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Traveling internationally with kids is one of the most rewarding things you can do as a parent. It connects you with your children in a way that very little else does. You are experiencing something completely new together for the first time, and it is exciting, whimsical, scary, and fun all at once. It can also be soul-crushing, overstimulating, exhausting, and expensive, especially when jet lag quietly melts a couple of days of your vacation right in front of your eyes.

But as someone who has successfully relocated abroad with two children under six, I can say with complete confidence: the juice is worth the squeeze. Your kids will grow up in ways that will catch you off guard, and you do not want to miss a single moment of it.

Here are five things no one tells you about traveling internationally with kids, so you can walk into your journey abroad actually prepared.

The first time you fly internationally with kids can be absolutely brutal, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. If your children have never been on a plane for more than a couple of hours, strapping them into a seat for a nine-hour transatlantic flight is going to test your mental fortitude.

Pull out every trick you have. Snacks. Activity books. Go completely lenient on screen time. Let them watch whatever they want on the in-flight entertainment. Your one job on that first travel day is simply to survive it.

When you land, everyone is going to be frazzled and deep in the fog of jet lag. Your only mission for the next 48 hours is to get to your accommodation and start climbing out of that hole. If you’re still in the planning stages, I usually start with Expedia to find family-friendly stays that have enough space for everyone to crash comfortably upon arrival. For our family, it took nearly a full week to truly get on top of it.

When we landed in the UK with our kids, the jet lag stretched out for almost a week. Early morning wake-ups, midday crashes, and emotional moments out of nowhere—it was a full roller coaster. On top of that, we had the adjustment of an entirely new culture. If you’re heading somewhere where you don't speak the language, the "sensory overload" is even higher. We’ve found that using TalkPal to learn a few local phrases together as a family before we land helps the kids feel more like "explorers" and less like they’re just lost.

The best thing you can do is keep everyone awake as long as possible during daylight hours. You cannot force a toddler to stay awake when they are nodding off at the table, but once you start stabilizing the sleep routine and eating at consistent local mealtimes, everything starts to fall into place.

People focus on the flight, but the airport is where things tend to unravel. Security lines, gate timing, and managing luggage while keeping everyone fed adds up fast.

To keep the "unraveling" to a minimum, we try to automate the logistics. We usually book an Uber ahead of time so we aren't wrestling with bags at a crowded taxi stand, and I make sure my phone has data the second we touch down by using Tello. Not having to hunt for airport Wi-Fi just to find your hotel address is a massive win for your sanity.

A few other things that made a real difference:

Everyone does. Your brain goes into worst-case mode: What if we go somewhere nice? What if it rains?

Here is what I want you to hear: your outfits need to overlap. Pack significantly less than you think you need. Most hotels and Airbnbs have access to a washer. You need one or two pairs of shoes at most. For the adults, travel as light as you possibly can.

Also, be aware that European airlines and trains often have stricter carry-on size limits than American carriers. We learned the hard way that oversized American luggage can cost you an extra couple hundred euros per bag at the gate.

This is the one that catches most parents off guard. Get your children back on a consistent sleep and meal schedule, and their bodies tend to follow.

A couple of things that helped on the sleep side: we found kids' sleep masks on Amazon that were a hit, both at bedtime and on the plane. A small travel sound machine that charges via USB-C is also worth its weight in gold.

Parents struggle more than kids because you are carrying the "mental load." You’re the one worrying about the conversion rates and the budget. To simplify that, we switched to Wise for our banking—it handles the currency exchange automatically so I’m not doing "vacation math" in my head every time we buy a gelato.

Once everyone is fed, put the phone down. If you have moved abroad, give yourself a week to just exist. Be a tourist! Grab the GetYourGuide app to find a local food tour or a boat ride, or rent a car through DiscoverCars to explore a nearby village or a quiet park. Let yourself feel like you belong there, even before you do.

If you are standing at the edge of your first international trip with kids, the beginning is the hardest part. The travel day, the jet lag, the disorientation—it is all temporary.

Kids who travel grow in ways you cannot manufacture at home. They become more adaptable and curious. And so do you. That is worth a rough first week every single time.

Part 2 is coming soon! We will go deeper into what life actually looks like once the dust settles. If you haven’t subscribed yet, now is a great time to do it so you don’t miss it.

Zachary Lincoln
@ZachMovesAbroad

Ready to make your own move?

We don’t just talk about this life; we live it every day. Here is the "boots on the ground" toolkit we use to keep our family moving:

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Enough thinking.