Knocked up abroad: planning travel with a baby

by Meg Nesterov on

Let’s get this out of the way: you can travel with a baby. Many new parents feel that once they have a child, their travel days are over, but many parents will tell you that the first six months are the easiest time to travel with a baby. Is it easy? Not exactly, but with enough planning and the right attitude, it’s not as hard as you might think. Is it selfish? Probably, but so is most travel. Again, planning, attitude and a good amount of luck factor in to ensuring that you and baby aren’t a nuisance to other passengers and that you and your child have a safe and healthy trip. My baby is too young to remember her early adventures, but she’s learning to be adaptable and sociable, and does well with travel, new people, and noise. Is it fun? Your carefree days of travel may be over, but you can still enjoy exploring new places, indulging in great food and wine (it might just be at a sidewalk cafe at 4pm instead of a trendy restaurant at 9pm), and engaging with locals more deeply than you ever did before baby. Given the patience, resourcefulness, and ingenuity that I’ve developed while traveling with a baby, I’d say it has made me a better traveler, maybe even a better person.

Living in a foreign country like Turkey puts me at an advantage: I deal with a language and cultural barrier every day and everything is much more complicated and difficult than it would be at home in New York. Because this is not our permanent home and imported items are expensive, we made it through the first few months with little more than a stroller, a baby wrap to carry her, and a portable changing pad, so we already travel light. I say it gives me an advantage because I’m already used to the challenges and unfamiliarity inherent in travel. What makes foreign travel daunting (even without a baby) is the foreignness of it all, which has become my normal (after nearly two years abroad, I can tell you that knowing what’s going on all the time is overrated). The skills I’ve honed as a traveler and an expat — problem-solving, thinking ten steps ahead, and planning an exit strategy — are the same I use as a parent; you can apply the same lessons with a child or on the road.Now with a few trips under my belt with baby both solo and with my husband (and more travel planned in the coming weeks and months), I’ve developed some guidelines to help with traveling with a baby. I’ll be posting some additional articles on how to cope with a baby on a plane and on the ground, travel gear recommendations, as well as some destination-specific info, but first: some tips on planning a trip with a baby.

–Choose a baby-friendly destination. You may find that people everywhere are much more understanding and helpful to people traveling with babies than you imagine, but some places are more baby-friendly than others. In my experience, Mediterranean Europe is full of baby-lovers, even if the cobblestones, stairs, and ancient infrastructure presents a lot of challenges. Istanbul can be a nightmare to navigate with a stroller, but there are always friendly Turks willing to help. I’ve also heard babies in Latin America and Southeast Asia are treated like rock stars. Generally, countries with a high birth rate tend to be friendlier than others, though I’ve found the United States to be the most difficult in terms of other people’s attitudes.

-Prepare to pare down: There are a lot of great things about having a baby in the 21st century, but people managed quite well for generations without wipe warmers (really, this is a thing?!) and baby gyms. There are a few items I use at home every day such as a bouncy seat, a nursing pillow, and a folding bathtub, but I’ve done fine without them for weeks at a time while traveling. I know at some point down the line, I’ll need to pack a myriad of toys, snacks, and diversions for my child, but infants need very little. It may help to wean yourself off of baby gear in advance of your trip to see how well you can get along with less. Let the baby get used to a travel cot if you plan to use one, try getting around for a day with just a baby carrier, and introduce toys that can be easily attached to a stroller and then stashed in a pocket. Think about your destination: will a stroller be more of a hinderance than a help or can you get along with another mode of transport? Do you need a car seat or can you rent one? What can serve multiple purposes? I carry a thin Turkish towel that looks like a pashmina and I can use it as a burp cloth, nursing cover, baby blanket, and a scarf. The less you can pack, the better. Really all you can handle is baby in a stroller, one wheeled suitcase, and a purse and/or diaper bag. Anything more and you’ll regret it. Also, keep in mind that babies are born everywhere, and there are few places in the world where you can’t buy diapers, formula, clothes, or other gear. Pack enough in your carry-on to get through the first day and night in case you arrive at your destination after shops close.

