Traveling abroad with a 1-year-old

It was intense. It was crazy. And yet we did it and loved it.

And a lot of my inspiration came from this blog post: http://lovetaza.com/2012/12/traveling-abroad-with-littles/

If you are thinking of traveling abroad with a little one, I recommend reading that post and its comments carefully. However, there were a few things we did differently. Some of them worked, and some of them didn't.

0. First off, recognize you are not the Rockstar Diaries family. Once I realized that, I was able to relax a bit. We didn't have to do things the exact same. We weren't as well-dressed or stylin' and our camera isn't as fancy. And that's okay. We still had fun.

With that out of the way, here's my two cents on their advice.

1. stay flexible with your itinerary, pace yourself -- Yes. When you have a 1-year-old, you simply cannot see all the things that you could with just two adults. It's not fair to your baby. So prioritize what you want to see, and let other things slide a little. We even just had a few days where we spent most of the time home playing with the Seamons -- and those were great days.

When it came down to it, we only needed to see one castle, one palace, one abbey, one major art museum, etc. to feel satisfied. This might not be true for everyone, but it's how we felt. All the architecture can become overwhelming if you see too much too fast. On the other hand, parks never got tiresome for us. Joseph loved it when he had a chance to stretch his legs.

1 1/2. As a side note, we didn't end up getting the London Pass or Museum pass. It ended up being cheaper to do things ala carte since we didn't end up doing as much. In retrospect, we probably would have used the Paris Museum pass, but we didn't think ahead enough.

One thing to keep in mind is that babies can throw off your pacing. For example, one museum we were both interested in cost a little more than we had planned, but we would have been game had we not had Joseph with us. We realized that since he had been kind of fussy that day, we would have rushed through the museum and not gotten to fully enjoy it. If we'd had a pass, we probably would have gone through the museum regardless of Joseph's mood since we'd already paid for it. Oh well.

2. pack light Yep. It's possible. We packed a diaper bag along with two backpacks, but that was it. Although we didn't travel a ton, it made it a lot easier for the few times we found ourselves on and off trains a lot (such as the first night in Paris). We packed diapers with us and enjoyed watching our load get lighter and lighter. We didn't take many clothes, went light on the toiletries, and wore a lot layers, especially when we flew from England to Paris.

3. take a stroller --and have your kids nap on the go -- We decided to take an umbrella stroller. We were able to use a normal stroller in most of England that we had borrowed from the Seamons, but we only had the umbrella stroller in London and Paris. It sure was nice to have something compact when we were getting on and off trains and around on narrow sidewalks, but it was harder for Joseph to fall asleep in, made for a bumpier ride, and didn't have storage space like a normal stroller. I'd still recommend it though.

Oh, and the whole "have your kids nap on the go" thing might be easier if your kids are used to it. We probably should have practiced before going.

Always a miracle

4. travel at off season for better prices and to avoid crowds of tourists -- oops. June is not the off-season. Although I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with how short the lines were, particularly at the Louvre and the Eiffel tower. And if you see the grounds of Versailles in the morning and the palace in the afternoon, the line is much shorter.

Somewhat related is to choose your airport carefully. We only live 4 hours from the Toronto airport, and international flights are much cheaper there compared to other nearby airports (even Chicago). We ended up paying just about $700 a ticket (plus $50 for Joseph, plus $80 to pick our seats [okay that probably was a racket, but I didn't know what to do otherwise and it sounded like we had to with a baby]) when we bought our tickets in March. Meanwhile, tickets from Detroit were like $1200 back in March. Yikes. So, shop around.

5. stay in the center of it all. splurge for a room with a view if you can. We did this in Paris, and boy was it nice to be within walking distance of most everything we wanted to see. Transportation can add so much time and expense and inconvenience to a trip, and it was nice to not worry about it too much in Paris. I'm glad we stayed with friends while in England, even if it meant we had to commute some, but I think it's worth it to try and get a place in the heart of a city.

