How I Packed for a Trip Around the World With My Toddler

My first reality check came before we left the US. Flying from the Twin Cities to Los Angeles, I realized how woefully inadequate my suitcase—Away’s The Medium, which fits 68.6 liters—was and made the eleventh-hour decision to trade up for something bigger. Away’s The Large Flex is just as durable and has an expandable design that increases its carrying capacity from 99.2 to 110.2 liters. While the extra space didn’t solve all of my packing woes (I still shipped souvenirs from five different countries and ultimately purchased a second bag—Bric’s X-Travel Spinner—in Greece, our tenth stop), it was a major upgrade from where I started.

I’ve been a fan of packing cubes for ages, pledging my allegiance to the durable ripstop nylon variety from Eagle Creek years ago. But this trip made me a Peak Design convert, mostly because I like its cubes’ stretchier material. The pliability of the nylon mesh fits more odds and ends (multiple pairs of toddler shoes, say, or a stack of leftover night diapers and Cerebelly pouches) and the translucent fabric makes it easy to identify what’s inside without unzipping every pouch.

Meet the Swiss Army knife of tech-junk organizers. Its origami-style folding pockets and elastic accessory loops marshaled our many (many) charging cords plus battery pack, phone, earbuds, and other smalls (chapstick, chewing gum) that would otherwise disappear in a purse or carry-on. I also appreciate the water-off-a-duck’s-back recycled nylon canvas shell, which stood up mightily to more than a few spilled milks.

This simple yet sturdy set of bags was indispensable for organizing my son’s toiletries: tear-free shampoo, hair brush, teething meds, diaper disposal bags, toothbrush and toothpaste, melatonin supplements, and so on. Again, it’s all about the see-through mesh and not having to rummage through the abyss to find something in a pinch. Plus, I like the square-bottom design, which keeps the loaded bag standing upright instead of flopping over like a tuckered-out toddler.

Speaking of toiletries, none was more versatile than this travel-sized tube of do-it-all ointment. When Julian scraped a knee in the Outback: Aquaphor. When the bone-dry air on a long-haul flight from Madrid to Medellín cracked his lips: Aquaphor. When diaper rash proved inescapable in mercilessly hot India, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia: Aquaphor.

I can’t stand the smell of citronella oil, a go-to ingredient in many natural insect repellants. In searching for an alternative for buggy destinations I knew we’d be visiting, I tested both mosquito-repellent bracelets and stickers. The former, which look like scrunchy telephone cords, were ripped off immediately by my toddler; the latter lost their stickiness as soon as we got near water, which of course is where the peskiest pests like to congregate. Eventually I found this spray from Babyganics. It’s less than 1% citronella but you wouldn’t know it because it’s so well balanced with other natural repellents such as rosemary, lemongrass, geranium, cedarwood, and peppermint. It goes on silky-soft, smoothing over the skin like a luxurious baby oil, but more importantly, it keeps the biters at bay.

Hotel laundry is outrageously expensive ($15 for a T-shirt, really?), so I tried to be choosy about which garments I’d send off for the royal treatment. Everything else—socks, underwear, whatever Julian didn’t splatter with food (or worse)—got hand washed in hotel sinks and hung up to dry. These phosphate-free liquid detergent packs added almost no weight to our bag, were great for sensitive skin, and gentle enough to use on darks, lights, delicates, and everything in between. One packet washed up to three items; four packets took on a whole load.

Whatever gets you through the flight, I say, and what got us through 28 of them were these raspberry-flavored gummies laced with L-theanine (an amino acid found in some teas and mushrooms) and herbal extracts like chamomile, passionflower, and lemon balm. With our pediatrician’s blessing, I’d feed them to my son half an hour or so before I wanted him to rest. (We called them “plane gummies” and he gobbled them down like candy.) While the sleep supplement didn’t always work as quickly as I would have liked, and sometimes he’d wake up in a real rage, I’d say they were 85% effective.

