As I have already mentioned many times, me and my husband are passionate travelers. We’ve been living a life in travel before the birth of our charming little daughter and have no intentions to change our nomad lifestyle. But if earlier, when there were just two of us, all we had to think about was the right travel route, then now we have much more things to take care before the departure.
We usually travel to quite remote destinations, so in this article I’ll write mostly about traveling with a baby by air. First and the most important thing is to make a list of all the things that you might need in a journey. I usually ask my husband to go for a walk with Sofia, choose a “platform” for packing – a sofa in the living– and put all the things that I need to pack in one place.
To make sure that I didn’t forget anything, I imagine our regular day and go through it in my mind: my daughter wakes up (I put clothes, tooth brush and tooth paste on the sofa), she eats breakfast (prepare her bib, spoon etc.), we go for a walk (prepare outwear, toys) and so on till the end of the day. Then I try to imagine any force majeure situation – illness, trauma etc. – and try to get prepared for it.
Next I pack all the stuff, leaving only those items that I will need on board. Wipes, toys, additional clothes, books, drinking water and other things like this will be packed separately as a hand luggage. And then, finally, I go through the list once again to check if everything is packed. Even if you will forget something (in our family that happens regularly), remember, that there’s nearly nothing you can’t buy on spot, unless you travel to a truly remote isolated place.
When traveling with baby, always arrive to the airport in advance. You’ll be a bit nervous anyway and there’s no sense in getting even more stressed out by rush. Passengers traveling with kids usually have priority for boarding, so take your time and don’t rush to the gate. You arrive to the gate some few minutes before the start of boarding and head directly to the beginning of the queue.
And last but not least – don’t be ashamed if your baby starts to cry on board. Yes, he/she will disturb other passengers and maybe they will even reproach you. But don’t start to panic! Just smile, say “sorry” and forget about it. Do what you can to calm your kid and don’t feel guilty. Baby so cry sometimes and you can’t change it!
One of my Facebook friends once shared a great idea of how to avoid sidelong glances in this situation. A couple of young parents from US were preparing for their first flight with their baby twins. They didn’t know what to expect, so decided to take a proactive step – they prepared a cute tiny gift for every passenger on board with a little note saying, that twins are on their first flight and might not behave very good. They are sorry and hope for understanding. Luckily both boys were asleep during the whole flight, but all the passengers were so pleasantly surprised, that, I’m sure, no one would say a word even if they would cry all the time.
I really hope that my family travel tips will help you to get prepare for vacation and avoid any troubles during the trip! But maybe you also have your own strategy for traveling with kids? How do you arrange a trip with a baby? Share your experience and tips in the comments!
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