Whether you’ve booked a Galapagos last minute deal for 2019 or are just driving a few hundred miles to visit family, it’s without a doubt more difficult when you have a newborn to consider. But why is it more complicated? What can you do to ease the strain on the whole family and be prepared for every eventuality?
Photo by Adolfo Félix on Unsplash
Essential paperwork
If you’re traveling in or out of the country you will have to consider the rules and laws in place, do you need a passport for everyone? Are you able to travel for a short period of time without a visa? Are there vaccinations to consider? These are all things that we need to consider, but with a newborn, who doesn’t arrive with their own passport at the hospital, you might want to get researching sooner rather than later.
Packing
So packing for a trip can be a bit difficult at the best of times, there are weight limits, and what if you forget an essential item?! But with a newborn, there are so many more reasons to worry, what if you run out of nappies, wipes, soothers, milk…. So it’s best to write or find a comprehensive list the second you book your journey, it’s bad enough forgetting something when you don’t have a baby to worry about, but forgetting an essential item you need for a flight can lead to a screaming baby which isn’t stress you should need to worry about.
Camera
Babies grow very fast, and you don’t want to miss a second of it so make sure you have a way of recording your baby’s first trip to show them when they are older, and for you to remember them when they are all grown up. When they are happy sitting on an iPad when you are travelling. This is especially true if you are visiting family, don’t miss those moments when you’re little one meets special family members for the first time!
Destination
When deciding on where to go, it’s also important to remember your little one will need to stay safe in extreme temperatures, lying on a beach in 40c heat isn’t the best idea, plus an uncomfortable baby is a grumpy baby. Nobody wants that. But one benefit of travelling with a newborn is that they don’t really understand day vs night time yet so jet lag won’t be a consideration, for them at least!
Well Connected
Most of us have been on a long flight only to come off the other end and need to wait around for connections or spend more hours on a bus to get to the hotel. When you’re looking at booking a trip this is something to add to your list of considerations, it’s something you will thank yourself for when you’re at the other end of the journey with as little stress as possible.
It’s a fantastic opportunity to get your children used to travelling as early as possible, so it’s essential to get it right for them and yourself. If it turns out to be disastrous, you might not want to take them again! But eventually, you’ll work out what works for you and your family and be able to build many family holiday memories together.
Leave a Reply