This is a bit of pre-emptive post. And I'll have to update it throughout the year, but it's a topic that's been on my mind a lot lately.
You see, when I was pregnant with Thatkid, I decided we would take a year off travel. There is just so much STUFF to bring when you travel with an infant - strollers, carseats, pack n plays, clothes, toys, highchairs - it just seemed like a major hassle.
But things are different with a second, there's a lot less flexibility. Life just goes on. So instead of taking a year off, we have a ton of travel planned for 2016!
We've already done some short weekend trips - up to Arrowhead, out to Palm Desert. But we've got some bigger ones in the works. And now we're not just traveling with an infant, we're traveling with a toddler AND infant.
We've got a plane trip, and two very long car trips, all before Thatbaby turns one. So what are my plans?
Man on man defense - The nice thing about having two kids is that there are two of us. One to entertain Thatbaby, one to bring Thatkid to the bathroom. One to change a diaper, while the other fishes out snacks. We plan on doing a lot of this.
Frequent stops - Just for the car rides. They don't like this one on plane rides. But at least for drives, we plan on making stops so no one gets too car crazy.
Distractions - This one is mostly for Thatkid, since Thatbaby is not really at a good distraction age. Although he is at a good napping age. But Toxicesq got Thatkid a new Kindle for Chanukkah, and we definitely plan on making use of it. In fact, we've put it away since he received it, so we can pull it out as a special trip when we travel. Because new toys are always more distracting than toys we already have.
Low expectations - I'm already kind of planning for these trips to be a disaster. So if they're not I'll be pleasantly surprised!
Moms of 2 or more, any travel tips I should keep in mind?
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I don't know that I have any advice for you. We've travelled a lot with our girls, but the vast majority of it was after they were out of diapers! I'm sure you'll do great, especially when you aren't expecting perfection. Good luck and enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI only have one so I have no tips for you other than let it stroll and adapt according to circumstances. Adapting helped humans survive throughout centuries so I think it will help you too! Enjoy your travels!
ReplyDeleteNo advice from me, unfortunately, but I'm just here to absorb all the advice YOU have to offer!
ReplyDeleteWe took a road trip to Prince Edward Island with the two kids this past summer. It's a 13 hour drive in total. Some legs of the trip went smoothly and other involved a lot of crying and plying the kids with whatever would stop the crying (emergency parenting mode). E was easy -- she can watch movies, play games, etc for hours on end. K was a bigger challenge since he doesn't really play with things for very long (he was 11 months at the time). Thankfully, he sleeps well in the car. So, we would leave after breakfast and K would fall asleep. We drove for about 3 hours to a destination where we could get out and do an activity for 2-3 hours and tire the kids out. Get back in the car, K would sleep again. We drove until dinner and stopped for the day. Any driving after dinner would result in a lot of crying. So, it was just a matter of figuring out stop points that would work well. It took longer to get to the destination. But, I'd take that over being stuck in a car with a screaming baby.
ReplyDeleteWe also took a trip to Mexico when K was about 5 months old. That was a tough trip. Both kids got sick on the flight (I had a change of clothes for them, but not me) and that lasted for part of the week. E was 2.5 at the time and was really clingy. I think she'd probably do better now. We decided after that trip that future designations would have to be self-catering because going to a buffet and restaurants with the kids for every meal was too difficult.
In both cases, I think having lots of activities for E helped a lot. I spent about $20 at the dollar store getting random toys she could play with along with other toys that don't take up much space (stickers, colouring books, activity books, iPad games, movies on iPad, etc.). Her favourite were puffy Melissa and Doug stickers. I also had a lot of snacks. Some of which E would consider real treats (e.g., ring pops) that I would only pull out when she was nearing her limit of driving. I was also glad that I brought some medication stuff -- thermometer, bandaids, baby Tylenol, etc. Other random tips...change diaper just before boarding flight. Bring extra diapers. We've always relied on baby carriers rather than strollers.