Traveling Overseas With Young Kids: Part 1 (Safe??)

Traveling Internationally With (VERY) Young Kids: An Overview

Is it possible? Is it feasible? Is it safe? What can I expect? How can I prepare for this? How can I prepare THEM for this? How can you possibly get through an airplane trip with little kids??

These are questions that I have heard a lot. People have been surprised to find that we have traveled to India and Sri Lanka with an infant (5 months old when we got to India, 9 months old when we got to Sri Lanka) and that we plan to again.

First off, it is VERY do-able. You will be one among many who do (though the percentage of Americans that do is relatively low).

Were I to post this all at once, the theme of traveling internationally with young kids, there would be much too much information in a single blog post, and some of the important points would be skimmed over. Therefore I will break this up into multiple segments on facets of traveling with kids overseas, answering the questions above.

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For today's installment: the big question I hear the most on this topic:

Safety:

“Is it safe to travel there with such a small (young) baby?”

Short answer: YES!

Longer answer: It’s actually safer for a smaller baby who is breastfeeding than it is for a teenager who might make a mistake and drink tap water! You don’t have to worry about the baby darting out in front of traffic, or getting lost on the way back to the hotel, either!

Older kids: it should be about as safe for them as it is for you, which all depends on where you're going. Avoiding places that the US Embassy recommends avoiding obviously makes sense – don’t be dumb and visit war-torn villages at night because I said international travel is safe. At the same time, there’s no reason to avoid Amsterdam or India or the Maldives or Sri Lanka or Kenya while you have young kids because “parts” of it may be unsafe. There are parts of Upstate NY that aren’t safe for kids to be; there are places in upstate NY that I as an adult wouldn’t feel safe; that doesn’t mean that America is to be avoided – only that specific section of that specific city in that state. A five minute drive from South Goodman St. in Rochester (one of “the bad sections of town”) and you’re at the Zoo! A 15 minute drive and you’re at Highland Park, one of the nicest spots in the city!

Summing up the safety section: most Americans tend to freak out about safety for their kids in terms of not going overseas when they’re at the ages when it would be the best for them to go and learn about different cultures, different people, different foods!

As it is, you’ll be just as safe there as you would traveling around the other half of your own country (i.e. us Yankees visiting Alabama or someone from Louisiana visiting Maine). You might not be familiar with the local ways, customs, and mannerisms, but your kids will be just as safe as if you were traveling in Florida with them…people in India have kids, too, that they want to be safe.