That’s me and my baby (who is now 12) at Machu Picchu. We were lucky enough to be able to make this trip when he was 2 1/2. We traveled to Peru with a group of friends over the Christmas/New Year holiday.
We spent the first week of our trip in Huaraz in the north. The scenery was stunning. We then returned to Lima for the New Year holiday and then continued on to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. I was most impressed with the amalgam of Incan and Spanish architecture in Cuzco. But as you can see, my little guy was a little more taken with the Llamas at the weekly market in Huaraz 🙂
Today, as I work on writing about traveling with children in this blog and in the soon-to-be-published Wanderlust & Lipstick guidebook ‘For Women Traveling With Children’, I’m thinking a lot about the mechanics of planning a trip with a small child. As I write and when I give advice to people, it’s easy to obsess about having the right travel gear and knowing the right things to pack, not to mention important details like passports, visas, immunizations and travel insurance. So it’s a good balance for me to look back and remember everything I didn’t have for this trip to Peru:
- no travel insurance
- no fancy stroller, car seat or travel bed
- no special foods, medications or toys (except a favorite blanket and teddy)
- no first-aid kit (what was I thinking!)
Usually we improvised with what was available – check this out for a happy, ‘bathing’ toddler (in a laundry basin in a shower stall):
Moms, by definition, worry about having everything ‘just right’ for their offspring. With travel, sometimes we need to remember to keep everything simple and just go.
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Information on traveling to Peru with Children.
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Judging by his face in the shower, it looks like we forgot sunscreen as well.
(Apparently, I’m the third llama in the picture above).
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You know, I think we all just have to breathe deeply and remember that most of the time everything will be fine.
Still, it’s so scary when kids are sick away from home, isn’t it?
We were in Spain this summer when we noticed that my 6-y-o son had angry red marks on the tips of each of his 10 fingers.
I feared a rare blood disease and promptly had a total nervous breakdown. I knew it would be nuts to take him to a doctor for “red fingers”, but I was so anxious.
Eventually I diagnosed the problem myself: he had been running his fingers along every stucco wall in Seville (and those of you who’ve been there know that the walls are thisclose, so even a kid can usually do both hands at once!).
I felt like an idiot, but a relieved and happy idiot.
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What great pictures! It is so true, mom’s do always worry, but usually for naught.
We fretted over our first aid kit before we took off on our open ended world tour & we have yet to use it !
We have had to see doctors and dentists in foreign lands just based on our extended travel, but found even that to be MUCH cheaper and easier than we ever expected.
I can be a real worrywart, so this trip has taught me a lot about trust.
Looking forward to the book!
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