Flying Overseas With Kids in Tow? Take Note!

Before embarking on an epic Round the World trip, the furthest Shara and John (JB)  McAuley had travelled to with their four children was to Brisbane for one-week-holiday.

Prior to having kids, the couple had travelled a lot together and lived in China for two years, so it was high on their priority list to go on a big overseas holiday with their boys,  Albert, 15, Louis, 13, Spencer, 10, and George 8.

When Shara and JB sold a property, they made a quick decision to use the money to fund the adventure. They only had a few weeks to plan the holiday so that it didn’t interfere with school and extra-curriculars.  

‘We felt that (going on an overseas trip) was as important as getting them all through school,’ Shara said.  ‘We managed to time it perfectly in terms of ages. George was old enough to enjoy travel and be able to keep up -turns out we had to keep up with him! The big boys were not yet at the pointy end of secondary school so could miss the start of the school year without any problems.’

Coordinating, organising and packing for a mammoth holiday is not for the faint hearted, but Shara and JB were up for the task. They enlisted the help of a travel agent to come up with the itinerary for the nine-week, eleven-city trip which began on 19 December 2023 in Tokyo. They would then continue on to Hiroshima, Helsinki, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona, New York and Los Angeles.

The family packed lightly so they could travel with ease between cities and countries. They had two backpacks consisting of mainly clothes which the older boys carried, and two rolling packs with wheels that contained heavier items such as toiletries, books, first aid items and more.  

‘We had to pack very minimally,’ Shara said. ‘It was winter in the northern hemisphere, so we had to carry warm snow jackets, thermals, thick socks, raincoats, beanies, and gloves for six people.

Because there was not a lot of spare room in the luggage, the family wore one pair of sneakers each and packed old t-shirts that could be thrown out if new ones were purchased. The only souvenir they came home with was handmade chopsticks from Hiroshima and a lifetime of memories.

‘My top five moments would be ‘Matilda the Musical’ in London’s West End, Okonomiyaki restaurant Hiroshima, soccer in the snow in Berlin, Reindeer kebabs at Old Market Hall in Helsinki and everything about Barcelona but especially Sagrada Familia.’

But with any family holiday, the McAuley’s did run into a few challenges along the way.

‘We rotated through the usual cold/flus, got lost plenty of times, had money stolen, and were ripped off by taxi drivers but that’s all part of travelling and these moments end up becoming everyone’s favourite stories,’ Shara said. ‘We also probably didn’t anticipate how expensive the US was, particularly the cost of healthy food- we were quite shocked by that. We were also surprised with how dirty London was and how crowded Tokyo is. These things made us feel very fortunate to live in Australia and come home to fresh food, fresh air, and ample personal space!’

Despite the obstacles, the family had ‘unanimously decided’ that there was nothing they would have changed about the trip, with some even planning to return to their favourite spots one day.  

‘The older boys have plans to revisit some of the cities we went to once they finish school/university,’ Shara said. ‘As we anticipated, the boys have well and truly caught the travel bug!

                                                                                                        Shara’s ‘Top Overseas Travel Tips’

• Kids have a finite number of museums and galleries they can visit before the whinging starts – we reduced our expectations pretty early in the trip in this regard.
• Incorporate things that actually interest your kids – ours love sports so we carried a sports bag all around the world with a soccer ball, basketball, footy and frisbee. Nearly every city we visited we went to a local sport event e.g. FC Barcelona soccer, Helsinki ice-hockey, New York NBA Basketball, Westham FC soccer etc.
• Train stations, boarding trains, getting off trains is just THE worst with kids – have a system in place early and a plan for if you get separated. We always had one parent at the front and one at the back, boys in between.
• Take screen shots and photos of everything e.g. check in instructions, directions, tickets, locker location, boarding passes, tourist info from websites – you can’t always access the internet but can always access photos on your phone. Same with having a paper map stashed in your pocket for when Google Maps craps itself (i.e. on underground trains!)
• No brainer for travelling with children of any age…. MUST have snacks with you at all times!  Croissants were our go to and seemed to be everywhere we wTake a handful of those bag clips to seal up the half full bag of nuts, biscuits or lollies.   
• Activity pack for when waiting in airports, train stations, restaurants – sketch pad, pens, pencils, crosswords, playing cards, quizzes. It does help reduce the endless questioning in these moments: Are we there yet? When will the food be ready? How long now? What about now?
• Download music onto devices and have noise-cancelling headphones for everyone.
• Take your own medicines – I didn’t take enough Panadol/Nurofen/Difflam/Sudafed and when you’re sick it’s challenging to navigate a foreign pharmacy with unfamiliar brands and drug names.
• OMO Laundry Capsules – game changer
• Appreciate the funny moments. We have found that our boys don’t necessarily talk about the tourist attractions that you have to tick off or even the scenery, but it will be some stupid thing that happened or that someone said that still now is replayed and repeated a million times over. You never know what will stick in their heads. It certainly has brought them closer together with a whole new array of their own ‘in jokes.’