Traveling with a baby through the eyes of a dad

The time has come for me. Until now, it was Kamila who wrote about all the children’s topics. The mother’s writing is somehow more natural, but I figured that, after all, dad also has a lot to say, after all, we traveled everywhere with our little scrappy boy together.

It’s also a good time for it, as the three of us have taken 14 flights together over the past 14 months. On top of that, of course, is car travel. For us, it’s quite a lot, so we also already have different perspectives on traveling with a toddler. Both for longer trips to exotic countries (Beijing) including long plane flights, and short weekend trips even to the spa ;-)

So what’s it like? What is it like to travel with a baby/toddler? So from a dad’s perspective?

Table of contents

Outings give me the opportunity to spend more time with my child

The truth is that it is on trips that I spend the most time with Olive.

As long as Kamila was still on leave, the obvious thing was that she was the one who spent more time at home. But even after returning to work, she still spends more of that time than I do (she works shorter hours as a nursing mother + has closer to work ;)).

That still leaves weekends, not counting the “away” ones, of course. But you know how it is yourselves. There is always something to do, and we often split up to embrace topics faster. In addition, there are also some meetings with family or friends.

On trips… a completely different tale!

We have each other 24 hours a day. Whether it’s a simple walk in a place that doesn’t even matter (it’s important that there are pebbles, leaves or any other distraction ;)), or even playing in the pool (the more times you can get in and out of it the better!), we spend time together enjoying the moment!

And it additionally helps a lot because.

Child becomes very attached to parents during trips

It may not be some kind of discovery of America, but it is definitely seen that the bond between the child and parents deepens significantly during the trips. After all, we arrive with each other 24/7, discover new places, new opportunities, experience new situations together. That new for the beaver – you know, but also by us everything is rediscovered :)

Probably it also helps the child’s development, because we both observed that it was during our trips that Olive had the biggest developmental leaps.

What two (adult) heads is not one

During these 14 months, it happened that we traveled separately, although these were short, business trips. And of course it can be done, it’s not that we can’t go anywhere without each other. The thing is, in my opinion, it’s definitely easier to travel with an infant in two adults (and sometimes even in three ;)).

It’s much easier to do many things then: from keeping an eye on the toddler, to embracing a table at a restaurant or changing a diaper on an airplane, because….

The bigger and stronger the baby, the harder it is to change the diaper on the plane

Yep :) The first poop of a behemoth on a plane, this is something you will never forget ;)

Honestly, without going into details, there was no drama. However, the older the baby gets, and thus bigger and stronger, the ritual of changing pampers in a cramped airplane restroom can be increasingly difficult. If a visit to this restroom is not a very pleasant experience for an adult, what is a toddler who can barely fit on a changing table (in an airplane they are really very tiny) and on top of that has a ceiling just above his head to say?

This is where the help of Dad, who seems to be better at such extras, is always invaluable. Fortunately, for so many flights, we haven’t had too many such cases.

Anyway, as bad as the situation would be, always….

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Boob is good for everything!

And inestimable praise to him for it! :)

Seriously! Kamila breastfed Olive all this time (and is still breastfeeding!). Of course, first as a main food, now as a supplement. You don’t even realize how much it helps, not only in travel.

No matter how bad Olive would be, no matter how hard she would hit herself on the edge of a toy, no matter how much she would not want that paper, the boob always helps :) And it helps the most precisely during airplane flights.

First of all, it is calming. But most importantly, it helps equalize ear pressure, making takeoffs and landings much more comfortable. You can, of course, bottle-feed, give water (because babies are too small for candy and lollipops), but cuddling at the boob wins everything :)

Traveling and traveling with a child are two different worlds

How much the world changed for us a year ago, especially for young parents, they don’t need to write. However, travel itself has also changed dramatically.

And probably differently than everyone would expect. Because beforehand, our trips were carefully planned. Although we never had rigid plans, that here we had to be at 12:00 and here at 14:00, but we had a solid framework based on specific points, plans.

Now, we often go to a place and only there we think about what we are really going to do. We know more or less what and where it is (because somehow we finally chose the direction ;-)), but we didn’t have any specific plans before the trip. Because I know that such plans are better not to have.

Shouldn’t it be just the other way around that it is with a little behemoth that we place more importance on planning? :)

Now we pay much more attention to at least the weather, or Olive’s willingness to explore. Because it’s not why we go on trips together that Olive should sit strapped to a car seat in the car all the time, because a whole day of sightseeing means driving from point to point.

It is also known that if the weather is not good, we need to think about some indoor attractions. Anyway, we now have to think about completely different attractions as well. While still in the beginning, as long as the baby lies quietly in the stroller, we can visit museums, exhibitions, open-air museums…. However, once the bean starts to be mobile you need to start looking for attractions that will be cool and safe for everyone :)

You’re probably wondering if it was better for me to travel with two or now with three? These are completely different styles of travel. Previously, we traveled faster, explored more, often not focusing on the climate and history of the place we were visiting as much as we would have liked. Now we have, against all odds, more time to do it. As a result, we get more out of our trips, although we travel much more slowly. Is it better? Of course it is! I wouldn’t change it for anything else! :)

There is also another plus to traveling with a young child….

Finally I can choose better and more expensive hotels and cars ;)

Yes, you covered for me! It’s all about that! ;)

Well, after all, what’s not to rent a bigger and safer car for an outing with a toddler? After all, we’re already paying a crore to rent a car seat for a week anyway, so upgrading two positions higher won’t hurt anything ;)

Well, after all, we will not sleep in a hostel now, without a bathroom and breakfast! At least a room of 50m2, with full board, necessarily with a bath, a nice view, plenty of space for playing…. after all, it’s all for the beaver :)

And seriously, there is some truth in this. In terms of the car, we used to simply choose the smallest models that were the cheapest. Now you have to bet already on slightly larger models to pack everything (even 3 large luggage, a stroller, etc.).

It’s the same with hotels, although it depends more on where and why you’re going. E.g., in China we stayed both in a chain hotel with super breakfasts, where we had clean carpet and plenty of space to play (+ a bathtub to quietly wash the bean). We also spent the night in a typical hutong where the room barely contained a bed and the floor left much to be desired (not to mention the cold and damp).

Of course, we now pay more attention to the standard, location, room amenities, but also to the food. The most popular choices now are accommodations with breakfasts or self-catering (such as in the Azores or Faroe Islands).

The same goes for airline connections. Rather, for the moment, we will not allow ourselves to fly with two connecting flights, on different airlines with an overnight stay at the airport. We prefer to pay a little extra to fly direct or with an easy change on a single ticket.

This makes our trips less tiring and we all get even more fun out of it :)

And while we’re on the subject of fun, here goes.

I’m already looking forward to Disneyland

…and all the other activities for (older) children! :)

Yes, this is certain. Olive will have annual passes to all theme parks, Disneylandand similar attractions. Of course, dad too, because someone has to watch the baby ;)

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