Happy New Year! We had a nice holiday season and celebrated baby's first Christmas with family at home. Now that we have moved into 2024, it's time to start making travel plans for the year, which will be full of new experiences as we take our little boy Teddy on his first trip(s). I am also learning a lot about the logistics of travelling with an infant and thought I'd share what we've done so far.
Where are we going?
We have booked trips to New York City and California! We will spend a long weekend in NYC as a "test" trip since the flight is short, and then we will spend a week in San Francisco and Monterey as Teddy's first big trip. We have visited both cities already during our pre-baby lives, but this will be a unique experience with a little guy in tow.
Getting the travel documents
Our first step toward the end of last year was to get Teddy's travel documents ready. I arranged for his passport photos to be taken at a local studio that specializes in baby passports and it was a fairly seamless process. I made an appointment for him before the studio opened, and they laid him down on a backdrop and managed to get a good snap after just two attempts. I have to say, his little mugshot looks pretty cute. Then, we booked an appointment at Service Canada in early December and were pleasantly surprised to receive the passport just a couple weeks later.
The delay now will be getting his Nexus/Global Entry approved. Apparently there is a huge backlog on these and we are looking at an 18-24 month wait. However, I did find this update stating that accompanying minors are allowed with us through the Nexus security line are select airports.
Booking flights
As far as I'm aware, all airlines allow children under 2 years to travel for free as lap infants. However, we opted to purchase Teddy his own seat for his safety and our comfort. He is very squirmy and I think I would struggle to hold him for several hours even if he's still quite small.
Purchasing baby his own seat allows us to bring his car seat onto the plane and avoid potential damage from having it thrown around in baggage check. He also gets a carry-on baggage allowance, although regardless of whether he has a seat, we are allowed to bring a diaper bag and unrestricted amounts of liquids for feeding. His stroller can also be gate checked without charge.
Getting travel-friendly baby gear
The most cumbersome aspect of travelling with a little person is having to schlep around a bunch of baby gear. I did a lot of research when making our big purchases to find items that would be travel-friendly since we hope to do as much travelling with Teddy as possible.
We have the Uppababy Minu V2 stroller which is folds up compactly and can fit into the overhead bin on some planes. However, I think we will probably end up gate checking ours and I've purchased the official travel bag for it. It has served us very well so far at home and its small footprint is suitable for our small space given that we live in a condo.
Another consideration is that the subways and some areas of NYC are not very accessible, so we will probably end up baby wearing at least occasionally. I have the Tula Lite Baby Travel Carrier which I plan to use on outings where it is difficult to bring the stroller.
Since Teddy will have his own seat on the plane, we are bringing his own Clek Liing bucket car seat which is very easy to install and also compact. Plus, it clicks onto our stroller as a travel system. We will probably be taking a few taxis and renting a car during our upcoming trips so we definitely need a car seat and I wouldn't rely on the quality or availability of rental car seats.
For Teddy's sleep arrangements, we will be using the Guava Lotus Travel Crib, which came highly recommended by various sources. It also packs up very small and can even be worn as a backpack. It isn't sold in Canada but I was able to get it delivered via Shippsy.
Beyond all of this, we will probably purchase the remainder of Teddy's supplies, including diapers and formula, at our destination so we have less to pack.
New York City, here we come!
I'll report back in a couple months after our trip to share our experience. Hopefully we will survive with minimal stress...wish us luck!
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