A Mini-Guidebook to Cycle Touring with (Two) Young Kids

Four years ago I wrote a detailed mini-guidebook to cycle touring with a baby/toddler. Since then we have had a lot of changes in our family, and two major additions. The first addition was our second son Kai who was born in 2018. The second addition was our cargo bike, a bright yellow Bike Friday Haul-a-Day (AKA Big Bird), that joined our family shortly after. In addition, time goes by, and our older son Neil (now almost six) grew and started riding his own bike most of the time.

In 2019 we did two overseas bike tours in three different countries. The first was to Greece when our baby was only four months old. For various reasons, we decided not to camp on that trip, and just relied on Airbnb and small hotels. It was very different from what we were used to, but for that period of time it was perfect. Then, around when Kai turned one we did another long trip – six weeks in Japan followed by six weeks in Taiwan. On this trip we did a combination of mostly wild camping (deemed OK in those countries), Airbnb, hotels, Warm Showers and CouchSurfing.

With all these changes in mind I thought it is time for a newer version of the mini-guidebook. Like the first one, it’s all based on personal experience and what worked for us. Each family and each kid is very different, and families’ travel style varies widely. I hope that in a few years I’ll write another version when both boys will be biking unsupported. Hopefully by then we can travel internationally again…

Getting Started With Two

Our Current Setup

Our current setup includes a Bike Friday Haul-a-Day, a regular adult bike, a Chariot CX1 trailer, a child’s bike (now an Islabikes Beinn 20”, previously it was a Spawn Furi 14”, followed by a Spawn Banshee 16”), and a Strider Balance Bike 12” (previously a Runners Junior). Both the cargo bike and the adult bike have a hitch for the trailer. On our recent trips it was mostly me who was pulling the trailer, while Gili was riding the cargo bike. The cargo bike has lots of advantages, but one of the biggest ones is that it can carry a lot of gear. We carry two or three dry bags on the cargo bike, and I carry a pair of rear panniers, the Ortlieb Back-Roller Classic.

The cargo bike is also useful to carry Neil and his bike when he is too tired to ride by himself, or if the road is not suitable for him to ride. He is a pretty competent rider and he loves riding on his own but it’s still good to have the option for him to sit on the cargo bike when needed.

When to Start

As I wrote in the previous mini-guidebook, when to start is a personal decision. We started riding with our older son Neil in a trailer when he was four months old. With Kai we couldn’t even wait that long. He was a sturdy baby, with good head/neck control from the moment he was born. We were also more competent and familiar with riding with the trailer and with the whole setup. At first we actually took him cross country skiing before biking, just to see if he liked the concept of the trailer. He was a happy camper skiing, so we tried biking with him when he was around 2.5 months old. Like last time we used the infant sling, which is kind of like a baby hammock, and he was very comfortable in there.

First Tour With Two Kids

Our first tour with the two kids was a five week tour in Greece when the youngest was just under four months old, and the older one just turned four. Gili actually took a one year long parental leave which gave us a lot of flexibility to travel in 2019. We had a window of about two months and we were contemplating what to do. Was baby Kai too young for a bike trip, we wondered? We just couldn’t picture ourselves renting a car, driving around with two young kids far away in the back seat, getting them in and out of the car seats all the time… Any other possibility that wasn’t a bike trip just didn’t sound as exciting and enjoyable to us.

So in the end we chose Greece for various reasons, including a family visit to Israel just before. We decided to focus on a group of islands, the Dodecanese, and spent five weeks island hopping between them. We flew to Rhodes and just took it easy for the first few days. Then we started by circumnavigating Rhodes, which is the biggest island in that group. I think we kind of needed to prove to ourselves that we were able to do a proper bike trip with two kids. It was definitely the most challenging part of our trip, with longer days (around 50km), lots of climbs, some traffic and wind. It was also very beautiful and rewarding and the kids got used to the routine of the trip easily.

For the rest of that trip we visited smaller islands, mostly doing day rides from a home base on each island. This type of trip has a lot of advantages with two young kids. For our four year old the ferries were very exciting. We stayed on each island for 3-4 days and then moved on by ferry. We called the days when we were taking the ferry “ferry days” and they always led to him being overjoyed. It was also great to have a home base on each island and to get to know each place a bit better. The accommodation was cheap because it was winter, and people were very friendly on the islands.

