8 dilemmas of those traveling with (young) children, or strategic planning hard level

A new perspective, new challenges, and the world and the list of priorities turn upside down. With a new member on board, travel will no longer be what it used to be – it will be more interesting ;)

In September, we traveled by car to Lithuania, the first time further afield, the three of us. Olive was 11 weeks old at the time and was probably the calmest and most laid back member of our family. It was the parents who were going crazy :) While trips don’t stress us out, the need to take care of this small, defenseless being makes it necessary to think about so many aspects that fresh parents have the right to be confused.

And we had this confusion – well, because how many pampers to take with us? Will we buy the same in Lithuania? Do you take any preventive medication with you? How will we bathe? Are we going to do laundry? How will we steam toys and pacifiers? Where will Olive sleep (and if at all)? Will she sleep on the road, in the car? Are we going to drive a stroller everywhere? What if it rains? What to pack handy? How and where will we feed?

A thousand questions and a thousand hints from other parents who travel with an infant (of course, the more hints, the more they exclude each other). We decided to trust ourselves, because who knows our child better?

The first trip verified our plans and approach :) We made a lot of mistakes, but from mistakes a parent learns. We thought about a trillion things, but there were things No. trillion one, trillion two, …trillion n, which we did not consider at all! Seriously! :)

Table of contents

First trip with a baby

So with planning we have jumped to a higher level. We never bothered before what kind of surface we would be walking on, whether there were stairs somewhere, whether there were baby changing facilities and rooms for mothers with children in pubs, whether places were adapted for families with children…. much less infants….

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These are not our expectations. We don’t expect every city in the world to have facilities and privileges for families with young children, but by doing the right “research” we are able to properly prepare for the trip and take the necessary things.

We learned a lot about how to travel with a baby, after all, travel educates :) What’s more, by traveling with a baby, you can also learn a lot about ourselves: how will we cope in a new situation? How much are we capable of enduring? How much patience does every parent have? ;)

From now on, our needs are left behind, and our Junior is in the foreground (e.g., we won’t eat where we want, only where the conditions are ;) ), but you should not forget about your needs. We sometimes caught ourselves that at 7 pm we found that we had not eaten anything since breakfast! Olive, of course, always had fresh milk right under her nose ;-)

What surprised us very positively was the openness of other people to those traveling with a child. Many people simply smiled, puzzled, and were more willing to help. Somehow children have such a cool effect on others (“softening” one would say).

Below we have posted some points to consider when planning a trip with a child. Benefit from our mistakes that we made during our first trip :) The list, of course, is not exhaustive. It is more of an inventory of points, what we learned and what we will pay special attention to next time.

1. route planning

We take a map of the city in our hands, mark the points where we want to go, mark the trail and on our way. Hola, hola – not with a stroller! It’s worth taking a look to see if by chance there’s a big difference in elevation or a thousand stairs to climb. It’s known that we won’t always read it from a map, so it’s good to have a sling or carrier on hand (only ergonomic carriers and for children who sit up on their own!).

If you’re a woman, it’s a good idea to have a man on hand to carry the stroller over the obstacles ;) In Lithuania, we repeatedly encountered stairs, underpasses, which were blandly not adapted for strollers….

2. paving

Not just the stairs. Stairs are a cliché, and it’s not just parents who know about the need to be wary of them. But about the fact that the cobblestones are also an obstacle for the wheelchair we realized only on the first trip.

Beautiful old town, townhouses, monuments, and we just watch how much the baby in the stroller (a stroller that supposedly has very good shock absorbers!) is shaking. The options are several: (1) change the route, (2) move at a snail’s pace to minimize the shocks, or (3) take the baby’s pecker in a sling, for example.

3. baby food

We are fortunate that Olive’s favorite food is the natural one, freshly heated, so we had no problem with the preparation. The only thing left is to find the right place and position.

If it’s nice outside, just find a bench or at least feed in the car. However, if it’s cold and raining, you need to seek shelter. While in Poland we don’t have a problem with this (after the recent high-profile actions, I don’t think anyone dares to chase away a nursing mother), abroad it can be different, and not everywhere we can find a room to feed.

One has to manage. It’s a good idea to have a large sling, shawl or even a tetra diaper to at least cover or wrap the little sucker.

4. food for parents

Here it is a little harder to choose a place :-) First of all, only an eatery where a stroller will fit and you don’t have to climb a billion stairs comes into play. Of course, when the baby at least sits down, it’s a little easier, because most restaurants have baby chairs available.

What else? Noise and music – unfortunately, if there is hustle and bustle inside, loud conversations and music, a lot of people, it is unfortunately a guarantee of rush, heartburn for parents and nerves and crying baby. We chose quiet, peaceful pubs with cool music (here the best option turned out to be vege pubs, where there were fewer people and quiet music was playing).

5. toilet

It is not enough to find the first, better toilet. Now you need to find a toilet with a changing table!

When we have favorable weather conditions, you can confidently do what you need in a stroller or on a bench, but when it’s cold we won’t put four letters in the wind ;-) So, you need to find a favorable place: restaurants, a shopping center or a hotel (we especially recommend the latter – we have not met anyone who refused to use the changing table in a public hotel restroom).

We also had no reluctance to use the handicapped toilets – there is more space in them, so you can easily wheel a stroller in and quickly change what you need. If you are traveling by car, it can easily serve as a mobile changing table.

6. night shelter

We let go of the cheapest options. The most important thing for us was to have a bathroom, a big bed and living space in the room after a day of walking. A stroller had to fit (we assumed that Olive would sleep in a carrycot), and a bathtub was needed in which to bathe the baby (if the baby is small, even a sink will do). Well, and it is important that there is a kettle, to at least pour boiling water over toys or pacifiers.

Typical travel cribs proved to be unnecessary.

Of course, there must be an elevator in the hotel, and the hotel itself should also have a good location, so that you don’t have to cover several kilometers every day. Also, the well-being of parents is important, which can easily be ensured by a comfortable bed or a good, warm breakfast eaten without rushing :)

7. the Princess’s coach

A good stroller is a must :) Choosing a stroller is a river topic and to everyone will suit something different. We focused on quality and ease of assembly. Unfortunately, it is not the lightest stroller in the world, but this makes it very stable, maneuverable, well-cushioned.

During the day we had to fold and unfold it several times, and when it was not used by the Princess, it served us as a cart for carrying all sorts of good things :)

8. parents’ coach

Necessarily large, safe and roomy! On a daily basis, we move around in a small, eco-friendly, urban toddler, but on longer trips it would not work as a family car. We needed a large trunk to take a month’s supply of everything, to fit the stroller and bags, but also a lot of space in the front to calmly feed or change the baby – such a multifunctional car ;)

Mitsubishi Outlander did a perfect job :)

As we have mentioned more than once, this time we took far too much of everything. We’ll see how we go with packing next time ;)

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Summary

These are just a few points to consider :) We are still crawling in the topic of parenthood, and it is probably Olive will sooner begin to move boldly and bravely than we will find ourselves in this new world :)

But we don’t give up and plan more trips, those near and quite far :) And once we become more proficient, we’ll be sure to share insights on what works best and how.

Or maybe you guys have some interesting tips for us? Let us know in the comments! :)