We got this trip on the books when Miss Lu was about 2 months old. I didn't want us to be those parents tethered within a 10 mile radius of their house (not that there's anything wrong with that). I wanted to make sure we shared our love of adventure with our tiny one from the start. So at 5 months old we were off to Switzerland! Here's my first hand survival guide for that first long trip away from home:
Leave your high expectations at home. First and foremost, bring an open mind, be ready to be flexible and pack extra patience. It's not just you anymore, there's someone else's needs that are going to come first and their priority is not seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Just know things are not going to go your way every moment, but accepting that and being ready to adjust on the fly will keep everything very manageable, chill and you'll all get the best out of your trip.
Give yourself the gift of extra time. This comes into play at many points. At the airport both for departing and connecting flights. You just never know what lines will be like, where the elevators will be, or what your baby will need in terms of food, diapers or whatever! And in our case, your tiny one's ticket might not be processed properly even after several phone calls with the airline (more on that in another post). We gave ourselves about 2.5 hours before an international flight (we had premier access and TSA precheck), but I'd say 3 to 3.5 hours is a safer number, rushing makes everyone's stress level go up exponentially. Be prepared to have your diaper bag checked at security, it's inevitable given the powders, creams and bottle water you most likely have. Also make sure you have a nice and comfy connection window. We didn't have nearly enough time on the connection, but thankfully our flight was early and the new gate was close. I booked that connection with the single traveler in mind, i.e. me a year ago. Oops!
Give yourself at least 2 rest days. Jet lag is no joke. This is ideal, but definitely not always possible. If you can, try go without major plans on either end of your flights. You'll need time to adjust to your new time zone and jumping into a million booked activities won't help. Give yourself at least a day and a half if you're traveling east across multiple times zones and 2-5 days on your arrival home. Maya slept a good deal on the plane both ways but was still very much attached to her clock of origin. We made the big mistake of hitting the pillow at 10am when we arrived in Zurich, slept til about 4pm and then we were all messed up that evening. If you can push through, grab some food, walk around a bit and turn in early that is probably a much better approach. Maya adjusted about 2 days in, still waking in the night a bit more than usual but was easily pacified by an extra meal. We had nothing booked in Zurich other than checking out the sites at our leisure. That really took the pressure off, allowed us to go out and about and get naps in without feeling guilty we were missing out. On the way home, we arrived on a Friday assuming the weekend would be enough for our recovery. Thank goodness it wasn't less because Maya took about 5 days to adjust back to normal. The first few nights she was wide awake and could not be fed back to sleep. Rough! So if you can, give yourself more time on the back end of your trip.
Don't over plan your international vacation. I know it's tempting to book excursions, site see, dinners, shows, visit every cathedral on every block, and have every hour accounted for. I mean, you want to make the most of your limited time away, but if you learn nothing else from our experience, set a daily goal of one or maybe two activities you want to accomplish. If you don't have to set exact start times, that takes even more pressure off. This gives you all time to sleep in if you need, eat, see what you want to see, nap and take care of your little one's needs without the pressure of missing out on things and heightening stress levels. Trust me, you'll still get to see and do a lot and you'll all be happier while you do it.
Book a place to stay that has laundry facilities! I can't emphasize this one enough. It doesn't have to be the whole trip, but you're gonna want to do laundry. You will be toting around sh*t soiled clothes for days, and even if you have put them in air locked bags, it's still disgusting after awhile. We booked an Airbnb in the middle of our trip with a washer AND dryer (look closely in descriptions as many places just have the washer and air-dried baby clothes are too scratchy). This was such a lifesaver! Not only does it help you pack more conservatively, it alleviates the gross factor considerably.
Pack smart. We'll dedicate an entire post to this one. But to sum it up, know what your limited number of hands, arms and backs can handle. Baby is the only one that needs multiple wardrobe changes a day and you can do laundry and buy diapers, etc. along the way in most places.
Enjoy each other! The best part of this trip was the time we got to spend together without the distractions of work and chores to do at home. Michael hadn't spent more than 48 hours in a row with Miss Lu since she was 2 weeks old, and I've been back to work trying to figure out how to get by on only a couple hours quality time each night. She is an amazing person, and it's a pleasure to be with her and be wooed by her impossibly positive energy. Time together is an incredible gift and one that we didn't realize would be the ultimate prize. After all, the only thing your little one really wants to do is spend time with you. It doesn't have to be in Switzerland, it could have been at a cabin an hour away from our house, but spending quality time talking, laughing, sharing new experiences and getting to know more about our Maya girl was the best gift I've ever given myself. I can't wait to do it again!
Great job, awesome idea