Jet lag

Ahhhh, jet lag. Always "fun" to deal with. Even more "fun" to deal with when you're dealing with your own and that of two small children.

Small time differences (1 to 3 hours)
Since most of our travel has been within the Americas (lower 48 states, Canada, Mexico, Panama, etc.), we're generally dealing with small time differences of 1-3 hours. These aren't too bad.

Back when we lived in California, during Littles' first year, we traveled frequently to Texas (2 hours ahead) and the East Coast (3 hours ahead). We found it was actually good to keep her on roughly the same schedule, i.e. if we started her bedtime routine at 7 PM in California, we started it at 10 PM on the East Coast. Since we were often visiting friends and family, it was nice to be able to, say, go out to dinner at a normal hour and not deal with a cranky, overtired baby. But I don't know how well this strategy would work with an older child, who might naturally start to adjust to the new time.

Now that we live in Texas, we're usually dealing with 1-2 hour shifts. When we travel west, we expect a few mornings of early wake-ups, but the kids usually adjust completely within 2-3 days. When we travel east, we hardly notice a difference.

Medium time difference (6 hours)
We took Littles to England a few months after her second birthday. It's six hours ahead of Texas.

When we arrived, we had a few mornings of really struggling to get her out of bed. Luckily, we were there for a wedding, so we had good motivation to get her up at a reasonable hour, and then there was plenty of activity to keep her up until it was time to sleep again. We were in England for a full week, and while she did tend to sleep a little later than she does back home (waking up between 8-9 AM, rather than 7-8 AM) for the entire time we were there, that still allowed us time to do lots of stuff during the day.

When we returned home, she woke up earlier than usual (about 6 AM) for a full week, but eventually adjusted back to her normal schedule.

Large time difference (14 hours)
China is a full 14 hours ahead of Texas, so jet lag was a big issue on this trip!

We arrived at around dinnertime on Sunday night. The kids had not slept very much on the plane, and conked out pretty quickly that night, so we figured they'd sleep well and be on their way towards adjusting. Wrong! They were both up in the wee hours of the morning on Monday. Then they crashed at around 11 AM, and slept till after 9 PM! (They were just hanging out at the hotel with their Grannie while my husband and I worked, so it was fine for them to sleep most of the day away.)

After that day, we started enforcing a more normal nap/nighttime schedule, waking them up when they slept too long. Still, Noob in particular continued the wee-hours wakeup for a good week after arriving. I was usually the one up with him, and I let him play quietly but kept the room dark. He usually got bored after an hour or so and curled up with me to sleep some more. Both kids also woke up a tad on the early side (around 6 AM) for the first week. By the second week, they were back on a fairly normal schedule.

When we arrived back home, we had originally planned to keep the kids out of school for a day or two to adjust. (Especially Noob, who was starting at preschool for the first time.) But then we figured that school was actually the best place for them to get back on track schedule-wise! So we arrived back home on Tuesday afternoon and they were both in school on Wednesday morning. We warned their teachers that fatigue might lead to cranky/bad behavior, but both kids did well with it. Sleep-wise, Noob adjusted back to a pretty normal schedule within a few days, as did I. Littles woke up earlier than usual for over a week, but my husband was doing the same and so he usually got up with her and they hung out. Within two weeks, both kids were fully adjusted.

Long-haul flights with The World's Worst Flyer

Onboard our flight from Shanghai to Tokyo on the way home from China

He may look cute... because, well, he is. But I've dubbed Noob "The World's Worst Flyer," because, well, he is! So I was truly dreading the long-haul flights to and from China.

The flights weren't the most fun experience ever, but we all survived. And as it turns out, spending the better part of two full days stuck on an airplane with Noob helped me make some surprising discoveries that should make flying a little easier with him in the future. Although still not easy :)

Surprising Discovery #1: A 14-hour flight is really not that much worse than a 4-hour flight, or even a 2-hour flight.
I was really excited for the flight home from China. After all, the longest leg was "only" 10 hours! Compared to 14 hours for the outbound journey.

I was pretty surprised when the time seemed to drag just as much as it had on the first flight. Really, the flights were not much harder to handle than, say, the 3-hour flight from Dallas to Miami that I blogged about previously. I had a few more "toys" at my disposal: Meals (nonexistent on domestic flights) could chew up close to an hour of time. Having two aisles made going for "walks" a little easier. The personal video system provided a few minutes of amusement.

I won't say that the time flew by on either flight, but let's put it this way: They were 4-5 times as long as the Dallas-to-Miami flight, but not 4-5 times harder to get through. Not even close.

