If we communicate anything on this blog, we want it to be that kids are always learning as long as you give them opportunities to do so, and it doesn’t need to be complicated! Recently we went on a trip to Iowa and Illinois to visit family and were amazed at how many new things T was exposed to and learned about while we were in a place some may not consider particularly exciting. We really didn’t go through any special effort to make this a “field trip”, but it definitely became an age-appropriate learning experience nonetheless!
Not-so-Everyday Sights
Where we live, there are no water towers (thanks, mountains!) and we don’t see a lot of large-scale agriculture, so something as simple as pointing out all the water towers we passed became a fun game for T. He had so many questions to ask about what they were and how they worked. He loved seeing all the big farm equipment too – proof that all the books he loves are talking about real vehicles! We also had the opportunity to see a bunch of (adorable) windmills, another cool thing he’d never seen before.
Helping in the garden
One of T’s favorite things about this trip was helping out in our family’s abundant garden. It was time to do autumn chores, so he got to help plant some fall seeds, put yard waste in the compost bin, and harvest sunflower seeds from the giant flowers! He likes to work in our little garden at home, but these were new and exciting tasks he had never done before! He didn’t want to come in when the work was done.
Nauvoo, Illinois
We took a day trip to Nauvoo, Illinois to see some historical sites significant to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the pioneers who lived there. On the drive there, T got to see his first swing bridge (in action!) and watch a tug boat pass it. There were so many cool activities to do in Nauvoo, and they were all free! In our short time there, we and the kids learned how the pioneers made rope, candles, bricks, barrels, and textiles, and we got to participate in making some of them too! We also rode in a wagon pulled by oxen (which we learned are actually just well-trained cows), visited some grave sites, and barely scratched the surface of all there is to see and do there. We spent a little bit of time inside the Nauvoo Temple and told T about how this was one of the first temples built. Then we headed to Carthage to see Carthage Jail, the place where Joseph Smith (the first president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was martyred. While our littles couldn’t really appreciate the significance of these locations yet, doing some hands-on activities was great for them. T is still too young to understand why this particular temple is so special, but we could still use the opportunity to let him see our love for temples and help him see that people worship in temples all around the world, not just where we live. This was something we talked about on our recent trip to Thailand as well!
Always Learning
At only 3 and 1, our kids can only digest so much information, so we didn’t feel it was necessary to do much preparation or lecturing. We loved watching them discover and try new things and just see more of the world! They pick up bits of knowledge and experience everywhere they go. Keep doing fun things and keep talking to them, and you’ll be surprised how much they are learning!
We did the (seemingly) impossible! We took two kids, ages three and one, to Thailand! Why would we attempt such a daring exploit? Long story short – we wanted to. Thailand is close to my husband’s heart because he served atwo-year Christian proselytizing mission there. He speaks the language, understands the culture, and loves the people. He still has quite a few friends in Thailand who we visit when we’re there. About a year after we were married, Christopher took me to Thailand and I quickly learned to love the country, too. Thailand is beautiful and exciting, and the people are so, so kind. And don’t get me started on the food *insert heart eyes emoji*.
As for the timing…the Bangkok Thailand Latter-day Saint Temple was announced in 2015, while Christopher was serving his mission there. He always told me he wanted to go back once the temple was built, so when the completion and dedication of the temple were finally announced eight years later in 2023, it didn’t take us long to book the tickets to attend the open house.
Why Bring the Kids?
We could have left the kids behind with one of our moms, but that just didn’t feel right to me. There’s some maternal anxiety baked in there, some concern about getting my little one weaned off breast milk in time (it didn’t happen), and some desire to see their eyes light up with the new experiences. Christopher’s family was big on world travel while he was growing up, so he wants to keep that legacy alive, and I can’t complain! What better time to start than now?
My mom has mentioned a few times that she would help watch our kids if we brought her on our family trips, and this seemed like the perfect time to take her up on it. She had never been to Asia, so she was thrilled to come along. When we told Christopher’s mom about our plans, she didn’t even hesitate before saying, “I want to come!” So off we went, with kids – and moms – in tow!
How We Planned the Trip
About four months in advance, we booked our international flights using Expedia.com. A couple months later, we spent an obscene amount of time choosing which parts of Thailand we’d visit besides Bangkok (where the Temple we came to see is located) and Chiang Mai (a favorite of ours). After choosing locations, we booked domestic flights and hotels via skyscanner and booking.com.
