First Flight to Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV
Flight Time: 2.5 hours
Trip Length: 6 days
Age: 8 months

Our first trip DMC was 8 months old, we traveled to Las Vegas with hubs on a business trip. The milestone DMC learned to crawl in a hotel room and it was my first time to Las Vegas with a baby...I never visited in my 20's, go figure.

We spent five days in Las Vegas and accomplished all the kid friendly activities in two days, spent time at the pool, and walked everywhere.  Onto the first flight and I'll cover our activities..including family friendly dinner complete with a shot girl with booty shorts in the restaurant. 

For our first flight, I brought everything boppy, medula pump, boob milk, car seat, snap n go stroller, etc. The flight went really well, DMC nursed and slept on the boppy..so glad I brought it. I heard that I should just wear baby, but for us the boppy was his routine and comfortable for him plus he slept. 

So next question was how does all that baby stuff get through security? Slow and steady everything went through the scanner. Side note I've never had my boob milk or formula throw out. I brought 4oz bottles and TSA tested it along with my food pouch I only opened one pouch. I carried baby through and then had a pat down and my hands swiped with paper to do a quick scan. It's completely doable just leave extra time for security. 

Onto the flight, we checked our car seat and snap n go stroller base at the plane door. The flight attendant gave us a tag and it was waiting for us after the flight at the plane door.

Once we landed we picked everything up at luggage claim and grabbed a cab. I used DMC's car seat in the cab, I always use a carseat in every cab still and we make sure we can walk to lunch, dinner or other activities. We also rent cars while we travel too.

Items on the Plane:

Smart Noggin Stik (very cool baby toy, every baby I know loves this toy)

Teething toys (Sofie the Giraffe)

Cloth books

Blanket
Boppy

Kid Friendly Activities:
Las Vegas Children's Musuem, there was a crawl zone area in the toddler exhibit
Siegfried & Roys Magic Garden , this was fun for me, but DMC was too young to enjoy seeing the animals
Lots of pool time 

Baby Friendly Hotel:
We stayed at two different hotels since we were joining hubs during a work conference. The second hotel 'The Venetian'. This was more baby friendly since all the rooms are junior suites. So the crib is not next to the hotel bed. The crib also came with some small baby products. There were many small pools, fountains, boat ride, and a large piazza. 

Babysitting Service: We had a sitter for one night, while we went to dinner and a show. I would highly recommend the service 'Nannies and Housekeepers USA'.

First International Trip with DMC (French Riveria and Spain)

French Riveria and Spain (Barcelona, Granada, Marbella)

Flight Time: 36 hours of flying
Length of Trip: 2 weeks

Age: 15 months

For DMC's first trip to visit Nonni (grandparents), we traveled to four cities in two countries over a 16 day period. We flew on over 7 flights and rented two cars. Overall our toddler did really well with all the traveling and readjusting to an completely opposite time zone. After researching tips for flying with a toddler and completing our trip here are some tips and advice we learned.

Getting to the airport: We left two hours early and took an afternoon flight, we booked a car service. 

Airport checked luggage: Since DMC was a lapbaby for this flight (you still pay for a lapbaby on international flights) we checked his carseat, one suitcase for hubs, one suitcase for me, and one child suitcase for DMC. We then checked his umbrella stroller at the gate before boarding the plane.

Packing list of activities for plane ride:

Play Dough

Stickers (picture books with 100)

Magnet Book

Two new books (hidden flap book)

iMovie via Ipad, I made a short movie of photos of our son. He loves watching himself

Favorite blanket or stuff animal to encourage sleep

Tips during plane ride:

• Diaper for every three hours, plus two extra for the inevitable number 2:)
• Bring an insulated kid lunchbox and extra food container
• If your toddler or baby is a lap child, no meal will be provided
• I packed three horizon milk boxes for our 12 hour flight and one bottle
• Bring 3-5 bags of a special treat your toddler loves for breakdowns (our toddler loves plum organic teensy fruit)

DMC at a playground in front of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain

Grocery Shopping in Italy

This time around we rented a room at a Bed & Breakfast instead of a hotel. The perks; free breakfast each morning, shared kitchen for cooking, larger room/terrace, small fridge in the room, and much more reasonable price since we are staying for two weeks. There is a hotel in front of the Bed & Breakfast so we have the option of a restaurant too.