Surprising Discovery #2: Noob is not really The World's Worst Flyer. He's just The World's Worst Sleeper-on-Planes.
During our previous flights, I've noticed that Noob had a hard time settling down to sleep, but I was able to make excuses for it: It's not naptime quite yet, or it's past naptime. This is a new and stimulating environment. There are people up and down the aisles at all times to distract him. It's too bright/light. I could probably get him to sleep but the flight is almost over anyway. Etc. etc.

But when you're flying in the middle of the night, you've been in the "new and stimulating" environment for nearly 10 hours (so it's no longer really "new"), everyone else is sleeping... and the kid still takes hours to calm down and fall asleep? That's because he's The World's Worst Sleeper-on-Planes.

Surprising Discovery #3: Naptime (or nighttime) is the worst time for Noob to fly.
We booked our Thanksgiving flights around Noob's naptime, hoping that he'd take a nap and therefore be easier to deal with. But this backfired when he barely slept at all. I was confused at the time, but now I know it's due to Surprising Discovery #2: Noob has a lot of trouble sleeping on planes. Furthermore, when he needs to sleep and doesn't, he gets really cranky and overtired, and then he's even harder to deal with!

As a result, by far our easiest flight on the China trip was our outbound domestic flight, which left at 6:45 AM. Admittedly, it was also the shortest... but I think it helped that Noob (who is a morning person in general) was fresh, rather than being overtired and in need of a nap. As the day went on, he got more tired and harder to deal with.

Surprising Discovery #4: Noob does better without a car seat.
This wasn't a huge surprise, but we opted not to bring Noob's car seat onboard the plane, and he did way better without it. Most notably, when he was tired, he was able to stretch out more and get comfortable. He didn't sleep quite as much as I would have liked (maybe 4 hours on each of the long-haul flights), but it was better than nothing! Not having a car seat also gave him more room to play with his trains, crayons, etc.

So, from here on out... we'll try to book early-morning flights, we'll gate-check the car seat, and we won't be scared of taking long-haul flights!

Trip log: Philadelphia (Thanksgiving)

Note: We've gone to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving for the last four years, so this post will include what we've done in the past as well as what we did on this trip.

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dates: November 23-29, 2011

Ages: Littles = 4 years 5 months, Noob = 21 months

Methods of transportation: We flew into Philadelphia and rented a car.

Accommodations: Vacation rental in Bryn Mawr, found through www.vrbo.com

In the past, we've usually stayed out by the airport, as that's relatively close to my grandmother's house. We've stayed at the Embassy Suites, Sheraton Suites, Four Points, aloft, and Residence Inn. They are all fine, although I would recommend one of the three suite-style options (Embassy Suites, Sheraton Suites, or Residence Inn) for traveling with kids, as it's nice having an extra bedroom. Note that the Residence Inn's studio suites do not have an extra bedroom.

Sleeping arrangements: The vacation rental had two bedrooms. Noob always slept in the Peapod Plus in one room. Some nights, Littles slept in the bed in that room. Some nights, she slept in the bed in the other room with me, and Hubby slept in the room with Noob.

Eating arrangements: We typically eat out quite a bit, since we're visiting family, and this trip was no exception. The vacation rental did provide a high chair for Noob, which came in handy for breakfasts and take-out meals at "home." We were also able to host Thanksgiving dinner at the vacation rental, which worked out really nicely!

Activities:
The main focus of our Philadelphia trips is always to visit family. But when we go for the holidays, we usually end up flying out a little "early" or staying a little "late" (or both!), as the tickets are cheaper. So we do have some time to sightsee.

Riding the SEPTA train into downtown Philadelphia to see the Macy's Christmas Lights Show (a Philadelphia holiday tradition):

Stopping by Reading Terminal Market for some snacks and to check out the holiday train display:

Enjoying a soft pretzel from Reading Terminal Market on the train ride home:

Walking around downtown Bryn Mawr, and stopping at the fabulous Pun's Toys to check out the window displays:

The Franklin Institute. Wonderful hands-on science stuff. My dad practically lived here as a kid, and I have great memories of visiting as a child, too, so I love taking the kids there.

Other things we've done on past trips, which we didn't have time to do this year...

Visited Valley Forge National Historical Park, to walk around and visit the various historical structures:

Visited the Please Touch Museum. We did this last year and had an absolute blast. We could barely drag Littles away. I'd recommend it over the Franklin Institute for younger kids (it's designed for ages 7 and under), although my kids do enjoy both.

