Baby Can Travel: Anywhere by Baby Can Travel

C y a b n a B ve a l r T TM

ANYWHERE

A TRAVEL GUIDE MADE FOR PARENTS By Celine and Dan Brewer 1

OTHER BABY CAN TRAVEL EBOOKS Baby Can Travel: Paris

Baby Can Travel: Barcelona

Baby Can Travel: New York City

Baby Can Travel: London

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLANNING YOUR FLIGHTS There is a good deal of strategy in booking flights with an infant. Ultimately, you will want to find the flights within your budget which have as little impact on your infant as possible. In addition to cost, consider the following when choosing your flights:

single flight. Keep in mind, more flights equals a longer travel day, which likely means an even crankier baby. Be true to your personality type, but if you can handle it, we strongly recommend booking as short a travel day as possible.

LENGTH OF FLIGHTS TIME OF DEPARTURE The prospect of your baby crying non-stop on a long flight can be very intimidating for new parents, but in reality, there is very little reason to worry. Everyone loves babies and most of your fellow travellers are also sympathetic parents who have been in your shoes before. You may have the occasional jerk who gets annoyed, but try not to worry; it's impossible to please everyone. As long as you appear to be trying to stop your baby from crying, almost everyone will not mind.

One excellent strategy to deal with a long flight is to book a flight which departs around the time your baby typically goes to bed. This works for so many reasons: ► You can feed your baby their pre-bedtime meal during takeoff, which is a good way to prevent your baby's ears from plugging up.

► Once your baby has been fed and the flight is well under way, the flight crew will dim the lights, which That said, it is important to consider how calm and should help your baby sleep. relaxed a person you are. Are you ok with the possibility of your baby crying on the airplane? This will play into ► Once your baby falls asleep, hopefully the parents can what kind of flights you book. In general, most people take turns getting a little shut-eye as well. should be ok booking long flights. However, if you are extremely worried about what other people may think, you may wish to book your flights as several shorter flights to reduce the risk of a protracted meltdown on a 26

TIME OF ARRIVAL Carefully lining up your time of departure with your baby's schedule is by far the more important of these considerations. However, if you have a choice in what time you arrive, it's worthwhile thinking through the implications. In general, try to land during daylight hours. You are new to the city and may look a little bit lost. Businesses will be open and it will be safer as there are more people around. While assessing your arrival options ensure that you take into account the extra hour or so it will take to collect your luggage and clear customs. If you are arriving after a long travel day, it's nice to try and line up your arrival in the early evening. You will be tired and it will be easier for you to fall asleep on your new local time which may go a long way towards helping you deal with jet lag. Though you are ready to sleep for the night, your baby may not be feeling the same way if they spent many hours sleeping on the flight(s). It may take a few days for everyone to adjust to your new time zone, depending on how far you travelled.

TYouIPknow your baby best, so think about their routine and what would make the most enjoyable flight for the whole family.

EXTRA SERVICES OFFERED BY THE AIRLINE Do a little research into the airlines you are considering to understand the services they offer to young families. Some airlines have bassinets that they can set up after takeoff for your baby to sleep in. Be aware that bassinets are not guaranteed to be available, you must be sitting at a bulkhead seat and there are typically weight restrictions for the bassinets. Thankfully, some airlines also allow passengers with infants to choose their seats in advance at no charge. This may enable you to choose the seats where you can use the bassinet (if offered).

LINKS TO AIRLINE SPECIFIC INFORMATION Air Canada Air France Air New Zealand American Airlines

British Airways Delta Easy Jet Emirates

KLM Lufthansa Qantas Ryanair

Southwest United

If any of the internet links above are broken or if your airline isn't listed above, simply do an internet search for 'Travelling with an infant on [insert the name of your airline]'.

baby. The biggest disadvantage, of course, is the increased cost.

A SEAT FOR YOUR BABY?

If a bulkhead seat with a bassinet isn't guaranteed to be available, you will have a choice to make: have your baby Be aware that most airlines require you to bring an approved restraint system (e.g.: car seat, etc.) onto the sit on your lap for free or buying them their own seat. plane for your child's seat. Check with your airline for The major advantage of having your baby travel without details prior to paying for an extra seat. their own paid seat is the money saved by not buying them a ticket. Most airlines allow infants under 2 to travel for free without their own seat, which can usually result in big savings for your family. Of course, the main disadvantage of not buying them a seat is that they must be in your lap the entire time. If both parents are travelling, this becomes a little easier as you can take turns holding the baby. If your baby is finicky or has trouble sleeping outside a crib this may lead to a less pleasant flying experience, but the question becomes how much potential grief are you willing to put up with for the cost savings? The major advantage of buying a seat for your baby is the extra space for your family and your belongings. On most airplanes having three seats together with no strangers in your row is a nice luxury. You will also have the advantage of having one extra space to store your belongings at the foot of your baby's seat, which may enable you to avoid using the overhead compartments altogether. This is a big convenience when you are continually going into your bags to get things for your

IPairlines also allow passengers with infants TSome to choose their seats in advance at no charge. 29

