- We did not purchase her a seat on the plane. She will sit on our laps. It is a 2.5 hour flight and I chose flight times that were her nap times, in hopes that I can get her to sleep.
- We are renting a car when we get there, and I found that we can rent a car seat at the car rental place, so that is a huge relief to not have to lug hers.
- She has never slept in our bed, and we do not want to instill that habit while on vacation (it'll be bad enough being in the same room!) so I searched high and low for a travel bed. As much as I would have loved to get one new, the cost is just WAY too much. I found one that may work at a children's consignment shop. I got it for $15. It folds down to the size of a laptop case. We can fit it right in our bigger suitcase along with clothes. If it doesn't work I won't feel bad leaving it behind. If it does, then it will be a great $15 spent.
- I was going to work on transitioning her away from the bottle fully before then, but have decided to wait until we get home for that. I do hope to have her on milk 100% by then though. It'll be almost 2 weeks after her birthday and my plan is to start her a bout a week before her b-day and take approx 2 weeks to get off the formula and solely on milk.
- I won't be bringing any toys because the kid will keep herself busy with Tupperware and spoons. Besides we will be doing a lot of beaches, parks, zoos, etc, so she won't need toys right?
- We'll be gone for 9 days. I was thinking bathing suit, 5 outfits, a few extra onesies and some light PJ's are sufficient for her and we can do laundry. She is not a messy kid in general, and at home wears the same thing all day, so I am not anticipating any issues down there.
- Since airlines are charging for baggage now I decided no stroller either. We could put the umbrella stroller on the plane, but it would count as a carry on. I bought a sling at the consignment shop and Baby K can sit in it on my hip, back or front. We'll use it as needed. I am thinking she may be walking by then too. Worse case, their is a Walmart and a Kmart near by where we stay and I can go by a cheapo umbrella stroller.
I was looking into rental cars and was blown away by the expense! (We fly into Ft. Lauderdale and drive down to Key Largo to stay) When we went the last time our rental car for the week was around $250 for a cross over SUV. When I looked this time it was over $1200 for a compact car! wtf? Our entire vacation budget is like $1500, I can not spend it all on a car. I searched high and low and no matter what that was the price. One of the girls I work with did a search and came up to me and said she found cars for $150 a week! She had looked for rentals in Key Largo vs. FLL. Great except how do we get there from the airport? Lucky for us, my MIL will already be there! So I arranged for her to come get us and drop us back off at the airport and we can rent our car in the Keys saving over $1000!!! Even better, my MIL will rent the car seat saving me $60.
I can not believe how expensive it is to travel these days. T and I used to be able to go to the Keys for a week and the whole trip (flights, hotel, car, food, fishing, etc) would cost us less than $2000.
7 comments:
Hurray to a vacation! I didn't travel with Ricky til he was 2 but Teddy is about the same age as Baby K. I guess things depend on the disposition of your baby and your ability to deal with/without certain things.
If I were to travel with Teddy, I would definitely need to bring the umbrella stroller. I have a baby bjorn but he is sooo heavy my back would be killing me - Mark's too. It depends on how much walking you'll be doing on your vacation too.
I would at least bring a few rings/rattles to keep her quiet on the plane. If she is a "good" baby, then don't worry about it. But again, if I travelled with Teddy, toys would be a must. If he gets bored he starts to be loud. I think they're more strict about walking around the plane - so taking Teddy on walking tours of the cabin would be limited.
You're smart about the bed. Bad habits are hard to break - we had Ricky sleep with us on 2 vacations (Boston & Punta Cana) and it was tough for a few weeks to get him back to his own bed, etc.
Have a great trip!!
We travelled with Grady Boy at 4 and then again at almost 7 months. He's a little busy body, but even he did well. We didn't purchase a seat for him either, and I think having both of us RIGHT THERE interacting with him constantly, (rather then him playing on the floor with toys like at home) helped. I chose the earlier than dawn flights, thinking he'd be so zonked that he would sleep most of the time, and he did. The layover helped too, we got a break from confined quarters witha baby, and he got to roam around a little.
I have no doubts that Baby K will be a dream. She seems like such a chill baby.
