The first thing you’ll need to deal with is everyone telling you you’re crazy, insane, psychopathic. If you can cross that hurdle, you’re already half way there. After travelling to Syria a dozen times between us, we felt we were comfortable enough with the country to take our 14 month old daughter. We knew that the areas we travel to were both politically and personally safe and knew that she would be in very safe hands.
Syria is an amazing country to travel to with a kid primarily because they love kids. Of the 100+ countries we’ve travelled to, maybe only Iranians love kids more. It’s not just elderly grandmothers rubbing cheeks or clucky mothers to be thinking about their own family, it’s literally everyone. You’ll be walking down the street and teenagers who should otherwise be drinking in a park, tagging a wall with graffiti or skateboarding in some socially inappropriate place will come up to talk to your infant or young child, wanting to play with them, hold them, take pictures.
There is an old saying that
‘it takes a
village to raise a child’
and no where else really takes this on board with full gusto. Pretty much everywhere you go in Syria, you’ll have an army of volunteer child minders meaning you’ll also be able to get much more out of the where places you are. Every restaurant we ate at either fellow diners or staff members wanted a piece of the action and for the entire meal our daughter would be blissfully off playing with her new friends while we got to enjoy our tasty Syrian meal.
The same happened at every hotel, often locals would hear there was a new baby in town and would pop by to ask if they could have a hold, play some peekaboo. This is great as after a long day seeing the amazing sights, sitting down with a cold beer and resting knowing your child is being entertained and taken care of makes that end of day relaxing, so much more, well, relaxing.
At Krak Des Chaveliers, the famous Crusader castle, the security guards at the door didn’t just offer to take care of her while we were enjoying the most preserved historical site of its kind in the world, they insisted. The only problem is walking down the street takes a long time as you’ll constantly be stopped, and asked the same questions over again, how old is your child? What’s their name? Can I keep them?
Having a child with you is also an excellent ice breaker and a great way to interact with locals, you’ll get so much more out of your experiences with them. A conversation about raising kids in Syria will probably give you a much clearer insight into everyday problems and concerns than if you were just to jump into interrogating a local about how hard their life might be with the crisis.
On a practical note, there are some things you need to think about.
The first is milk.
We didn’t find milk readily available and weren’t sure how long it had been sitting around, whether it had gone from hot to cold to hot again, so instead we brought a tin of formula with us. We know the debates surround formula, however at the end of the day it’s primarily milk solids and can be made anywhere you need it. You might then wonder about whether the water is good enough to use, but getting good quality bottled water isn’t an issue at all, and very cheap.
Next is nappies.
Disposable nappies are sold everywhere, especially in pharmacies, and are the same quality as you’d expect in a western country. They’re also pretty cheap with a pack of 24 setting us back about $3. The same goes for wet wipes, they’re everywhere. And this advice goes for even those travelling without children but just want that super clean finish.
And now for food.
The hotels all put on amazing huge breakfasts with heaps of fresh fruit and vegetables along with some cold meats, eggs, cheeses and olives. We took a container with us to breakfast each morning to fill up a day’s supply of food. This way we just had a tub of food for her always there and ready to go, so we didn’t need to worry about finding good healthy snacks or lunch during the day, especially when you just want a greasy fatty shawarma for lunch and don’t really want your child eating it. On that note, Syria is also an amazing country for vegetarians, so getting good healthy wholesome food is no struggle at all. In fact, your child will probably be eating better than they do back home. We also find that whole apples, bananas, cucumbers, or bits of bread are a great snack that keep her occupied for ages, so we always make sure to have a couple of them with us, but that’s probably not a uniquely travel related tip.
Prams.
Using prams/strollers/push chairs is possible but not always the easiest. Cars like to park on the footpath, the curbs are large, and the footpaths are narrow and bumpy. But there are always people jumping out happy to help. Some sights like Palmyra, you just you need to use a carry pack if you want to be able to explore at all.
And what about car seats?
Finding a car seat is difficult. Locals simply don’t use car booster seats and just hold their child on their lap or let them stand in the footwell. We do happen to have one in Damascus so if you need it for your Syria tour, please feel free to contact us. Not only is it obviously safer, but the thought of having a wriggly kid on top of you on every drive seems pretty tiresome.
Don’t let having a child stop you from travelling, especially to a place like Syria. If anything it’s a more rewarding experience than travelling without one, so even if you don’t have a kid, try and find someone else’s because it’s just that awesome.
