Top 3 Considerations When Traveling Out of the Country With Your Family

As a frequent traveler, and someone who does most of her traveling with the family, I can

tell you that we’re sticklers for planning. Knowing what we need, and what issues we

might face are keys to keeping me sane while traveling with two small children and a

husband that is about as “go with the flow” (read: not prepared) as it gets. While my

husband often makes fun of my Type A personality and my inability to just pack up and

leave for exotic locales, it has saved our butts more than once.

Here are a few considerations that you can borrow from my playbook in case you find

yourself traveling out of the country in the near future.

Visa Requirements

This is an oversight for many travelers. I suppose no one ever sat us down and told us

that traveling to a new country had customs considerations about what we could and

couldn’t bring (both into and out of the country) as well as the requirements to secure a

visa, but I can tell you firsthand that we’ve been burned before.

On a trip to Guatemala we were actually stuck in the airport for hours because we

couldn’t pay the fee for our tourist visas in the local currency. I don’t know why we

assumed that dollars or travelers checks would work, but we did, and we were

disappointed when we found out that we’d have to pay in the local currency, but the only

ATM in the airport wouldn’t allow us to process our transactions. Luckily, they had a

Western Union and we were able to get friends to wire the money. This could all have been

avoided had we known beforehand. Lesson learned.

If you lose your Pan card, be sure to visit Pan Cards Eva.

Travel Advisories

Before going anywhere, I always check the travel advisories and warnings on the US

State Department website. Now, I don’t necessarily follow them, but if there are any

problematic warnings I definitely do my homework for the country we’re about to visit

before I feel like I’m putting my family in danger. If you take all of the warnings at face

value, that’ll limit your options to pretty much the United States, Canada and Great

Britain, but advisories are merely that, and with a little bit of homework you can often find

out how to keep yourself safe while visiting countries that are under warning.

Vaccinations

Depending on where you end up, there may be bacteria, viruses or other maladies that

your body just isn’t used to. This can often result in serious reactions that are sometimes

even fatal. Knowing the vaccinations you need before packing your bags can go a long

way to ensuring that you arrive home safely.

Your primary care physician, or a pediatrician, can typically tell you what kinds of

vaccinations you’ll need, but here’s a pro tip… you can often save hundreds of dollars if

you get the prescription, and purchase the vaccinations yourself. Services like Nationwide

Medical will actually deliver meds to you, and a quick prick on the hip will provide the

medicine you need.

While I’m not exactly the type of girl that likes to just plan on going to a location and then

relaxing until a few days before the trip, I do know how to relax once all of the prep work

is done. I’d strongly suggest that anyone leaving for a new country follow (at the bare

minimum) the list above and be prepared for a few speed bumps along the way. Traveling

with a family isn’t often easy, but it’s about as rewarding an experience in life as one can

get ­ assuming you’ve done your homework beforehand.

Stay safe, and enjoy your travels!

Written by Amanda Green