My husband and I have always travelled lots and lots. We’ve now lived together in Japan, Australia and South Africa. He also has family in Dubai, the U.S. and the U.K.
So we always considered ourselves to be “good at” jet lag management … well… until we threw kids into the mix.
So what works for us.. ( and has since they were teeny babies) …
Just plodding along, as much as possible.
But in order to “plod” you will need to have a baby carrier and or stroller. And that might mean a stroller for a kid who might be even slightly past “stroller age.” Their little legs will be tired and their body will be a bit confused.
If you’re travelling to Japan, here are additional reasons I believe you need to take a stroller.
Always remembering : it will be rough for 3 days
3 days. For some reason, 3 days of hard slog and we all seem to be fine.
Slow moves, low expectations
Its so hard not to get frustrated because kiddies will be slightly more tired than usual and slightly harder to please. Hubby and I also remind one another that it isn’t the kids fault that they feel this way as we have flipped the world upside down.
Our first few days in a new location will include a park or a playcentre and a slow breakfast or lunch out. And, after that, if we are still winning? We might do something close by that is a bit touristy.
In Tokyo, these are my favourite inner city playcentres.
These are my favourite Parent & Child Cafes.
These are my favourite retro parks.
These are my favourite Tokyo breakfast/brunch spots
These first few days are not the time to do something mega like Disneyland, a day trip or even a trip that requires some tricky logistics like switching trains or little hikes.
If I had a small baby or a young toddler I would choose one quieter area to stick to like Daikanyama or Nakameguro or one of these Retro Playgrounds paired with a trip to a convenience store.
Be really kind to the Mummies & the Daddies as well as the kiddies
This is not the time to be really strict on the normal house rules and we try and do a park or playcentre where the kiddies can pick their own activities and choose when they need a little sit down.
It’s also not the time to freak out about kids not eating, especially if they turn down new foods.
For this reason, I always recommend packing familiar snacks to tie you over for those first few days ( I talk more about tips like this in my Packing for Japan with Kids article here. )
I also think that this is the time to not try to do too much.
I also think money spent on taxis to get you where you want to be is money well spent. For more information on taxis in Japan , see my post here.
Making sure our hotel room is set up with everything we need
For the first 3 days you will, most likely, be back in your room for naps and chill out time. You will also be awake during the night.
Make sure your place is safe and you have a few toys at hand. For my full list of how to set up your hotel room and what to bring, see my post here.
Making a plan based on the time of arrival
If we arrived somewhere in the evening then we try to go to bed pretty much right away. Ideally we will all go to sleep around 9-10pm but sometimes we go to sleep earlier.
Then, we just act as if the following day is as normal as we can manage ( once again, moving slowly and having low expectations.) We will then return to the room for a little bit after lunch for some downtime. If we sleep, definitely no sleeping longer than 2 hours ( its soooo hard to wake up … so you might need to reward everyone with a trip out for ice-cream etc.)
And then if we arrive in the morning, we try and have a 2-3 hour nap and then head out for food and some kind of activity ( like a park or something.)
Keeping the room dark during the night
Kiddies will wake up during the night ( usually the second night for us is the worst. )
We try and keep the room dark and definitely don’t offer sugary snacks.
We usually pull the kids into bed with us and read a few stories or have the tv on but the sound down really really low. It’s really important that the kids see that it is the nighttime. We even get a bit literal and will show them the night sky and talk about how we have to rest our bodies so we can do more cool stuff.
I’ll be real with you, sometimes we are up for 3-4 hours in the night but I just try and remember that rest is the closest thing to sleep so as long as we are lying down and switching off, then we are on our way to adjusting to the time difference.
For this reason I have black out blinds in my What to Pack for Japan with kids list.
Blackout blinds : a girlfriend of mine recently travelled to Japan with her baby. She found it so hard to get her baby and toddler to sleep the amount of time they needed them to – with so many of her accommodation windows being that light coloured rice paper style kind of shutters – meaning that the sun (especially in the warmer months where the sun can rise as early as 4 or 5 am.). If you think this might be a problem for you and your family – you might want to also pack a large piece of black material and some clothes pegs (or, if you want to be fancier thanI am, you can google “travel blackout blinds” as I hear that is a thing.
Not freaking out about sleeping or not sleeping on the flight
When my kids were 1 or 2 we would put them in pyjamas right before boarding the plane and that seemed to get the message that it is time to chill out.
But as they get bigger, and able to watch tv, we just go with the flow a bit more. They can watch a movie or chill out with a colouring book. We pop a blanket over their laps and a pillow behind their heads and the doze off for a portion of the flight.
The only thing I’m quite strict about is keeping moving in the airport. This is the time to get all the wriggles out and get a little bit sleepy.
For all the things we do on planes with our kids, see my Drama-free flights post here.
So what can be done in advance?
– Pack the familiar snacks
– Pack children’s pyjamas to change kids into before boarding the plane
– Pack ” hotel toys” ( See my hotel post here.)
– Pack a stroller or carrier to make those first 3 days easier