Visited the Philadelphia Zoo. This was another favorite spot of mine as a kid. That's Littles at about 17 months old, in this picture:

We've also used Philadelphia as a base for exploring the rest of the mid-Atlantic region. We've mostly gone south, to Baltimore and Washington DC, as we have a lot of friends and family who live or lived down there. We've done day trips (it's about a 2-3 hour drive) and also gone down to stay for a few days. Some of the things we've done:

• Various Smithsonian museums (National Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center and the Museum of Natural History), in DC
• The National Aquarium, in Baltimore
• Fort McHenry National Monument, in Baltimore
• Port Discovery Children's Museum, in Baltimore

You could also just as easily go north from Philadelphia, into New Jersey and New York. Maybe we'll get around to that, one of these years!

Key piece of travel gear: Noob's new Britax Boulevard 70 car seat + the quick release strap for our GoGo Kidz Travelmate. This combo works really well together! I'll write a full review later.

Biggest challenge: The flights, again. I'm coming to terms with the fact that Noob is a really bad traveler :)

What worked well:

• Using a vacation rental, yet again. As usual, we appreciated having more room to spread out, and access to a washer/dryer to cut down on the amount of clothes we had to bring. Also, this particular property had two suites available, so my parents were able to rent the one directly upstairs from us. The kids loved having their grandparents so close! (When we've stayed at hotels In the past, we've gotten adjoining hotel rooms, which works well, too.)
• Location, location, location. The location of the vacation rental was fabulous, with shops, restaurants, playgrounds, the train station, and -- well, sidewalks within walking distance. So we were able to get outside with the kids whenever they got antsy. In the past, when we've stayed out by the airport, that hasn't been an option, as there's really not much around except for parking lots and a few restaurants.
• Monday sightseeing. We've been to the Franklin Institute a few times on past trips, and we usually go with my parents over the weekend. (They always fly home Sunday night to get to work on Monday.) This year, we weren't able to squeeze it in while they were in town, so we went on Monday and not surprisingly, it was a lot less busy. Next year, we won't be able to stay till Monday, since we'll have to get Littles back to kindergarten(!). But if she has the whole week of Thanksgiving off, I hope we can fly out early and get in some sightseeing during the less-busy times before the holiday.

What didn't: Nothing, really. Noob made the flights pretty miserable, but we did the best we could with flight times (flying during naptime in both directions -- he did nap on the way out, not on the way home). As I said, he's just a really bad traveler!

Trip log: Florida Keys

Locations: Miami, and Big Pine Key (about half an hour east of Key West)

Dates: September 16-24, 2011

Ages: Littles = 4 years 3 months, Noob = 19 months

Methods of transportation: We flew into Fort Lauderdale, which was cheaper and less insane than the Miami airport. Upon arrival, we rented a car for the week.

Accommodations: Hotel room for the first two nights in Miami. Vacation rental in Big Pine Key, found through www.vrbo.com.

Sleeping arrangements: In the hotel room, Noob slept in a hotel pack n play, and Littles slept in the Peapod Plus.

In the vacation rental, Hubby and I slept in the master bedroom. Littles and Noob shared the second bedroom, with Littles in bed and Noob in the Peapod Plus. (The vacation rental provided a pack n play, but Noob is able to climb out of those now, and we didn't want him doing that without an adult in the room.)

Eating arrangements:There was a grocery store right on BIg Pine Key (about a five-minute drive from our vacation rental), so we bought food there and cooked most meals at "home." The vacation rental provided a booster seat, which we used for Noob.

Activities:
Checking out the beach at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne (a short drive from downtown Miami):

Visiting Everglades National Park, and walking the Anhinga Trail (we did this on our drive down to the Keys):

Bahia Honda State Park, just a short drive from Big Pine Key. We visited all the beaches and hiked up the old railroad bridge.

Fishing in the channel behind our vacation rental:

Day trip to Key West to visit the Key West Butterfly Conservatory, and Fort Zachary Taylor State Park:

Checking out all sorts of wildlife at Blue Hole and other areas of the National Key Deer Refuge, which covers most of Big Pine Key:

(yes, that's an alligator visible between the slats...)

Making buttons at the fabulous (and free!) visitor center for the National Key Deer Refuge. This little gem is a must-visit if you find yourself on Big Pine Key with kids. In addition to the buttons, they had various stuffed animals, and a table full of things for kids to touch (key deer antlers and skulls, snake skins, turtle shells, etc.)

Enjoying some amazing sunsets (and stargazing far from city lights):

Key piece of travel gear: The Peapod Plus. Versatile enough to work for both Littles and Noob!

Biggest challenge: The flights. We chose late afternoon flights (around 4 PM) in both directions. Big mistake. Noob got his usual nap in before both flights, and therefore didn't sleep at all in the air. It's only about 2.5 hours from Dallas to Fort Lauderdale, but that's a long time to occupy an active toddler on an airplane...

