Gap Year with Kids: Making the Most of Your Travels
There are a few things we knew right off the bat would make our family gap year travels more enjoyable, and others we learned along the way. If you’re planning extended travels with one or more kids, here are a few ways to make the most of your experience.
1. Prioritize kids’ needs when choosing accommodation
It can take a while to cover even short distances with a toddler so we often prioritize our accommodations around having nearby activities, like parks or playgrounds. If one parent goes to a class or to explore another neighborhood solo, it’s easier for them to get there than whomever is traveling to a kid-focused activity with our daughter.
This approach sometimes means that we’ll stay in a more residential as opposed to touristic area but we prefer this anyway. It gives us more exposure to local life. It also may translate to a grocery store being nearby, which is always helpful. Plus we’ve met a lot of local parents and Vienna is more likely to find other kids to play with.
Of course, if your kids are older they may prefer to go out exploring with you so your location preferences may vary.
2. Stay with local families to maximize space and local interaction
We don’t always stay with local families but when we have it’s generally been great for Vienna. She can usually spread out more in a family home. Sometimes our hosts have even had toys or swing sets (or kids of their own to play with). We like getting to know a local family who can provide insight on the town or city. It’s also nice to do meals at home sometimes (especially breakfast) so that we’re in no rush to go out.
Many programs (for example language schools) offer host family placement services. Some Airbnbs involve staying in a family’s home with the family more present — you can read reviews from other families to see how things went. During our time in Cuba, almost all of our bookings were at “casas particulares,” and family members were usually around to consult about anything.
3. Use the library
We of course couldn’t travel with many books but Vienna has loved visiting the kids’ section of local libraries in many of the cities where we’ve traveled. It’s been another reminder that while we’re off exploring new places in our own ways, often what our kids need and want is something familiar, that we might easily have been able to find at home. Libraries, like playgrounds, are easy and familiar but can still be opportunities for cultural exchange. You’ll find new titles, new languages, local kids, and sometimes activities or workshops.
4. Slow down and spend more time in each place
When you travel for a longer stretch of time you can more easily enjoy simply “being” in a place. There’s no need to pack your days with touristic activities before returning home. This leaves you with more time to do the things mentioned above (park, playground, grocery store, library, etc).
When planning our gap year we knew that “slow travel” would be best for us. Moving around with a toddler can be exhausting and especially complicated if someone gets sick. We find that getting to know a city and living more like locals is a much more enjoyable kind of travel than signing up for whirlwind tours with a day in each place. For example we found a huge number of activities for kids in Buenos Aires during a month in that city. A month there was enough time to take classes, explore many neighborhoods, and just slow down and enjoy the city.
5. Teach your child the language basics
Learning just a little bit of a language is essential, even for a short visit to the place where it’s spoken. Learning a bit of the language can help with simple questions or transactions and demonstrates to locals that you’re trying to adapt and understand their culture. It helps kids at least open up an interaction even if they can’t communicate (verbally) at length. And there’s the meta-linguistic reason: We feel that an early understanding that language variations exist will help our daughter to develop a greater degree of cultural awareness and openness.
6. Look for local workshops and play spaces
Some spaces, because they are mostly only known to locals, may seem “off limits” to travelers but this is an area where very special things can happen.
In Cusco, we discovered that the performance space Casa Darte was offering twice weekly circus and acrobatics classes. The program could be booked for a month or two and was technically for ages four and older. But we asked and learned that they also accepted one-time visits and were okay with Vienna joining at age 3.5. We wouldn’t have known if we hadn’t asked! She went to two sessions and had an absolute blast with the local kids.
At Havana Music School where I took some salsa piano lessons, kids’ workshops were offered on Saturdays and Vienna joined one of these.
Kataplum is a playspace in Arequipa with play equipment, crafts, costumes, sand tables, and more. It’s the kind of space that’s occasionally reserved for private birthday parties but also available to individuals. This kind of local playspace may not fall on the radar of short-term visitors but it’s a really helpful thing to have around and a great chance for a visiting kid to play with locals.
These experiences helped us connect with locals as parents once in awhile. More importantly, V had a blast and learned a lot!
Tip: Searching in Spanish (“talleres para niños”) or other local language, may yield better results than “workshops for kids.”
7. Prioritize certain kid’s items and don’t overpack
It goes without saying that you’ll be limited when you pack. We brought Vienna’s favorite stuffed animal (crucial) and a few thin paperback books. We filled a miniature backpack with small toys such as magnetic tiles and small figurines for imagination games. Colored pencils and crayons were useful and it’s usually easy to find paper and activity books along the way.
Also remember that young children will grow out of clothes. If you’re traveling for a longer stretch don’t overthink things when it comes to packing clothes. You’ll probably need to pick up a few things abroad.
Finally, don’t assume there will be a 24-hour pharmacy open wherever you are. Bring the essential medicines in consultation with your doctor.
Are you planning a gap year with a toddler? We’ve also posted a few of our experiences navigating toddler changes during our gap year.
