I’ll admit I was pretty naïve when it came to traveling with Teddy for the first time. I don’t even know what I was thinking. Maybe somewhere along the lines of, ah it’ll just be an extra bag or two but it’ll be manageable. Queue parents everywhere laughing at that last sentence. I’m laughing at myself now too.
Here’s the thing, having come back from spending two months in England, I now know how incredibly hard it can be traveling with a baby. Yes, even one that is pretty mild-mannered and happy. However, being on the other side of things, I don’t think that would make me stop traveling or exploring new places. The benefits far outweigh the negatives.
There are two things I loved most about traveling with Teddy. The first is knowing that we are creating memories that he may not remember but we certainly will. The second, is how it stimulates his brain and seeing him see things for the first time.
1 | Pay for the extra baggage
It’s hard to believe there was a time when we would travel with just carry-on or one bag between the two of us. I look back at that as ‘the good old days’. You really take for granted what it’s like packing before you have a kid.
The most important lesson we learned was to make a list of everything we use and need on a daily basis. The other thing is to make sure the place you’re staying at has laundry so that you can cut down on clothing. We massively overpacked the first time we went away for a weekend with Teddy. Granted, we are still learning how to limit what we bring but we are getting better at it, kinda?
Also, and this is important, before booking a flight do research on whether or not it’s cheaper to book the full service ticket or the basic one and pay for extra baggage after. Almost always it’ll be cheaper to book a basic ticket and to pay for luggage after. However, this is also considering that you don’t need any of the other add-ons.
2| Bring your own travel cot / playpen
We almost learned this lesson the hard way, almost. On our trip to the Cotswolds we made sure to pick an Airbnb that was baby-friendly. The place we stayed at came with a highchair and travel cot. We thought this would be a great way to save room in the already overpacked car.
At the last minute I decided to pack our own travel cot just incase the one provided wasn’t up to our standard. I was right. The one provided seemed as if it had been slept on by 600 babies and barely had any cushioning left. Had we not brought our own Teddy would have been sleeping on wood planks (or not sleeping most likely) for an entire week. Yes it was annoying to lug our own around but it was 100% worth it.
3 | Invest in a travel stroller
The first thing I did when we got back to Canada was buy a travel stroller. We have the Uppababy VISTA (and love it) but it is not conducive to traveling. The thing is a beast and trying to lug it around the airport or put it into cars (especially smaller European ones) was an absolute nightmare. It ended up taking up half of the trunk space no matter where we went.
Depending on your budget there are a ton of different travel strollers out there so do your research before buying one. We ended up getting the Silver Cross Jet Stroller and absolutely love it. Some of the other options we found were:
4| Bring a baby carrier
If you’re traveling to Europe, or planning on doing any sort of hiking be sure to bring a carrier. At one point during our time in the Cotswolds, we decided to go on a hike through the fields. We were walking right past sheep and not only was the carrier practical, it allowed Teddy to get an up close and personal look at all of the sheep!
The baby carrier was also an absolute life saver on the plane. Even though we got the front seats with the bassinet, Teddy had grown just slightly too tall for the bassinet on our way home and refused to lie down. It took 4 hours of trying to get him to sleep and nothing worked. Finally we put him in the barrier carrier facing me and after a little bit of convincing he finally slept and actually slept for 4 hours like that.
We are lucky enough to have two carriers. The Baby Bjorn we love to use for walking, hiking, and sightseeing. We also have the Moby carrier which we love to use for him sleeping on the go.
5| Keep the bedtime routine the same
We actually got this tip from The Happy Sleep Company and following Erin on Instagram. Erin’s advice is to bring as many familiar products as possible with you when you go and try to do the same bedtime routine.
It was a bit annoying but we brought a few of Teddy’s stuffed animals, his crib sheet, the same sleep sacks he uses at home, his sound machine and his blackout blinds. We even brought a few of his favourite books. As worried as I was that Teddy wasn’t going to sleep while we were away, he was a champ!
Our baby travel essentials
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”4295392″]
*This post contains affiliate links.