What worked well:

• Going in September. It's hurricane season, which means that rates are lower. We made sure to choose a vacation rental that had a full-refund policy in the event of a hurricane, just be safe. Obviously, that didn't happen, so we enjoyed a great vacation for a lot less money! It did rain almost every day, but there were more than enough periods of sunshine to do everything we wanted to do outdoors.
• Big Pine Key. We chose this key over the more-famous Key West because it was much less touristy and offered more of the outdoorsy stuff that we love to do. (Bonus: Outdoorsy stuff is cheaper than touristy stuff!) Plus, it put us much closer to the beaches at Bahia Honda, which we far preferred to the ones at Fort Zachary Taylor. And Key West was still a very easy day trip.
• Using a vacation rental, again! This is definitely our preferred way to travel with kids. One nice perk of this particular one: It included a Florida state parks pass, which saved us about $40 on entrance fees to the two state parks we visited over the course of the week.
• One nap a day. Noob dropped his second nap after our Panama trip. It was nice being able to go places in the morning without having to worry about when/how he might nap.
  

What didn't:

• Our hotel room in Miami. We stayed at the same hotel that we stayed on our first Miami layover during our Panama trip, but the room we got this time around was half the size. The bed, Peapod Plus, and pack n play took up virtually all the floor space.
• Mosquito repellent. Lots of mosquitos in the rainy season. We all got bitten in spite of repellent -- except Noob, for some reason.

Trip log: Panama

Locations: Playa Blanca Resort, Panama City

Dates: July 7-17, 2011

Ages: Littles = 4 years 1 month, Noob = 17 months

Methods of transportation: Flying to get to Panama. We had to go through Miami, as there are no direct flights from Dallas to Panama City. We opted to do overnight layovers in both directions, so we left the Miami airport and spent the night in a hotel, rather than doing straight shots between Dallas and Panama City.

On the ground in Miami, we relied on taxis and hotel shuttles to get around. In Panama, we rented a car.

Accommodations: Vacation rental at Playa Blanca Resort, found through www.vrbo.com. Regular hotel rooms for two nights in Miami and one night in Panama City.

Sleeping arrangements: We spent the bulk of the trip (7 nights) in the vacation rental. It had three bedrooms, so Hubby, Noob, and I stayed in the master bedroom, my sister-in-law stayed in a second bedroom, and Littles had the third bedroom to herself. Noob slept in a pack-n-play provided by the vacation rental owner; the rest of us slept in beds.

In the hotel rooms, Noob slept in the Peapod Plus, and Littles slept in one of the beds.

Eating arrangements: We bought food at a grocery store in Coronado (about half an hour away) and cooked almost all our meals in the condo. The vacation rental provided a high chair, which made eating with Noob much easier.

Activities:
Hanging out at the beach. In addition to the beach at Playa Blanca itself, which was just a short walk from our condo, we also visited two other beaches (El Palmar and Santa Clara) located nearby. There are lots of these up and down the Pacific coast from Panama City, so you can take your pick. Many of these are open to the public but do charge an entry fee -- El Palmar cost $10 per car, and Santa Clara cost $3 per adult.

Riding horses on the beach!

Hanging out in the pool at the condo.

Visiting El Valle (about 40 minutes inland from our condo), a cute little town with a nice arts and crafts market, along with the Chorro Macho waterfall.

Watching ships pass through the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal, from the terrace of the excellent visitors center.

Key piece of travel gear: My solarveil mei tai carrier. We were in and out of the water all week, so it was nice having a carrier that I could use wet or dry. Also, the ocean was sometimes a little rough, so on those occasions, I loved putting Noob in the carrier so that he could dip his toes without being washed away.

Biggest challenges: Getting Noob's passport, as I explained in a previous post! Also, during the trip itself, we were worried about the kids and/or us getting sick from the food or water, so we were cautious about what we ate and drank, especially at first. But we found that food/water standards in Panama are much higher overall than they are in many other Latin American countries. None of us had any problems with illness.

What worked well:

• Overnight layovers in Miami. This did extend our trip slightly, but it was so nice not having to get off one plane and get right back on another one. It also greatly cut down on the stress of trying to make our connection, especially when our outbound flight was delayed by an hour.
• Mia's car seat. This was our first trip traveling with the Safety First Go Hybrid Booster, and it worked out beautifully. I'll write a full review later.
• Using a vacation rental. Some of our favorite features of our condo, compared to a hotel room:
  • Separate bedrooms and a living area. This allowed the adults to hang out in the evenings while the kids went to sleep.
  • A full kitchen. Our food costs were ridiculously low, and it was so much less stressful eating in the condo vs. packing up the kids to eat out.
  • Washer/dryer in the condo. This allowed us to cut down dramatically on the clothes we brought.
  • Little extras, like the pack-n-play and high chair for Noob, a telescope for Littles to play with, a collection of kid-friendly DVDs, etc.
• Being within walking distance of the beach. For example, this allowed all of us to go to the beach after breakfast, and then one of us could walk back to the condo with Noob when it was time for his morning nap.

