This is a Guest Post by Marina Villatoro who writes about family travel over at International Woman. She has been all over the world and her travels have produced some great stories. Marina is an expert on Central American travel and a Mom who has quickly learned to make kids and travel work! Thanks for the post Marina!

Traveling is one of those things that I can never stop doing. Once my new baby entered the world, everyone asked me what I was going to do for the next couple of years since I could no longer continue my travels as I had with my six year old.

But that question always stopped me dead in my tracks.

What difference does it make whether you're traveling with a baby or a 6 year old?

Having kids is all about a new kind of travel - a better one!

But don't get me wrong, traveling with kids, especially babies, doesn't come without some serious challenges and breaks to your normal travel routine. That said, you can make it work. And you can also start enjoying things you never paid attention to when you were traveling without kids.

Long Roadtrips: How to Deal With Kids?

We just completed a 2000 mile roadtrip with my one year old and 7 year old. We left our home in Antigua, Guatemala and drove all the way to Nicaragua. Even though Central America looks small, there were some days that our time in the car hit the 14 hour mark. And I am still wondering:

How did my children handle it?

Tips for driving with a baby:

The main challenge came with my baby.

What in the world do you do to keep a 1 year old stimulated?

Very little really, which means you need to be extra creative.

1. Make a Plan. If possible, always schedule your departure when it's ALMOST their nap time. If you leave let's say 1-2 hours before they normally sleep you can get a little bit of chill time with them, when they first adjust to the road.

A little play time. And then the feeding.

Next thing you know they are asleep and you just got a good 3-4 hours of driving in.

2. Make stops. This is crucial. Even if it's for 10-30 minutes. We schedule
our lunches or dinners for this and let the kids wear out their energy, eat
and get back in the car.  Next thing you know, it's almost nap time again for baby.

3. Be Prepared. Bring lots of silly toys to keep the baby occupied. Let's
face it, when the little one is awake, there is no downtime for mama and
papa. I had to entertain him every waking second. However, I came prepared.
I had a ton of little gadgets, straws, boxes, etc... plenty to keep him busy.

4. Crying it out - sometimes you simply can't do anything else, and with
such long trips, there will be times when the baby just has to cry it out.
Luckily, if you do all the above tips, it's usually right before you arrive
to your destination.

Nicaragua: The Joys of Traveling in a Foreign Country

Border Challenges

Ironically enough, the car ride wasn't as challenging as facing the borders.

On our first day we had to cross 4 borders: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.All were a breeze, and it was a great excuse to get out of the car, stretch our legs and let the kids breath some air.

But not fresh air!

Most of the borders are filthy, sketchy and a bit frightening. Regardless, stopping was a good enough reason to take our baby out of the car.

Our biggest challenge came when we hit Nicaragua. When I traveled these countries 10 years ago, I remembered this border to be the best one, but a lot has changed. Let's just say that the corruption of the officials and the "in your face bribes" really put a damper on your entry. You can read the full story about our Nicaragua Border crossing here.

Despite the border troubles, we were anxious to see if the "real" Nicaragua could erase the bad and bring in the good.

And sure enough, it would!

What My Kids and I Learned and Experienced

We split our trip up into 4 locations:

• Leon - the northern part of the country where the strongest footprint of the civil war is still left.
• Masaya - The active volcano and the most accessible volcano in the world. You can literally drive up to the crater.
• Granada - The colorful, colonial town with tons of expats, great restaurants and cafes, and a fun tour around 300 islets.
• Ometepe - the only fresh water island in the world with 2 volcanoes on it.

Traveling with children is a whole different ball game. Before going on a trip, I would literally throw myself into planning. It's one of my passions. There are so many things to do in EVERY part of the world, including Nicaragua, but you have to really look at what's realistic and be able to cross out the things you can't do with kids. On top of that, much of what we did plan can often get tossed out the window since babies always have a schedule of their own.

Knowing this, our travels went really well.

Leon - Luckily I didn't do much planning for this town, except that we wanted to see the largest cathedral in Central America. So when we arrived to the church, we were pleasantly surprised to find out we can go up to the bell tower. And my 7 year old saw the bells of the church manually operated.

Masaya - My 1 year old's first volcano. Yes, I know we live in the center of the Ring of Fire, but we haven't gone up to the actual craters in Guatemala. Unlike Masaya.

Granada - The colonial jewel is going to be remembered by my oldest as a fun place to get on a boat and visit a monkey island and a fort on islands that were created by a huge volcano explosion thousands of years ago.

Ometepe - Just the fact that it's the largest fresh water lake in the world and the only island with 2 volcanoes on it in the world, is enough to have my son talk about it for years.

Surprisingly, all the plans I made but 2 were altered.  And each only a little bit.

I was desperate to take a horse carriage ride around Granada, so my husband decided it would be best for him and our baby to stay in Central Park and explore that while me and my 7 year old toured the city.

I wanted to take a horse ride on Ometepe to a beach which was 2 hours each way. Way too far with a baby. Instead we did a great horse riding tour around the village.

Travel Benefits Children At Every Age

My youngest son is only a year right now and has already more stamps in his little passport than some of my friends in the States. I don't know how much he'll remember, but that is all the more reason to revisit all these countries when he gets older.

I know from watching my oldest son develop over the years that travel is the best education we can give him.  His openness and tolerance of the world around him has developed so much out of his travel experiences.  We are glad we can continue that sort of education for our newest little one as well.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marina K. Villatoro is an expat living in Central America for over 10 years. She travels with her family in Central America.

Connect with Marina on twitter and facebook.

http://travelexperta.com - All You Need to Know About Traveling in Central America!

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