My main objective was to make this a kid-friendly trip. For us, that meant travel needed to be as quick, easy, and safe as possible. After doing some research, I accepted that bringing car seats was not practical, nor would it be helpful, so I took great care to choose hotels relatively close to public transportation, airports, and attractions. Booking.com has a really great map feature that made this easier! This approach meant that hotels were slightly more expensive than they otherwise would have been, but Thailand hotels are still a great value compared to what we’re used to, and it made our trip so much more enjoyable.
Packing for the Kids
We did our very best to pack light to avoid extra airline fees and make sure we could fit our whole party and luggage into taxis! Of course you need to bring all the expected stuff like clothes, diapers, and toys (although you can purchase anything you need in Thailand!) but here are some travel-specific items that may be helpful!
compact stroller – we brought our umbrella stroller, which I highly recommend. The big luxury strollers seem like they’d be a huge pain on city trains, escalators, and tuk tuks, etc. We did appreciate that ours has a tiny basket underneath it and a little storage bag that hangs from it to store a couple diapers or other essentials for shorter excursions we wanted to travel light for.
stroller rain cover – I never actually used it, to my surprise! We only had one day that poured on us, and I forgot to bring it along that day. Big mistake! I think it would’ve been a lifesaver.
stroller fan – We actually never attached this to the stroller, but we did bring it out with us occasionally. If the weather had been hotter, I think we would have used it more. My kids liked pushing its buttons more than they liked using it for its purpose.
baby carrier – an absolute must! Bring one that’s comfy and secure. My 1 year old spent most of the trip in our infantino carrier.
stroller gate check bag – not essential, but helpful to keep your stroller from getting beat up at the airport.
travel toilet seat – this is not totally necessary, but was so nice to have! We left it in our hotel room so we didn’t have to hold T up every time he used the toilet. When out exploring, we traveled light and settled for holding him up on public toilets.
fruit squeezes – these were surprisingly hard to find in Thailand, even with the thousands of 7-11’s around. If your kids rely on these or some other specific snack, bring them with you!
laundry sheets – we had one of our hotels do our laundry halfway through the trip, but we also liked having these with us to wash laundry in the sink or bathtub. They’re a great backup for potential accidents, spills, etc.
Surviving 24+ Hours of Plane Travel (Each Way)
This is the kicker. Our longest flight was 13 hours (San Francisco – Taipei). But on our way there, that was only one of FOUR flights, totalling over 24 hours of flying/airports. Luckily, we had great layovers (2ish hours each) – just enough time to go to the bathroom, go through security/customs/whatever, and hop on our next flight.
The most important thing for me was reasonable expectations. If you plan to sleep and watch movies during transpacific flights with small children, you will be sorely disappointed. We went in with high hopes and low expectations, so we had room to be pleasantly surprised!
I wrote an entire post about what I learned about long flights with small kids, including what we packed to keep them occupied, here!
Our Thailand Itinerary
Koh Samui
After our 24-hour, 3-flight journey to Bangkok, we immediately hopped on a domestic flight to Koh Samui, Thailand’s second-largest island. It’s in the Gulf of Thailand and its location on the eastern side of the isthmus made its weather more favorable during the time of year we were there. Our main reason for choosing Samui, other than the weather, was that it has its own airport, which cuts down on travel time and difficulty significantly. We chose to stay in the Smile House on Bophut Beach, which we absolutely LOVED. The Bungalow had plenty of space for the kids to play and plenty of rooms and bathrooms for our large travel party. The property was gorgeous with secluded pools, direct beach access, and landscaping that made us forget we were in a city. A great walking street and night market were just outside the property as well. If we were to go to Samui again, I would stay here again in a heartbeat.
In Samui, we enjoyed the beaches, shopping, massages and nail salons, a day tour to Ang Thong Marine Park via boat, and lots and lots of food. The kids LOVED Bophut Beach and would’ve been happy spending all our time there. The water was calm, the temperature was perfect, beach access was so convenient, and the sand was kept meticulously clean and tidy.