One of the trickiest things about packing for a three-season, six-continent trip is choosing suitable clothing for different climates. Julian and I were on the road from late August through Thanksgiving, with temperatures ranging from the high-30s to low-100s. These windproof, water-repellent puffer jackets pack down tight and come in more than a dozen colors. Layered over a sweater, it was a good solution for chillier days in Spain, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, and the hood came in handy when it drizzled for most of our time in Amsterdam.

Julian and I spent many afternoons splashing in hotel pools and frolicking on beaches. Our vampiric Eastern European roots make us quick to burn, which is why I slather us in SPF 100 and dress him in UPF 50+ swimwear, blocking 98% of the sun’s harmful UVA and UVB rays. These modest-coverage, mock-neck swimsuits come in a range of sizes (from three months to 3T) and 10 adorable prints. The zip-front closure makes dressing a snap and the stretchy fabric is fast to dry.

Shopping for children’s clothing abroad—koala jammies in Sydney, breezy thobes in Cairo, kurtas in Delhi—was a lot of fun. Shoes not so much. While toddler Crocs may be the waterproof choice for many kids this age, the snug foot strap gives my son blisters; he also freaks out whenever a stray rock or twig worms its way into the foot holes. The closed-toe design of Toms’ velcro-strapped slip-ons, by contrast, don’t chafe his ankles and are easy to get on and off when visiting temples and mosques throughout Asia and the Middle East.

The other creature comfort I recommend bringing is your child’s favorite stuffie. For Julian, that’s Bruno—a cuddly chimp I picked up from the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary while on assignment in Sierra Leone in 2023. Bruno accompanied us everywhere on this trip and was instrumental in getting Julian excited about trying new foods (Bruno “ate” them first), making new friends (he’s a fantastic icebreaker when children don’t speak the same language), and wearing seatbelts on planes (Bruno is big into safety).

I will never knock screen time when it comes to travel. It’s how I kept my kid sane through 28 flights (some up 12 hours), in restaurants, and on long car/train rides. The iPad Mini is the perfect size for little hands. I preloaded Julian’s with fun, educational games like Homer, Pok Pok, Sago Mini World, Khan Academy Kids, and Crayola Create and Play+; downloaded Frozen and Moana to the Disney+ app and a bunch of videos to his YouTube Kids account; and signed up for a NordVPN plan so he could stream his favorites in foreign countries. Did Julian spend more time in front of a screen abroad than he would have at home? Absolutely. But it was worth it as a means to an end: the amazing IRL experiences only travel can afford us.

Like the rugged military-grade phone cases this company built its reputation on, this thing has survived countless falls, throws, and dropkicks. The case itself is dishwasher-safe and the chubby handle converts to a stand. There’s also some psychological voodoo at work here: The playful colors are like broadcasting to the world that my son is playing scholastic math and vocabulary games and not just watching dumb videos about ice cream finger families (though he’s definitely doing that, too).

Hell hath no fury like a toddler whose iPad runs out of juice mid-flight. To ensure that never happened, I carried a fully charged battery pack with a built-in lightning cable and USB-C cord.

The least sexy item on this list is arguably the most valuable because it saved us scores of meltdowns. We stayed in more than 30 hotels on the trip, most of which served breakfast. But like many toddlers, my son often refuses to eat food when it’s conveniently placed in front of him. No, he’d rather wait until we’ve returned to the room or moved onto a new activity to declare himself famished. That’s where carrying empty snack bags comes in handy. Whatever Julian rejects at breakfast goes in a bag for later: strawberries, muffins, croissants, waffles, granola bars, you name it. (Side note to parents: the Anantara hotels in Thailand have the best breakfast buffets for toddlers.)

Julian has not mastered the art of sipping from an open cup, but many hotels and restaurants have moved away from single-use plastics. That’s great for the environment and terrible for toddlers who gnaw through paper straws like feral dogs. Carrying my own metal straw was the best workaround—a cinch to stick in whatever drink I wanted him to try (lassis in India, ayran in Saudi Arabia, Kopi C in Singapore) and less messy than dragging around a leaky tumbler. Hot tip: Always buy a multipack because you’re bound to forget a few in cafes and planes along the way.