What didn't:

• Having to install/uninstall the car seats multiple times (due to the Miami layovers), in multiple unfamiliar cars.
• Not speaking much Spanish. Luckily, my sister-in-law (who lives in Panama) was able to translate.
• Line drying. Being in the tropics during rainy season is not conducive to swimsuits, towels, etc. drying quickly!
• Sharing a bed with Littles. On our outbound layover in Miami, we booked a room with a single king bed to save a little money, and on our last night in Panama, Littles shared a fold-out couch with my sister-in-law. Littles is all over the place when she sleeps, and so the adult(s) did not get much sleep those nights :)

How to entertain a toddler on a flight

People often ask what to bring on a flight with small children to keep them entertained. When Littles was an infant, I used to pack a ton of toys in the diaper bag, but I found that the amount of time that they entertained her for was not worth the hassle of bringing them.

So now, I take a pretty minimalist approach. Littles is easy. She'll quietly watch DVDs the entire flight, so we make sure to pack the DVD player, the car adapter (we usually fly American Airlines, which has DC power outlets at many seats), and a couple of DVDs. We have an extra Zune at home and I keep saying I'm going to set one up for her with her music and movies, since that would be even more compact, but I keep forgetting until minutes before it's time to leave for a trip. One of these days.

Noob is much more of a challenge. Here's how I kept him entertained on our flight from Dallas to Miami on Thursday.

1:32 PM - After a one-hour delay -- prior to boarding, thankfully (I should do another post on "how to entertain a toddler and a preschooler during a flight delay") -- we settled into our seats. Noob and Littles both started checking out one of their favorite "plane toys," the safety instructions card:

1:39 PM - Noob started playing with his shoes. He loves taking the insoles out. That's his shoe in his left hand and the insole in his right hand:

Note the pacifier. We rarely give him one at home, and when we do, it's strictly limited to times when he's in bed. But it was pretty much a permanent fixture during this flight. You do what you gotta do.

1:50 PM - Takeoff. Noob spent a few minutes just looking out the window in amazement:

He started closing his eyes a bit. It was naptime, so I knew he was tired, but he has a really hard time falling asleep when there is stuff going on around him. I hoped he would fall asleep anyway, but no such luck.

1:55 PM - I packed three board books in my bag for him. He read through two of them:

2:03 PM - He was done with the books. Note how little happy-baby time I got out of what I brought. I don't think it's physically possible to carry on enough toys, books, etc. to amuse a child of this age for a reasonably long flight -- say, anything longer than an hour or so. Their attention span just isn't that long.

So we moved on to more "plane toys." We opened and closed the window shade:

This was his favorite game. (It was Littles' favorite, too, when she was his age.) I just turned on/off the overhead lights. Over and over and over. Whenever he pointed at one:

This game is really fun when you're on a plane (mostly one of the the larger ones that does international fights) that has the light control in the armrest. When we flew to England when Littles was 2 years old, I think she was fully convinced that she could actually turn the light on and off just by pointing up.

2:19 PM - The light on/light off game lasted longer than the books did, with no additional stuff to drag along in our bags. Score! Next, Noob moved on to playing with my phone. He's learned to slide his finger up to get to the keypad where I enter my password to unlock it. He hasn't learned the password yet, though. I'll give him some time. He's only 17 months old, after all.

2:31 PM  Hubby handed back a bottle of water (he and Littles were sitting in the seats directly in front of us), so I gave a little to Noob. Most of the water itself ended up down his shirt and in his car seat, but screwing and unscrewing the top gave him a few minutes of amusement.

2:44 PM - The water bottle started to create more frustration than amusement, so I decided it was time to stretch our legs a little and change Noob's diaper. This ended up taking quite a while, because I quickly discovered that the lavs at the back of the plane (near our seats) didn't have a changing table. So I had to wait for the beverage cart to clear out of the way so that I could access the middle lavs. Once I was done, I came out to find the trash cart blocking the aisle, so I had to wait for that cart to make it past our seats before I could sit down. That meant standing at the very front of coach/back of first class, with Noob wiggling and crying in my arms, for close to 10 minutes. Fun times. I'm sure the passengers in first class, in particular, were really thrilled with me. Or not.

