I was traveling with a baby different than not traveling with a baby it's not better or worse
but there are a lot of things that I guess I didn't realize or expect so this is 10 things
that you should know before traveling with your little one so I've traveled to over 60 countries
50 of which I visited by myself so this is a big change for me to be going with a baby and we went
to Vermont last week on our first cross-country trip ever with Felix and it was a smashing success
but there's a lot of things that we learned kind of the hard way that I want to share with you
today so the number 10 thing that we learned is that you're gonna just prioritize different
things before having a baby I would wake up Before Dawn to go out and photograph the sunrise I might
even hike to this Sunrise it might take me hours I would get up at 3am to photograph the Milky Way
and I might stay out there for hours the most important thing to me was getting the coolest
footage the best photography that was what motivated my travels back then and it didn't
bother anyone because it was just me but now I have to consider other people and that is really
totally fine I'm cool with travel changing for me I traveled one way for a decade and now I'm
traveling a new way and I fully invite that but we were sleeping in until like 10 when we were in
Vermont and we just didn't get going until two each day I need a hand there were no sunrises
there wouldn't even really sunsets that we stayed out for I sure as hell didn't photograph the stars
or anything like that and I guess I didn't quite realize beforehand how many things are not baby
friendly so that's just a new consideration for these early years of his life when we're planning
our trips number nine there's obviously going to be less Serendipity I traveled like a total
Vagabond my first few years of traveling solo I just stayed in dorms I met people and they would
tell me of a cool place and then I might wake up the next morning and go and might not even
tell anyone I was going this didn't bother anyone it didn't matter it was the levy bohem I just did
what I wanted that's not going to be the case with a baby you have to make sure that he's still going
to get all of the food he needs to get when he needs it his nap is going to come into play so
you're not going to be able to just make spur of the moment decisions in the same way that you
used to number eight everything is just gonna take longer I mentioned previously we didn't get going
until two even though we were waking up at 10 or 11. he needed to eat he needed to be changed he
kind of wants to be held throughout the morning so that means that one of us is doing stuff while the
other one is entertaining or holding him we can put him down for a little bit we brought some of
his love every stuff with us and that play gym gets me hours back of every day at home so we
were still able to kind of get him tummy time and and entertainment but it still wasn't quite enough
to be able to have the same amount of time back each day that I can get at home getting through
security takes much longer plan on that there's going to be extra checks if you bring any kind of
food for the baby hello so we're at the airport and we just went through pre-check and they had
an issue with how much we brought for him to eat and I really had to go to battle for you
stroller car seat that's all going to have to have extra checks usually you probably don't
want a super tight connection because what if you get delayed and then you're going to buy some very
expensive diapers to make up for that mistake your baby's going to have needs during this layover
it's just much easier to be able to budget extra time but that does mean everything is going to
take longer number seven there's more stuff I'm gonna do a whole other video on everything that
we packed and most importantly what we didn't pack for this trip I think we were pretty good at being
minimalist but his stuff still took up a whole half of a large suitcase and that's just naturally
what happens when you have an infant he was three months old when we took this trip so we needed to
bring ample clothes for him we needed to bring his sleep stuff he needed to have his sound machine
we needed the Cheshire we needed his magic ruling suit we needed all these little things so that he
would still be comfortable and able to sleep while we were traveling before I used to travel carry on
only for years that is not happening with a baby thankfully these things don't really count against
your your checked luggage so that's very helpful on most Airlines anyway but still it's more things
to look after and I did have a situation where I forgot something completely essential I forgot my
pumps when we were out one day unfortunately I can't just breastfeed Felix I wish I could
that's not part of our story and so we had to run to Walmart and get a pump that made us late to do
the gondola I really wanted to be able to get out and walk around up top but we had to just do the
one where you get up and turn back around because it was the last Gondola of the day we almost
didn't make it to that and it was all because I forgot my pumps because we just had so much
