A Hop Across the Pond with a 16 Month Old

Special guest post by Claude Normandin-Banks offering travel advice learned on her recent trip to England with her 16 month old son Tommy and family!

We did it! We had a successful international trip with a 16 month old!!! It can be done!

Now, the above said, a fair amount of preparation, research, flexibility and forgiveness was involved! Let me tell you about our trip to England from Ottawa (Canada).

One of my very good lifelong friends got married to a man from England that she met while in University there, I was asked to be a bridesmaid and was thrilled, so off to England we went! We booked plane tickets to London from Ottawa direct, this was a little more expensive than other options, but with a toddler, we thought the direct option was worth the extra money (and boy were we right!). I suggest avoiding connections and layovers as much as possible. We spent a day and a half in London then rented a car to head to the wedding venue where we stayed for two days and then came back to London and spent four days exploring the city. We saw pretty much what we wanted to see and I think our toddler (Tommy) had just as much fun as we did!

So, here are our experiences and lessons learnt divided in nifty categories for your reading pleasure (and skipping pleasure if not relevant to you!!)

Air travel

I am a strong believer that a child is just as important as an adult and therefore am totally against lap babies. I know that “legally” a child under two does not “need” his or her own seat and can be held by a parent on a plane, but really, this is not safe at all nor is it comfortable for either baby or parent on longer flights. Experts recommends infants to be in their car seats in planes, but big business does not want to lose business from new families who would choose other means of travel when faced with having to buy a ticket for their child. Pretzels and drinks are secured during take-off, landing and in turbulence and your child should be too; one, for the safety of your child, and two, for the safety for people around you in the plane. A baby hurtling through the cabin will not only injure him or herself, they will injure whoever they hit. Really, it’s important to have any child properly restrained in a plane, and that means using an aircraft approved car seat (almost all car seats are aircraft approved, you can check yours, either in the manual or on a sticker on the car seat.) Clear-Air Turbulence kills or injures a number of people each year, those injuries are preventable and the reason everyone is urged to use seat belts in aircraft regardless of whether the seatbelt sign is on or not. To install our car seat in the plane, a Britax Marathon 65, we had to use the belt extension to make sure the buckle wasn’t in the belt path of the seat (and under Tommy’s bum, which would not have been comfortable). It was a little tricky but not at all insurmountable!

When I booked our tickets I asked for bulkhead seats for the extra room. Turns out this was probably not necessary on the plane we were on but you never know, and having the extra room was very much appreciated! On a flight with meals, you can also order kids and infant meals at no extra cost! I also signed Tommy up for an Aeroplan card (we flew Air Canada) so he could start collecting miles! Why not??!

We had a few looks on the way to England from the flight attendants but coming back two of them commented about how a car seat was the smart thing to do when traveling with children, it seems like the more experienced attendants, the ones who have been through either a runway emergency or severe turbulence we very pro car seat! We had the manual for our car seat and the printout of the laws regarding the use of car seats in aircraft with us just in case, but we didn’t need them in the end,  although I’ve heard some people having to actually show the flight attendants the actual law before being allowed to install their car seats.

Also, there is no way I could have kept Tommy on me for seven hours!! Neither one of us would have slept and he would have screamed the entire time! This way, he was in his own car seat, familiar with the rules when strapped in!

Airport Security and transportation of all the baby gear (and the baby!!)

Going to England, we had no problem with two bottles of milk and two icepacks. Coming back, Heathrow confiscated the icepacks. This seems to be rather random as the regulations seem to always be in flux and subject to interpretation by the individuals doing the screening. Suffice it to say, we had normal sized bottles of milk and no problems. I also had diaper cream and baby Advil and had no problems with either.

To get around in the airport, and then to our apartment in the London using the Underground, this is how we arranged all the gear!!

