[ENG] Traveling with a Baby – Part I: CAR

Both my man and I used to travel a lot. I always thought I should do it as much as I could before having my own family, cause with a baby people say travels slow down (especially in Russia where it was not common to take babies anywhere until 1 year old). Well now I can confirm – NOT NECESSARILY. In our case I even feel quite the opposite – we travel more.. Perhaps it was my perception as traveling with a baby is definitely very different compared to traveling as a couple or on your own. However, here I wanna share my story of our travels with our daughter until she turned 6-months old. There will be two parts: first – travel by car (2-months old), and second – travel by plane (4-months old).

So the baby just turned 2-months and my man comes to me and asks if we can travel. First reaction – denial… I just learned how to handle my baby, I got closer to understanding what she wants and she just started to differentiate day and night. All this means finally less stress for me after all the pregnancy craziness, after giving birth, after learning all the baby stuff (how to change diapers, how to dress her, how to wash her, all in all how to take care of her), after first weeks of crying, colic and sleepless nights… For a moment I thought I could slow down and finally breath but that is not the life I chose. We need to travel. For the first time. With hardly 2,5 month old baby. And due to certain circumstances we decided not to fly but travel with a car 2.200 kilometers. It is difficult to describe what was going on in my head during the denial phase, at least I was politically correct (this time :) ) with my partner and I didn’t say “No” immediately, I calmly said “I am not ready to answer you yet”. Even though I knew we were going, I just needed some time to digest it.

So here we are – I get about 1-2 weeks to get ready, I guess more mentally than organizationally. The first things I did - were googling and reading various articles, tips and similar blogs as this one. I also contacted all the mommy-friends I know and asked for advice. This was very valuable and I must thank all those mommies who supported me. And only after that I started to make a list to pack and a list of things to do before we go (as we were leaving for one whole month).

The advantage of traveling with a car is that you can take many many things and at first I thought I needed everything. We were going from Germany to Spain, and of course I needed to take diapers, cleaning wipes, baby cream from DM (German store & brand – where btw everybody who has kids should buy stock options as with a baby you start visiting that store at least twice a week) cause Spain is such a third-world country :) Despite the fact that I did pack too much there were things which are difficult to avoid especially as we were about to spend 1 month away such as stroller, baby travel crib, car chair and only those occupy quite a lot of space. My man is smart so prior the trip he bought a car roof-box and even with such an extra space the car was full. Really full… still I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t manage to fit the baby bath tub :)

My man was in charge of the route planning. We planned our trip for several days so we drove on average 5-7 hours per day and sleep over night at hotels. We didn’t book the hotels as we wanted to be flexible and decide depending on the baby’s behavior. Our mid-wife strongly recommended us to stop every 2-3 hours as in Maxi Cosi babies sit like shrimps and they need to stretch. On top with breastfeeding the baby needs to eat every 2-3 hours. So we did that and it was good. We were even taking out the stroller each time and going for a walk so the baby could stretch, rest from the car and mommy could calm down seeing that the baby is still doing fine.

Another advantage of the car you can stop almost anytime you want. Generally babies like car-movement and fall asleep while driving. Our baby girl was not an exception. She was sleeping quite a lot especially when daddy drove at 110 km/h and above (in Germany it is quite possible). The moment we stopped either at a gas station, traffic jam or entering a city – we saw big eyes open saying “who gave you permission to slow down?”

Driving in Europe is also pretty nice cause there are enough decent stops on the highways with clean nursery rooms. But absence of those was not a problem as I learned how to change the baby in the car very quick (as we traveled in summer, so was no issue).

During the nights we slept in hotels or B&B. This was a nice rest for all of us. Baby was so tired so she slept through the night quite good only with some feedings. Most of the nights she slept in the stroller as it was more convenient than assembling the baby bed: stroller was already there and took less space. We washed the baby in the sinks of the bathrooms.

So all in all everything went well and we reached our destination as it was planned. We drove 5-7 hours per day with the necessary stops. It took us 4 days to Spain and 3 days back, and since then we have advanced. We also managed to do sightseeing and meet friends on the way. Staying at friends was always more convenient than looking for a hotel.

After this trip - day car trips were not even counted as trips. So in the end during one month we did almost 6.400 km with the car driving from Germany to Spain, back to Germany and "not-counted" trips driving within Spain.

There are couple of practical tips that I learned on this trip:

• Baby travel crib can be replaced with the stroller for some nights; hotels usually can. organize baby beds; if the bed in the room is big enough baby can sleep with the parents

• Baby bath tub can be replaced with a sink or you can always buy a small baby inflatable pool which doesn’t take much space.

• Baby stroller is terrible to fit in the car… perhaps you can skip it and take a car chair which is for a couple of months old baby isn’t good, but after 6-months they seem to feel better there. There are also bed bags, baby carrycots and baby carriers which can be super convenient.

• Try to get a pad or a mat that you can use to change a baby on a car seat. The car seats in the back are not flat so the baby always slides on the backseat.

• Put car window sun shades. This will protect baby from the direct sunlight and will make it easier for you to breastfeed in the car. Since we didn't have it on all the windows, I used a towel or a blanket on the window.

• It was useful to pack one baby bag that was always with us in the hotels, so the rest could stay in the car and you don’t need to open the suitcases looking for necessary clothes or things (Also applicable to parents things).

• Always keep some toys or entertainment for the baby in the car, in case the baby is bored and you cannot stop on a highway. Later on DVD screens are great.

• It's good to avoid hotels in the city centers if possible, better to stay close to the highways, so baby doesn't wake up and it is easier to find the hotels. Also remember once you have a car roof-box, you need to watch out the height of the parking garages in the city and quite often they are not high enough.

Of course some factors are important to make travels happen. For example, time - maternity leave, being in Germany I am taking almost one year off from work and my partner 4 months. And I bet it is even easier to travel with 2-months old than 1 year old, as little babies can sit still and are not as active as older babies.

As every mom I was worried and then happy when everything turned out good. Or I hope it turned out good and my baby won’t be suffering later on from this trip.

In Russia we say: eyes are scared, but hands are doing. So it was. Don’t be afraid and if you feel like it – just travel!

#movelermom #travelwithbaby