Travelling with Baby

After recently travelling from Europe to the western US, I'm realizing getting on a plane will never be the same. Even after talking with friends and reading online, nothing really prepares you for travelling with a baby until you do it. Next time she won't be quite so little and our experience will be different. This time though, I learned a few things....

 

1. Bring much more than you think you'll need. We're in that in between stage where she isn't breastfeeding, but not into real food yet. (gotta get some teeth!) So we had to pack bottles and formula and water. I decided baby food would be a bit difficult to do in a cramped space with others just a few feet away. Luckily I did bring a LOT of premeasured formula and filled our bottles with water. Cause she went through it all. Waking up a lot leaves one hungry.

 

2. Travel with someone else. I really feel for those single parents or those who travel on their own with a kid. Even with two of us, is was a juggle to eat or drink or just sit try to keep her in our seats.

 

3. Jetlag will happen. And it hits hard. Babies just don't know what's going on.

4. Have a cute baby. Now, I won't take all the credit, but she got those blue eyes somewhere. ;) She charmed everyone around us and the flight attendents too. That definitely made us favorites and got us favors. On our second flight, our stewardess moved the third guy in our row to an empty seat further up, so we had the whole row to ourselves. So nice!

5. Learn how to master going through security. After 5 times through security, we had it down. They need all the bottles out to check, electronics, regular stuff, and the stroller taken apart. We were allowed to check it at the plane as we boarded, but had to carry her through the metal detector and send the stroller through.

Luckily she slept quite a bit on the plane and seemed to really enjoy it!