Stroller (umbrella kind); car seat on stroller with a bungee cord, diaper bag and daddy’s carry on in car seat. Tommy in child backpack (the hiking, rigid frame kind designed to carry children) on Daddy’s back. Mommy carrying a backpack as her carry on and dragging two rolling suit cases (tied together to make a baggage train). This allowed us to be able to carry everything we needed with no baggage cart and no help, this was very important as we are thrifty and knew we didn’t want to pay for a cab to get to our Hotel in London. We were able to take the Tube! In hindsight, when going to London I would recommend planning your Tube trips using the online tool and selecting a route that has platform accessibility in mind. Many of the older stations do not have elevators and are not wheelchair (i.e. stroller) accessible without the help of good Samaritans to help with the stairs. Luckily for us there were plenty of strangers willing to help, thank you random Londoners!

The two rolling suitcases were checked and the baby backpack and the stroller were gate checked so we could use them right up to the door of the airplane.

Accommodations

We were in a first world country so really, had no issues although I had to put my foot down when they tried to give me a badly broken play pen for Tommy to sleep in though. I just refused to take it and made the person call a manager and a non-broken playpen-cum-makeshift-crib showed up eventually, so if any problems arise, just keep emphasizing the safety aspects, no one in charge wants to take risks with children.

For us, we wanted a place with a kitchenette so that we could do breakfasts and certain meals in house. This is why we chose short rental apartments instead of a hotel (also much cheaper!!). This way we could grab something to heat up in the apartment for dinner on our way home and Tommy didn’t have to sit through too many restaurant meals.

Since we also cloth diaper, it was very nice to have a washer/dryer in the apartment as I could do laundry whenever needed, I did clothes and diapers on alternating days. This also means that when we came back, I didn’t have a huge pile of dirty clothes to wash! I brought detergent pods in my checked baggage so I wouldn’t have to buy some there and to make sure I knew what I was doing and not using unknown to me detergent. (Maybe not important for clothes, but for diapers, next to little bums, it’s important to not have residue or use something that is irritating!)

Going out day-to-day and daily schedules

Going with the flow and being flexible here proved essential, not only because of babies and jet lag but also because you never know what that toddler will suddenly find fascinating!!

For the first few days we let Tommy sleep in and went out mid-morning. We would have lunch out and then we would come back to the apartment mid-afternoon where Tommy would have a nap and then we would go out again for a short jaunt just around the neighbourhood to get food. We would eat in the apartment and go to bed whenever the sleep cues showed up. This routine mostly stayed the same except that Tommy started getting up earlier, closer to his normal wake-up time and we would go out earlier in the day after breakfast. Tommy would typically fall asleep in the stroller for about half an hour mid-morning.

On our explorations, we would inevitably get side tracked by a park, a fountain, some random thing like a tractor in Green Park! So not having to be anywhere at any particular time was a great way for us to explore London with no stress. I highly suggest not over-booking yourself, having a toddler mid-tantrum somewhere you paid to get into is not fun!

Travelling with Baby : Zoe's first trip to Jamaica

 Our original intention when we first started the Baby's Got Backpack blog was to recount our travel challenges and advice as new parents. While its taken longer than expected, we finally have our own little one on the way! In what we hope will now be the blog's ongoing theme, we offer the following spectacular guest post by Josée Hunter, who was kind enough to provide her best travel advice learned on her recent trip to Jamaica with her 14 month old daughter Zoe and family! Enjoy!

Our first day at the resort. Enjoying the view of Sunset Cove at the Grand Palladium Jamaica in Lucea.

We travelled to Lucea, Jamaica from January 7th to the 14th. Travelling with us were my in-laws, including my husband's sister. I must admit that we were not able to relax and unwind as much as we would have had my husband, Cory, and I been travelling by ourselves, but we knew what we had signed ourselves up for. This was meant to be a family trip - as well as our 14 month old daughter, Zoe's first trip down south - so our goal was to have as much fun in the sun as possible. I think it's important to have that mind set when you are travelling with a one year old. Don't expect to be worshipping the sun for hours on end and reading a novel from cover to cover because your toddler will likely have a different agenda. That being said, we had a great time and Zoe seemed to really enjoy herself. It also helped that we had brought our own personal babysitters along for the trip, so Cory and I were able to sneak away for a few hours at a time and even enjoy a romantic evening by ourselves.

