Travel Tips & Tricks (ft. COVID-19)
Originally published on www.clearasmud.blog on July 6, 2020.
Hi there (this is 2026 Chavie ;))…. This blogpost was written in the early days of Covid when travel and the mere thought of touching anything that wasn’t sanitized seemed like the craziest thing to do. But it was kinda nice to walk down memory lane for a minute and remember that the things that make us feel like the world is ending, eventually evolves and becomes a distant memory. Also, these tips are still stellar for any travel with kids. Hope you get something out of it!!
Traveling with kids can be overwhelming and is always exciting 🙂. You gotta be on top of your game and prepared for every eventuality. Add CORONA to the mix and it gets quite interesting. A lot of my prep for our recent trip was the same as always, so this post will be useful and practical for all travel, during and post-COVID-19.
I think it’s important to address the decision I made to actually travel during COVID-19. It’s safe to say that I am not the only one who feels very confused and uncertain during these times. I feel like there is lots of conflicting information and too much judgmentalism. In general, I’m not a big fan of “judging” or pushing my opinion down the throats of others. One of the most valuable things I have learned in my almost 36 years 🙂 is that we never know what’s going on behind the scenes in someone else’s life; we just don’t, period. I’m hoping we can move through this time with a little more compassion, empathy, and understanding. Having shared that, Chaim and I felt strongly that for our family, this trip was very important, so we needed to figure out how to do it in the safest and most responsible way.
As I was trying to figure out how to travel by myself with four kids (and I don’t know about you, but my kids literally touch everything) without losing my mind, I came across a post by @TheFlexibleChef about her international travels with her kids during COVID-19 and her use of electric scooters, and my mind started brewing. Thinking along those “out of the box” lines, I asked myself, “What if we used manual scooters to travel through the airports?” It seemed like a great way to minimize the kids touching random surfaces on the moving sidewalks and throughout the airports. IT WORKED! I am so happy I did it. They were thrilled scooting through the airport, which kept their hands occupied 🙂 and there was a bonus benefit: we now have the scooters at my parents’ house, which we use every day to get to and from camp.
On the plane, we were required to wear a mask. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the kids cooperated. I was probably a worse sport about it than they were. I also decided that we’d use plastic shields as well, which, again, the kids wore without fussing; it was just another layer of separation between them and the infinite germs and made me feel a little more comfortable.
I packed sanitizing wipes, and each of their backpacks was packed with hand sanitizer. My favorite is doTERRA’s On Guard spray. It’s super effective, safe, and smells delicious. Here’s a link…
The most exciting thing for my kids is to pack their backpacks before a trip. It’s really quite annoying, and I would totally rather do it myself, but they love it so much, it makes the trip so exciting, so I get over myself. I make a time for each kid to collect what they want, and then we go through it together and make sure everything they are bringing is reasonable and practical. I will share with you some of our top travel toys and provide links for what I can.
https://amzn.to/31SHhhA (I don’t have a picture, but these are awesome and I got a package for each kid.)
https://amzn.to/3ecPFep (shape-shifting cube, so great!)
I also got these awesome zip containers that were great for snacks! What’s unique about these containers is that they stand on their own, and that really prevented a lot of spills, which I am super grateful for!
Traveling with kids is an art, and you definitely get better at it the more you do it. We travel quite a bit, and every time I learn something new that enhances the experience. Be open to the adventure, manage your parental expectations, and just know nothing will go as planned; this sets you up for success.
Happy trails.
Chavie
P.S. Check out my conversation with Rabbi Yisroel Bernath that we just published yesterday. It’s one of the most fascinating interviews I’ve had on the podcast so far (and that is saying a lot!!). It’s an incredibly personal story and meanders into many different topics including Rabbi Yisroel’s new book, The Forgiveness Experiment that he just published.