Belize

In my youth, I considered myself a seasoned traveler. I had big dreams and chased them all over the world: my passport was heavily stamped, and my luggage never stayed empty for long. More recently, let’s get this out of the way (and I say it with a whisper to keep my former self from feeling too ashamed), I haven’t traveled at all. My idea of adventuring shifted with the arrival of our daughter and our son a few years later. Travel was still a dream I wanted to pursue, but doing so with my arms full of children made the dream seem unattainable. As such, my passport quietly expired, and the idea of international travel eventually vacated my mind entirely. 

Earlier this year, my children, now 6 and 3 years old, I found the dream again. I got out a map and, feeling somewhat out of my mind, booked a trip to Belize. I got a new passport. My children got theirs. I booked a resort. Flights. Transfers. Travel insurance. I let myself get very, very excited. The government shut down, and as a result, our trip almost didn’t happen. But it happened! We made it to Belize without a single cancellation or delay and absolutely had the best time. 

Traveling with my children was understandably different from traveling had ever been before, but watching them experience everything for the first time was magic. They had previously never even left the state of Montana before, but there they were, darting about on the beach, picking up seashells and digging crabs out of their holes. 

Anymore, I admit that I’m a rusty traveler. But now, having traveled with children, I’ve come up with a few tips and tricks to make such vacations seem a little bit easier.

• Give yourself time. Children want to see everything and they tend to be slow (mine are, anyway).
• Pack more snacks for them than you think you’ll need.
• Pack snacks for yourself. Children don’t like it when you try to eat theirs.
• Bring games and drawing materials. For airport layovers… for the plane… for long dinners where they’d otherwise fall asleep. 
• Allow the use of screens. I know, I know. We’re not a big-screen family, either. But screens helped pass a lot of airport and flight hours, and made them much more manageable. 
• Pack a small, lightweight blanket in their carry-on. 
• Pack more clothes than you think they’ll need. They always need more.
• Don’t plan too much. We only booked one day of excursions, and that was enough for them. 
• Stay. Rather than bouncing around and staying in more than one place, we made Hopkins Bay our home base, and I’m so glad we did.