Over Spring Break, the Michael W Travels family visited Portugal.

While we were in Lisbon, we spent a day in the Belem District. The area is famous for a bunch of things including pastries at Pasteis de Belem and a couple of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

We started out the day with some famous Pasteis de Belem custard tarts before heading over to Jeronimos Monastery.

As we approached the site, we couldn’t believe how long the line was.

Kim took the kids to walk around while I waited on line. Soon after, a man who was selling selfie-sticks told another family with a young child that they didn’t have to wait on the line.

I figured that it was worth finding out if this was in fact true. A woman in front of me said not to worry- if we did need to wait, she’d hold my spot.

I walked towards the ticketing area by the entrance and spotted Kim and the kids. I then told her how we might not need to wait on the long line due to Theo.

Sure enough, a guard told me where to go to purchase the tickets, thus avoiding a line which was well over an hour long!

We enjoyed wandering around Jeronimos Monastery and as we exited, that lady who offered to hold our spot was just making her way towards the ticket counter.

Imagine the benefit of traveling with a toddler. Time saved not having to wait on that crazy line!

As we left the area, we felt obligated to pay it forward. I noticed another family traveling with a toddler and told them the great news. No need to wait on that line…

Kim and I then recalled a similar situation with Lucas around 4 years back. While we were in Berlin, Germany, we wanted to visit the Dome of the Reichstag Building.

We didn’t do our research and failed to register in advance. The line was crazy- long, across the street from the site etc… As we waited, an employee approached us and told us to follow. Since we were traveling with a toddler, we got to skip the crazy long line and were led inside!

So if you’re traveling with a baby or a toddler, you never know- maybe you don’t have to wait on the crazy long lines at popular sites.

Do any of you know of other sites which allow you to cut the line when traveling with little ones?