Our days were also not filled only with riding. We had to make lots of stops for breastfeeding, checking on the baby, and giving him opportunities to do his tummy time and be with us. We stopped at many beaches, and even though we didn’t do a lot of swimming because the Mediterranean was still a bit cold, our older son really enjoyed playing in the sand whenever possible. Also there was hardly any traffic on the islands during that time of year so he could ride as much as he wanted. The terrain was not flat, but the climbs were not huge (although sometimes steep), and the distances we did weren’t too long. The islands were also very different from one another, so even though we were in the same region, we had a varied experience.

Parents and Siblings

Bonding Time

The first few months of Kai’s life were a bit of a challenge for all of us, but for his older brother the change was very hard. It led to quite a few tantrums on his part, and in general leaving the house was very difficult. We were still keen on going on a bike tour together, and we had a hunch that it would calm things down. Spending so much time together as a family, but also away from our daily lives and stress really strengthened our family bond, especially for the two brothers.

Neil also got a lot more attention from both of us than what he got at home when we had work and house chores to do. Being outside and on the bikes was also very refreshing and having the joint adventure helped a lot. Neil became a lot more sympathetic to his brother. When Kai cried Neil tried to understand the reason he was crying and eventually also tried to comfort him.

On the next trip, when the boys were a bit older, the brotherly bond got even stronger. They were glad to have each other to play with, and they always found things to play with no matter where we were.

Tantrums

Since I already mentioned tantrums – if your kid/s are in their tantrum period, it probably won’t go away just because you are on a bike trip. But we did find that we were more relaxed and more ready to deal with them. Also, the tantrums were fewer, perhaps partly due to us being more attentive to our children’s needs and being more present for them. All in all, we all found better ways to deal with the stress when they did happen.

One on One Time

Being on a bike tour as a family basically means being together 24/7, and that can sometimes be… a lot. Now with two kids it was getting harder to find any adult alone time, but we did try to create opportunities for some one on one time with each of the kids. On rest days we would sometimes split up and do something different with each kid. One morning in Taitung, Taiwan, I just stayed with Neil at the hotel and we built stuff with Lego – we brought a small set from home. Kai and Gili went to check out a few temples in the meantime. I would sometimes take the little one for his nap in the carrier while Gili did other fun things with Neil, like going to the bike store to get a few things fixed.

Before flying home from Taipei, we had some errands to run and a few things we wanted to buy or see. The metro system there is so easy that we both felt comfortable taking it on our own with one of the kids. Neil and I went to explore one part of town and to the cheese cake store we’d been dreaming about since our first few days in Taipei. Gili and Kai went to check in on our bikes at the train station (long story) and visit a famous bakery. We even managed to meet up by chance on the metro on the way home… It seemed to be important to the kids to have some undivided attention from one parent, and it was fun to explore a new environment with only one of them and without another adult.

Be Flexible and Teach Your Kids to be Flexible

For us staying flexible is key on bike trips, as we don’t always know where we’ll end up at the end of the day. We also tend not to have a set schedule of places we want to get to, so if we like a place we can stay there for a few days.

In parenting classes you often hear that kids like routine or even need it, and to know what’s going to happen. To a certain extent it’s true, and even during bike trips we keep a loose routine. However, kids can also be flexible and adaptable. They learn that things can be unexpected, that any plan can be changed, and that we don’t always know what is going to happen. On bike trips there are many factors that can cause us to change our (loose) plans – weather, road conditions, traffic, advice from people, WarmShowers hosts along the way and so on. It is actually a great life lesson for kids.

We camped quite often in school yards in Taiwan – it is a very common option for cycle tourists there. For us it was especially convenient because there was always a playground nearby and usually a group of curious kids arrived in the morning and were eager to play – too early though, they start school at 7:30am! One evening we arrived at a school where we had planned to camp, after a tough and windy day. A woman approached us and invited us to sleep in their church, 3 km back the way we came from. We were excited about this opportunity, especially as it also included a shower. I was sure Neil’s heart was set on camping at the school and that it would be hard to get him to bike more and not to start setting up camp. He surprised me by agreeing easily, and was actually quite curious about sleeping at the church. When we arrived at the church, there were many people hanging out there and there was also a full set of drums. Five minutes after we arrived I already saw that Neil was mingling with the Taiwanese group, playing the drums with them and enjoying the moment.

