Traveling Europe with Kids Safely

Last summer, The Parent Report’s radio host, Joanne Wilson, traveled to Europe with her family. Here she shares what she learned to ensure the journey abroad was a safe one, as the sixth six of her seven part series, Traveling Europe with Kids continues.

Insure The Fun

There isn’t anything that can ruin a family vacation more than an illness or an accident. But incidents can happen and you’ll want to have precautions in place to either prevent them, or cope with them, in your travels.

First and foremost, make sure you get adequate medical and trip cancellation insurance. This is costly, but it’s also necessary. Travel insurance for our family cost us over 0.00. Budget for it, because chances are with a family of four, it will be used. In our case, two of our family members needed to be seen by a physician. Plus our luggage was delayed. Our insurance covered both the medical costs and the cost of purchasing some clothing and toiletry items while our luggage was being located. In the end, you’ll likely find insurance worthwhile, even if it only provides peace of mind.

Always Do Your Paper Work

Losing or having a purse or backpack stolen is one thing at home; it’s a whole other story when you’re abroad. Your entire trip could be jeopardized if you lose your passport, credit card, plane tickets, etc. So always take precautions.

Photocopy two sets of passports, train and plane tickets, travel and medical insurance, accommodation vouchers, etc. Leave one set with a friend or family member back home, and take an extra set with you, along with a list of emergency contacts. If anything goes missing, you’ll at least have your photocopies to refer to. Just make sure you carry the photocopied set in a different place than your original copies.

Travel writer/broadcaster Rick Steves suggests bringing Walkie Talkie’s along, and we found them quite useful when our kids wanted to head off to one shop or restaurant, and my husband and I to another. They only work within a short radius, but they are a way of keeping in touch. Other options are cell phones, but we discovered that although we could rent them in Europe it was very expensive to do so. If you’re planning on bringing along your own cell-phone from home, you better check to make sure it will work in Europe. Most don’t.

Keep Your Kids Safe

It’s important that when you’re traveling with your children, that they always carry an emergency contact from back hom,e such as that of a grandparent or aunt, as well as the name, phone number and address of the hotel or apartment you’re staying at in each city. (Some parents even have their kids carry a photocopy of their passport.) Also, get them a phone card to use and teach them how to use the public pay phone system in Europe as they are a little different than in North America. And make sure that your kids know a few key phrases in the language of their host country. Even just knowing how to say “I need help” and “Do you speak English?” can take them a long way in an emergency. And, tuck in enough Euros into their money belt so they can take a taxi back to home base if need be. Remind them that these Euros are there for emergency only, and not to be spent on ice cream or souvenirs! They should carry their money and emergency contacts in a money belt and be instructed to never remove their money belts when out and about.

Meeting Points

Each time you go sightseeing, find a meeting point. Don’t make it a vague meeting place, but actually point out a specific landmark. Keep in mind; you may need to change these many times when at the same site. For example, we discovered while at the Louvre in Paris, because it was so enormous, we needed to designate a new meeting place every time we entered a new area of the same museum. This gave our kids a sense of freedom to explore things at their own pace, and us peace of mind.

Avoid Nasty Bugs

Washing your hands frequently and drinking bottled water are the two simplest ways for keeping your family healthy when traveling. Water changes from town to town, and it can cause indigestion - so go with bottled water. Also, try to wash your hands frequently, or carry antibiotic wipes with you so that your family washes up before touching food or their face. It’s not that there’s any more illness in Europe than in North America, it’s that you want to avoid picking up a bug while on vacation. However, even with the best intentions, illness can happen anywhere, and it’s good to know that the medical system sppeared to be as good as anywhere in Canada.

One thing we found helpful and got use was our First Aid kit. In a zip lock bag we placed an assortment of goodies such as Pepto Bismal, Gravol, Tylenol, mole skin for blisters, Band-Aids, antibiotic cream, prepackaged alcohol swabs, a tensor Band-Aid, a thermometer, and a hot/cold pack. And guess what? At one point or another just about everything in our first aid kit found use. Of course many of these things can be found at pharmacies in Europe, but some things such as antibiotic cream require a prescription from a doctor. Also, you may need items from the kit when you’re in transit or in the middle of the night. So, carrying your own travel First Aid Kit could save you a headache...literally!

Now that your family’s safety and well-being are taken care of, it’s time to take care of your money! Coming up in our final installment, I’ll have a few tips about money as the Traveling Europe with Kids series continues.