one might find funny to say to a family member at home is grounds for a pull-aside in a customs line, and let’s not forget just how draining travel is in general. Helping them understand what to expect, especially if you can show them using YouTube videos or video content, will go a long way for everyone as you solo travel with kids.
Solo Traveling With Kids: Selecting The Right Gear
The above sections covered 3 of the quarters of your game plan for solo traveling with kids, and now we’re going to move on to the 4th, having the right gear when traveling solo with your kids. If you’re used to traveling with you kids alongside another adult, it can be easy to miss this key detail.
When traveling solo with your kids, you are the only adult set of hands; you will need those hands to be free for any number of things along the way. Say it aloud now: you can not be the only one carrying gear! If your children are not old enough to carry a backpack, traveling solo with your kids should wait until they’re capable of doing so.
If you traveling solo with your kids, you will want to invest in a high-quality travel backpack for children. This is where they can store their change of clothes, keep busy supplies for the flight, snacks, drinks, and travel pillows/stuffies.
While parents always want to support and care for our children’s needs, when traveling solo with children, certain things have to be attended to that younger children can’t be responsible for, like holding on to their boarding passes, identification, and comfort bits and bobs.
Letting them take some responsibility here will greatly help you and give them a greater sense of responsibility, autonomy, and awareness of their surroundings. After all, no one wants to leave Blue Bunny on the plane.
Traveling solo with your kids is a shared adventure you will all remember forever.
While it may seem overwhelming and impossible the first time around, traveling solo with your kids can ultimately be an extremely rewarding experience for all of you and a great life-long bonding memory. As solo parents, we already do the impossible every day, and our approach to travel shouldn’t be any different.
Create your game plan. Prepare to execute that game plan. Share the game plan in an appropriate context for the child’s age. Ensure you have the necessary training, practice, and gear to perform and have fun along the way.