It’s Not Just About the Riding

Leave Time for Other Things

Even before having kids our bike trips were about more than just riding our bikes. We always left time for other things and to explore also on foot or by public transport and to get to know the country we’ve been riding in a bit more deeply. Since we started bike touring with our kids those rest days and off time are especially valuable. In order to keep everyone happy we make sure no one is burned out. Adding fun things to a riding day, or having days of doing something completely different is sometimes even more memorable than the riding time.

Playgrounds are an obvious stop and we often stop at playgrounds for lunch break during a ride if there is one on our route. Alternatively, any area where the kids can play and run around or explore is a good option, like a beach or a river bank. Throwing rocks into any given source of water never seems to get old!

Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are famous for their bathing culture. While there, we often visited onsens, hot springs, and Jimjilbangs as a break in the day, at the end of the day or during rest days.

On rest days we sometimes just hang out, explore the area where we’re at, check out the local market or eateries, and so on. Other attractions we’ve done with the kids were going to the aquarium and the zoo, Japanese gardens (feeding the fish is an all time favourite), taking an old train to downtown and going on a Ferris wheel. In Taipei we visited the famous Taipei 101 building, once the tallest building in the world. To this day Neil talks about it often.

When both kids were young we made a lot of use of our Ergo baby carrier when not riding. It has the advantage that it’s quite compact and easy to carry on the bike. You can also use it as a front carrier or on the back. Our trailer can also turn into a stroller, but we found it was quite bulky to take on public transportation in many countries so we usually preferred to have the baby in the carrier. Both kids also liked to fall asleep in the carrier so often nap time was in the carrier during rest days.

Interactions With Other Kids

On our longer trip in Japan and Taiwan last fall we pulled Neil out of daycare for that period of time. I didn’t think at that time it would make much of a difference to him, especially since he hadn’t been going to that daycare for a very long time. It turned out that he did miss it quite a bit. Mostly he missed playing with kids his own age. Him and his brother were definitely getting closer, but his brother was only one year old, so he couldn’t really step up to his play level.

Random interactions with other kids are fantastic and they happened a lot during the trip. What is so awesome about young kids is that they don’t really need a shared verbal language to communicate. It was amazing to see Neil meeting Taiwanese kids in a playground and they all just started playing together. As mentioned, we also often camped in schools so there were plenty of kids there. When staying with hosts through Warm Showers or CouchSurfing we tried, if possible, to stay with families with kids. That assured us that our kids will have playmates, toys to play with and that in general we’d be staying in a child friendly house. In Taiwan we even managed to meet up with friends from back home and we spent a day with them at the zoo in Taipei (they were there on a family visit). Neil was so excited to meet a friend from Vancouver that he hardly noticed the animals in the zoo…

Video chats with friends from home might also be a good option, especially as the kids get older. We didn’t try it on any of our trips, although later during COVID we did a little a bit.

Hosts

You might be surprised but some people love hosting people with kids! Not just families who have kids of their own, but also older people, grandparents, or really anyone who is not intimidated by having kids at home, or outside camping in the backyard. Sometimes we got negative replies or no replies at all when contacting hosts, and that’s fine too. We’d much rather people being honest about their hosting capability and expectations than feeling uncomfortable later on, which happened too unfortunately.

When choosing hosts we almost always try to pick people who offer a separate room or have a yard where we can camp. Even during COVID, on a local 11 day tour we did in British Columbia, we managed to camp at three different hosts. It was great because we still got that special connection with locals, including some local tips about our route, while still respecting health advisories and our hosts. Our kids also love being outside and sleeping in a tent. In a way it worked out even better, since we didn’t need to worry about the kids making a mess at our hosts’ home. Our kids also had plenty of room to run around and play outside.

