Below you can find my life’s accumulated knowledge*, some of it are hunches, other parts are more solid.
(*I am Swedish, male, born in 1985, I have two kids (girls, born 2020 and 2023), a partner (woman, not married, cohabitationg since 2016) and work as an architect.)
TRAVEL – DON’T GO ON COMPLEX TRIPS WITH KIDS
It is not worth it travelling far away on complex trips with small children, those under about 2 years. You will never be able to relax, and what is the use being in a lovely place in Italy when you have to swoosh your morning coffee down the throath in the morning and the rest of the day be on constant death-by-falling-watch until you have to go to bed at 19:00 missing all the evening fun. Instead, stay at home and save the money, or just rent a one storey cabin in nature with some friends close to home.
TRAVEL – PORTABLE RADIO
Bring a small battery powered radio on long trips, or any trips where you want to immerse yourself in the local context. I have the ICF-P27 Portable Radio with Speaker and AM/FM Tuner, I like it a lot, but I guess there are other options (few beat Sony on design though.). It costs about 25 euros.