Tips For Traveling With A Toddler

We had the best time visiting Toronto a couple weeks ago. My younger brother is living there for a few weeks for some pretty legit modeling contracts he got. Our closest family members are a 40 hour drive so when I heard he was going to be there we planned a trip right away. People always ask Kris and I how we manage to travel and do so much especially with a toddler, tight budget and busy schedule. Today I thought I would share along with our Toronto pictures some of the things I do to make traveling with a toddler easier. I have SO many Hawaii pictures left to share so maybe I will make a post about my budget travel tips and tight schedule planning with some of those.

1. Plan Your Itinerary In Advance

Before we had Zoey this wasn’t as important. We could show up to a city and plan our day as we went along. When you are factoring in unexpected tantrums, packing diapers & snacks, scheduling naps, etc. suddenly your plate becomes a lot fuller. You can’t plan for all the variables that might come up traveling with a toddler. But you CAN plan your itinerary. This will be one less thing for you do the morning before you head out. I like to look up the city we are visiting a few weeks in advance and find a variety of activities to do. I type up the plan on my computer and print it out. I include all the details for each attraction we plan to visit. I always include the exact street address of the place we are visiting, the cost and website for reference, a great parking spot or garage nearby and what time approximately we plan to go to that attraction.

For this trip we only had a few hours in the city so we planned to go to the Ripleys Aquarium. It is our favorite spot in Toronto, mostly because the shark tunnel is insanely cool. It took us a few hours to see the whole museum even though we have been before. Before we went I made sure to find a parking garage nearby and I planned our visit for a few hours before closing when I knew it would be more quiet. Not related to my travel tip at all – but there is a giant jelly fish tank at Ripleys Aquarium that is probably 15ft tall and they have changing lights that make the jelly fish look different colors. The best part of the whole trip was watching Zoey do her “jellyfish jiggle” dance in front of that tank😂.

2. Choose A Lightweight Stroller That Has Lots Of Storage Space & Reclines

It is always good to have the goal of packing light… But my list of necessities when traveling with a babe is usually too long for that to be realistic. Snacks, change of clothes, diapers (even though she is potty trained we bring pull-ups just in case), my camera, phones, wallets, water enough for three. The list goes on. There is nothing worse than having sore shoulders all day and so Kris and I always toss EVERYTHING under the stroller. Having a stroller with storage underneath is SO important.

Having a lightweight stroller is also great. You can get in and out of small shops easily. Tight spaces and crowded streets won’t be a problem. We always used a cheap umbrella stroller until I discovered that the UPPAbaby G-Luxe is super lightweight, reclines AND has storage space underneath. It is hard to find a lightweight stroller that does all that.

Reclining is SO important if your baby still takes naps. This makes it so you can continue to enjoy the day while sticking to your nap schedule. Zoey almost always will fall asleep in the stroller about half hour to an hour after her regular nap time and if she is cozy in there she will stay asleep for a few hours. I love the UPPAbaby G-Luxe stroller because it is the only one I can find that is padded. The seat back reclines and has a thin, but pillow soft layer of padding that makes it super comfy for your babe to sleep in.

3. Plan Something Exciting For Your Babe At The End Of A Long Day

Even if all the attractions you plan are exciting for a kid, chances are they will still get tired and frustrated near the end of the day. We always pack a little extra special treat for Zoey when we are traveling. We don’t do a ton of candy around the house, so when we travel getting a treat is really exciting for her. I consider it a great trading tool for good behavior. You could also pack a small toy or plan a stop for ice cream somewhere along the way. It is a small, easy thing to do that can go a long way in making your kids day.

4. For Long Flights And Drives Pack A Variety Of Small Entertaining Activities

Rather than getting one or two exciting bigger activities for a long day of traveling with a toddler, plan a variety of small things. I have found that changing activities is a great way to distract a toddler from a tantrum. Little things, like plastic toy frogs, a rubix cube, a mini coloring book or even something a little different like a package of tissues they can pull out one by one, can go a long way in entertaining a toddler while traveling.

For long drives and flights I always pack an exciting activity bag full of little goodies from the dollar store and pull things out as needed throughout the day. Zoey absolutely loves it and it totally helps distract her from the fact that she is in her carseat or confined to the plane seat! The other thing you can do if you feel like splurging a little bit is buy an older generation iPad and load it up with educational games and TV shows. We did that for our flight to Hawaii and it was a lifesaver when all else failed on the long flights.

Those are my top things that I do when we travel with Zoey. What do you do to make traveling with a toddler easier? For those of you with more than one kid, have you found it a lot more difficult to travel with two or more kids than it was traveling with one? With baby number two so close I am really curious what people have to say about that!

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of UPPAbaby. The opinions and text are all mine.