When we arrived I needed to buy milk, bottled water, and some snack items (yogurt, crackers, cheese, fruit). So we went to the grocery market in town. There were many choices for dairy products (milk,yogurt, cheese), pasta, crackers, drinks. There are not premade food items in most grocery stores, however you can find frozen meals. For meat, bread, and fruit you need to go to separate markets for these items. There are sold at the large grocery store, but not good.

The superstore that is now almost throughout Europe is the chain Carrefour. This store is similar to a Costco, no membership needed.

Tip: grocery carts in Europe have a lock with a slot. It costs 1 euro to use the cart and you get it back after returning the cart.

Grocery Store Chain
Spain: Supersol, Carrefour
Italy: Conad or local market
France: Carrefour (similar to a Costco, but you do not need a membership)

Diapers: the French/Italian Riveria carries Pampers brand and Spain carries the brand Dodot (grocery store or Toys R Us)

First grocery store trip: crackers, milk, cheese, and chocolate wafers

Marineland, a family amusement park in French Riveria

We have been staying near Monaco on the Italian Riveria in the same town as Nonni so we can eat meals together and spend time together. We are in a smaller town in walking distance to everything. The beaches have playgrounds, water inflatables in the water, and you can rent a beach chair with umbrella. Very child friendly. However after 8 days at the beach and pool, we decided to visit Marineland in Antibes, France (between Cannes and Nice). It's a mini Disney/Seaworld for France. There are 4 main parks, each great for any age. We visited Kids Island, which was a good fit for our 2 year old and Aquasplash. Kids island was small, animal focused with petting areas and a train to ride. What we didn't realize was how hot it would be. So we spent maybe 45min total at Kids Island, we spent the rest of time two hours at Aquasplash.

It was a very busy day since it was so hot, but clean, fun, and safe Waterpark. There were three large areas for toddlers at the front of the park, another smaller one close to the pirate ship ride, and the third largest area at the back of the Waterpark. It was so much fun and a great way to cool off. There are many areas with chairs, shade tent areas, and a soft faux beach area to sunbathe. There were numerous lifeguards in every area.

Lockers: There are storage lockers for your item 5 euros for small locker and 10 euros for large locker

Strollers: I brought our small travel stroller through the park. I locked our valuables in a locker, but kept towels, water, and sunscreen with us. There were numerous areas to park the stroller. It is a large Waterpark so the stroller really helped

Required swimwear for toddlers: Children 3 and under are required to wear arm floaters. They are sold at the store by the entrance for 5 euros

Parking: Large parking lot, easy to find a space and 7 euros

Kids Eating in Italy

First off chocolate and sweets are everywhere especially at breakfast. In Italy there are Gelateria's on every corner just like Starbucks. Be prepared for your baby/toddler eating sweets to start off their day.
A typical breakfast is: crossaints (cream, chocolate, nuetlla, marmalade,etc), sweet cake, fruit, yogurt, granola, meat, cheese, and plenty of bread. You need to make a special request for eggs. Italians do not eat eggs for breakfast and eggs are served soft boiled.

Lunch and Dinner are very different all over Italy depending on what region you are in. For example Rome: pasta, On the coast: fish, Umbria region: meats. All of the regions serve pizza. A typical lunch could be a vegetable appetizer (artichoke), small dish of pasta, bread, meat/cheese. Dinner is similar maybe consisting of a meat dish depending on your region.

Restaurants do not have children's menus. You may find them at resorts or hotels, but not at restaurants in town. You most likely will not find Highchairs unless you are at a resort or hotel. Many restaurants are very accommodating and you can tell the waiter what you would like for your baby/toddler. Almost all large restaurants have 'pomme frites' frenchfries on their menu.

Tip: Travel Highchair


Typical Mealtimes:
Breakfast 8:00am-10:00am
Lunch 12:30pm-3:00pm
Dinner 7:30pm-10:00pm

A majority of restaurants will be closed between lunch and dinner. With the exception of a resort or hotel. Italians in general do not snack between meals. The reason lunch consists of 2-3 courses and is a pretty large meal.


