Lysol Wipes: You can get a small travel pack of these wipes or snag a few from your canister and put them in your own zip lock baggies. I leave a container in my van, along with the wonderful Ikea potty for emergencies.
Ikea Potty: If you aren't familiar with the Ikea potty, it's so inexpensive($3.99!!), one piece, a great size, and comes in a lot of fun, different colors.
Baby B'Air: I have this, but haven't had the opportunity to use it yet. I can't wait! If you check your car seat in your airline travels, then this is a great option. Come terrible turbulence, your child will be safe.
- Option 1: Look at this genius idea! If you want to forgo the stroller, especially if there is a stroller at your destination, this is a great idea. It's called the Gogo Kidz Travelmate. And look at how small and compact the actual carrying device is. A $90 expense, but would be a very helpful thing to have. I have entertained the idea of buying this in the past, but we just didn't have the funds at the time.
Folding Potty Seat with Handles: This is a great solution to avoiding sitting on those uber-dirty gas station or airport toilets. Eek! The handles prevent the littles from grabbing the toilet when trying to balance. When you're finished, you can wipe it down with your handy-dandy Lysol wipes or just put it in a bag, seal it up and toss it in your carry-on or diaper bag.
Look at how tiny it folds up!
Sleeping Solutions: When my eldest outgrew the pack-n-play, I didn't know what I was going to do. Well, I knew what I wanted, but couldn't buy this particular bed at the time. Had I know about it in advance, say when I was still in the pack-n-play stage, I would have asked for it for Christmas for my little one or saved up for it. I didn't start looking into options until it was too late. I ended up buying a Princess Air Mattress that has a sleeping bag sew into it. I think Target carries it. However, I wasn't very pleased with it. My daughter slides all over it and off of it since it's slippery material inside, instead of cotton. I should have just taken that money and put it towards something that I really liked and wanted.
- Tuck Me In Travel Bed. I have wanted this bed for a long time.The thing I like most about this bed is that it has roll-guards. Comes in a Toddler Bed (ages 2+ up to 150 lbs) or a Kids Bed (ages 4+ up to 350 lbs). There are a lot of accessories that go with this bed, but they all aren't necessary unless you just want the ease of not wanting to search for another carrying bag, etc.. You could use your own pillow and blanket.
Or you could just buy a regular twin air mattress. I know a lot of friends who have done that and it's worked well for them. I just liked the roll bars on this one.
Car Mirror: My friend Stephanie Lyon recommended a car mirror to me, similar to this one. I use it all the time! You can buy a similar one (the one I have) at Wal-Mart for about $5. They are great shower gifts! The one I have flips down from behind the review mirror, so you can stash it away if you need to.
Flying Sickness: If you're flying for the first time with your kids, you might want to carry a gallon size zip lock bag in case they get sick or for blow out diapers. Or you could try some Queasy Drops.
Blowouts in the car seat: My second child is what we call our "Car Seat Pooper." It never fails. Every time she's in the car seat, we are going to have the biggest surprise waiting on us when we get to our destination. Usually we are running late BEFORE we discover the blow out. So, we've learned our lesson, somewhat and try to leave a little bit earlier so one of us can stay back and change her. Here lately, while traveling, she's been on antibiotics for her recurring ear infections, so we've had our share of blow outs. We usually put a waterproof pad in her car seat to protect the seat from getting poo all over it. Babies R Us carries every size you'd like.
Dollar Store: From the dollar store, we like to stock up on the Diaper Bags. You get a ton of little diaper bags and they have handles on them for tying it closed. They also smell like baby powder so that's a bit inviting when you're dealing with nose-burning smells. :)
I hope some of these ideas will help you in your traveling endeavours.
Hollie
6 comments:
Great post, Hollie!! Have you seen Piddle Pads? http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2265545 We borrowed one from a friend when Lana was first potty training - loved it!
holls, i knew this post was written by you before you mentioned 'laney' or i saw your name at the end. great tips. miss you friend!
The last time we travelled we really debated buying one of the car seat systems you mentioned. But we ended up realizing that my husband was able to release the straps as far as they would go and wear it upside down like a back pack. He probably looked kind of silly but it was effective and free!
We live overseas and since last June we've been out of our country of residence for over 40 days spread out between 9 countries and 6 trips. We've had our share of traveling with our kids- now 4 and 2.
We loved our Gogo carseat rollers when we have to fly with the carseats. There is no way we could do it without them.
We also like the Pea Pod tent instead of the pack n play. Our 2 year old is toddler bed trained (meaning she doesn't get out without permission) so we don't zip it up for her anymore, but we'll use it zipped up again when our 3rd is born this fall and we travel out the country in December. It folds up small enough to fit in a carryon and weighs about 5 lbs.
Just an idea for car seat blowouts we used cloth diapers but when we are traveing we do not but we put on an extra large pul diper cover over our disposible diapers it works great to hold in blowouts then we put a dirty one in a bag and wash at destination PUL does not mke it hard to handwash anyway just an idea And as far as travel beds we are cheap and bought each of our girls special sleeping bags and trained them to stay on them liek they are in a crib this takes a few weeks prior to travel but easy to travel with. Hope that helps
Great tips ladies! ChezDeshotels, on one of our last trips, since all of my cloth was packed away in storage in another state(the state to which we are moving this summer), I bough some Dappi covers from Walmart. It was a great idea, but wasn't very satisfied with the outcome. The poo still found a way out. I would have used a Bummi Wrap, but they aren't wipe-able on the side and Dappis are. So,...I thought it was going to work. But great idea girl. Which brand diaper cover did you use? I'd like to stash away that brand dipe in case I need it later. :) Thanks!
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