Sounds like you have the medical, insurance and travel side of things sorted. You could make up a Help Me card, with local language and English which you could give to the kids, although they may be a bit young to carry it ?


So here’s my suggestion:

Bring a few inexpensive gifts / toys to give away, and some information about your home - some photos and maps.

When we travelled OS, we found that having kids would allow us a "relationship" with locals that are not always possible as an adult.

We bought a dozen-pack of little soft koalas, and when we had a nice play with some local kids, we could give them a small, inexpensive gift. We didn’t give one to every kids we met, but if we had a really nice play with some local kids, we gave them a little memento, but only if the parents were there too and could see how they had obtained it.

Local kids were very keen to practice their English. I wondered why they all asked the same round of questions, until DW pointed out that it they were the same questions that we learnt in language classes at school ! Once I realized this, I played along, answering their questions, and asking similar ones back. "How old are you ?" "I am XY years old. How old are you ?" ....... English is a very valuable skill, and getting to practice on a good natured foreigner is fun and valuable. We took the time to actually help some people with their pronunciation and to extend them a bit too !

Having a few pictures of home, some maps, showing where our town is, a few iconic pictures of Australia and its animals, allowed us to share a little with the locals. I’m sure you could muster a few iconic NY photos, some street scapes, office blocks, a map showing where NY is (include a map of US and a world map so they can see it in relationship to their country) ; some animal picks (bears, racoons, squirrels …..). I mounted map/pictures in the cover of my diary, so it was always handy.

I’m sure that you will not only “Survive a third world trip with kids”, you’ll thrive !