so that brings me to number six inconveniences are going to come up I'm thinking about a road
trip that we did before this trip and the amount of extra times you need to stop to
feed the baby to change the baby to just handle the baby's needs maybe he's over being in the
car seat that definitely happens with Felix add so much extra time for us it's like 30 percent
more time because of the times that we have to stop to do something for him number five it's
more expensive naturally it's going to be more expensive to travel with an extra person when
they're a lap infant you usually don't have to pay extra for them to be with you on the
flight but if it's an international flight you often do especially if you're going to
book a business class ticket which I am trying to do with our miles it's an extra 250 on some
Airlines for him to just have the right to be on my lap so that's definitely a big surprise
for me most babies can travel with you into their two years of age without having to have their own
complete seats so we're going to milk that for as long as we can all stand it but you have to
buy more tickets you have to buy more food you have to book a bigger place you have to take
all of that into consideration and with each additional child you have that's going to grow
exponentially number four more research is going to be required we really want to go to Thailand as
our first big international trip but one of the biggest things I was thinking about was okay so
when I'm in Thailand we don't drink the tap water and that's not a big deal we buy bottled water we
can refill it at some of the refill stations that you see around town in some of the major cities
but I'm gonna have to be cleaning pump parts I'm going to have to clean bottles so does that mean
I'm just going to be going through all of this plastic all of these bottles water I guess I could
probably use a filter and then boil it but that assumes that I have a method for boiling so that's
just extra work we're gonna have to do in order to do that I also heard in Thailand it's hard to find
Formula so if you're formula feeding we combo feed we're gonna have to bring enough and we're gonna
have to hope that it's enough at that point Felix is going to be onto solid so I'm like okay what do
Thai babies eat when they're six months old we want to go to a certain Island but I'm kind of
like how do we actually get around that Island everyone just rents a motorbike I'm fine with
driving a motorbike if only I am on it there's no way I want to do that with a baby strap to me
so these are all things that I did not consider before and it's definitely different when you're
traveling with your little heart outside your body number three is the people I've actually been so
lovely I kind of expected we might get a little bit of animosity for bringing a baby on a plane
but if anyone was feeling that way they didn't outwardly express it and we actually had just a
lot of kindness multiple people stopped by to say how lovely he was and I was just like that's so
nice they don't have to say that they just want to and I was really Amazed by how lovely people can
be when you're traveling with a baby I expected the opposite when we were hiking on a trail people
were kept commenting on how nice it was to see a baby out thank you so I just feel like having a
baby actually invites people to be lovely to you and this is something that might give us a little
bit more interaction when we travel abroad number two I get to watch his discoveries he's pretty
young right now but it was still really cool to go hiking with him for the first time ever and
just watch the look of awe on his face as we were hiking through and the Beautiful foliage and he
obviously he loves staring at leaves so for him to be able to look at all these colorful leaves
he was just so into it and I loved that I love watching that and as he gets older I can't wait
to see the things that Fascinate him I'm actually just really excited to watch him discover the
world and to see that through his eyes number one and this is a big one I feel like I've unlocked
kind of a new level of travel in life I don't believe that everyone should have children I have
I don't judge anyone who decides not to it's the right decision for them but for me it just feels
like I've unlocked a new level of life like this new experience is really special and it's kind
of silly because I know that a lot of people are parents it's one of the most common experiences
in the world and yet it still just feels like something that the Universe gifted only to me
it feels entirely mine this bond this beautiful experience all of these sacrifices that I make all
of the things that I thought I would resent that I just don't at all because it's just a gift to
have him in my life and I've met a new version of me through all of this that I could have
without him and so I look forward to the continued growth as his mom and as a parent and that's just
something really cool about traveling with your baby that you wouldn't otherwise experience so I
hope this list helps you to prepare a little bit better to get you excited be sure to watch this
video to see our Vermont Leaf peeping experience his first trip ever and I will see you next week