kids travelling with a (small) friend

Particularly for small children, travelling to unknown places can be rather disconcerting and unsettling. Despite the fact that we espouse the idea of travelling light, we believe that favourite soft toys and blankies are really important.

If your child is going to be in new surroundings their best soft toy friend or blankie from home can be a real comfort. It provides familiarity when all around seems alien.

We have a few rules:

• the child may take only one “friend” and it must be small.
• the owner is responsible for that friend at all times.
• when leaving a plane, car, train, hotel or other accommodation, the child MUST be able to tell you where Bunny/Blankie/Dolly is at that moment, and preferably be able to SHOW you that it is in the luggage.
• if we are heading out on a day trip, Bunny must stay at the hotel, to look after the bags. Bags can get very lonely... If it is a long drive in a hire car, Bunny may come, but has to stay in the car.

So far Bunny (below, aged 3 - still slightly pink - now nearly 8, and no longer pink) has been to 11 countries apart from Australia and is still with us.