Also, we had very good luck with Airbnb. We had a nice king-sized bed, ample space, beautiful bathroom, washer and dryer, all for $109 a night. In the middle of Paris. It was a miracle. If you ever try out Airbnb, I would recommend reading reviews of potential hosts and booking early (we failed there) so you can be confident in your decision.

Where we stayed. Actually, just kidding -- this is at Versailles. But our room was still really nice.

Now for other pieces of advice, here they are:

• If you have to choose between the Louvre and the d'Orsay, probably go with the d'Orsay if you're going for aesthetics. The sculptures in the Louvre were incredible, but most of the art was too academic for me. The d'Orsay had all of the beautiful Impressionistic art that makes my soul sing. Plus, since we got there after 5, it was free. We only had 45 minutes to roam before closing, but that was enough for me. Note that no pictures are allowed.
• If you want to take the Chunnel, book tickets about the same time you would buy plane tickets. Turns out high-speed rail just gets more expensive as you get closer to the date. We kept waiting and waiting because we weren't sure which day we wanted to go to Paris. Then when we had everything else scheduled, we sort of forgot about the Chunnel. And then we tried to book it and it became crazy expensive. So we ended up using easyJet, which is like RyanAir, which is cheap flights throughout Europe, as long as you only have one personal item each. It ended up working out just fine, but I felt pretty sheepish about letting that one slide.
• Don't wean your baby before you go. It was so nice not having to worry too much about feeding Joseph grownup food or getting milk for him. As the trip progressed I became increasingly bold about nursing in public, and no one minded. It took us a long time to get back into normal schedules and habits again once we were home, but I think it was worth it.
• Dress nicely. People take you more seriously, and you feel more comfortable. Scarves are a good idea.
• Don't go for longer than you can handle. I remember thinking after we'd just been in Europe for 5 days, "We can't go home for another week and a half???" Turns out that Kevin and I get tired of vacations faster than we realized. Switching things up by going to Paris helped with that, but in the future we'll probably only take week-long vacations. (oh wait. we're going to Utah for two weeks next month.)
• Don't get sick. We didn't, and it made the trip much more enjoyable.

And the biggest piece of advice I can offer to you who travel with infants:

• Don't. Lose. Your. Baby's. Pacifier!!!! And for the love of all that's good, if you do lose it, bring a spare that your baby will accept.
  
  So, we have actually been really good at keeping tabs on Joseph's pacifier. The first one we lost was when he was more than 10 months old. We were on our way home from a fireside in Livonia and he got hungry. So we pulled into a parking lot and I nursed him. Then I guess when I was moving him back from my seat to his car seat, his pacifier must have slid off my lap into the parking lot because we haven't seen it since.
  
  But that had been the only time we had lost a pacifier. So I felt pretty confident that we could keep tabs on one for two more weeks. Then at the end of our visit to Cambridge, I nursed Joseph in the car in the parking lot. And I guess when I was moving him from my seat to his car seat, his pacifier must have slid off my lap into the parking lot because we haven't seen it since. (Sound familiar?)
  
  And, surprise, none of the local stores carried the Soothie type of pacifier that are given out in US hospitals. So we went through like 4 pacifiers and he refused them all day after day after day. This made jet lag even harder. It made teething even harder (yes, he chose the best time to cut 3 teeth). It made car rides even harder. If Joseph wasn't just naturally a happy guy, I don't know how we could have made it (and luckily, he didn't miss it as much as he could have, so he was still very pleasant most of the time). So, just don't lose your baby's pacifier. Chances are you all already have clips and whatnot to keep pacifiers attached, so I'm preaching to the choir. And I'm the one who's singing out of tune.
  
  On the bright side, hey, he's weaned from his pacifier now! He can even go to sleep without it now!

If you're still reading this, I'm very impressed. I hope I haven't scared you off too much. Travel is definitely possible, though it does take some adjustments. But people will be so kind and accommodating. You will appreciate the sights in a way you never could without a bright-eyed baby. It will be one of the best adventures of your life. Bon voyage!