3:05 PM - We finally got back to our seats. I could tell Noob was exhausted, so I tried to get him to sleep in his car seat, but he was having none of it. Hubby got up and took him to the back of the plane to see if he could bounce him to sleep. A nice thought, but Noob really just wants Mommy these days, so it wasn't working too well.

About a minute after they got up, Littles had to go potty, and when we came out, Hubby handed Noob back to me and said, "Here. He wants you." Being back with me seemed to calm Noob down, and pretty quickly, he started closing his eyes and laying his head on my shoulder. After a little more bouncing in the back of the plane, he was out. I returned to our seats and put him down in his car seat:

4:16 PM - Noob woke up as we were on our final approach into Miami. He was content climbing between his seat and my lap for a few minutes until it was time to fasten seatbelts for the final approach. Then, he looked out the window and played the overhead light game some more. That kept him reasonably calm and content until we were at the gate.

4:23 PM (5:23 PM local time) - We made it! Definitely not the most fun flight I've had, but I doubt a bag full of toys would have helped much, given that two books lasted all of eight minutes! Heck, even the shoes lasted longer.

Sleeping arrangements on the road

Noob sleeping in a hotel-provided crib, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (9 months old)

Ahhhh, sleep. An ongoing challenge for most parents of small children, even at home. Throw traveling into the mix, and nighttime (and naptime!) can become a downright disaster.

When traveling, there is only so much you can do about jetlag, missed naptimes/bedtimes, overactivity leading to overtiredness, and other kid-sleep-busters. But at least you can try to plan an environment that is as conducive to good sleep as possible.

Where to stay?
When traveling, we try to find places to stay that have multiple rooms, so that Hubby and I can stay up in one room while the kids sleep in another room. We've stayed in 1- or 2-bedroom suites at a variety of Residence Inns for this reason. We've also found places like the Douglas Fir Resort during our visit to Banff National Park, where we had a lovely condo with a separate bedroom. We put Littles to sleep in the bedroom and then hung out in the living room until we were ready for bed. As a bonus, many of these places also have a kitchenette, so we can cook meals at "home," rather than having to drag the kids out to eat at restaurants every night.

If we can't find a reasonably-priced suite-style hotel at our destination, we can make it work in a regular hotel room, too. It often means falling asleep when the kids do, but when you're on vacation, having an excuse to go to sleep early isn't always a bad thing :)

What to sleep in?
That depends on age. We have an Eddie Bauer infant travel bed that we've used with both kids up until about 6 months of age. I love it and I've been so sad when they've each outgrown it. It is lightweight, it folds up very small, and it provides easy access to a floppy newborn. Just be aware that the sides are relatively low, so it won't contain a crawling baby.

So, with mobile kids, we usually request a crib from the hotel. Hotel cribs get a bad rap, but in many many hotel nights, we've never had a bad/unsafe one. I do try to remember to bring a sheet from home, as some hotels will simply wrap a full-size sheet around the crib mattress, which isn't very safe for young infants.

I should also note that most hotels have provided a pack-n-play style crib, not a "normal" crib like the one you see in the picture at the top of this post. I don't think pack-n-plays can be fully sanitized, but honestly, it doesn't bother me, and we've never had a problem with it. If you're a germophobe, you might want to call ahead to see if your hotel does use pack-n-plays, and plan alternate arrangements if they do.

On occasion, we've stayed at hotels that don't provide cribs at all (such as the Old Faithful Lodge Cabins in Yellowstone National Park), or we've taken trips where we stay with family or friends who don't have cribs. For the Yellowstone trip, we actually lugged our own pack-n-play from home. I don't recommend that when flying :) Pack-n-plays are huge and bulky and generally a pain to fly with. (They're not too bad when driving, though. As I've previously noted, we usually do bring it on road trips.)

In fact, with airline baggage fees being what they are these days, you might find it is no more expensive to purchase a cheap pack-n-play at your destination and leave it there. That saves you the hassle of lugging the pack-n-play around, and if you're visiting someone who you might visit again in the future, you can leave the pack-n-play with them so that you have it for your next visit.

Of course, if you travel frequently like we do, spending $50 multiple times per year to fly with a pack-n-play or purchase a new one at your destination just isn't feasible. So we now have a Kidco Peapod, which is fabulous! It's a little pop-up tent that folds up small enough to fit easily in a suitcase.

 
Noob in the Peapod (with a few other accessories :), camping on the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels, Texas (4 months old). Here, he was using the Peapod as a playpen, but he also slept in it for naps/nighttime on this trip.

Besides its size, another huge advantage that it has over a pack-n-play is that the child can be zipped inside. So if you have a child who can climb out of a pack-n-play, the Peapod is a great option to keep him/her contained. In fact, Littles used the Peapod daily at her sitter's house once she started climbing out of her pack-n-play (at 19 months old).

