Welcome back to Recipe to the Road podcast. In this episode, we continue our chat with Katie, Luke, and their 2-year-old daughter Cora, who are the brains behind the Ungraceful Guide Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube channel. They share their insights and experiences on travelling with a toddler.
Preparing for Travel with a Toddler
Katie and Luke always knew they would continue to travel even after having a baby. They made the decision to stay put for a while as they got her vaccines and went to developmental checks. They did some test run trips before starting to travel full-time again, including going camping in Ireland and trips to Turkey and Italy. This helped them to understand how their travel style works with Cora.
What it is like travelling with a toddler
They still have the same issues that every parent has, such as sleep regressions, tantrums, etc., but they prefer to deal with these issues on the road.
Cora goes through phases like every toddler. They still have the same issues that every parent has, such as sleep regressions, tantrums, etc., but they would rather deal with these issues on the road than at home.
Luke got some excellent advice from his cousin, who said, "Your kids don't know what normal is, you are your kids' normal." To them making sure Cora is happy and healthy and has happy healthy parents is the number one priority.
They've noticed that in Latin America, kids are treated differently than at home in Ireland, where there is still somewhat of a mentality of "children should be seen and not heard." In Latin America, kids are in the forefront, and people are more tolerant. Kids are allowed to be kids.
Biggest Surprises of Traveling with a Toddler
For Katie, the biggest surprise is how good Cora is on transport. She loves a night bus and they have never had a really bad travel day with Cora. She does long journeys with no screens and is totally entertained by everything going on around her.
For Luke, the biggest surprise is how quickly kids pick up languages. Cora is doing great at Spanish and even picked up some Mayan words after hearing someone teach Luke.
Schooling and Travelling with a Toddler
Katie believes that Cora is already learning so much from travelling that she isn’t too worried about her missing playschool or school. They want to get her into school until she's about 7 or 8. Until then, they plan to homeschool her. They may settle down in other places where she could attend school.
Advice for Parents Traveling with a Toddler
You don’t need as much stuff as you think you need. Don’t worry about bringing too much stuff, like a pram. And even if you figure out you need something extra you can buy it on the road.
Maintain a routine. But not related to location. Katie says you can do their nighttime routine anywhere.
Draw inspiration from local cultures and see how they raise their kids.
Keep the kids in the loop. Katie and Luke like to always show Cora where she’s going so she knows what to expect on the journey and they let her help make the decisions.
Don’t listen to anyone else. Try it and see for yourself because everyone is different.
Start with one country and do a shorter trip to try it out and if it doesn’t work you can go home
Cora's Travel Experience
Cora joined us and shared her experience as a 2-year-old backpacker. She loves travelling on buses, planes, and trains, and when asked her favourite place she’s been on her travels she said it is the bus. She also shares some of the Spanish that she learned.
Ungraceful Guide contact info
@ungracefulguide on Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube
www.theungracefulguide.com
Contact the show: recipetotheroad@gmail.com or @recipetotheroad on Instagram and Tiktok.
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Podcast production: www.creativelycontenting.com
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