Overseas Trip Thoughts - Part One

I promised to write up some of my thoughts about travelling overseas with Tabitha.  Of course, I am no expert, and each baby and family is different - what works well for us will not necessarily work for another family, and vice versa.  That said, I think that sharing our experiences is useful!

First up, let me say this:  the holiday was fantastic!!!  The Daddy and I both agree, wholeheartedly, that we absolutely recommend travelling with a baby of Tabitha's age.  We would do it again in a heartbeat.  Many people tried to tell us we were 'crazy, mad or just naive' when we mentioned that we were taking our 11 month old daughter on a month-long trip to the US.  But honestly, it was far easier, and more enjoyable, than we'd hoped.  We tried not to rush or cram too much into our days - we generally went for a morning walk, grabbing breakfast and a coffee, and giving Tabitha some play time in a park or garden, then came home for her morning nap.  We then went out for lunch and an afternoon of activity.  We either stayed out and had an early dinner, getting her home by 7:30 for bed, or else came home for a little rest before setting out for dinner (sometimes getting home a little late, but almost always by 8pm).  So the pace was quite relaxed, and while she had her morning naps, we had time to tidy up, plan our day, or even lie back and read a book.  Overall, the holiday felt more relaxed than other overseas trips we've taken, not less.

With regard to hotels, I recommend staying at full-service type hotels.  We've always loved little boutique places and bed-and-breakfasts, in the past, however these are not ideal with a baby or toddler.  Too many knickknacks (vases, old books, pretty ornaments, exposed electrical cables, non-secured televisions and furniture, curtains which can be pulled down etc), and sometimes unsafe features such as staircases, opening windows on high stories etc.  We stayed at an apartment in the West Village (not a traditional, hotel-style serviced apartment, but more like a bed-and-breakfast type setup), and a bed-and-breakfast in Lancaster County.  While we completely adored the B&B in LC, falling in love with the property, its hosts and their amazing breakfasts, it was tiring being in our cottage - we had a flight of stairs (which Tabby can climb, but not get back down safely), as well as about a billion little delicate decorator touches and knickknacks.

For most of our trip, we stayed in traditional, full-service hotels.  With room service, pillow options, spare blankets and sheets, toiletries supplied, laundry services and the like.  The rooms were spotlessly clean, there were minimal delicate items.  Everything was in good working order.  There were small fridges.  Ahhhh this made life easy!  I have never appreciated good hotels like I do now!  Being able to call downstairs for a meal if Tabitha crashed out asleep early.  Being able to call downstairs for extra towels when Tabby had a bout of stomach flu. And plenty of space with soft carpet for our little monkey to play.  Having a concierge was also most useful with a baby - calling ahead to check the availability of high chairs, advise on good local parks, directions to a 24-hour chemist.

When travelling, it is useful to take a mini-child-proofing kit with you.  Some outlet covers for electrical points, and possibly some blackout fabric and tape, for windows in case the curtains aren't sufficient.  I also recommend taking a big role of masking tape and gaffer tape!  It's amazing how useful these tapes can me - for keeping draws and cupboards closed, for keeping toilet lids closed, for securing furniture.  Good gaffer tape is nice and strong, and not easily peeled back by a baby or toddler!

When we arrived at each hotel (we spent about a week at each), we made the effort to properly unpack.  Everything went into draws, cupboards or in neat piles on desks.  Rummaging through suitcases for clean baby singlets, bibs or spare wipes is not efficient.  Taking half an hour to unpack properly saves time overall, and means that everything remains neat and folded, making re-packing a breeze.  At each hotel, I set up a little 'nappy changing station' with nappies, wipes, change mat, disposal bags, barrier cream and spare PJs on the desk, so all the bits and pieces were handy.

Most hotels offer laundry service, however it is generally ridiculously overpriced - $12 for a top, $20 for a pair of pants?  No thanks.  Before we arrived, I checked in advance to find laundromats near each of our hotels, and we did one or two trips to the laundry each week.  Doing two loads of laundry at once (darks and lights) and then a load of drying (on low heat to avoid shrinkage) didn't take more than an hour and a half, and we took it in turns to sit and read, while the other took Tabitha for a walk, play or lunch.  The lovely AKA serviced apartments we stayed at in Upper Midtown, NY, had free laundry facilities in the basement for guests.  This is a brilliant feature if you are travelling with children - well worth seeking out when booking accommodation.

Most American hotels offer free WiFi, which is brilliant - we took our laptop and used it a lot for planning our days, email, google maps and the like.

