Lesson 7: Travelling with babies

Another post inspired by Elena, she is lately a very good source of inspiration :) (And I still have another one about swimming with babies...)

Having the family abroad means that travelling is not a choice. So you better do it with some comfort or you will loathe the idea forever.

When Santi was only 4 months ago we did our first trip by plane, a small one to Bristol (1 hour away) to check the baby's attitude and our organisation capability. This trip was quite easy as we didn't have to check-in: our friends will lend us the maxi-cosi, the pram, the travel-cot, etc.
We decided then to travel as light as possible, only one piece of hand-luggage and the changing bag.
Our baby was comfortably on his baby carrier and we were happy travellers!

My two boys at the airport parking

Santi behaved marvellously and we certainly enjoyed the first experience.

The second time, it was much more difficult, a true stress-test for my capabilities. On my own and packing for the next 5 weeks. With the small possibility of asking husband to bring extra stuff after two weeks.
Since I was travelling with Jet2 (totally recommended!!!) and their luggage limit for babies is 10kgs, we decided to browse the Web for a light pushchair. After a little bit of research and reading a lot of comments of London commuters (they are heroes, aren't they?), we went for the Petite Star Zia 3.

A true beauty!!!

Our first impression wasn't that good, we thought it didn't look sturdy enough and it was too light, but, hey, that's what we wanted, isn't it?
I decided to travel light as well, so I checked-in absolutely everything: the luggage, the maxi-cosi and the pushchair. Travelling on my own meant that I would have limited mobility and I was going to get some help at the destination airport from my mum. Furthermore I had read that you are allowed to take the pushchair to the boarding gate but then you would not be able to recover it until the baggage claim, so not very helpful at all.

This trip again went great. Some inside trips, as the flight attendants were able to look at Santi on the baby carrier, we got some extra help from them, as he was charming them with his smile. We even got some extra kilos for free at Mallorca airport!!! (BTW, I cannot express how nice the Jet2 flight attendant were)

Our latest trip has been to the Canary Islands, just the three of us. Not knowing the destination very well or the facilities, we went for the "not-light" travelling. So, we needed extra space. Recommended by some colleagues, I got the Sunshine Kids Buggy Bag. It is perfect for keeping your bag clean and tidy until the destination, as well as some toys or other stuff that will not mind some tough treatment. It helps carrying lots of things and airlines are quite nice about them by not checking the content and allowing some extra kilos. From this trip, it is now a "must" in our travels.

More than enough space for the baby's stuff!

Next trip will be in two weeks with an almost walking toddler. Wish us luck!!!