how i'm prepping for a 10 hour flight with a 9 month old baby.
caleb and i have traveled to mexico, chile, norway, france, croatia, montenegro, amsterdam, denmark, and canada. aside from canada, this is our first really really big trip with a baby. i'm psyched because i totally thought all of our travels will come to a screeching halt when we had a baby. that has not been the case. however, we travel very differently now and our itineraries have adjusted accordingly.
some tips i'm using to prep/pack/travel this round:
-- packing cubes! i have these, and i love them. i'm surprised how helpful they are!
-- new toys! i love manhatten toy company, and i ordered two new toys for august that are much more colorful and exciting than what he plays with each day. we actually don't have any light up toys, and most of his toys are monotoned and wooden. these will be very colorful (not light up... i don't want to bug our neighbors on the plane).
-- travel pill carrier thing! i got this idea from wander and scout who recently took her family of SIX to europe for 2.5 weeks. i'll use this to fill it with pre-natals, ibuprofen, pepto bismol, etc. (the amazon order came with two cases, so i'm actually going to put my jewelry in the other one.)
-- travel stroller! we went back and forth on this. on the one hand, i didn't really want to lug our uppababy cruz all. the. way. to europe. but then on the other hand, do we really need another stroller? it seemed to go against our minimalist lifestyle. the uppababy travel stroller was a whopping $400. for reference, our UP cruz was around $600. it seemed excessive to pay that much for a secondary stroller. we found the cybex eezy s twist on sale and i had a coupon which brought the cost down to just over $200. when it arrived, i was both happy we had a smaller stroller and also SO GLAD we had a normal stroller. those travel strollers are definitely not as high quality as the every day stroller we use.
-- new diaper bag! again, did we really need another diaper bag? i decided we did because our honest company diaper bag has no side pockets or organization features and is very frustrating to dig through while on the plane. i ended up purchasing a state bag backpack. i love the look, the amount of pockets/organization, and their mission as a company. i'll sell the honest company once we get back from europe. aside from the insulated pocket for milk, i really do not like that backpack.
-- passport cases! when we went to vancouver in april, trying to quickly figure out whose passport belonged to who became very stressful while going through customs. caleb and i each have a cover (i picked up this cute case from anthro -- shown above) and august's passport will be the one without a case.
-- NO diapers/wipes! kidding. we will bring 7 diapers (i know that's a very particular number, but according to my calculations, that's what we'll need :) and probably a half pack of wipes. everything else (including baby food) we will buy there! we are also skipping bringing the carseat! we will rent a carseat upon arrival. the uppababy mesa carseat is amazing, but so so heavy. there was no way i was dragging that thing to europe.
those are my tips! as i always say, traveling with a baby is totally doable! it's just a very different pace. we will be cooking dinners at home and enjoying all the cafes and breakfast spots! ;) as anxious as i am, i'm so excited to see my family in a different way. i was reading cup of jo who shared a funny quote from a mom that i TOTALLY related to: 'there will be good moments where your baby happily sleeps in the airplane bassinet while you enjoy a glass of wine and watch an oscar-nominated movie. and then there will be bad moments when your child vomits all over you before takeoff and the flight attendant says you can't go to the bathroom. my best advice to travelers traveling with babies or toddles: IT'S TEMPORARY. YOU WILL GET THERE. enjoy the flight!'
i actually laughed out loud while reading that. IT'S SO TRUE. it's going to be my motto the entire trip!
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