-Schedule travel around baby: Babies are adaptable, but when it comes to travel, especially flying, make it as easy on yourself as possible. My baby generally wakes up early to eat, then goes back to sleep for a few hours, and sleeps through most of the night. Therefore, I’ve tried to book flights for early in the morning or overnight so she’s awake as little as possible. In the six flights we took to and from the US and domestically, the only one we had any trouble with was a 45-minute Boston to New York flight in the early evening, when she tends to be cranky. It’s hard to comfort a baby when you’re standing in line or getting ready to board a flight, so if your baby is already asleep at the airport, that’s half the battle. There used to be nothing I hated more than getting to the airport at the crack of dawn, but traveling with a sleeping, and more importantly, quiet baby is worth getting up early.

-Consider an apartment rental: With the popularity of websites such as AirBnB (even after the home trashing scandal), renting an apartment for even a short stay is an increasingly viable option when planning a trip. It not only gives you more space and a more home-like environment, it can also help you to get to know a place more through the neighborhood and markets when you buy food to cook on your trip. For a parent, an apartment has several key advantages over a hotel room. Having access to laundry while traveling can be a huge help and reduce your packing load significantly. Likewise, whether you are breastfeeding or using formula, having a kitchen with a fridge can be a necessity with a baby. If you’re set on a hotel stay (daily room-cleaning could be a big help too!), make sure your room has a minibar fridge to stash bottles inside and a bathtub if your baby is too big for the sink, and get info on the closest laundromat.

-Do your research: The last thing you want when traveling is to be standing on a subway platform with a crying baby, after hauling a heavy stroller up a flight of stairs, only to discover the train is bypassing your station. Before I travel next week to Slovenia and Italy, I’m looking up everything from how to cross the border by taxi, to what train stations have elevators, to public bathrooms in Venice with baby-changing stations (though I’ve managed many times on the top of a toilet seat lid and a changing pad). All the stuff about a destination you could wait to figure out until you arrived before you had a baby will help you a lot to plan in advance. Here’s some examples of things to research before you go, the more prepared you can be, the better.

Stay tuned for more tips on travel with a baby, in the air and on the ground plus destination guides for foreign travel with a baby. Waiting for baby to arrive? Check out past Knocked Up Abroad articles on traveling while pregnant and what to expect when you’re expecting in Turkey.

Steamline Luggage makes junk in the trunk look good

by Libby Zay on

After hours and hours of watching travelers roll by with boring baggage at the airport, I finally spotted a line of suitcases that gives me luggage envy. SteamLine Luggage makes well-tailored, vintage-style cases that are reminiscent of old steamer trunks-except with a modern twist.

These leather-bound bags are at the same time fashionable and funcitonal. Color combos range from pink and crème to teal and tan (and some more modest options, too). As expected, SteamLine designed a range of sizes, including a stylish carry-on bag with discreet trolley wheels that ensures travelers will get to their departing gates with ease.

Purchasing luggage can be quite the commitment. In this case, with a price tag upwards of $280, many would consider it an investment. But not only do these trunks seem like fun pieces to wheel around the airport; they could be displayed at home when you’re not on the road. Any excuse to put off unpacking a little longer!

Amazing ball camera lets you create panoramic photos

by Melanie Renzulli on




Think your iPhone or Android camera and a panorama app is all you need to take 360 degree photos? Then I’d like to introduce you to the Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera. As you’ll see in the video above, the ball camera is equipped with 36, 2-megapixel mobile phone camera modules which all click together to create a full panorama when the ball reaches its peak of flight. This crazy cool project is the work of German student Jonas Pfeil and four other students from Berlin’s Technische Universität. The throwable panoramic ball camera is not yet available for purchase (its patent is still pending), but you can be sure that after more people see this video of the camera in action there will be a run on demand. Though, I wonder, just how expensive could a gadget with 36 mobile camera lenses be?

Protect your melon; pack the right hat.

by Pam Mandel on

This is kind of gross, and I’m a little bit sorry for that, but I still have scaly bits on the tops of my ears. This because I burned the daylights out of them by wearing the wrong hat while on a recent adventure. I made it worse by neglecting to apply sunscreen to my poor ears — I’ll skip the part about what happened when I started to peel.

I pack a baseball style cap for my travels. I’d picked up a Sun Tripper cap from Sunday Afternoons while at the Outdoor Retailer show. It’s really cute, it’s that military shape, it’s got a split bill so it packs down nice and flat, and it’s got a stretchy drawstring on the back so it stays on your head in the wind. This matters; I watched the wind take a travel-mate’s cap and hurl it into the desert, there was no retrieving it. My cap stayed securely on my head the whole time. I also found that the funny little pocket in the top of the hat was actually useful. I tucked my ID and a little bit of cash in there, it was nice to have a secret stash and I didn’t worry about my head being pick-pocketed.

