Sunday, May 23, 2010

Travel?

How do you travel with a baby? In the car is no big deal, but I'm starting to toy with the idea of traveling with Daddy. DH travels every week flying out on Sun and home on Thurs. Before Peanut, I traveled with him quite a bit. For the first year of our marriage, I went with him one week out of every month. We also used to add in some leisure trips each year. In some regards it's easy. Travel is cheap for us. With the miles and hotel points, we can travel for very little money. So we're able to do some things that we may not otherwise do. The best thing about the travel perks was when when we cycled out of state. So DH's travel schedule helped us get our little Peanut.

Anyway, I'd like to take Peanut and travel with Daddy and then incorporate a week of vacation, but I have no idea how to do it. Here are my questions.

Is is best to get her her own airline ticket or hold her? She's a really easy baby, but we'd be on about a 3.5 hour flight.
What do you do about a car seat? Do we take ours with us or do the car rental companies rent them? Will they have rear facing seats?
If we're taking a cab from the airport, I suppose our own car seat is necessary, but how on earth do you get a cabbie to wait while you intall the darn thing? I suppose it's just time on the meter.
What about a stroller? Can you rent strollers? Where?
I suppose staying in a suite-style hotel would be easiest b/c of the extra room and kitchenette. She's on cereal so I think the kitchenette would be a big help. Anyone have experience with this? Did your baby sleep well in the hotel crib? If she doesn't and we let her sleep with us, will she go back to her bed at home?
Would 2 weeks away from home be insane to even try? I've been thinking that just getting out there and doing it will be the hardest part.

I've probably forgotten lots of things that I should have asked. I'd love any advice you guys have to impart. Thanks!

6 comments:

  1. At 7 months, I'm guessing she still fits into her bucket car seat. If so, I would take that on the trip. But if she doesn't fit into the bucket, you can rent car seats with your car rental. As for travel, she's too little to require a separate seat, but it's up to you. It does help having the extra seat on long flights. As for hotels, if she's just on cereal, you can be in a normal hotel room and ask them to clean out the mini-fridge to keep things in there. My son is a terrible sleeper on trips, so he ends up sleeping with us. Point is, you make it all work. You and peanut just have to flexible along the way.

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  2. I travelled all over Europe when my boy was 9 months old :) I never got him his own seat on the planes, just held him. I took our stroller with us and we didn't use taxis much, mostly travelled by train or bus so the carseat thing didn't apply, but I'm fairly sure you can rent them when you rent a car.
    Travelling with babies can be full on but it is GREAT and I loved (almost) every minute :)

    Do it!

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  3. Oh, it sounds fun to travel with your little one, but it's true that there's so much more to think about! Hope you find some easy solutions. Happy ICLW and thanks for the sweet comment on my blog!

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  4. I had heard that there are companies that you can rent necessary items from (like strollers, car seats and such) for travelers. One site is http://www.travelbabees.com. They deliver whatever you want to your destination so you don't have to deal with it on the plane. Cool idea.
    ICLW

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  5. I am not sure I haven't had to do it but from what I heard buy the extra seat, it will come in handy for things like diaper changes.
    Good luck.

    Happy ICLW(#64)

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  6. I have been MIA for so long! I completely missed this post, but I do have a lot to say about this subject.

    I traveled a lot with my daughter, and back int he days of extra empty seats on planes it was fine to book her as a "lap baby' and then just move to our own row. These days, I would book a seat, especially if you have plenty of miles.

    Take your own car seat - the rental ones are sometimes gross. Rental strollers are fine, but the bumbleride flyer will fit in the overhead compartment if you want to bring your own and have it for maneuvering in the airport. You can also just put the carseat on one of those luggage carts until you board the plane. Either way, bring some straps to keep everything together on whatever rolling thing you do have. When I traveled alone to visit my husband when he was working, I would have a folding luggage cart for the car seat, diaper bag and a backpack, and a travel stroller for my daughter and whatever would fit underneath it. The luggage cart was better than a roll-aboard case since it could handle the car seat as well as any other bags I needed. Plus, it's easier to keep a backpack under the seat in front of you - getting up and down a hundred times to get things from the overhead compartment is not fun. Did I mention to ALWAYS book an aisle seat?

    Bring some new objects for every flight - evenif just teethy rings or whatever. As she gets older, bring books, toys, etc. - anything to distract. Ditto snacks.

    For the hotel, I always packed the doorway jumper thing. It fits almost anywhere and means you can take a shower/check email/ etc. while she is bouncing. I also packed a collapsible bedrail, which came in handy since my daughter always preferred a bed to the hotel crib or cot.

    It's also a good idea to ask the manager if there are any baby things you can use - my BIL runs a hotel and they have a cloakroom full of left-behind booster seats, umbrella strollers, pool floaties, etc.

    Oh - and one other thing: pack some tylenol in your bag. My daughter cut her first tooth on a flight from LA to NY - I had the worst headache of my life by the time we landed!

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