Here are some tips that I can share based on our experience.

Air travel

As you may recall from the news reports, January 7th was not the greatest day for travel to and from Canada as the weather caused a lot of flight delays and cancellations. Thankfully our flight from Montreal was not cancelled, however we did experience a 6 and a half hour delay. This meant spending the majority of the day in an airport terminal with a baby that had been up since 5:00 am. What saved us was having packed enough meals for Zoe to get her through the day, including lots of snacks, as well as a good travel stroller for her to nap in while we waited to board our flight (more on this later). 

Our little traveller lounging in her stroller at the Montreal airport as we wait to board our flight.

Our 4.5 hour WestJet flight finally departed around 6:00 pm, an hour before Zoe's usual bedtime (you can imagine where I'm going with this). As Zoe is under two, we were not required to purchase a separate seat for her. We opted to have her sit on our lap for the duration of the flight. The 6 of us were seated in row 8, which is approximately half way down the aisle. The first few hours of the flight went smoothly: we fed Zoe her dinner, read her some books, coloured with crayons, walked up and down the aisle and visited grandma and grampa across the aisle. Once the tiredness set in, she got fussy and no longer wanted to be sitting still on our lap. She just wanted to crawl around and be free - and who could blame her! Needless to say there were many tears and we got some looks from fellow passengers, although most of them were sympathetic. Eventually we gave in and let her crawl around at our feet on a blanket that we layed out on the floor. She was happy doing that for the most part, but eventually grew tired of that too. She did fall asleep in Cory's arms after protesting some more, just in time for our descent into Jamaica (sigh).

Lesson learned. For the return flight we splurged and paid the extra $45 per seat to sit in the first row of the airplane. The extra leg room alone made it worth the cost, however we were not aware that the price would also include complimentary meals, snacks and alcohol (bonus!). Zoe was happy to play on a blanket on the floor with her toys scattered around her for the entire duration of the flight with the exception of takeoff and landing, of course, when she was required to be on our lap. This made the return flight much more enjoyable for the whole family and the other passengers on the flight.

Flying with WestJet, we were allowed to check in our car seat and stroller free of charge in addition to our alloted one piece of luggage each. We were also able to bring a diaper bag on board the flight in addition to our carry on luggage.

The car seat debate

One of the biggest debates we were struggling with before our trip was whether or not to bring a car seat for the transfer between the airport and the resort in Jamaica. I've heard from people who said it wasn't worth bringing one, but in the end we decided we had nothing to lose by bringing it as we could check it in at no extra cost. Cory had called the transfer company in advance to confirm that their vehicles would accommodate car seats. In the end we were grateful for having it as the resort was a 45 minute drive from the airport and our flight only landed at 10:30 pm, which meant that Zoe was able to sleep comfortably in her car seat until we arrived at the resort. My advice would be to check the transportation safety regulations for the country you are visiting, and to try to follow Canada's transportation safety regulations as closely as possible regardless of where you are travelling. For the record, children are required to use baby seats in Jamaica too.

Respect, mon.

Sleeping

Although most baby-friendly resorts will provide a crib upon request, depending on their availability, we opted to bring our own Pack-and-Play so that Zoe would have a familiar bed to sleep in, in an otherwise unfamiliar environment. We managed to squeeze the Pack-and-Play into one of our large suitcases with all of the other baby gear. The other suitcase contained all of our clothing. 

We've heard some stories of hotel cribs squeeking from even the slightest movement from the baby, keeping everyone from getting a restful sleep. By having our own crib, we didn't worry about the hotel not having any cribs available for us upon arrival or about the cleanliness or condition of the crib (because you never know where it's been, how many babies have slept in it or how thoroughly it gets cleaned after use).

If you do not want to be stuck in your room during your baby's daytime naps, I recommend investing in a good travel stroller with a large rotating canopy and a reclining seat. We had inherited a second hand umbrella stroller - the basic $13 one that I can probably break in half if I really wanted to - but we decided at the last minute to splurge on a more comfortable one for Zoe. Best decision ever! 

