While this quote definitely rings true, every time I’ve gone to Europe Paris never made the list, until now! The three of us will be heading to Europe for one month in exactly one month today – squee! Paris for 5 days, Lisbon with my uncle and family for 5 days, and the remainder with my sis and fam in their southern France home. I’m seriously so excited to get away, explore, relax, and spend time with my family, some of whom I haven’t seen in 14 years!
But while I’ve travelled a fair bit, I’ve never travelled with a baby, and it’s a whole new ball game. I’m not nervous, but I do know it’s going to require a lot more planning.
Here are my plans so far, and I could really use your help to flush them out.
Airplane Ride
Toys
I plan to bring toys squirrelly baby has never seen before in hopes that they’ll entertain him for at least 10 minutes… They need to be small – any suggestions?
Food
I don’t know if they feed babies, and honestly I don’t really trust their food anyhow (ya know, the whole thing about them putting ‘blockers’ in their food). We’ll pack those squeeze pouch thingers – these ones specifically cause they’re great. (Ps American friends do you get PC?).
Seats
We booked the bassinet seat, though squirrelly baby will probably be too big to actually go in it. At least we’ll have more leg room!
In Paris
Sightseeing
We’re going to pick up one of those museum passes that allows you to check out a ton of places for one fee (60 euro) and lets you skip the line – essential when with a baby. Things we definitely want to see/do are Versailles, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Montmarte, Flea Market, Arc de Triomphe, Lauderie, River Seine….what else?
Also for bringing baby about we will bring our stroller, but Paris is a nightmare (Europe in general – so many stairs and narrow sidewalks!) so we’ll also bring a couple wraps.
Okay so aside from big things like flights and accommodation, that’s all we have sorted. I feel so unprepared! Guys, I need your advice please.
If you’ve travelled with a 9 month old, GIVE ME ALL THE TIPS
I traveled a lot with my daughter when she was a baby, including a cross country trip from NYC to California when she was 9 months, a trip to Europe when she was about 16 months, and a trip to India when she was 2 years old.
I think my biggest advice is to try not to worry too much :). Just recognize that its not going to be easy but that women have been traveling with children for thousands of years by all sorts of methods – boats, cars, trains, horse and buggy, canoe, etc.
Also, don’t worry too much about inconveniencing/annoying others. Some people are very sympathetic and kind to a parent with a baby, while other people really just are jerks.
There are definitely people who are big prima donnas who just can’t handle their comfort being impinged on in anyway. They will give you dirty looks or “advice” when your baby is crying. You really just have to learn to ignore them – you and your baby have just as much right to be on the plane/train/boat as they do.
Other people though are kind and sympathetic. So ignore the haters and focus on the good people.
Have fun!
Yes I’ll definitely have to ignore what anyone else thinks. I keep imagining he’ll sleep through it all but I should prepare for the worst just in case!
And yep I’ve heard about the trauma of the time difference. That’ll be fun 😉
Thank you so much for all the helpful insight!
I forgot to mention, one of the hardest things to deal with traveling with a baby is the jet lag. My daughter woke up every night in the middle of the night for a couple hours (especially on the trip to India).
There is really nothing you can do about that. Just try to enlist your husband and family to help as much as possible – maybe they can take the baby for a couple hours during the day while you nap.