Clear As Mud
 

Travel Tips and Tricks (ft. COVID-19)

Traveling with kids can be overwhelming and always exciting 🙂 You gotta be on top of your game and prepared for every eventuality. Add CORONA to the mix and it gets quite interesting. A lot of my prep for our recent trip was the same as always, so this post will be useful and practical for all travel, during, and post, Covid-19. 

I think it’s important to address the decision I made to actually travel during COVID-19. It’s safe to say that I am not the only one who feels very confused and uncertain during these times. I feel like there is lots of conflicting information and too much judgementalism. In general, I’m not a big fan of “judging” or pushing my opinion down the throats of others.  One of the most valuable things I have learned in my almost 36 years 🙂 is that we never know what’s going on behind the scenes in someone else’s life; we just don’t, period. I’m hoping we can move through this time with a little more compassion, empathy and understanding. Having shared that, Chaim and I felt strongly that for our family, this trip was very important, so we needed to figure out how to do it in the safest, and most responsible, way. 

As I was trying to figure out how to travel myself with 4 kids (and I don’t know about you, but my kids literally touch everything) without losing my mind, I came across a post by @TheFlexibleChef about her international travels with her kids during Covid-19 and her use of electric scooters and my mind started brewing. Thinking along those “out of the box” lines, I asked myself “what if we used manual scooters to travel through the airports?” It seemed like a great way to minimize the kids touching random surfaces on the moving sidewalks and throughout the airports. IT WORKED! I am so happy I did it, they were thrilled scootin’ through the airport which kept their hands occupied 🙂 and there was a bonus benefit, we now have the scooters at my parent’s house which we use every day to get to and from camp.

On the plane, we were required to wear a mask. I was pleasantly surprised how well the kids cooperated. I was probably a worse sport about it than they were. I also decided that we’d use plastic shields as well, which again the kids wore without fussing; it was just another layer of separation between them and the infinite germs and made me feel a little more comfortable. 

https://www.pushcases.com (for the marker bag)

I packed sanitizing wipes and each of their backpacks was packed with hand sanitizer. My favorite is doTERRA’S on-guard spray. It’s Super effective, safe and smells delicious. Here’s a link…

https://bit.ly/3fhygCg

The most exciting thing for my kids is to pack their backpacks before a trip. It’s really quite annoying and I would totally rather do it myself, but they love it so much, it makes the trip so exciting, so I get over myself. I make a time for each kid to collect what they want and then we go through it together and make sure everything they are bringing is reasonable and practical. I will share with you some of our top travel toys and provide links for what I can.

https://amzn.to/2BBT09D

https://www.amazon.com/PLUS-Preschool-Pastel-Building-Piece/dp

https://amzn.to/2NYiOzd

https://amzn.to/38BV6Cq

https://amzn.to/31SHhhA (I don’t have a picture but these are awesome and I got a package for each kid)

https://amzn.to/3ecPFep (shape shifting cube, so great!)

I also got these awesome zip containers that were great for snacks! What’s unique about these containers is that they stand on their own, and that really prevented a lot of spills which I am super grateful for!

https://ziptop.com

Traveling with kids is an art, and you definitely get better at it, the more you do it. We travel quite a bit and every time I learn something new that enhances the experience. Be open to the adventure, manage your parental expectations, and just know nothing will go as planned; this  sets you up for success.

Happy trails 

 
 
 

Noah has cooked in a variety of kitchens and has studied many different cuisines, but his favorite meals to prepare are the ones that make his guests smile. Be it Thai, Italian, Caribbean or Latin, there is always a fun surprise waiting for you at meal time. Noah welcomes special requests and guests in his kitchen! Just stop by and say hi.

Yocheved Sidof is a social entrepreneur, psycho-mystical depth work facilitator, writer, educator, speaker, and activist. After a decade as a filmmaker and photographer, she founded Lamplighters Yeshivah, a grassroots, internationally acclaimed, progressive Chassidic Montessori school. Yocheved builds communities with healing at the center. Most recently, she founded Ohm’ek, an intentional collective focusing on meditation, embodied mysticism, and micro-retreats.

A lifelong learner, she’s completed extensive training in adaptive leadership, therapeutic coaching, and systemic change. She is currently in a two-year intensive training with Thomas Hubl, studying psycho-somatic-mystical models of healing personal, collective, and ancestral trauma. She also writes, consults, works 1:1 with clients, facilitates group transformational work, and regularly teaches Jewish spiritual studies.

Yocheved sits on boards supporting innovations in mental health awareness and self-transformation. She has studied Jewish mysticism and meditation extensively, including with Rav Katz since 2018, completing Elevation Teacher Training and sitting on his advisory board for over a year.

Yocheved, her husband, and five children live in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Come say “Hi!” if you’re in the neighborhood.