We decided on the Chicco Liteway stroller from Babies R Us after reading some good reviews about it. At $160, it is compact, lightweight but sturdy, and has a fully reclining seat, large rotating canopy and lots of storage. This stroller was a lifesaver during our 6 and a half hour delay at the Montreal airport. We also spent a lot of time walking from one end of the resort to the other while Zoe slept comfortably, shielded from the sun.

http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=10833943

If travelling by yourselves with a baby and your baby is used to sleeping in his or her own bedroom at home, I recommend booking a one bedroom suite so that you can have a separate room to hang out in once you put the baby to sleep at night. Because we were travelling with our in-laws, we arranged to have adjoining rooms and brought our baby monitor along so that we could put Zoe to bed in our room and then watch tv, read, have drinks or play cards in the other room until we were ready to turn in.

Zoe sporting her new Jamaican rasta shirt.

Eating

Because Zoe is 14 months old, she is now used to eating pretty much everything that we eat at home. This made mealtimes relatively simple as we could simply order something from the adult menu at the restaurant and share with her. We did, however, bring a few of her favorite non-perishable snacks, such as organic fruit bars, Cheerios and a few pouches of organic baby purees, such as the ones made by Baby Gourmet, Ella's Kitchen or President's Choice Organics. 

http://www.babygourmet.com/our-story
http://www.ellaskitchen.com/
http://www.pc.ca/en_CA/products/productlisting/pc-organics-baby-food-pouch---apple---cherry.html

Although we've always made our own baby food since Zoe was old enough to eat solids, the organic baby puree pouches were a practical way to ensure that Zoe was getting enough fruits and veggies in her diet while we were away. The restaurants at the resort also served whole milk, which we filled her sippy cups with. In addition to bringing a few sippy cups, we packed 6 or 7 baby spoons and a sillicon bib that can be easily wiped clean. We also brought a small container of dish soap to clean all of our mealtime supplies in our hotel room every few days.

Play

For entertainment, we brought a few of Zoe's favorite toys and books from home, as well as a few extra toys that doubled as water toys for the beach, pool or bathtub. We also brought crayons for colouring and a few sheets of paper, all of which do not take up much space in a suitcase or carry on bag. We also downloaded a few baby-friendly apps for our Android tablet. Before anyone poses judgement, we do not usually let Zoe play with our smartphones or tablet at home. However this provided some much needed entertainment during the flight when all else failed. Zoe particularly enjoyed the Talking Tom Cat app by Outfit7 and the Baby Phone & Music Games by Penguin Apps. 

Zoe taking a break from swimming to share a snack with mom on the beach.

The resort staff was great for entertaining Zoe. She was very popular wherever we went. There were also tons of activities and things to look at to keep her busy during the day.

Unexpected illness

Sadly, a few days into our trip Zoe came down with a stomach bug that caused her to have diarrhea (I know, TMI. I won't get into the details). This could have been caused by many things - teething, the heat, stress or unfamiliar food. Thankfully she did not show any other symptoms that would indicate that she had a virus or bacterial infection. We had packed a first aid kit that included a thermometer, baby ibuprophen, baby acetaminophen and diaper rash cream, among other things. We also made sure to pack more diapers than we needed for the week but ended up using almost all of them. We never anticipated that Zoe would get sick on our trip, but we were prepared for the unexpected and it paid off in the end. 

All in all we are very happy that we took Zoe along with us for the trip. Some people asked us why we didn't just leave Zoe behind with the grandparents and go by ourselves, but we are a family unit and we want Zoe to grow up experiencing different sights and cultures. Granted that a road trip with a toddler is probably much easier than air travel, but if anything this trip proved that it is totally doable and it is not that scary. I'm proud of Zoe for being such a trooper as we threw her whole routine upside down for a week, and I'm also proud of Cory and I as parents for keeping it together during those tough moments and focusing on making this a positive experience for the whole family. Now we have some great memories of Zoe's first trip and we are looking forward to more travel adventures with her in the future.

Bye bye Jamaica. Family photo taken in the lobby of the resort while we wait to board the shuttle back to the airport on our last day.