Our tour to the Ang Thong Marine Park, which is an archipelago protected for its beauty and wildlife, was breathtaking! We visited a few islands (which are all undeveloped and pristine) where we had the option of going on hikes, hanging out at the beach, snorkeling, and kayaking. Since we had the kids, we stuck with a hike and beach time. The boat rides to and from the islands were challenging, as it was over an hour each way, and the kids were restless and exhausted. I’m glad we did it, but if we go back, I’ll opt out of doing this again until kids are a little older. I was so tired at the end of it!
We loved the night market in the Fisherman’s Village, but it was definitely catered more to tourists, with lots of mass-produced trinkets and souvenirs. You can definitely find some treasures though and good food is everywhere.
Chiang Mai
We flew directly from Samui to Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second-largest city, located in the mountainous northern part of the country. It is a charming place with a lot of history, as the Old City is inside a walled fortress (with a moat!) built in the thirteenth century to protect the city from invasion. We stayed in a lovely little hotel inside the Old City, which, once again, was super convenient – close to street food, 7-11, and the church we planned to attend.
The night we arrived, we had a driver take us to Wat Phra Doi Suthep and Wat Pha Lat, both Buddhist temples located on the mountain outside of Chiang Mai. Wat Phra Doi Suthep is famous, gold all over, huge, and has cute shops next to it. Further down the mountain, though, is Wat Pha Lat, which is a hidden gem, and one of my favorites from this whole trip. It is a much older temple complex with an earthier look and surrounded by lush forest. We practically had the place to ourselves, and it is stunning.
The next day, we asked our driver from the previous day to take us to see some elephants and tigers. I am very conscious of choosing ethical animal experiences, so we made sure to research these places before we went and asked our driver for her advice as well. We ended up choosing Maerim Elephant Home because it fit our ethical requirements and was incredibly close to Tiger Kingdom, where we would go see some tigers immediately after. Again, short travel times and convenience were of paramount importance to us on this trip with two littles! The elephant experience was a highlight for everyone, including the kids. We got to feed the elephants, interact with them, and even get in the river with them! Tiger Kingdom was mostly for our moms, as Christopher and I had done it before, and the kids are too small to be close to the tigers. Our moms got up close and personal with the tigers while we stayed with the kids and watched the beautiful felines from a distance.
That night, we took a brief red truck ride (Chiang Mai’s form of taxis) to the night market, which is incredible! There were more locals than tourists, and the vendors had lots of beautiful, unique goods to offer. Again, the food at these markets is amazing (and cheap!)
Chiang Rai
After enjoying time at church with old friends, we hopped in a pre-arranged van to make the three-hour trip to Chiang Rai, an absolutely stunning city further north. The kids were surprisingly good on that ride through the mountains, and I think it was because they had the comfort and familiarity of being secure in carseats. We stayed at the Riverie, which is a kid’s dream. It has a gorgeous river and mountain view and a huge pool area with multiple slides, a lazy river, fountains, and more. My personal favorite was the playroom, complete with play structure, slide, ball pit, and lots of age-appropriate toys. Our kids got lots of much-needed play time to run around. They deserved it after being dragged around and told to sit still for so many hours over the course of the trip. Our one-year-old actually took some of his first steps in that room!
The highlights in Chiang Rai are the White Temple and the Blue Temple – both absolutely gorgeous and exactly what they sound like – definitely must-sees. But I would have loved to spend even more time in Chiang Rai just admiring the scenery – some of the most magnificent views I’ve seen!
Bangkok
We flew from Chiang Rai to Bangkok, our last stop. Here, we took the skyrail straight from the airport to our hotel, with only a couple blocks to walk! We stayed at the Lancaster, which we loved for the affordable family suite with two bedrooms separate from the living space and its walkability to the skyrail, underground train, klong (where you can use long canal boats as transportation through the city), and the beautiful Latter-day Saint Temple!
In Bangkok, we did a lot of exploring via train, shopping (hello, huge malls!), eating, and a little bit of sight-seeing. We visited Wat Arun and the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, and attempted to see the Palace Complex (but it closed early in the afternoon, which we failed to research adequately).
Tips for Traveling in Thailand with Small Kids
There are so many ways to travel and you have to do what works best for you and your family and fits your goals! But for us, these are some things that helped make our trip a success and some things we learned along the way!
If you have a young potty trained kid, always keep an eye out for bathrooms. You never know when kiddo’s bladder is gonna give out. Have them pee at every convenient opportunity.
Be willing to pay a little more for conveniently located, kid-friendly lodging and make sure they have cribs before booking.
