Hi All - Just a quick one to put my mind at rest...
We're planning an eight week trip in December 2004/January 2005 arriving in Los Angeles (doing the Disney thing) then flying onto Mexico City from where we'll overland to Panama City, fly into Ecuador(?) then overland down to Peru, onto Santiago (Chile) then home to Sydney. Trouble is, I'm reading all the Travel Advisory warnings and advice for nearly every country says to exercise caution and watch out for all sorts of unsavoury things like robberies, muggings, kidnappings, etc...!
We're experienced travellers (with and without kids) so we're quite aware that common sense and instincts need to be well and truly utilised when somewhere you're not familiar with - but do we need to be overly cautious while in these countries, or just plain sensible?
Advice from anyone who has spent time travelling this part of the world would be really welcome - particularly with kids!
(For the record, our boys will be 12 yo and 9 yo at the time of travel)
Thanks!
Leigh
Had a chat to a family member in the feds. 2 things to consider: 1. Post-Bali everything goes in the Travel Advisory warnings, if in doubt, out it in, the it isn't our fault! 2. Your boys are old enough to appreciate the concerns you have, you don't want your or their holiday ruined with worry, but that is why it is worth the conversation. Alot of the advice is to give kids the confidence to speak up, yell etc if necessary (a good loud phrase is "You aren't my mother/father and I don't want to go with you") and a bit of thought to what if (if someone holds a gun at you and wants your wallet, give it to them, we can get another wallet, not another you) combined with some common sense- if you can't see me I can't see you. You've probably already had these kinds of conversations anyway! Lets face it, there are some spots in Sydney to be cautious as well.
Sounds like a great trip.
Cheers,
Em
I travelled from Perth as single mum with a 9 month old for work to Mexico and in particular Mexico City. Everybody ADORED HER..... travelling with blue eyes blonde smiler was an opening to everything. In the small towns they went bonkers! I have photos of entire streets stopping to wave at her!
I was very sensible about Taxis.... Mexico city is notorious... ONLY BOOK YOUR TAXI!
Take the usual precautions with water and food.
I ensured I had ID attached to her!
The above advice seems sensible for older kids.
Single adults with children can arouse suspicions of child trade at airports etc. I was asked to present documentation repeatedly about why I was travelling alone with her. Not sure what sort of documentation they require from couples.
BEWARE the scams of not accepting child's ticket on planes. All my tickets said ADULT & INFANT and every time they made me buy a new separate ticket. I kept all receipts and took names of staff charging me and was refunded for all. This happened on every flight! I'm sure they'd have an equally annoying trick for bigger kids.
Have fun and take a bazillion photos!
Took my 9 year old girls to Guatemala from Australia for a holiday. This has one of the worst travel warnings, but we travelled freely around the country (including Guatemala City zone 1) without any incident at all and it is one of the best holidays we have had. If you have a scan of the Central America branch and South America branch there is a significant amount of discussion on personal security issues - there is usually a calming voice of reason from seasoned travellers to the region for every panic post. I would just do your homework (especially about crossing borders if you are driving) and take usual safety precautions.
I made sure the kids did not wave their spending money around in markets and other crowded locations - however no-one tried to rip them off anyway. They learnt a bit of basic Spanish in case they got lost, which worked well as often no-one can speak English and I briefed them on what to do if we were robbed. Not a lot of western kids do the standard gap year gringo trail, we came across no others in a month - so they tend to attract a lot of attention from both locals and other travellers.
With a couple you won't be pestered by authorities looking for approval for the children to travel. This is very much a single parent travel thing.
I had kids standard discount tickets and had no problems with the airlines (I flew Continental from US to CA).
Enjoy your trip - I am sure you will all have a ball.
We just spent 6 days in Mexico City between X'mas and New Year with our 12 yo daughter and 9yo son. We, too, were warned about the high crime rate. Some friends said we're crazy to go, especially with the kids. Well, nothing happened to us. It wasn't worse than any other capitals. We stayed in Zona Rosa and there were police EVERYWHERE. Of course, Mexican police also have their reputations. To avoid taxi crime, we have the hotel pre-arrange a pickup for us. It was US$50 one way which is expensive. But since we were arriving at 10pm on X'mas Eve, we didn't want to deal with getting our own taxi. Once we were in town, we used only taxi waiting in front of big hotels. We also bought a 3 day pass on the Turibus. Walking around in the day time is no problem, we even walked around as late as 9pm.
Not sure how much time you plan on spending in Mexico City but the pyramids at Teotihuacan is amazing. Our kids enjoyed climbing to the top of both pyramids and having lunch in the cave restaurant. They also liked the National Antropology Museum; it's very nicely setup.
I think Mexico City really got a bad rep for all these horror stories. I'm not saying the stories are false, just don't focus on them and use common sense.
trusted partner
