Long Trips with Kids:
A Comprehensive Guide to Living on the Road with Kids
Recently, we have been contacted several times to talk about our way of traveling, and I realized that the main question that arises from our lifestyle is always how we manage living on the road with kids.
On various travel blogs, there are already many of our articles that talk about living long trips with kids, the most recent one being published by Freaking Nomads: Being Digital Nomads with Kids: The Complete Guide.
In this comprehensive guide to living on the road with kids, we will address all the major doubts of parents who want to adopt this lifestyle and show you some of the best platforms to refer to if you want to enter the world of long trips with kids.
Now let’s see how to actually live on the road with kids.
Introduction to Long Trips with Kids
Before diving into the guide on long trips with kids, I wanted to clarify: our trips are not real vacations, they are about living on the road with kids, which is slightly different from long-term trips with kids because it involves 100% real life, with all the daily problems that a vacation obviously does not have.
Why Choose Long Trips with Kids?
While living on the road with kids is not a viable option for all families, choosing to concentrate all vacations and leave into one period to opt for long trips with kids is certainly an easier path to take.
But why prefer long trips with kids over multiple short vacations?
For us, the answer is obvious and lies in the intrinsic nature of the child: every child has very different rhythms compared to those of an adult, so trying to take more trips at the expense of duration is a choice that negatively affects the kids.
As for us, every time we came back from a one-week vacation, we felt more tired than when we left, and this statement does not fit our concept of a vacation.
For us, traveling with kids is a lifestyle and a necessity. Thus, the classic “touch and go” itineraries lose all meaning for us. We are the ones who entered the Science Museum of Valencia and only visited one floor because the kids were mesmerized by the Pixar pavilion (if you’re interested in reading about our adventure at the City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia, I’ll leave you the link to the article where you’ll also find a lot of info on costs, hours, and discounts).
To return from a family vacation without stress, the solution is certainly to prefer long trips with kids, during which the whole family will have time to adapt to the new location, new food, new language, and new climate.
Take your time to travel with your kids without the rush to see all the attractions of a place, and I can assure you that you won’t regret it.
Benefits of Living on the Road with Kids
But back to us, we are often asked what the actual benefits of living on the road with young kids are, and I have to admit that more than talking about the pros, I want to shout out loud that there are no cons.
Surely you will face significant challenges, such as managing the kids daily without relying on anyone but yourself, but I can assure you that kids on the road are stimulated intellectually and physically to the point of making them much more agreeable. Once they overcome the hurdle of “objects” they obviously can’t carry with them, they will find entertainment and outlets in many new activities that will make them much more enthusiastic about their days.
Kids who live on the road, besides achieving an extreme level of adaptability, are also much more likely to play alone with whatever they find at the places they visit. During long trips with kids, you will realize how little they actually need many objects, toys, or other things to be happy, but that they can indeed have a lot of fun with “nothing” and not get bored.
Planning Long Trips with Kids
Obviously, living on the road with kids is not a suitable choice for everyone, first of all, you need to have a job that doesn’t depend on a physical location, but for this, I can assure you that the modern era offers an almost infinite number of choices, going even beyond the digital marketing sector.
Often people think that the only ones who have the possibility to live on the road with kids are online workers, but the reality is very different.
Personally, although we have a job that guarantees us a more or less fixed income in the digital world, we often find ourselves doing seasonal or project-based work in local activities of the places we are in.
At the moment, we are in Portugal, and both my husband and I are involved in opening a new place (a job we have always carried out since we met in Australia). So NO, it’s not necessary to lock yourself in a coworking space or spend endless hours at a desk to live on the road with kids; there are countless jobs to choose from to pay for expenses during long trips with kids.
Choosing the Right Destinations
Living on the road with kids is not always a walk in the park, and often organization is needed, at least when it comes to choosing destinations. As digital nomads, we don’t have too many requirements, and I must admit that the flexibility to work from anywhere with a minimum connection often allows us to find locations at a great price. To find out how to look for accommodations for digital nomads with family, I’ll leave you the link to the direct article, but always keep in mind that the ones with the biggest needs are always us adults; kids don’t actually need much.
If you work in the digital world or would like to embrace the lifestyle of digital nomads with family, I’ll leave you the link to the section of our blog that talks about Digital Nomads with Family so you can get an idea of all the pros and cons of this lifestyle.
Preparing a Flexible Itinerary
The secret weapon to surviving long trips with kids is flexibility. Accept that you will never have the time to visit everything you want, and above all, be aware that any plan you make will most likely need to be revised if not completely reorganized.
