Comedian Jim Gaffigan on How to Travel with Five Kids
By Kelly Dinardo

I read an article this morning in the New Times Travel Section that I think many parents can relate to. The author narrates the anecdotes of comedian Jim Gaffigan from the TV series “The Jim Gaffigan Show”, and his wife when traveling with their five kids. According to Mr. Gaffigan, he loves doing standups, and he is preparing to perform on December 12 at the Madison Square Garden, but he hates to be away for any length of time from his kids. He tells a story from a few years ago, when he and his wife decided to take a bus tour for a whole month with their five children, while two of them where only 3 and 4 years old. He jokes about how they didn’t get much sleep during this trip and how this made not difference to them, because that is how it normally is at their home.
He explained that the kids mostly entertained themselves the same way they do at home, playing with their ipads and that most of the travel had to be done at night. During the day they had to stop about every two and a half hours due to their young children that couldn’t sit still for too long. Throughout the article he explains how much more of a burden can be to have to transfer from hotels with small kids and made a hilarious comparison that cracked me out where he compared transferring from hotels with 3 and 4 years old to transferring serial killers from a prison; were you have to be constantly aware.
Furthermore, he lists some of the travel destinations that they have been with their five kids, like Israel and all across Europe. And some others, they would like to visit like Norway this coming January and in the near future Thailand and Vietnam. But explains that they are still trying to figure it out because the flights are seven and half hours. In the article he explicates how instrumental it was for him to grow visiting different places as a child and provides some tips for parents traveling with their kids.
I personally enjoyed reading this article because it inspired and reminded me that as a parent of three, I am not the only one facing challenges when traveling with my kids and that it is a season that we have to enjoy while it last.