By Sinaiyouth 
One of the coolest things about babies is the jumps they do. I mean, one day it’s a blob that just came out of your body and then two weeks later they’ve doubled in size! My toddler grew 15 inches in his first year. I mean, WHAT?? And over that one-year period, they went from yelling every few minutes to signing and saying a few basic words; from lying still in the swaddle to crawling or walking.
Now, with a toddler, I notice the biggest progress right after our trip. You already know that travel broadens our perspectives, shows us another way of living, it’s a thousand times more for squishy little ones who are simply trying to make sense of the world. I admit we haven’t been traveling as often as I’d like in recent months… I’ve been feeling guilty for not doing “enough” lately and so this interview with Harmony Walton, owner of Bridal Bar in Southern California, was just what I needed to reset.
Harmony Walton is the owner of Bridal Bar, a wedding public relations and marketing consultancy in California. She travels all over the world with her daughter in tow!
Harmony’s entire approach emphasizes quality over quantity. If you can only take one trip a year, do it. And make it the best ever. As a master of high-stakes events like weddings, she knows that there is always *something* going to go wrong. What matters most is how you react to it and how to plan defensively to make the most of your time together.
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Harmony Walton on Traveling with Toddlers
Exploring with Harmony’s 4-year-old daughter.
This is exactly what I needed to hear as I headlong into planning next year’s school holidays. In New England we have two: February and April. Currently, we continue to pay for childcare except that they respect the school calendar, so we have the worst of both worlds? And while I know they can obviously miss “school” at this age, it’s hard to swallow the double cost. (I’m not emotionally ready for elementary school but I *am* ready to release the shackles of child care costs from my budget, ugh.)
For our stays, we will probably only try to do major travel during one of them and local/family travel for the other. Focusing on quality over quantity seems obvious, but in the rush to find something to look forward to, I miss deadlines. I stretch. I say, “Oh, we can incorporate that.” »
Reader, I can’t. Here’s how Harmony creates the kind of trips that last you all year:
What is your travel “style” before and after children?
“Before becoming a mom, I traveled about half the year. I traveled for work and pleasure and often extended my work trips to stay as long as possible.
Now that I’m a single mom, I’m limited in the trips I can take. I now focus on quality rather than quantity. Since I have to choose, I try to find experiences that bring a little bit of everything throughout the year: snow, sand, city and nature. I want her to know and experience all of this, even if we can only do it a limited number of times a year.
What’s your biggest travel tip for babies and toddlers?
“For both groups, it comes down to snacks! For babies, I always recommend feeding them during takeoff and landing in flight. My daughter has never cried or had ear problems in flight and I think that has helped a lot.”
For little ones, always bring snacks! Basically, I grab snacks to go. Snacks and small activities bridge the gap when you’re dealing with travel delays, time changes, missed meals, or just moments of fatigue. This saved me when a flight didn’t have the food planned and would have been starving otherwise on a long haul flight.
How do you recover when things don’t go as planned?
“One time our flights were delayed so much that it took us twenty-four hours to get to a place that should have taken eight. Our final destination was a two and a half hour drive from the airport, but when we finally landed it was the middle of the night and the rental car counter was already closed. We had to take an unexpected taxi late at night, but I had checked the car seat and the airline lost our luggage too. Needless to say, it wasn’t a great experience overall.
But the airline loaned us a car seat to use for the week, a taxi voucher, and American Express did wonders to reimburse our car rental costs. In the end, we were exhausted without clean clothes when we arrived but at least we were able to leave the airport!
If I had to go back, I would have told myself that there was always a solution.
The best equipment Harmony does not leave the house without…
“Now I don’t travel without my car seat. I’ve never had a good experience trying to rent one from a destination car rental company or relying on the car service company to show up with one as we ordered. Every time I tried it caused significant delays, so now I just deal with the extra luggage. (Except in France! Their version of Uber (called G-7) has a kid-friendly option that was amazing and always reliable.)
I also like a car seat bag and a stroller bag to cover these items when you check them out on the plane. The bags are destroyed, but not my important equipment.
The best place to travel with toddlers is…
“I loved taking my daughter to Italy because it’s my favorite place in the world. Sharing that with her was very special. I loved Tuscany with her because of all the open space, nature, and freedom to run around that she had. It’s not a typical family vacation, but we loved it. We stayed out of town but were close enough that we could still explore.”
And the best kid-friendly hotel is…
“I loved our stay at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain in Arizona. The water slides, splash pads, pools, S’mores station, game room, kids’ nature center, and resident turtles gave it plenty to do without feeling like a mega resort. We still enjoyed some quiet time in nature and we are easily accessible by car from many major cities.
I say hello to the turtles!
“Boca Raton Florida also has lots of great activities for kids. The splash pad, lazy river, waterslide area, a boat to take you to the beach club (the ride was half the fun for my toddler!) and plenty of dining options. The hotel is still luxurious for adults and that’s something I don’t want to compromise on just because I’m traveling with a toddler.
Tell me your favorite travel memory with your little one.
“Celebrating my daughter’s first birthday in Italy when she tried pizza and ice cream for the first time was a very special memory. I will never forget her face. Now she loves watching the video of her not liking the cold ice cream!” 🍦
Plan an experience that gives them something new
Thank you very much Harmony! I really needed permission to do less, but do it well. I like the idea of choosing trips that specifically offer them new experiences (snow, sand, city, nature, etc.) because it’s similar to how I try to plan around the seasons. Before kids, my partner and I would take a cold trip in the summer and a beach trip in the winter, just to shake things up.
With a young child, the stakes are higher. One of the reasons I want to travel with them is to give them a taste of the many experiences of the world, to expose them to people, places, languages and ways of being different from our own. I know that any time we break up my toddler’s schedule/routine, no matter how small he or she is, it will always be an adventure. Sometimes it’s a disaster… sometimes it’s incredible. You never know until you try!
Thanks for being here.
I love how the holidays are like a core memory refresh as a parent. I have such vivid memories of Halloween, rushing to go door to door, planning costumes, carving the pumpkin, stringing donuts. Become a little child again! I’m the type of person that my parents had to sit me down and talk about when I turned 14 – that no, I wasn’t allowed to trick or treat anymore. I still remember playing with the entire cast of Mario Kart my senior year of high school, and my friends and I literally chased each other all day.3
As a mom, I exclusively make pajama-based costumes because if I have to spend $30 on an outfit my little one will outgrow it in 6 months, I want him to wear it more than once. Last year my toddler asked to be the moon, and this year we’re pirates. I hope we get to more than two houses this year, because I’m really craving Twix bars…
Charity please,
Kayla
If you liked this article, please consider supporting my work. I’m just a mom at heart trying to create essential memories for our entire family while minimizing meltdowns. I sincerely hope this helps you do the same.
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