Hotels in Thailand are required to register all guests, so it won’t work to “underbook” your family in a room that’s made for fewer guests. They’ll just make you upgrade, and it will cost you. We learned this the hard way and ended up spending a bit more than we planned!
Pack light! Although I know how tempting it is to bring every little thing you’ll need, do your best to stick to carry-ons. You’ll be grateful when you’re saved from oversized fees on domestic flights and don’t have to cram it all into a tiny taxi.
Stock up on snacks your kids will eat. Our kids aren’t usually picky eaters, but they were off their groove on this trip. We raided 7-11 early on and discovered some buns, yogurts, sticky rice, etc. that our kids would eat reliably. Having them in our bag/hotel was so helpful!
Make opportunities for your kids to be kids. Find clean places for your little one to walk and crawl. Find parks for them to climb on. And leave some unstructured time to just play and rest!
Would I do it again?
Yes! But I definitely need some time to recover first! And maybe an adults-only trip in between, ha! While bringing kids along was definitely a lot of work (and frankly exhausting), I really did have a great time and loved watching the kiddos have new experiences. And I would have missed them so much!
…But would I do it again without both grandmas there to help? Yes again! Having both of our moms there was a delight and they were very helpful. We loved getting a couple opportunities to have them watch the kids while we took an hour to eat dinner at the hotel or get street food together. But I think it’s totally doable with only two adults. Here’s why – my kids are TOTAL momma’s boys and rarely let anyone but me (and sometimes Christopher) help them when they are fussy. So we did end up handling most of the kids’ needs ourselves. It’s doable! But if you have the chance to bring grandma, do it! And if you want to see the world, you don’t have to wait until your kids are grown to do it!
We believe that traveling adds a lot of value and spice to life, and we didn’t want to wait until our kids were older to start tackling our travel to-do list. We absolutely hope to have opportunities to travel sans-kiddos as well, but it’s important to us that our kids get to have some of these experiences too.
We recently took our two boys (ages 3 and 1) on a trip to Thailand! More details on the entire trip and how we managed here! For now, I want to focus on the real beast of the experience: the flights. Our longest flight was 13 hours (San Francisco – Taipei). But on our way there, that was only one of FOUR flights, totalling approximately 30 (THIRTY!!) hours of flying/airports. That was ONE WAY! Luckily, we had great layovers (2ish hours each) – just enough time to go to the bathroom, go through security/customs/whatever, and hop on our next flight.
Here’s a collection of things I learned traveling long distances with two kiddos on planes.
Check your Expectations
(Ha, get it?) But seriously, leave your expectations at the check-in counter and go with the flow. Do not bring them with you on that plane. While I’m by no means an expert on this, I believe the key to success (or at least sanity) on long plane rides with small children is realistic expectations. If you plan to sleep and watch movies during transpacific flights with small children, you will be sorely disappointed. We went in with high hopes and low expectations, so we had room to be pleasantly surprised when things were going smoothly.
Kids can sense your mood and they will feed off of whatever energy you’re harboring. So roll with the punches, keep a smile on your face as much as you can, and laugh at the chaos! It’s not easy to do, but attitude really is a choice, and your kids will learn from you how to handle stressful situations with grace. When your attitude slips (which it inevitably will – I know mine did), model for your kids how you can choose to turn it around, see the good, and find the fun.
What we Brought
A mother in my neighborhood gave me good advice: she said that kids want new toys for a long trip. They don’t need to be fancy, but they do need to be new. She recommended stocking up at the dollar store before the trip so the kids could be enthralled with toys they’ve never seen before. While we didn’t go the dollar store route, I found this to be great advice! For weeks before the trip, I did a lot of shopping around for simple little toys I thought would be fun and didn’t reveal them until the kids started getting fussy and bored on the plane. Not all of the toys we packed were new, but many were.
I received one other piece of advice that I have found to be helpful – ration toys. Only give your child one toy at a time, and cycle on to the next toy only when the first toy has completely exhausted its usefulness. I would add that it’s best to save the best/most reliable toys for when you need them the most!
Here’s what we packed to keep the kiddos busy:
Amazon Fire Kids tablet for our three year-old. We loaded it up with movies and games that we approve of, many of which are actually educational! Make sure these apps/videos are downloaded beforehand! I recommend waiting for a good sale to invest in one of these. They do 40% off fairly often! We brought these kids over-ear headphones for him to use with it. We like the plug-in kind, because they don’t require charging/batteries and can be used to plug into the plane, too!
