What is Your Bottom Line?
One of my favorite audience questions when I presented this weekend at the Rick Steves travel center was how I take safety and security into account when choosing a travel destination.
Like many parents, my answer is very different now than it was pre-kid. Before we had children, we traveled to many developing countries, but were cautious to avoid those with widespread political unrest - there are so many places we want to see in the word that we felt no need to take a risk.
With young kids, I also worry about food safety and good quality medical care. My bottom line? I won't take the kids to a destination where the tap water is unsafe For such young children, the consequences of a water borne disease can be much more devastating than for an adult, and for us, eating local food is an important part of every trip. Our prohibition won't last forever. As the kids get older and sturdier we'll be able to visit a wider variety of destinations, and there are so many places that I want to see in the meantime, that I don't really mind the limitation.
This is one of those questions with as many different (and valid) answers as there are parents. I'd love to hear your perspective - where would you, ( and wouldn't you travel with your children. What makes a destination feel safe or unsafe?
4 comments |
Posted on January 29, 2009 |
Save to del.icio.us
Subscribe to our feed
Comments
Lauren on January 29, 2009 at 11:39 a.m.
At what age would you take a child to a country that might have unsafe drinking water? And what is unsafe?
Also, what travel vaccines might be recommended, and are they safe for very small children?
I'm planning a trip in October or November, probably to somewhere in Central America. My son will be only a year old. These are the questions I am mulling over.
Soul TravelersIII on January 30, 2009 at 12:53 a.m.
I am really glad that we have pushed past some of our fears in these areas.
I had some serious concerns about going to Morocco and Turkey with our young child on our world tour, but I am SOOO glad that we did, as they turned out to be awesome experiences.
Now, I am very much FOR families doing exotic travel, although it does not make much sense to do it until a child is old enough to read, understand and remember the trip.
My daughter has never had a vaccine ( nor hardly any medicine like antibiotics as she almost never gets sick), thus we had added concern. She was a long term nurser, thus had lots of natural immunity since I had very few vaccines and many diseases like hepatitis ( you guessed it from traveling ...to Haiti).
We did LOTS of research, but finally decided to go without any of us getting vaccines ( we calculated the risk of the vaccine was higher than the disease).
We were also extremely careful about food, even at 5 star places, so resisted the delicious looking salads and fresh OJ.
We did not get sick and had a profound time that we will never forget! My brand new 6yo rode on a camel into the Sahara to give a violin concert to 60 Berber kids who live without water and had never seen a violin!
We connected deeply with the people and the children ( brought them healthy food too, so taught her service can be fun!). We also did a camel ride ( husband & child) and overnight in the Sahara.
It is something I would NEVER have done if it were not for my child's education, and it turned out to be a profound experience for us all!
We have faced medical emergencies while abroad and have actually gotten better care than in the U.S., so we have less fear in that area now. I did make sure that we could be easily evacuated out of Morocco, if we did run into an emergency in the Sahara or anywhere there.
We have a friend who is our doctor now in Spain, so that helped give us confidence since she is just a phone call or short flight away.
Lauren, my favorite informative article about traveling vaccines for children is here:
http://www.mothering.com/articles/gro...
For us, it was really helpful to talk to other informed parents who had taken their children to Morocco and Turkey. We went in independently, but also made sure that we were connected to people there that could handle our western concerns. Like the people who helped us do the Sahara trek & we very carefully, picked the riads where we stayed.
Turkey came after Morocco, so was even easier, even in rural areas. We actually found much of Turkey more modern than parts of Europe.
Having these experiences under our belt, gives us more confidence for more exotic travel as a family! We will research all options carefully and take full precautions, but we would not miss these divine experiences for the world!
Right now we researching our trip soon to the Middle East and Africa!
Debbie on February 1, 2009 at 12:12 a.m.
@Lauren
many parents take their kids to countries where the water must be boiled at a very young age. That's easier if you are exclusively nursing (it must be challenging to clean baby bottles on the go when tap water is unsafe). Still, many resorts treat the local water themselves and every year countless travelers rely on that service without becoming ill.
I'd prefer to wait until the kids are at least 5 or 6 to travel to countries where the tap water must be boiled because a little bit of unsafe tap water, swallowed during bath time, used to wash fresh fruit, or used to make ice can make a young child (or an adult) quite ill.
In most major cities, a specialized travel medicine clinic will be able to help you understand what precautions, vaccines, or medications will be needed in the places you want to visit.
angelina hart on February 4, 2009 at 3:41 p.m.
I recently returned from a trip to Iran with my 7 and 9 year old daughters and felt completely safe. Yet, we have put off India due to the fact that I have never met a single person who has traveled there that did not have diarrhea the entire time.
We did go to Bali when the girls were 3 and 5 and the whole family had mild diarrhea the entire time but not serious enough for us to be hindered by it. We ate freely - even from local food stands, but only drank bottled water.
I find the risks of vaccinations to be greater than their proposed protection, so we don't do that.