The Uncharted Territory

Remember the post we created a year ago about the 7 habits of highly effective traveling, then the one on how to travel light and fit everything in a single carry-on. Now that we have an infant we look back and think, HA! THAT IS COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS. We have gone from sophisticated, slacks/jacket wearing, first class fliers, to Sherpas.

Where once, we never checked luggage now we check a 75 pound suitcase, plus two carry-on suitcases and two diaper bags (for a 3 day trip!). When it is our turn to go through security we tell the attendants that they might as well shut down the line behind us, and give everyone fair warning that things are about to get ugly. Our last trip through security included:
2 Carry on suitcases
2 Diaper bags
2 bins for jackets/shoes and liquids
1 bin for computer
1 bin for her stuff
1 Separate bin for bottled water (they allow that if you have a baby and need it to make bottles)
1 car seat – in a very large bag (for gate check)
1 stroller – also in a very large bag (for gate check)

We had a train of luggage from one end of the conveyor belt to the other. We had everything ready in an instant, but there was so much that had to go through that one of us had to go catch everything coming out of one end, while the other stayed on the other side to keep feeding it through.

As she grows older we seem to need less and less and we are becoming much more proficient in traveling with her.

Some helpful tips that we have learned from traveling with an infant include:
1. You can rent appropriate car seats from the car rental place (checking car seats leaves a chance that they will be broken). If you are bringing your car seat, either buy a protective bag or at least take a large garbage bag to put it in at the gate.
2. Invest in a cheap stroller for traveling, especially if the child is old enough to sit up.
3. Don’t mix your bottles before you leave (you can bring bottled water to mix them in later), just make sure to tell security because they will need to check it (it only takes a few seconds).
4. Buy your baby food, diapers and supplies when you arrive (if you are able).
5. Our biggest problem is packing too many clothes for the baby, the remedy is to use the same rules we talked about in previous packing posts, you need durable tops that can easily pack and only a few good bottoms for packing (2-3 tops for every bottom).
6. Make sure you plan out plenty of activities for the flight. Infants need a change of activities every 10-15 minutes so you need a lot of pack-able activities (there are many at the seat such as the barf bag, I think we played with it 3 different times).
7. We planned her feedings and sleep to correspond to take off and landings. She slept the first part of the flight and then was well rested for the rest.

Overall, don’t worry about the small things. Many people give looks as soon as they see a baby on a plane. Don’t worry about them. Focus on yourself, the baby and having a great flight.
Happy Traveling