We have the Peapod P101 model, and Littles fit in it until about 2.5 years of age, although it was definitely a tight fit towards the end. If you have a larger child or just want to get more use out of it, you might look into the Peapod Plus, which is a little bigger.

Littles now sleeps in the "big bed" when we stay in hotels. We make sure to get a room that either has two beds or one bed plus a pull-out couch. I will say, getting her to actually sleep in the big bed is usually a challenge. Too bad our suitcases are usually jam-packed with the stuff we need for all of us, or I would seriously consider getting a Peapod Plus for her to use...

Littles sleeping (at least in theory) in a "big bed," Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (3.5 years old). This was taken at about midnight, when we thought she had been asleep for hours -- wrong! She had been getting out of bed and goofing off all night long.

Top kid travel gear: GoGo Kidz Travelmate

This post is part of a series on top kid travel gear.

As I've written previously, we prefer to gate-check our car seats, even when we don't bring them onboard the plane, to minimize the risk of any damage issues. Unfortunately, car seats are pretty bulky and heavy, making them a royal pain to lug around the airport.

Enter the GoGo Kidz Travelmate. It's a set of wheels that attaches to a convertible car seat, allowing you to wheel the car seat around the airport. So easy!

I first bought the Travelmate back when Littles was 11 months old. We were in the process of moving from California to Texas, and had a month where Littles and I were still living in California, but Hubby had already moved to Texas. During that month, I had two trips back-to-back that I had to take alone with Littles. For the first trip, I stuck her car seat inside our full-size stroller so that I could wheel it around the airport. That worked OK, but when we got on the parking shuttle, I had to pull the car seat out of the stroller, fold up the stroller, and put the stroller and car seat on to the parking shuttle. Then I had to reverse the process upon arriving at the airport. Repeat the process and then reverse the process when clearing security. And so on. Did I mention I was also trying to keep track of a newly walking Littles through all this, not to mention all our other bags?

So, on our way to the airport for the second trip, I stopped by Babies R Us and picked up a Travelmate. It provided the same mobility as the stroller, but was much faster to set up/break down (just raise/lower the telescoping handle) and less bulky overall.

A couple of tips and quirks regarding the Travelmate:

• We have the older version (UNIQR). The Travelmate attaches to the car seat by means of two thumbscrews.
• There is a newer version as well (QRKIDZ), which offers a quick-release strap with a buckle, in place of the thumbscrews. GoGo Babyz sells the quick release strap separately, so we recently got one. I'll update my review of the Travelmate after we've had the chance to travel with it!
• We have used both a Britax Roundabout and a Cosco Scenera with the Travelmate. The Roundabout attaches more securely than the Scenera does -- so it does work a little better with certain car seats. (Note: The Scenera is only compatible with the UNIQR version.)
• The car seat + Travelmate does not fit through the x-ray machines at most airports. We ask TSA to hand-scan the whole thing, to avoid removing the Travelmate from the car seat, because with the UNIQR version, it takes some time to take it off and put it on. TSA is usually happy to comply with the hand scan request.
• You can install the car seat + Travelmate directly into the airline seat. The orange wheels have quick releases on them, so you can quickly remove them when installing the seat and then replace them at the end of the flight. (Do not install the car seat + Travelmate in the car, as the Travelmate is not crash-tested.)
• Once Littles got bigger, we found that it was better to remove the Travelmate from the car seat onboard the plane, because when it was attached, it put her a little bit closer to the seat in front of her for kicking purposes! Not good!
• I wouldn't recommend using the Travelmate as a full-time stroller at your destination. For starters, it would mean removing and then reinstalling your car seat every time you wanted to use the "stroller." Also, I just don't feel like the Travelmate is sturdy enough to take the abuse that a stroller takes. It would certainly work in a pinch, but I wouldn't plan on walking for hours with your kid in it.
• Along the same lines, I should point out that we don't typically travel with a stroller at all. We use a baby carrier (such as our Ergo) for kid-hauling duties at our destination. If we did actually need a stroller, I think we would ditch the Travelmate, and just wheel the car seat around the airport using the stroller, like we did in our pre-Travelmate days. Then we'd have it to use at our destination. But since we don't need the stroller, we're able to travel a lot lighter by relying on the Travelmate and Ergo instead.

Bottom line? We never, ever, ever fly without our Travelmate. I think it's a great investment for any family that flies frequently, especially if one parent needs to travel alone with the kid(s). That said, at $90 new, I don't usually recommend it to families that don't fly frequently, especially if they're planning to bring a stroller anyway. If you're only flying once or twice a year (or every few years!), you can probably put up with just dragging the car seat around for that trip.

