Travelling overseas with Children

What could be better than travelling overseas with children you ask. 

Try travelling with 4 children. 2 under 2 to a country that decides to go into political turmoil whilst you are there.

Last week my brother got married in a beautiful seaside town 2 1/2 hours from Bangkok called Hua Hin.

It was a beautiful wedding, and an even more beautiful location.

The wedding was a traditional Thai wedding with a little bit of an Aussie flavour. My brother wore a grey tux instead of a traditional barong tagalog. 

Problem was on the day we flew there the military decided to declare martial law. To make matters worse on the day of the wedding there was a military coup with curfews in place, and even worse when travelling with children all TV was shut down. 

It's interesting though as apart from the curfew and the TV it was business as usual in Hua Hin, the locals weren't worried, most of our family that were there for the wedding weren't worried, but something funny happens when you have kids, all of a sudden you worry more. 

If it all turned sour how would we protect our four children? If all turned sour and they shut down the airport like last time, how would we get our children home.

You want to know all the information without causing stress and worry on your children. You want to enjoy your holiday the experiences, but also don't want any extra risk to your children. 

You have the extra pressure of Grandparents at home, calling you daily, scared by the news reports. 

You need to balance reassuring them without getting caught up in the emotions of it all.

The other problem with travelling with children is they respond differently to jet lag than adults.

Thailand is only 3 hrs behind Australia but   3 hrs is a lot on the other side when your 8 month olds bedtime has changed from 10pm til 1am. When your 21 month old won't have a daytime nap but then can't make it through dinner without falling asleep.

It's even harder when you are trying to get your two school age kids back into the routine of things.

But the other funny thing about travelling with kids is they don't see things the same as you.

They see the experiences, they see the new food, they see the excitement, all the other stuff fades into insignificance. 

My children learnt so much about different cultures, they saw animals they had never seen before, had elephant rides, patted a lion cub, learned about different currencies, and got to see there Uncle marry their beautiful, and kind Aunt. These are experiences that I am so grateful for.

That is why their is nothing better than travelling overseas with 4 kids.