While planning our trip, I made note of the closest supermarkets to each hotel.  Wholefoods is by far my preferred US supermarket - in fact, I will admit that I get quite sad and grumpy that we don't have a similar supermarket in Australia.  I could happily spend hours in Wholefoods!  In Boston, Shaw's is an excellent supermarket too.  As soon as we arrived, I went and bought oatmeal, organic milk, some fresh fruit and vegetables, some wholegrain bread and some snacks (dried fruit, organic dry cereal such as puffed corn and rice etc).  This meant we always had the ability to whip up a meal for Tabitha, even without a kitchen (for example, mashed banana or avocado sandwich, porridge, cut up fruit and vegetable sticks).

When out and about, it was useful to take some snack foods - dry cereal, dried fruit, as well as cut up fresh fruit and vegetables.  Often, I would get a snack of a bagel or hot dog, and I didn't want Tabitha snacking on endless white carbs or hot dogs (hypocritical, I agree!).  So it was good to always have something nutritious to give her to munch on.  Also, if there was a wait at a restaurant for our meals, having snacks was good distraction.  If you get caught in a restaurant without a snack, most are more than happy to bring your baby some oyster crackers or bread.

The Wholefoods hot food and salad buffets were excellent - babies like to eat lots of little bits and pieces, so grabbing a container to fill with a piece of capsicum, some stewed chicken, some pasta, a bit of tuna, some cucumber and a little naan bread was perfect, if we wanted to sit and have a picnic in the park, or if we were tired and wanted to sit in our room and give her lunch.

Eating out - I am pleased to report that, after a full month in America, Tabby has still never tried a chip or french fry.  When eating out, it was generally fairly easy to find food for Tabitha to eat.  Most restaurants offer sides of vegetables (Americans tend to add butter and oil to steamed veggies, so if you'd prefer them plain, it's worth specifying).  Some veggies, a little bread, some steak or other meat from our meals and there is a complete meal for Tabitha.  She really loves seafood, and throughout the East Coast, the famous lobster rolls are everywhere.  I love them too, so I often ordered a lobster roll and gave Tabitha plenty of lobster meat, along with some steamed veggies.

Even if you are eating somewhere which may initially seem challenging, such as a burrito chain (delicious!), you can generally manage to come up with something.  For example, while we ate burritos, I picked out little pieces of steak and Carnitas, smeared some guacamole on some tortilla for her, and gave her a little pile of beans to eat - which was not only nutritious, but kept her occupied for a while, picking up the individual beans.

If you are stuck in a not-so-nutritious restaurant (for example, Denny's or IHOP or another chain, on the road), it's always easy to order something like a children's cheeseburger (meat, bread and cheese!) or chicken strips with a side of fruit or veggies.  Hey, it's not ideal, but it will certainly suffice for a single meal.  Remember - nutritionists always advise looking at someone's diet over a week, never just based on a single meal or even day.  So if you have a day full of less-than-perfect food, don't worry too much.  One thing I was impressed with was that many of the US chains (for example, Denny's) serve fruit as a side by default for all children's meals - if you want fries, you need to request them.  I hope that Aussie restaurants follow suit in the future.

In places like Boston and DC, in fact, most of America, high chairs are readily available in all sorts of restaurants - even bakery chains such as Au Bon Pain have high chairs.  However, in New York City, where space is a premium commodity (even square foot is another potential paying customer), high chairs are far less common.  Generally, you can use your pram as a high chair - we did this a lot.  Just sit the pram upright at the table, and try to make sure that the handles aren't sticking out into the pathways of waiters or patrons.  High chairs that DO exist are often inadequate for a climbing, wriggling baby or toddler - many, many US restaurants seem to have a sort of boxy high chair without a harness, and sometimes without even a waist strap!  Within seconds, Tabitha is up and out of these high chairs, climbing onto the table.  We learnt quickly, and started taking a couple of long scarves out with us, to fashion a little harness or waist belt for her, keeping her in the high chair.

Some restaurants, despite not having high chairs, also do not allow prams!  Serendipity 3, I'm looking at YOU!  In these cases, it is worth getting creative.  You can use a wrap, such as my Vatanai, to strap the baby to a regular chair, wrapping it gently but firmly around their legs and torso, in a sort of harness, and tying it to the seat and back of a chair!  This is even better if you have a booster seat (which some non-high-chair places do have) to work with, which will elevate the baby to table-height.

Now, we do have a travel high-chair.  It's the HandySitt, and we love it.  We use it a lot in Australia, but decided it was too bulky to take overseas, and to lug around with the pram.  Having our time again, we would probably take it with us - or another similar type of thing.

Other restaurants (such as my beloved Bubby's) offer high chairs, but do not allow prams.  You are expected to leave your pram outside on the street.  If you know this in advance (call ahead and check), you can take the baby in a carrier and leave the pram at home, however it is generally seen as quite safe to leave a pram (with nothing in it) outside.  In theory, I suppose you could take a bicycle chain and secure it to something!

