Erin Chats With Lonely Planet Kids On Twitter @LPKids #LPTakes5

Recently I completed a Twitter Chat with Lonely Planet Kids. It was a fun interview that some of you missed because of the time differences in Australia and the rest of the world.

So I compiled all the information I shared in the interview and expanded on the simple 140-character answers.  Enjoy!

Question #1: Tell us a bit about yourself

Answer: We left Australia in May 2012. We have now been travelling nomadically with 2 young kids (6 & 5 yrs) for coming on 3 years, across 52+ countries.

You can read more about us here, and where we have been here.

Question #2: You have travelled extensively with your kids. What is your very top family travel recommendation?

Answer: We have never had an unfriendly family destination. But a few of our most memorable destinations stem from our favourite experiences. For example:

• Hot air ballooning in Turkey

• Water sliding with sharks at Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai

• Floating lantern festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand

• Road tripping the Pacific Northwest in 14 days

• My 2 & 4 yr old cliff-jumped into a Mexican cenote

• Floating in the Dead Sea  

• Husky sledding in Lapland, Rovaniemi

The kid’s best picks are:

Cauis: Thomas Land (4 years old at the time)

Mia: Abseiling 5 storeys down a sheer cliff in Malta (5 years old at the time)

Question #3: You clearly love your nomadic lifestyle. What do you think has been the biggest benefit to your kids?

Answer: Our children have both their parents around full-time. They benefit from a hands-on education outside a classroom. When it comes to history, geography, politics, religion or pop culture, they witness the places and events first-hand. I’m so jealous of their childhood! But most importantly they have learned the global language… a smile!

Question #4: You must be a packing pro. Share a packing tip or two for travelling with kids?

Answer: Check out all our guerrilla packing tips. 

This was our first year of travel

This is us now

My best tips would be:

• Use packing cubes for each person. They are perfect for short stays and helping everything fit snuggly into the suitcase.

• Don't take towels. Bring a sarong. You can use them for picnic rugs, towels at the beach, cover-ups at temples and so much more.

• Pack less than you think you need. Ask a friend to go over your final packing items before shoving it in your suitcase. They can help you be more ruthless.

• Avoid battery-operated toys (if possible). Finding or charging batteries is no fun when in a strange country and your power adapter is already occupied with a laptop, camera or tablet.

• Bring a portable luggage scale to avoid stress on flights. No one enjoys the feeling you get when the airport staff ask you to re-pack because the luggage is too heavy. 

Not For Parents Travel Book

What kid wouldn't immediately want this book with "Not For Parents" in the title. A great big book on cool stuff to know about every country in the world.

Which country banned chewing gum? What's the world's stinkiest fruit? Who invented roller skates? Where can you eat fried spiders as a snack? It's a look at the world's countries for children, not parents.

Adventures in Wild Places

This new sticker activity series for kids aged 3 and up shows kids the incredible sights and diverse environments of planet earth. Keep little hands busy on long journeys with these bumper books of stickers that mix amazing facts about the world's coolest places with great photos and illustrations, plus a small dose of humour.

Adventures in Famous Places

I love this famous places one. So do the kids since they have visited a lot of them. And now they are working on creating their new bucket lists for our next year of travel.