Suction cup spinners – another mom with kids the same ages as mine recommended these and I am so glad she did! Both kids loved them and played with them throughout our entire 12-day trip. Money well spent. Probably the toy MVP of the trip.
Lots and lots and lots of SNACKS. When all else fails, snacks will save you. While I am an advocate for healthy snacks, please please bring reliable, tasty treats. Tried and tested ones (like fruit squeezes and fruit snacks for us) are necessary, as are new and exciting treats.
Small cars – My boys are vehicle kids, so these were a necessity. The Hot Wheels/Matchbox Cars go everywhere with us.
Foldable felt car board – ours was gifted to us, but it was a similar idea to this. Ours looks like a little city with roads, and the little stick-on felt pieces are cars and road signs. They like driving their toy cars on it too.
Busy board – There are so many options. We just got the cheapest one we could find, and both kids spent some time with it on the flights.
Fidget popper
wiki sticks (I got a no-name brand from walmart) – These are a cool, less messy alternative to something like play doh. My three-year-old liked bending them and making shapes out of them. These would probably be even more fun for slightly older kids.
Finger Puppets – I liked that these can stand up on their own, so they can be played with as action figures as well (since I’m not very talented at puppet showmanship). And they’re familiar characters I thought my boys would be excited about. These didn’t get as much play time as the other toys, but they came in handy a few times.
Coloring Books – we hardly ever pulled these out. Our three-year-old likes coloring at home, but was much more interested by the tablet and Water Wow books on this trip.
LED Doodle Toy. We have a couple of these at home but we chose to bring this one because its pen is attached and can’t get lost under an airplane seat 🙂
Gel cling stickers. We got cheap seasonal ones at Joann, but there are tons of options on Amazon! T had lots of fun sticking these all over the window, wall, seat, and tray on the plane. Some (easy) cleanup involved 🙂
Get Moving
If multiple hours sitting still is difficult (and painful) for adults, it’s near impossible for small children. While flight crews might cringe at this… I say, WALK! Get up out of your chair and walk the aisles with your little one while the seatbelt light is off. My one-year-old liked being carried around on laps around the cabin, and he also liked when I held his hands and let him walk down the aisles. A couple times, we let him play on the floor in front of our seats, too. If you can get away with it, you can even try letting your kiddo play for a couple minutes in the wider emergency row or in the back of the plane. It’s such a relief to stretch your legs and get a small change of scenery! Mobile babies are used to moving around while they play, so sitting on your lap for long periods of time probably isn’t realistic.
Make layovers a respite for your kids by having them do anything but rest (unless they’re really needing it, of course). Find a kids play area, or just encourage them to jump and run around. This will really help them sit through the next plane ride.
Some Random Tidbits
Wear slip-on shoes. Security with two kids is a huge handful, so you’ll be grateful when you don’t have to hand off a little one to sit down and tie your shoelaces.
Consider bringing a baby carrier! Yes, you have to take it off at security but if you aren’t using a stroller (or have two kids and only one umbrella stroller like we did), it was amazing to stay hands free at the airport and beyond!
Bring an extra change of clothes for both kids. We had only anticipated potty accidents and were alarmed when we had a vomit incident and only extra undies and baby clothes in our carry-on. T ended up going shirtless through half of a 6-hour flight and while we scoured the Korean airport for a kid-sized (overpriced) T-shirt.
Cordless headphones. My baby is obsessed with the cords and there’s no way they could stay in for more than a couple minutes at a time while he was awake. So to maintain sanity while your busy baby is awake, I recommend getting a good audiobook (check out Libby or Overdrive!) or downloading some music and podcasts and bringing your wireless earbuds. If your baby is anything like mine, plane movies are just not happening while he/she is awake.
Our travel days with the kiddos went a lot better than we thought they would. By no means easy, but absolutely doable. I hope you got some ideas that will help with your next big excursion with kids. You may feel like you’re in over your head, but you can do it! Just schedule in some high quality down-time when you arrive at your destination, and you’ll be set. A good attitude and realistic expectations will make all the difference. If you’ve done long flights with small kids, leave your ideas in the comments – we need all the help we can get!