DMC is a good eater whenever we are in Italy, he eats most things and will try most things. He does still have a few favorites: pesto pasta, gnocchi, fontina cheese, yogurt, fruit, crossaints, and gelato of course. I still bring his American snacks with us: veggie/fruit pouches, granola bars, Annie's bunnies.

DMC and Jet Lag

Another first for our second trip to see Nonni is our jet lag is much longer than last year. It's day 7 of our trip and DMC is still struggling. He is on his own schedule wakes up around 7:15am, nap from 3:30pm-6:00pm if I don't wake him up he will nap from 3:30pm-11:30pm, and bedtime 9:30pm. He still wakes up around 3:00am or 4:00am ready to get up and play. It takes a lot of cuddling to get him to sleep until 7:15am.

I attempted to keep him on our schedule from home nap 1:00pm-3:00pm and bedtime 8:00pm. However Europeans eat dinner anywhere from 8:00pm-9:30pm, which hubs and I do at home. I feed DMC around 5:30pm in the states. Here's most restaurants open at 7:00pm for dinner. So that also adds to the later bedtime.

With a baby/toddler it's much more difficult to convince them to try jet lag tips out or even encourage them to stay awake. They sleep when they are tired. It's definitely tougher, but I always sleep with DMC does on the plane and I nap with him at the hotel. I know nighttime is most difficult for him to adjust so I need my rest whenever I can get it.

There are a few tips hubs and I always try to stick to when we travel international. Hubs travels internationally for work at least once a month or every other month.

Tips for Jet Lag

• When you arrive at your destination, immediately adapt to the local time
• Avoid a nap when you arrive to your destination
• Stay hydrated, drinks lots of water try to avoid alcohol the first day/night
• Before baby, we both would take a melatonin pill at night

Articles on Jet Lag
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/health/jet-lag
http://www.skyscanner.net/news/jetlag-15-tips-beating-timezone-tiredness

Second International Trip, things that have never happened before

French Rivera
Flight time: 12 hours (+2 hours delayed flight)
Visiting: 2 weeks
DMC Age: 24 months

After flying over 20 times with DMC about 85% on my own, hubs always meets us at our destination. I thought I had it down, I was happy to brag about how easy it was to fly with DMC.

This time around it was completely different. Starting the trip off I overpacked by 10lbs! I had to repack and add things to my already overpacked carry on. British Airways needed the bag at 50lbs, what did I pack that weighed 50lbs..3 gallon bags of DMC veggie pouches, brand new bottle of shampoo/conditioner, 3 bottles of sunscreen, and that right there about 10lbs of liquids:(

We flew out on a Sunday morning, the security line and airport were packed. We typically fly during the week for this reason. Once through security, we went through our normal process of my hands swiped due to carrying DMC through the security scanner and liquid check. This time however not only did my hands get swiped but I needed a pat down as well. I was then told I tested positive for a second chemical and needed to go to a private room for a further in depth pat down. Again this has never happened. We were finally cleared to go.

We boarded the plane, DMC was fed and happy. He started watching a kids show while I was waiting for the plane to dim the lights. Seattle time was 2:00pm, London time was 10:00pm. The plane lights dimmed about 7 hours into our flight, DMC napped for 1 hour.  DMC typically always sleeps on the plane during his routine time. Not this time.

We arrive for our connection and go through London security this time. The process took forever because of my 3 gallon bags of veggie pouches, 3 boxes of horizon milk, and DMC water bottle. After finally getting through security and boarding the plane to Nice, 10 minutes into our flight. We are told there is an engine problem. 25 minutes later we are told we need to unboard and reboard another plane from gate A5 to A19. Another first I was not allowed to bring the car seat/car seat cart on this flight. I had to carry DMC and our carry ons to the new flight. Heathrow is not a small airport.

At this time DMC crashed hard, jet lag had set in. We finally landed after 14 hours of flight and multiple lessons learned.

Lesson Learned:
Be aware of weight of liquids you are packing
Limit carry on bags, I packed one carry on for myself and DMC (now I will just pack one large bag)
Limit amount of baby liquids, longer weight time international security