Even routine life is turned upside down with the arrival of kids, not to mention travel. When new parents think about vacations with babies under one year old, there are doubts and a number of questions. How to choose the best country and hotel? What to do about food? How to fit all the baby stuff in one suitcase? Looking for answers to these questions, tourists with babies often forget about the little things that can complicate their lives later – on vacation.
Time zone change
The difference of 2 hours is not critical. It is hardly necessary to change your child’s internal clock for the sake of it. A more drastic change in time zones may require an adjustment of the routine.
The older a child is, the easier and quicker he or she will get used to getting up and going to sleep at a new time. It is better to prepare kids under a year old for a change of routine in advance and shift their wake-up and bedtime to what is necessary a couple of weeks before theyÂ
Feeding your baby while traveling
It is helpful if your baby is fully breastfed. Then you always have everything you need with you.
For formula-fed babies, you have to take the formula with you. The number of packs is not limited. At customs, no one picks on a suitcase with baby formula powder, porridge, and baby puree. You can take a few jars for the first time and then try to buy something on the spot. But before that, google the range of baby food in the resort supermarkets.Â
When traveling to Europe, you don’t have to worry about baby food at all. The variety and quality of European baby formulas remain decently high, so you should be fine.Â
You can rent an apartment with a kitchen or bring your blender. (If you want to spend your vacation time cooking, of course.)Â
Do not rely on the statement, “the hotel has a kid’s menu.” As it usually means french fries, nuggets, pizza, and chips.
A crying baby on an airplane and other difficulties of the flight
Only sleeping babies behave perfectly during the trip. You have to put up with it. All over the world, crying babies are treated with tolerance. But if you encounter negative comments about yourself, then offer the disgruntled passenger to change seats. Remember that such discontent is not your problem.Â
A parent’s task is to organize the flight time of a child, entertain, and not let him or her get too tired of the flight. Children are different; some will only help with a tablet, some food, some drawing, and the fourth a new toy. And it’s better to have all possible distractions for your baby and apply them one by one.
Huge luggage: how to pack lighter with kids
It used to be that you could travel with one medium-sized suitcase for two. Now you take a baby, a stroller, a bag of baby food, a big pack of diapers in one suitcase, and toys in the other.
Sometimes you can rent a stroller and buy diapers and food on the spot. That significantly reduces the amount of luggage but is fraught with a tedious search quest.
Child travel expenses
Traveling with a child under 2 years old has a significant advantage – the infant does not need to buy a separate ticket and pay for hotel accommodation, which significantly reduces travel costs.
On the other hand, you are expected to overpay for comfort. You’re unlikely to have a connecting flight to save a few hundred dollars. And overnighting with a child, you probably prefer a more or less nice hotel rather than the airport.
These are the most common problems faced by parents traveling with children. None of them are hopeless. For a trip to take place, you need only three things: your desire, financial capacity, and time. And a child is definitely not an obstacle.