Potty Training While Traveling

Traveling with kids is fun. If you embrace a sense of humor around the time you start packing and stop caring about what everyone else is thinking. There will be plenty of messes to deal with when you least expect. What can you expect when potty training while traveling?

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weigh your options

On one of our trips we needed to pee in front of the most famous buildings in downtown Vienna. I had to sneak my kids around because suddenly both of them had to pee when we were exploring the beautiful gardens of the former royal family’s summer residence, the Schönbrunn Palace. Yeah, the fact that somewhere out there, there are restrooms means nothing to my kids who have to do it right then and there. So, it’s either humoring them and letting them have the best view when tinkling or having to dress them all over again.

It is less stressful to give it a shrug and stare down all those who frown upon us, than having to carry around wet clothes that desperately need cleaning. By the time I can do the washing up, they develop the worst stench imaginable. It’s not even worth the trouble.

Thus far we have peed in the historic center of Barcelona, before hitting a highway in Toronto, all throughout Wales – hooray for all the pastures, in France we were luckily still in diapers. Recently we have added special touches to Germany and the Czech Republic. We have peed our way through Europe.

come prepared

I always come prepared, think of me as the dog walker extraordinaire, but then instead of dogs, oh, I didn’t just write that, right.  I have yet to be taken by surprise in the matters of bowl movements.

Though I did come close to a disaster on a train in Spain, where no restrooms were working and the ride was over an hour long and in the Czech Republic, when we were walking on a wooden construction making its way to the top of the highest trees. You should have seen us huddle and deliberate on what to do, because coming down or going up, or sliding to either right or left were no options at all.

Yes, I am extraordinary in situations like these. Those make our trips for what they are, lessons in how fast you can react and solve problems on the go. Bear Grills has nothing on me.

Forget Alaska, put a tot in the car, hit the rush hour on the six lane highway around Toronto and ask if she can hold it long enough to find a place to at least pull over, because hoping to get to the restrooms is like wishing for snow in July.

Truly, travel with kids is fun, but never glamorous, even when you are not chasing the nearest suitable patch of grass in front of UNESCO protected sites. I wouldn’t have it any other way, because we have seen hundreds of sights and sometimes I confuse one with the other. With this we have special stories to remember them by for a lifetime.

Yes, travel with kids, just pack a lot of humor, a stack of clothes, wet wipes, plastic bags… and be prepared to run.

 

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