Should you travel with infants?
Since the dawn of times the nomad tribes traversed plains, mountains, rivers and other nature’s obstacles with their little ones – all for one purpose – survival! Do you still travel with infants for survival ? Should you travel with infants at all ? – we’ll try to answer this question in the following post.
Do we still travel with infants today for the same reason?
Why do we see a sudden explosion of millennial “Instagram moms” who are “vacationing” and travel with infants traversing the globe? Is there a side effect to this non-stop cruise around the world?
These parents spend more time on a road at the sketchy bus stations, dirty airports and adjusting to the jet lag, instead of enjoying time with their children. All this just to get another picture with Taj Mahal and immediately tweet it. Millennial parents drag their little ones through scourging hot desert (with a possibility of dehydration and a heatstroke) to snap a selfie with a Giza pyramids. They travel across the world to Paris for a shot of their baby with an Eiffel tower in the background.
Traveling parents with kids are collecting all the influenza and other disease around the world for a few “Instagram likes.”
In a sense it is all done for “Instalikes” – let’s just once and for all admit it. Your kid will equally enjoy playing in a sandbox in a little town of Pawnee, Indiana just as much as he would in Bali, Indonesia. It’s apparent that long-distance traveling parents are doing it for selfish reasons.
I have to admit, this realization came to us once we traveled outside of USA (mind you – not on vacation) and ourselves experienced the difficulties of keeping the little one comforted and satisfied while on the road. Flying with an infant was probably one of the challenging experiences as a parent. There’s very little control if any that you have over a teething baby who’s schedule was disrupted by the TSA and customs checkpoints.
Big question is – should you long distance travel with a little kids?
Answer: Absolutely not, unless you have to. So definitely maybe.
Tip: Children fly for free up until age of 2, however the best age to travel with an infant on the plane is between 1 month – 12 month of age (you may request a baby crib that attaches to the wall in several areas on the plane – strategically purchase those seats in advance). More on traveling with infants on the plane in the future post.
My wife and I enjoy family travel and we like to spend our free time discovering new places.
Now that we have a child should we stop traveling?
Compromise: Our main goal for any mini expedition that we take around California is to actually enjoy ourselves and spend quality time with our son. Spend less time on the road and more time on fun activities with family.
We choose our gateways within short driving distances and plan everything around our little Bear’s schedule. We look for things and places to do with kids in California that we and the little guy would actually enjoy. We’re constantly figuring out best strategies for vacation with baby and will review the places around California that we’ve visited.
That is how we keep the adventurous traveling family lifestyle balanced with consistency of little one’s sleeping and meal schedule.
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[…] Travelling with kids is totally possible! This California blog is focused on bringing your aspirations to reality. We have traveled with little Misha (Bear) since he was 2 weeks old, and always had a good time! Key factor for traveling with children is planning and having little contingency plans (and staying calm, Alisa adds). Being a parent is fun! It’s like having a life-long project that you learn from on the go. Let our California family inspire other parents to travel more and discover the nature around you with your kids! […]