Top kid travel gear: Ergo baby carrier

Over the years, we've found -- and continue to find! -- plenty of gear that makes traveling with kids infinitely easier. Top travel gear, for sure.

One item that tops this list is our Ergo baby carrier. Really, the Ergo isn't just travel gear; it is possibly our most-used piece of baby gear in our three and a half years as parents. Well, the crib has probably gotten more use, but the Ergo is a close second.

We purchased it when Littles was 3 months old. (If you want to use the Ergo with a newborn, you can purchase an optional infant insert, but I found it easier with both kids to use an alternative carrier, such as a Moby Wrap, until they were big enough for the Ergo on its own.) Here she is during her first trip with the Ergo, October 2007 (3.5 months old), in Playa del Carmen, outside of Cancun, Mexico:

We still use it with her today. This was taken on our trip to Colorado last October, 3 years almost to the day after the picture above:

Why are baby carriers so great for traveling? They allow you to safely contain your baby (or toddler, or preschooler...) while keeping your hands free. So you can tote luggage around the airport or grab a quick bite to eat without having to shuffle your baby from hip to hip, or chase after your toddler.

They're a lot smaller than a stroller, so you can travel light. They also go where strollers can't. Such as down -- and up! -- all 328 steps at Uncle Tom's Trail, on the south rim of the Yellowstone River (September 2008, 15 months old):

Or on the beach in Newport Beach, California (April 2008, 10 months old):

Or through the amazing Ancestral Pueblo ruins at Bandelier National Monument (January 2009, 19 months old):

We love to get out and be active during our travels, so the ability to go anywhere our feet can take us is really important.

A baby carrier can also work as a nice spot for a nap :) This was on the same visit to Bandelier National Monument:

I've even used it to "rock" Littles to sleep at night when we're on the road and don't have access to our usual glider!

We love our Ergo, but there are tons of other great baby carriers out there. Here's Noob on our trip to Colorado last October (8 months old) in a mei tai from Wallypop:

I have friends who have used various Beco carriers, Babyhawks, etc. and swear by them as much as we swear by the Ergo. They all share a variety of features that make for a good baby carrier (for traveling or for around town!):

• The ability to wear your child on both your front and your back. I like having my kids on the front when they are small, but around 15-20 lbs, they start getting pretty heavy to wear on the front. That's when it's handy to be able to pop them onto your back.
• A high weight limit. Even at age 3, it's still very handy being able to carry Littles. The Ergo has been tested up to 90 lbs! I think our backs will give out before the Ergo does :)
• Straps that distribute the weight across your hips as well as your shoulders/back. If you're going to be wearing your baby for hours while wandering the airport, hiking, etc., you want even weight distribution! (Many popular carriers, such as the original Baby Bjorn, put all the weight on your shoulders/back.)
• No bulky metal frame. We (gasp!) forgot the Ergo on a trip to Banff National Park just before Littles' second birthday and ended up renting a metal-framed backpack for hiking. We found that it was no more comfortable than the Ergo, and a whole lot bulkier. When traveling with kids, we look to cut down on bulk whenever possible!
• Something that Hubby won't mind using, either. I actually have a couple of different baby carriers that I use in addition to the Ergo, such as the mei tai pictured above, but Hubby says they're too "girly" :). He doesn't mind the Ergo, though, so it's nice being able to switch off!
• Easy to adjust for different shapes/sizes, if you do plan to switch off kid-toting duties with a spouse or other traveling partner.
• Something that is comfortable for sleeping in. You can see in the picture above of Littles sleeping in the Ergo that it comes with a "sleeping hood," which keeps the baby's head from flopping around as she sleeps. This is especially important when your baby is on your back, since you can't just hold his/her head steady yourself!

Baby carriers seem expensive at first -- I paid over $100 for our Ergo -- but a good one is well worth it, especially for frequent travelers!

Updated pictures!

July 2011: Noob (almost 18 months old) in the Wallypop mei tai on the beach in Panama.

January 2012: Noob (just shy of 2 years old) in the Ergo at the Forbidden City in Beijing. Noob was in the Ergo a lot on this trip. We took public transportation just about everywhere, and the Ergo was way more convenient than a stroller on a crowded subway. Noob is a mama's boy and insisted that I be the one to carry him most of the time, and it was still quite comfortable, even though he was approaching 30 lbs and I was 3 months pregnant!

January 2012: Littles (4.5 years old) in the Ergo on the Great Wall of China. Hey, she got tired, and carrying her in the Ergo was way more comfortable than carrying her in our arms! This is another place where strollers simply cannot go...