Ice Cream and Other Treats

I am sure many people are aware of this, but ice cream is a great motivational boost. We tried to stop at specialty ice cream places along the way whenever possible, but sometimes (and for the kids it usually doesn’t even matter) even a simple ice cream from the gas station does the trick. If the kids are having a hard time pedaling or sitting in the trailer you can always say, let’s just keep going until our next ice cream stop 😉

Other treats for us also included baked goods, especially high quality ones. We are also pretty obsessed with fruit so we try to spend time in local markets, pick fruit from trees and taste new and exotic fruit whenever possible. We always try to eat the local food when we are overseas and get the kids exposed as much as possible to the local cuisine. Our children are now big fans of Japanese food (they were already familiar with it from Vancouver), but they also love dim sum, noodles and tofu.

Screen Time

Bike touring is a great opportunity to limit the use of screen time, both for the adults and the kids. Naturally when we are travelling or spending a lot of time outdoors we spend far less time on electronic devices. Of course, these days it is hard to avoid completely, as we navigate using our phone, we need it to communicate with potential hosts, and of course to keep in touch with our family and friends. We don’t bring any additional devices except for our two phones, and we didn’t want the kids to spend too much time watching shows.

However, we also didn’t think it would be fair to abolish screen time completely. Our rule was that Neil could watch a show only when we were staying somewhere indoors. We mostly camped on our last trip but every few days we did stay at hotels or with hosts and that was his opportunity to watch Paw Patrol. He was actually very proud of his challenge not to watch anything during the riding days and it just made him more excited when he was finally able to watch his show. We also had a few longer train rides in Taiwan and that was another opportunity for him to watch if he wanted to. We made sure to download some Paw Patrol episodes to our phone in advance, so we wouldn’t need to rely on wifi or use our data for this.

Tent, Clothes, Toys, and Such

Tent and Sleeping Arrangements

We currently have a four person tent, an MEC Volt LT 4 (2.87kg). It’s very spacious, and we only half-jokingly say that it could fit six people. Our younger son and I sleep on a double inflatable mat, an Exped SynMat HL Duo (900g). Our older son sleeps on a Therm-A-Rest Z-Lite Sol size small (290g). Gili sleeps on a Therm-a-Rest RidgeRest SOLite (400g). Not much better than sleeping on a pile of leaves, but it seems to work for him. The non-inflatable mats are thin, but almost indestructible. They can also be pulled out for immediate use – to sit on while eating, for tummy time, and so on. Our sleeping bags are custom made ZPacks bags, which feature 900 fill and weigh only 600g for the 10F version. We like them a lot, although we’re skeptical about the temperature rating. Our older son sleeps in a Deuter Little Star EXP (750g). It has a convenient 30cm expansion. This makes it usable for a wider range of heights. Our younger son started out sleeping in a fleece sleep sack. Nowadays we just dress him warm and cover him with a blanket or a down jacket. We find he wriggles a lot, so dressing him warm ensures he will be comfortable throughout the night.

Diapers

We now use only disposable diapers during trips. They are easy to find almost everywhere and we don’t need to worry about doing laundry or carrying dirty or soiled diapers. The only thing is just to stock up well in advance, especially if you are riding in more rural areas where diapers might be harder to find. Also, most of the time, what we found was big packages of diapers, so just make sure you have enough capacity to carry a large amount of diapers.

Toys and Books

We bring a few toys and lightweight books with us. On our three month trip to Japan and Taiwan, we had a small set of Lego for our older son. He loved it at first, then forgot about it for the majority of the trip until he rediscovered it. We also always bring a few small sand toys, which can also be bath toys when needed, as well as a small ball.

We found that the toys were useful for times when we couldn’t access other objects to play with, like during flights or long train rides. Most other times the kids just found things in their surroundings to play with. Some Airbnbs and hotels (especially in Taiwan) came with a few toys, and even if they didn’t the kids were just happy to play with pots and pans or anything really that they found accessible. Toys are also so easy to come by, and often the kids were given toys as presents such as small cars, airplanes, stuffies and more.

Another amazing discovery was that any new toy given or purchased during a trip is so very exciting, and buying a new small toy can be used as a reward. During one stop at a Seven Eleven in Taiwan Neil was looking at the shelf of toys for a long time. He didn’t really say he wanted something but it was pretty obvious. He was behaving really well so I told him he could pick one thing as long as it’s not too big and that he would need to share it with Kai. He picked a small dump truck that was a hit for the remainder of the trip. They managed to do so much with this little dump truck – whether it was to play in the sand, play in the puddles, bring it to the bath or just play with it in the room or tent.