Streamlined the 'nappy bag' for each day - even if we were going to be out all day, all that we needed was 2 bibs, wipes, a couple of nappies, snackball with some dried fruit and snacks, drink bottle (luckily, Tabby can drink from a regular bottle, or her mummy, if we didn't bring the drink bottle).  Everything we needed, including the camera and my phone/wallet, could easily fit in my Longchamp totes (which I used instead of a handbags overseas) or in the Ergo / pram.

For carrying the baby, we took both the pram (our Bugaboo Cameleon) and a couple of carriers (our Ergo and my Vatanai woven wrap).  The Daddy wasn't keen to take the pram, initially - he thought we could manage just fine with the Ergo, and thought that taking the pram, in its massive Travel Case, was overkill.  Indeed, it is bulky to take - the pram in its case needs to be checked in at the 'oversized luggage' section at the airport.  But the travel case has room to stuff HEAPS of stuff in, around the pram - we fitted in a month's worth of disposable nappies, a few pairs of shoes, and other random bits and pieces.  Plus, airlines generally do not weigh the pram case, so it's a good place to sneak in heavy items.  But ultimately, we were really glad we took the pram - when you are out all day, it is nice to have a break from carrying the baby, and Tabitha enjoyed sitting in her pram, waving at everyone who passed by (Americans, being ga-ga for children, all obligingly wave back - even harried businessmen).  Many places do not have highchairs, so the pram was useful for feeding her in.  And if we were out shopping, being able to stow packages under the pram is helpful.  In theory, you could buy a cheaper umbrella-style stroller when you arrive on your trip.  But it won't be as comfortable for your child as a regular pram, and isn't as useful for shopping.  But it's certainly an option.

While we used the pram a fair amount, at least ever couple of days, the Ergo got a real workout.  For quick trips, for morning walks, or for longer trips where she might get fussy (such as museums and galleries), the Ergo was perfect.  It's easy to put her in and out (great when you have a mobile, crawling or walking baby who frequently needs to get down and let off some steam), and great for crowds when you don't want your baby face-to-bottom with strangers.  I also used the Vatanai woven wrap, though not as much as the Ergo.  In DC and Lancaster County, where the weather was hot, the Vatanai was good.  But it's certainly not as useful for getting your baby in and out - better if you are going for a walk or something, and are not likely to need to stop for a meal.

When out and about, we found that changing nappies was straightforward.  Because we had chosen to use disposable nappies for our trip (laundry facilities were not always available, we didn't have access to good drying space, and they are bulky to pack), nappy changes were a little more flexible - with cloth, you generally need to change every 3 or so hours, however you can get away with stretching this out a little with good quality disposables.  So, if we were out, we could normally wait until we got home OR until we were somewhere with a change-table (department stores, some restaurants, most Starbucks, hotel lobbies).  To compensate for being in her nappies a little longer, we used plenty of barrier cream at each change, to protect her skin.

We took enough nappies to last us for nearly the entire trip.  We ran out during the last week - so we went to Target in Lancaster County to buy some Huggies.  Interestingly, there were several kinds of Huggies - sensitive skin Huggies, active baby Huggies, and others I can't remember.  We bought the only one which came in a 32-pack in Tabitha's size (I think the active ones) and actually found them to be pretty ordinary.  They leaked more easily than the Huggies I have from Australia, and were not differentiated between boys' and girls'.  Based on my experience, I would recommend taking your own nappies with you - if you know what works, best to stick with it.  There were, however, nice sensitive skin wipes available in the US - lots of types, and much cheaper than in Australia.  Same for disposable breastpads.

If you need to buy commercial babyfood (unlikely if you are doing Baby-Led Weaning), there is plenty of variety in the US - lots of good organic ranges, with all the normal flavours and varieties.  The one thing I didn't seem to see was the instant baby cereals we have here - Bellamy's and the like, for example banana rice cereal.  There was plain rice cereal, but not organic and not of the quality we have in Australia.

Drug stores (chemists) in the US are really brilliant.  Not only do they have all the regular pharmacy items (and then some!) such as painkillers, first aid, baby care etc., but also incredibly extensive aisles of beauty products, haircare, household cleaning products (including my beloved Method products), magazines, food (cereal, biscuits, snacks, frozen foods, milk, fruit etc) and things like CDs, stationary and the like.  Most large drug stores are more like mini supermarkets.  Go have a wander in one for fun!

Over the coming week, I will write another post - focusing on evaluating our packing list (what worked, what didn't), our choice of airline and experiences with air travel, discussing breastfeeding in America (Americans overall are slightly more conservative than Aussies), and the pros and cons of taking your own car seat (we did not).

I hope that some of this might be useful to someone, one day...