In honor of my upcoming travel, let’s chat all things traveling with children! The good, the bad, the ugly. Jump in the discussion to share a tip or trick, a horror story, or a travel goal for the future!
pic of my hair looking *great* after the worst travel experience to date
Nat. You’re my hero. I would have just thrown in the towel. No way I could travel with five kids. I make traveling with three look like submitting Everest.
Natalie, you are a queen and we can all learn from your "take the trip" mentality! Never let car seats, strollers, or baby gear deter you from traveling!! You don't want to look back on those early years and say you passed up a trip because of it. Embrace the fact that it's a circus, take a moment to laugh at the amount of stuff, and know that every year older things get a touch easier.
Our older son is a pandemic baby born in early 2021 so our only traveling with him has been road trips. He is 3 now and we have another baby, 5 months. What I cannot wrap my head around is car seats if traveling by plane. How do people manage this? Whether you are traveling to like a city and will be getting in cabs regularly or even let’s say a resort where you still have to get in a car to get there. What are people doing about car seats while traveling? I cannot imagine brining our big car seat for the toddler and the baby’s car seat needs a base. Do people do those “travel vests” in lieu of car seats for the older kid? I know some people love the Doona but aren’t those only up to age 1? What do you do with young toddlers after that?
I could write an entire post on car seats! The Doona is amazing but yes most kids outgrow it by age 1. If we are flying somewhere domestic and renting a car then we either check our own car seats (we have bought travel ones over the years that are just as safe but way more lightweight) OR we rent them from the car rental company. Internationally, I always pack our own car seats. They are free to check! For this upcoming trip I will be checking: 2 booster seats and 3 travel car seats. If you travel often a travel car seat is a great investment and they are usually pretty inexpensive. I put them in one of those red car seat bags and then I also like to sneak in diapers wipes swim floats etc since it is a free checked bag. Let me know if you need links to anything and I hope this was helpful!
Also, fun fact, you can put things in the red car seat bags and check them! (Coats, boots, your entire luggage….) we travel with the evenflo carseats because they’re lighter than the britax but they’re brutal to install. A tradeoff to consider for sure!
Cousin, I have a question for you and any readers with insight. When traveling, we have almost always needed to stay in the same room as our baby -- for example, where there isn't an extra room at a rented house. We find this to be pretty taxing: we have to move around in the dark after she goes to sleep, she makes a lot of noise, it's often cramped, etc. Does anyone have advice on making this a bit more tolerable (short of, ya know, getting another room)?
Oh man have we been here! We have put our kids in many a closet and bathroom. I always BLAST the sound machine, too. People love the slumber pods. My kids are pretty deep sleepers so I have never invested in one of those but I have friends that swear by them. If a bathroom or closet isn't an option I try to lay out what I need so I am not shuffling around and risking waking the sleeping baby. Sometimes it goes well and sometimes it really just sucks and you can't wait to be home in your own space again.
Nat. You’re my hero. I would have just thrown in the towel. No way I could travel with five kids. I make traveling with three look like submitting Everest.
Natalie, you are a queen and we can all learn from your "take the trip" mentality! Never let car seats, strollers, or baby gear deter you from traveling!! You don't want to look back on those early years and say you passed up a trip because of it. Embrace the fact that it's a circus, take a moment to laugh at the amount of stuff, and know that every year older things get a touch easier.
always always always take the trip!
Our older son is a pandemic baby born in early 2021 so our only traveling with him has been road trips. He is 3 now and we have another baby, 5 months. What I cannot wrap my head around is car seats if traveling by plane. How do people manage this? Whether you are traveling to like a city and will be getting in cabs regularly or even let’s say a resort where you still have to get in a car to get there. What are people doing about car seats while traveling? I cannot imagine brining our big car seat for the toddler and the baby’s car seat needs a base. Do people do those “travel vests” in lieu of car seats for the older kid? I know some people love the Doona but aren’t those only up to age 1? What do you do with young toddlers after that?
I could write an entire post on car seats! The Doona is amazing but yes most kids outgrow it by age 1. If we are flying somewhere domestic and renting a car then we either check our own car seats (we have bought travel ones over the years that are just as safe but way more lightweight) OR we rent them from the car rental company. Internationally, I always pack our own car seats. They are free to check! For this upcoming trip I will be checking: 2 booster seats and 3 travel car seats. If you travel often a travel car seat is a great investment and they are usually pretty inexpensive. I put them in one of those red car seat bags and then I also like to sneak in diapers wipes swim floats etc since it is a free checked bag. Let me know if you need links to anything and I hope this was helpful!
Also, fun fact, you can put things in the red car seat bags and check them! (Coats, boots, your entire luggage….) we travel with the evenflo carseats because they’re lighter than the britax but they’re brutal to install. A tradeoff to consider for sure!
Yes this is my favorite thing to do! I shove so much stuff in there.
Cousin, I have a question for you and any readers with insight. When traveling, we have almost always needed to stay in the same room as our baby -- for example, where there isn't an extra room at a rented house. We find this to be pretty taxing: we have to move around in the dark after she goes to sleep, she makes a lot of noise, it's often cramped, etc. Does anyone have advice on making this a bit more tolerable (short of, ya know, getting another room)?
Yes! Slumber pod and/or put the crib in the bathroom of the hotel room or even closet if it’s big enough.
Crib in the bathroom is the best !!!
Oh man have we been here! We have put our kids in many a closet and bathroom. I always BLAST the sound machine, too. People love the slumber pods. My kids are pretty deep sleepers so I have never invested in one of those but I have friends that swear by them. If a bathroom or closet isn't an option I try to lay out what I need so I am not shuffling around and risking waking the sleeping baby. Sometimes it goes well and sometimes it really just sucks and you can't wait to be home in your own space again.
Your boys, my grandkids, are the best travelers! Snacks, lollipops and screen time and they could fly to Tokyo without complaining!
they learned from the best, their Gigi!
You’re perfection