We always read stories before bedtime and bike trips are no different. The selection is much more limited, and we know the books by heart after a few times, but the kids love it. The books also give a cozy and predictable end to each day, no matter where we are.

Clothes and Gear Can be Replaced

On our last long tour we had to replace some of our gear and most of the kids clothes throughout the trip. We tend to bring the minimum amount of clothing, and since the kids wear them basically every day, they get holes or tears until they are not usable. Also, with both kids when we toured when they were babies some of their clothes just didn’t fit anymore. Buying children’s clothes during the trip wasn’t a problem at all so we always managed to replace what we needed.

We also replaced our sandals, water bottles that got lost or damaged, a pump that went missing, a bike mirror that broke, bike grips for Neil and me, our camera, bike shorts for Gili and the list goes on and on… The bottom line is to not get attached to anything and to know that almost any piece of gear or clothing can be replaced.

Dealing with gear can be a good chance to teach kids about improvisation, and a good chance to mingle with some locals. After a day of riding in hard rain in Japan, we noticed that one of Neil’s bike grips was missing. We had noticed it was a bit loose before. It had evidently just slipped off with the help of the rain. We were in the middle of nowhere, the closest bike store was a couple of days of riding away. The owners of the minshuku (a small family hotel) where we were staying gathered some supplies that had been lying around and improvised a new grip. It kept him going till we found a replacement.

Last Words (For Now…)

Don’t Believe Everything You Are Told

That would be my last piece of advice. Take everything with a grain of salt. On almost every tour we’ve done, but especially since we started touring with our kids, we got some negative comments or advice. Even worse, it sometimes felt like people were just trying to scare us off. In Maui we were told that we’re crazy for wanting to bike around the island, and that we’d fall off a cliff. When we arrived to New Zealand our spirits were really low. Many people told us that we’re plain crazy – the roads are narrow and the drivers are drunk. What were we thinking coming to tour there with a bulky trailer? If we listened to every negative comment we’ve heard, we wouldn’t tour anywhere in the end. Every place has advantages and disadvantages.

Maybe there was some truth to every negative comment we heard. Indeed many of the roads in New Zealand were narrow with not much of a shoulder (or none!). But we also found some fabulous roads there, and some rails-to-trails. We got good advice from an elderly couple we stayed with for a couple of days to be more visible. With narrow roads and lots of blind corners visibility makes a difference. The next morning I found a department store and got us two bright yellow vests, construction worker style. One is for the rider who rides without the trailer and one is permanently draped over the back of the trailer. We still use those vests and when Neil started riding his own bike we got him a similar kids’ one.

It’s best to make decisions based on what is best for you and your family. You don’t have to ride everything. In Taiwan we often took the train to skip some sections or to modify our route. If you don’t feel comfortable with something there are usually alternatives. In New Zealand we wanted to avoid some busy roads and get to a start of a rail-to-trail. Hosts we’d been staying with offered to take us and the bikes to the beginning of the trail. They had a bike rack and even a car seat for Neil so it worked out perfectly. (Except that Neil ended up throwing up in the car because of the windy road). Try to speak with positive people and get solid and actionable advice.

Bike Lanes and Quiet Roads

Ideally you can find bike lanes and quiet roads for your bike tours with kids. We try to avoid busy roads and roads with no shoulders, although sometimes it’s impossible. When Neil started riding on his own at first he only rode on bike lanes. Gradually we let him ride on quiet roads with good shoulders too. He’s a good rider and he knows to stay away from cars. The reality is that we are more worried about the drivers than we are worried about his riding abilities.

If the road gets too busy for our liking we ask him to hop on the cargo bike and not to bike on his own. Usually he is cooperative, but there was one road in Taiwan that he really wanted to ride. It was after a big climb but with zero traffic where he mostly sat on the cargo bike so Gili promised him that when we started descending he would be able to ride. However it turned out that the downhill section of the road was very busy and windy, with lots of blind corners and no shoulders. We didn’t like it at all and asked him to go on the cargo bike again. He got really upset, and eventually we had to bribe him with a lollipop not to ride…

We have many good examples of trips we’ve done with our kids, and even trips we’ve done before kids that we think are great options for kids. I am trying to put all those together for a future blog post, so stay tuned!