Well guys this post is all about planning a trip to South East with your toddler:
Most of the newly married or couples who are thinking of adding a member to their family have lots of expectation and anxieties surrounding them as to how things are going to shape out.
One of the first thing that take the back seat is ones travel goals/plans. The amount of effort one require to take care of the toddler surpasses any comfort that one can derive from travelling.
Everything said and done, we were one such couple. We had done a lot of travelling in and outside the country, it was something to look up to. But after the birth of our son, we were caught unaware of our travel plans. The smog of taking care of SO, sanitization, food, sleep requirements clouded any travel plans.
It is human to think so, but with correct knowledge and planning one can overcome these hurdles and can continue with exploring the beautiful planet we have.
In this post we are going to guide you step by step for planning a foreign trip with your newborns.
When is it safe to travel:
Well its sooner than you think, most of the airlines will be happy to take you and your baby, as early as 02 days old, provided both are healthy. Some airlines raise this age to 02 weeks, but in both cases the age requirement for air travel by infant is much lower than when you will actually want to travel.
For more info visit: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/can-i-take-my-baby-on-an-aeroplane/
When is the best age to travel:
One of the most important things which decides your independency along with your SO is amount of time mother spends with the baby. Its is bit off topic, but experience shows that parents who independently take care of their babies from the beginning tend to understand and act better when they find themselves in tricky situations. Its just that such parents find it easy to deal and can plan days out with kids, without any physical requirement of others.
Coming to the original question, we feel its better to plan travel when the baby is 6 months old. Firstly you would have spent enough time with your baby to understand its food, sleep and rest cycles. Also by this time the baby can be introduced to food other than mothers milk, which does offload her from constant feeding, and when the fathers can take over and offload the mother.
Also most the babies by this age are yet to start crawling, so one does not have to keep a continuous watch once the baby is fast asleep.
Pro tip: Use a pair of phones and a stand, connect both with video call, and then you can peacefully be in your room do whatever, while the baby sleeps. Make sure the phone with you has the mike off and volume to max and the phone with the baby has mike on with volume.
Things to look before planning the trip:
Its is important to have prior knowledge of weather, transportation facilities etc before planning, this can substantially reduce the amount of luggage one has to carry specially catering for the child needs.
Getting Passport: Getting passports for infants is as easier as it can get, for indians the procedure is pretty much straight forward, please visit
https://portal2.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/online/faqServicesAvailable
for detailed procedure
Pro tip: Getting a passport pic of your baby can be bit tricky, so dont forget to keep the soft of same with you for future use.
For checking weather of famous tourist spots visit:
https://www.holiday-weather.com
Booking tickets:
Long flights can take a toll on both parents and infants, a few tips can be life saver
1. Instead of a long haul single flight( esp when 6 hrs or more) book connecting flights of short durations, this will reduce the time spent continuously on board and the break in between the flights will allow you to move around. This substantially reduces the stress a little mobility helps a lot.
2. Ask/ check from the airlines if they offer baby COT or bassinets, these are super comfy for the babies, plus you also get the front seats. So do ask/ check before booking your flight.
3. Check with the airlines if they allow baby stroller along with you, most of the flights allow it, its of great use once you are out from the flight, esp during connections.
4. Also, with the baby, airlines allow one extra piece of diaper bag, so carry the essentials with you with enough supplies for a day or two for the baby in case need arises due to baggage loss.
PRO TIP: Booking cheap tickets can save a lots of money, which then be put on good use during the trip. Open an mail id only for booking tickets and subscribe to all the major carriers, once in a while keep checking for any special deal meeting your requirements.
Booking Accommodation:
AirB&B has been our personal favourite, no matter where we are going, it not only allows the ease of living in home, the ease of doing everything else right from washing baby cloths to control of hygiene is preparing food.
It also provides platform to speak with host to cater for extra requirements of baby bed, pick up and drop, kitchenette requirements.
It also makes sense to put in money on a good accommodation, will all amenities, as a day out with baby will definitely be more tiring than the days of wandering all day long and then crashing into your bunk.
So put in extra time and if required money is deciding the accommodation.
PROTIP: As with the case of flights, subscribe to booking.com, hotels, etc websites and look for deals specially for you, trust me sometimes you de get good steals.
Luggage? Call it Pro Pack.
(We thought it would be good if we first share the general packing rules and then apply them to when carrying infant)
On thing every seasoned traveller will agree to it is that carry only what you need and not what you want, give it a thought, sit back and think. There is no point in giving your belongings a trip in a suitcase. As high as 40% of the total space saving can be done by just sorting things out which you feel you will not need.
After sorting comes the art of packaging, there are n number of ways shown by various travellers on youtube, pintrest and insta. Our personal favourite is rolling cloths and segregating them in ziplock bags, not only this saves space but also help in segregating items thus saving time when you need one.
Apart from this keep a day pack with one set of cloths and essentials to be carried along as a cabin luggage, just to meet any eventuality of luggage getting misplaced or lost during transit.
Now, for families with infants, the above rules will apply to you and your better half.
But when it comes to packing stuff for your baby keep an easy eye to it. Do a little google search on stores/ supermarket in around the places you are planning to stay. This way you don’t have worry about running out of stock of common items viz diapers, tissue papers, baby products.
Diaper bag: Take a little time deciding what all meals you will need for your baby, pack extra diapers and baby food to cater for any delay during transit, carry extra spare feeding bottles and items accordingly. Invest in a good diaper bag and for fathers it is of great help to know the contents of same, can be of great help in demanding situations where you can get her what she needs.
ProTip: Ask your airlines if they allow for baby strollers, most of them do. This will come in handy during connections, some airlines allow you to carry it all the way in and you can get it same when you are de boarding, but its better to tell them once before you handover that you will needing it immediately after you land.
WHEN YOU ARRIVE:
Its always better to book the mode of transportation from airport to your stay, it here booking from AirB&B comes in handy, you can ask the host to book the cab in advance, driver will come to pick you up, aware of where to take you, prices are decent and most importantly you will have a comfortable transfer to your place.
When you arrive at your accommodation first thing is to straight away find the cooking arrangements for baby food, needless to say AirBnB properties come in handy again, with a full fledged kitchenette all you will need is supplies.
PROTIP:
Keep ready to eat meals, just a few packs. These come in handy when you arrive home after a long journey and hungry. A little taste of our own food gives a tremendous boost to you. Trust me its tried and trusted.
Well, once you reach the destination, rested, fed properly, one can not ask for a great start than this, especially when you do this with your lil one.
We will meet you guys again with some more tricks and tips, till then pack tight and travel light.
RoadtripMe 