When traveling with kids, you need to be aware that too tight schedules and too many stops do not lead to the success of the trip. Often, slowing down is the best solution.
Preparations for Living on the Road with Kids
But concretely, what do you need to prepare to live on the road with kids? Keep reading this guide on how to face long trips with kids to discover everything you need to know before leaving.
What to Pack for Long Trips with Kids
We are big supporters of minimal travel and minimal living in general. Our backpacks are never too full, and we travel with the bare essentials. The must-haves for your long trips with kids are few and essential:
Documents (visas and valid identity documents for travel). When traveling with kids, it is essential to have all the documents in order, and if you travel within EU countries, visas become the biggest hurdle, especially for families where the parents are not married or if not both parents are present. To know everything about visas and documents, I’ll leave you the link to the best article I have ever found online about remote work visas written by my favorite digital nomad community: the Freaking Nomads.
Toys and books: Even if space is minimal, never forget to leave a corner for a toy (a stuffed animal, a car, an object) to which the kids are attached; this will help them create a sort of routine and connection between the various destinations. As for books, even if today the Kindle is the must-have object for travelers, when taking long trips with kids, I believe it is still important to ensure they have the opportunity to flip through physical books. We often travel by car and always leave some space for books, but even when we are backpacking, we let each child choose a couple of books to bring with them. These books, after being read and reread, are sold, exchanged, or sent back home to make room for new books, perhaps in other languages. If you want to know what it’s like to travel with kids who don’t know the languages, I’ll leave you the LINK to our article.
Clothes suitable for the climate: When moms contact me in despair about packing on social media, I always tell them to remove half of the clothes they want to bring. Starting long trips with kids and having too many clothes is the first mistake you can make. Backpacks that are too heavy, cars that are too full, and suitcases that are too large will only ruin the harmony of the trip. Always remember that kids don’t need too many clothes, they grow quickly, and often clothes will need to be changed before they are worn out because of the size. Remember that if you need something specific, you can most likely buy it locally: an example is wetsuits. At the moment, we are in Portugal where the ocean water is freezing, and for surfing, a wetsuit is essential; the wetsuit is one of those bulky items that kids wear for a few months and then won’t fit anymore; instead of traveling with wetsuits, it’s better to buy them used locally in various marketplaces and sell them before leaving when they no longer fit. Entering this mindset and buying used on local marketplaces will benefit both your wallet and the environment and becomes an essential solution for those who choose to live on the road with kids who quickly outgrow their clothes.
Photography equipment:If you are not a professional content creator, maybe a phone is enough, but I can guarantee that traveling you will surely collect a lot of videos and photos that will make any travel influencer pale. The moments to remember and immortalize that you will collect on your long trips with kids will be many, so I recommend getting memory cards and external hard drives to safely store your gigs.
To live on the road with kids, you don’t need anything else: remember that books, toys, clothes, colors, and notebooks can be found anywhere in the world, and often they will help you discover new places and connect with locals.
Managing Schooling and Education
At this point, the parents of school-age children will wonder how to handle schooling while traveling. Even if this is a minor concern in preschool age, for school-age children, managing school and education while traveling is definitely one of the most important issues.
The best platform for finding educational materials is surely Homeschooling; the number of sites and resources you will find on the web is endless, and many tools are completely free.
For those traveling long-term, at least during compulsory schooling, it’s often necessary to align with their country’s Ministry of Education to be legally covered.
If you are Italian and would like to find out everything about Homeschooling, I leave you the link to our complete guide: Homeschooling for Italians.
Challenges and Solutions for Traveling with Kids
Once you’ve decided to embark on the adventure and discover long trips with kids, all that’s left is to set off and enthusiastically accept all the challenges you’ll face… daily.
Adapting to New Routines and Environments
It’s often thought that children need routines and habits because we’ve been led to believe that a child is more at ease in a familiar environment. However, the reality is quite different: a child, especially in the early years of life, is at ease when in contact with their mother and, as they grow, with family members. Kids don’t need places or objects to be happy, but tranquility and a serene environment.
Everything behind the world of a child and their physical needs is just an economic business created by big companies: in reality, children have always been fine with what they had. I always use the example of a toy robot: a child doesn’t need the robot until they see it in someone else’s hands.
Adapting to a life on the road isn’t that difficult, especially for the little ones. On social media, I often talk about this: the people in our family who have the most problems adapting to places, rooms, beds, bathrooms, kitchens, houses, and so on are us adults.
When you embark on the path of long trips with kids, remember that no matter what accommodation you choose, the biggest critic will be you, not the little ones.