Like the previous commenter said, I would maybe just bring a few small, maybe favorite toys. Whatever you can cram in your carry on at the last minute.
5 outfits will be fine I'm sure, as long as you have easy access to a washer and dryer - I'm assuming MIL has a condo-type place with all the amenities?
When we flew just last month, the planeside check in items - strollers, carseats, etc, didn't count. You could even check the carseat at the time you normally check your bags, and they don't charge. But hey, if MIL is renting one and you're fine with her not using her own, then that's awesome, and one less thing to lug around.
Hooray for vacations!! (And MIL's who help fund it - we're going to FL in March, and staying at a condo MIL is renting for the whole month, so we only have to pay for the cheap flights to get there!)
You really deserve and need this vacation Karianne, have fun and RELAX!!! 31 DAYS!
we haven't flown with the boys, but we have done car trips for overnights & i think the suggestion to bring a few favorite toys is a good one. & we DEFINETLY needed our stroller. (an umbrella stroller isn't an option for us obviously) but if it were we would have brought it in a heartbeat. i don't know about baby K, but sometimes the dudes want their little measure of independence (& our backs need a break) so the stroller is an essential for us.
& i'd bring more clothes, but my kids are super messy. i think the get it from their dad. :)
anyways--- YAY for your vacation!!!! you sooo need this & i hope you guys have the most wonderful time! looking forward to pics of baby K on the beach :)
I haven't looked at the other responses, but I have traveled a number of times with just a baby, toddler, and now baby and toddler. Check into the specific airline, but most will allow child stuff to travel for free (as in, not the extra baggage fee). So your stroller (which can also be gate checked) or car seat (which I found actually to be nice to bring because renting a carseat at $10-$15 a day, you may as well buy a "travel" car seat, which is what I did...and just go ahead and check it (for free) as soon as you walk into the airport! Plus, we've used ours about 8 times now....so that really would have added up in car seat rentals) A lap child does not get a regular bag for free, but things like the stroller and carseat have always been free for me.
LOL about the toys...on one of our flights DS's favorite toy was one of those little snot sucker bulbs...we had some fun stares on that 8 hour flight! :) But it did the trick. I personally would bring a couple brand new/never seen things for the flight.
Oh, and depending on where you're staying, sometimes they have cribs ,free of charge or for a small fee...they might even have it set up in your room for your arrival! That is, if it's a hotel. If you're renting a house, check out local baby rental places (this is what we did for hawaii) and we rented a full sized crib for something like $85 for 10 days. A little pricey, but we didn't have to lug our pack n play, not to mention pay the baggage fee (since that doesn't count for a free item)! So, it totally made up for it.
Sorry so long..that's my travel experience! :)
Michelle- Thanks for the idea of renting a crib there. We will not be staying in a Hotel, but in a house that my MIL is renting for a month. I never even thought to search for rentals of equipment. I found a couple of sites, but none deliver to Key Largo (but do deliver to the town just north) so I will call them Monday to discuss. The carseat rental is only 45 for the week with the rental car, so that's fine. I'll chance it and bring my umbrella stroller and hope they don't charge me for it.
Thanks again!
Wow, killer deal for the car seat! That's awesome! And like you mentioned, much easier to not have to lug it around. Our first "big trip" was 10 days, so at $10-$12 a day, we just bought one for travel...but $45, score!
I hope you have some luck with a crib rental! I was so excited when we found that! It's such a great idea...and for a destination (for us it was Hawaii, and for y'all too), it just makes sense that a place like that would do decent business!
As for the stroller...when you get to the gate to give them your ticket, just tell them you need a baggage tag for gate check....that way you can gave your stroller up until the minute you walk onto the plane....then get it again the minute you walk off the plane!
What airline are you flying? Most of them out there allow you to have a stroller for each "infant" you have traveling, without it counting as a carryon or extra baggage (I just flew SW and Virgin America and they both had this policy) It was SO nice to be able to wheel the stroller right up to the gate and gate check it!!
I think if you have laundry abilities, packing light is a great idea! I packed a little TOO much with Brynna and kind of regretted having so many clothes for her.
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