See the World Through a Child’s Eyes

The trip did have one frightening hiccup, one that would scare the passport off any parent. Oscar took ill in Prague and needed to visit the emergency room for a breathing problem.

Stewart says that her long history of nomadic travel gave her the confidence to deal with the medical personnel through miming and gestures. The scary part, she says, was navigating through a foreign city not knowing exactly where the hospital was or how quickly they could get there.

A friend familiar with Prague helped direct them, but Stewart recalls, “after the third bus transfer with three adults and a sick baby in a stroller, I was getting increasingly tense and cranky.”

Tense? Cranky? I would have been screaming my face off. But thankfully, Stewart kept a calm head and Oscar got the treatment he needed.

If you are faced with a similar situation, Stewart points out that in most of the countries she’s visited—including her yearlong stint in South Korea—she’s been able to communicate without knowing the native tongue.

“It’s interesting, but I’ve found that once people realize you are from the United States, their capacity to deal with you on the ‘charades’ level is really quite good,” she says. “They tend to have equivalent services and in some cases, they even have the same drug names.”

Be Flexible

Once past their health scare, the family was able to enjoy the sights unfettered by medical crisis or even a grumpy toddler. Oscar, his mother says, endured trips to ancient castles and the Tower of London contentedly in his stroller.

The key, Stewart advises, is altering your routine to fit the situation. Normally Oscar takes a morning nap, so the couple would get up early, hang out in the hotel room, and then take a rest together around 9:30 or 10 a.m.

After that small snooze, Oscar was ready to hit the cobblestone streets in fine form.

Travel expert John Frenaye concurs with Stewart. “You’ve got to know your kids,” he says.

Frenaye, whose most recent venture is Single Parent Travel, is no stranger to international travel with kids. [Disclosure: Frenaye is a TravelMuse contributor.]

His children were 6 years, 4 years and 9 months old the first time he took them across the pond.

The family went to London for Thanksgiving on the spur of the moment, thanks to a ridiculously low airfare, and even took a day trip to Paris.

His only regret? Not bringing or buying a stroller.

“We did the backpack thing for the little one, but my middle daughter’s legs would get really tired,” he says. “She lost it at the Eiffel Tower and we had to walk back to the Louvre. I was like, ‘This is the last time I’m carrying you on my shoulders for three miles!’”

Frenaye also advises taking a few smaller plane trips before pinning your kid down for a seven-hour flight. “Once they have that little bit of experience, they will probably be okay,” he says.

And he should know. This single father recently returned from taking his third-grader to Rome, and even traveled all the way to China with his 9-year-old son.

I don’t think China is in our future, but maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally get to see the Eiffel Tower, with my daughter by my side.