Krista's Traveling Tips

We moved when Lydia was 4 weeks old and I had my first road adventure with me driving, my mother-in-law in the car, and Lydia in the backseat for what should have been a five hour journey. We had to stop a couple times for me to nurse - The Bass Pro Shop and later in a department store dressing room. By the last hour or so Lydia was screaming and it was awful. All in all it took about 8 hours and I thought I never wanted to travel again if it was going to be like this. We've come a long way since then and I look back now and laugh at that experience! We became pretty good at traveling by car the first few months of her life. After moving, we spent the next 3 months on the road quite a bit and I learned to nurse her anywhere and not worry about it. She learned to ride in the car and entertain herself, but I definately think it was easier with a younger baby who wasn't so mobile yet.

When Lydia was four months old we moved overseas. I nursed her when each flight took off and landed and she slept the entire time on every flight. Really, we couldn't have planned it better and it was simply by His grace that it was such an easy traveling experience. (In contrast, we went to Thailand this past January and she slept for 3 of the 27 hours we traveled!) Since moving overseas, traveling has changed. While there are no laws about car seats so I'm usually holding her (which helps to comfort her if she is tired) we also do a lot of our traveling by train. I have found it much harder to travel now that Lydia is eating food. I have to admit that this is the hardest part for me about vacationing. She has never had sugar, chips, boxed food, or pasteurized milk. . . which makes traveling a challenge! We do take a cooler with us, and I really think out our trip in advance to make a plan for food. We take the Baby Ergo (baby carrier) and she has learned to just sleep in that if she's tired.

So, if I had to give traveling/vacationing advice, this would be it:

• Only take necessities - if you can get it there or don't need it, don't pack it
• But, do take everything you need, no matter how silly it seems - if you need a sound machine for your baby to sleep, pack it! If you're a food nazi like me :), take that cooler. If you need a pack 'n play, bring it, etc.
• Carriers are so convenient. I've never taken a stroller with us when we've traveled and never missed it.
• I don't know how this would work with more than one baby, or even a baby too big to carry, but rather than putting Lydia to bed early while we were in Thailand for 3 weeks, we kept her out late and just let her fall asleep in the Baby Ergo. Granted, we came home and she slept for about a week, but we had a great time seeing the sites, Lydia had fun exploring, and that was our solution to not having childcare when she needed to sleep.
• Have a plan.
• Don't let the thought of it being hard stop you! If you're like us, you had fun doing stuff together before you had a baby, and those memories are just as precious when you go as a family. Yep, it can be stressful to get everything together for traveling, (and I admit to even dreading some of our outtings beforehand) but we are also SO GLAD to have gone and those memories will last a lifetime.