Managing Emergencies and Unforeseen Events
Even though we might be the least worried people in the world, we never travel without health insurance. There are many companies online that provide this service, all equally valid. Here are links to some of the most famous ones, but I always suggest carefully reading the contract terms and choosing the one that best suits your needs:
- Columbus
- Heymondo
- Genky
Maintaining Family and Social Connections from a Distance
Even if you decide to live on the road with children, always remember that the choice is yours, not theirs. For this reason, it is important to ensure they maintain connections with friends and family, even from a distance.
To achieve this, we have scheduled a monthly appointment with some friends with whom Aldo and Giulia exchange letters, drawings, and thoughts. We have revived the old concept of pen pals, and I must admit it has become a beautiful moment of sharing, during which it is fun to read the letters received and sent and discover what the children find essential to communicate to their friends and relatives.
Useful Resources for Long Trips with Kids
Although organizing a trip doesn’t require any particular app, I can guarantee that when you find yourself living on the road with children, there are various online platforms that can help you choose destinations with valuable advice and information.
One of these, of course, is our blog Miniwanderlust Team, where we have been sharing all our trips for over 7 years.
Joking aside, obviously, there are many other important resources. Keep reading our guide on long trips with children to discover our favorites.
Support Communities and Forums for Traveling Families
In this section, the somewhat vintage Facebook makes a comeback. This social network is the best in terms of forums and support groups because, in my opinion, it remains the most authentic. While on Instagram, everyone pretends to be a travel blogger but then charges for any advice disguised as consultancy, on Facebook, there are still many beautiful communities of travelers who help and support each other.
My advice is to stay away from various “Italians in” forums where unfortunately there are too many dissatisfied Italians who discourage travelers from moving or traveling to various locations. Instead, prefer international groups where you can find more relaxed and authentic travelers who have genuinely chosen to live on the road with children without escaping from anything.
Once you have chosen the destination, start looking for the various local expat groups in the chosen area, and you will surely find a community of supporters of long trips with children.
Another interesting circle of groups for supporting travel with children are the homeschooling groups, where you will certainly find many travelers who have made the same choice as you, happy to help you during the transition period between one trip and another.
Reference Books on Living on the Road with Kids
A section that cannot be missing in a guide on long trips with children is dedicated to books. For us, who practice unschooling and have decided to live on the road with children, it is essential that our children learn as much as possible from the places where we live.
Thus, the MiniLonely was born, real travel diaries for young travelers where each child becomes a co-author with me and can personalize the “notebook” with their adventures while reading and learning everything they need to know for a trip to another country.
Reflections on the Benefits of Long Trips with Kids
We have now reached the end of this guide on how to live on the road with children, and if you have come this far, long trips with children will no longer hold any secrets.
Obviously, I am biased in choosing this lifestyle, but I can definitely guarantee that a life on the road is something any family should try, at least for a period. Experiencing your children in contexts different from traditional ones, facing challenges as a family in remote parts of the world, perhaps in languages other than your own, are experiences that deeply enrich and especially shape character.
How to Share Your Experiences of Long Trips with Kids
Personally, we have always chosen to share our life on the road with the children, and I must admit I do not regret this choice, which has led me to have a real diary of all our adventures.
Whether you choose to make them public or keep them private, finding a physical or digital place where you can collect your adventures as a family is definitely a choice to consider.
If you are already on the road or about to set off on an adventure with your children, contact us on Instagram @miniwanderlustteam and maybe we will manage to meet somewhere… in the world.
FAQ We Frequently Receive About Living on the Road with Children
What prompted you to live on the road with children?
Matteo and I met while traveling and simply continued to do so together, even during pregnancies and with children.
How do you balance work during long trips with children?
Organization is the key word. Even though we are not good at planning destinations and itineraries, we have become geniuses at organizing our movements. We usually travel very slowly to have time to work and manage the children. During faster travel periods, we organize by scheduling work before and after, so we don’t have to spend too much time on the computer while moving.
Do you miss having a home?
Honestly, no. If we did, we would stop. We chose to live on the road with children, but we both agree that we will continue this lifestyle only as long as everyone is happy and content with the long trips with children.
How do the children socialize?
Even though we are not on vacation but actually living on the road, we spend most of the day outside, and opportunities to meet children and make friends are frequent. Our children are used to living on the road and give their best when they meet someone. They know they have friends all over the world, and luckily technology helps maintain these contacts.
Are there many families like yours who have chosen to live on the road with kids?
Many more than you think. There are many families who have decided to undertake long trips with children, and fortunately, most of them are not on social media. Every day we meet families who have made travel their way of life and who share our values and ideals.
Digitally Yours
☀️ Sara ☀️