But as I’ve mentioned, I needed coverage for my ears. This was a tactical error on my part — I should have gone with a safari hat instead of just a cap. Sure, the extra coverage looks a little silly, but my ears hurt like hell and did I mention, they were kind of gross about a week later. Sunburn isn’t a joke, even when it’s limited to the tops of your ears, and I could hear my doctor’s voice in my head giving me the melanoma lecture. What I’m saying, is go with the extra coverage. Sunday Afternoons has some other options that I’d have done better to choose for this trip. I won’t soon forget that painful sunburn and I don’t expect to make that same mistake again. Get the coverage, people. The Sun Tripper cap is 24.00, the safari range starts there and goes up to 48.00. There’s a convertible cap too — just snap on the ear and neck coverage — that goes for 28.00. That would have kept the sunburn at bay.

In addition to sun coverage, I was delighted to find that I still had my SmartWool beanie in my photo bag. I’d used it to wrap up some camera gear I wasn’t using, but I ended up wearing it on cold mornings and evenings in camp. This stretchy little reversible beanie takes up negotiable space in my kit (really, I’d no idea it was in there!) and I was delighted to find that it had hitched along with me on my camping trip. SmartWool brands this little cap as a “training beanie” — whatever with that. I’m calling it a travel beanie and leaving it right where it is, stowed in my photo backpack, holding my lens polarizer. I’ll be happy the next time I find the wind is biting my ears or the night is a little cold. 25.00 from SmartWool.

Gadling gear review: LifeStraw portable water filter

by Kraig Becker on

As a gear reviewer, I see a lot of different travel and outdoor products come across my desk. Some are unique and useful, others are shameless derivatives of products that have come before them. I’ve seen a few pieces of gear that are truly ingenious, but many more that are just down right whacky. It isn’t often that you get a new product and immediately realize that it has the potential to change the world. That is exactly what we have in the LifeStraw, a water purification system that is inexpensive, simple to use, and highly effective against preventing the contraction of waterborne diseases.

One of the biggest threats to the health of people living in developing countries across the globe is a lack of clean water. In fact, according to water.org, nearly one billion people on our planet do not have access to clean drinking water. The LifeStraw was developed as a direct response to this growing crisis and is meant to be a cheap, yet effective, way to prevent the spread of disease in countries where waterborne illness is prevalent. The filter has already been put to good use in a number of developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

The LifeStraw is simplicity at its finest. It really is just a straw, albeit one with a sophisticated filter built-in. That filter makes all the difference however, effectively removing 99.9999% of all waterborne bacteria including E coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella and Salmonella. It also blocks 99.9% of waterborne parasites as well, including Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium Parvum. That makes it a handy item to have in your pack when you’re traveling through regions where clean water is a commodity.Like any other straw, you simply dip the LifeStraw into a water source, including straight into a river or pond, and sip the liquid through it. The filter system takes care of all the nasty stuff and will even filter out particulates from the water, although too much dirt and silt can cause the straw to get blocked. When that happens, you simply blow air back through the system to clean out the filter and then continue using it as normal.

Backpackers and adventure travelers will find the LifeStraw to be an excellent emergency water purifier, although it isn’t likely to replace purification systems such as those from SteriPen, which allow you to clean liters of water to use in bottles or hydration packs. The nature of the straw means that it isn’t the most efficient way to get a drink while on the move, although it is a great, cost effective option for those whom that isn’t a concern. The LifeStraw weighs just 2 ounces, is very sturdy, and costs $19.95, which makes it a great back-up option for those “just in case” scenarios.

At the beginning of this story I mentioned that the LifeStraw is a product that could potentially change the world, and while it has its benefits for travelers, I was speaking more so of what it can do for the developing world. The device is able to filter more than 260 gallons of water over its lifespan and because they are so relatively inexpensive, they can be easily distributed throughout the third world. In those places, it has the chance to improve the health of the people that live there in a dramatic way, potentially extending their lives and preventing the spread of disease. The developers of LifeStraw are so convinced of its potential in those environments, that it has an option to donate the product for use in developing nations.

The LifeStraw has been around since 2005 but is just now becoming available to purchase in the United States and Canada. For anyone traveling to destinations where the quality of the water is questionable, it is an extremely useful piece of kit to have in your pack.