OUR EXPERIENCE Barcelona: We chose a nine hour overnight flight from Calgary, Canada to London, England with a two hour layover before hopping onto a short two hour flight to Barcelona. This worked well as we arrived at the Calgary airport in time to feed and play with our baby before boarding the plane. After feeding her during takeoff, our baby was ready for sleep. We were able to choose our seats at the bulkhead and the airline provided a bassinet for our baby to sleep in. This worked like a charm - with the comfy bed, the darkness and the white noise, our daughter slept nearly the entire flight. Given that this was our very first flight with a baby, we didn't sleep much as we were keeping an eye on her, but that is a trade-off we were willing to make! Once in London, we had time to stretch our legs and our baby loved to do some people watching! Our final two hour flight went well. We had to sit her in our lap, but due to the short duration of the flight this was not an issue. She cried for a little while, but no one seemed to mind. We landed in Barcelona at 7:30PM local time and got to our hotel around 9:30PM. Although we were tired enough to go to sleep for the night, our daughter was quite awake after her great sleep on the trans-Atlantic flight. She eventually went to sleep and the next day we were all on the local schedule. New Mexico: Getting to New Mexico from Calgary involves two short flights. Given the short duration, we selected the cheapest daytime flights we could find and did not worry about getting a bulkhead seat or a seat for our daughter. We bought her a new toy before the flight which kept her happy and occupied through the flights. New York City: We chose a 5 hour direct flight to NYC which left in the morning and arrived mid-afternoon. Our airline didn't offer bassinets and we felt the flight was still short enough that we could have her in our lap. She was happy, playful and even napped on the way to NYC, but she was restless and cranky on the way home. She cried on several occasions, including a new, loud, screaming cry that she had recently learned, but no one 30

OUR EXPERIENCE gave us a second look. Almost everyone around us was wearing headphones (watching a movie or listening to music) and those who weren't didn't seem to be bothered by it. We wish she had been better behaved, but our experience reaffirmed that bringing a crying baby on a plane is nothing to fear. It did, however, prompt us to try getting her a seat of her own on our next trip. London/Paris: To be honest, our flight times for London were awful, but we chose it as the return flight it was paired with was much better than our other alternatives. We left Calgary in the early afternoon and arrived in London at 7AM (midnight Calgary time). Without access to our apartment until mid-afternoon, this meant we had to stay awake all day, even though we desperately needed a nap. We learned from our prior experiences that our daughter will play with the surrounding passengers non-stop if she is in our lap, so in an effort to get her to sleep, we elected to buy her a seat of her own. Despite having to bring a car seat for her on the plane, we enjoyed the luxury of having a row to ourselves, along with the extra space. We're still not sure if it was worth the extra money, but it sure was nice. The flight home from Paris departed in the evening and arrived in Calgary in the evening. This allowed us to sleep easily when we got home, which helped us get over the jet lag much easier.

ARRIVAL AT YOUR DESTINATION

TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS Getting from your destination airport to your hotel requires some advance planning. You will have a variety of options, each with their own benefits and downsides.

subways, trams, boats, etc. Again, the internet will be a valuable resource in your research: take another look at Google Maps and see where the subway stations and bus stops are in relation to your main attractions. In addition, perform searches such as, "public transportation in (your destination) ".

SHOULD I RENT A CAR?

► Do they have Hop-On, Hop-Off (HoHo) buses? Most If you are going somewhere culturally different than major tourist destinations will have companies your home city we do not recommend renting a car offering HoHo bus services, which easily take you unless you are a very confident driver. If you are unsure, from attraction-to-attraction. consider the following factors: ► How different is traffic vs. where you are from? Driving habits and traffic patterns are different ► How walkable is the city? Many of the world's main everywhere around the world. Everyone is different, tourist destinations are very walkable cities with but generally speaking, driving in an unfamiliar city most attractions within easy walking distance from with unfamiliar driving rules is not a lot of fun. It can each other. To get an idea of how walkable a city is, be stressful and it does not afford the driver the spend a little time on an internet map site such as ability to look out the window and enjoy the sights. Google Maps. Take a look at the map and see how close together your main attractions are, then take a ► How easy & expensive is it to find parking? As a few random looks at Street View to determine what general rule, you will find parking in tourist areas of the sidewalks look like - are they flat and wide? Are most cities hard to find and very expensive. there lots of people walking in the picture? ► What is their public transportation system like? Most Having your own car while on holidays can be more of the world's cities have excellent public convenient than your alternatives, but it can also be a transportation systems, ranging from buses, stressful, expensive headache. 66

OUR EXPERIENCE We did not rent a car in Barcelona, New York, London or Paris for a variety of reasons, but the biggest reason is that we didn't have to. These world-class cities have world-class public transportation and taxi services, so we didn't feel the additional cost and stress of a car rental was worth it. Not once during each of these holidays did we wish we had our own car. We did rent a car in New Mexico as our final destination was in a rural town a few hours' drive from Albuquerque. Given that Albuquerque is approximately the same size as Calgary (our hometown) and that driving laws are very similar between Canada and the USA, we felt confident that we could drive a rental car without issue.