C y a b n a B ve NEW YORK CITY a l r T TM
A TRAVEL GUIDE MADE FOR PARENTS By Celine and Dan Brewer 1
OTHER BABY CAN TRAVEL EBOOKS Baby Can Travel: Paris
Baby Can Travel: London
Baby Can Travel: Barcelona
Baby Can Travel: Anywhere
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5
6
PLANNING YOUR TRIP
7
NEW YORK CITY IS A GREAT CHOICE One of the great things about travelling with an infant is that you can pick the destination based on what you want to see and do. Your baby will not have an opinion about seeing the Empire State Building vs. the Eiffel Tower - they just want to be with you! That said, there are still important things to consider for your infant when picking your destination:
þ The weather in spring and fall is warm, but not too hot. Summer may be off-limits though. þ It has a great public transportation system. þ It is a very walkable, stroller friendly city. þ It is baby & breastfeeding friendly. þ There are enough world-class attractions to fill a week or two of your time.
þ Is it safe? One potential downside to consider is that petty theft þ Does it have access to good health care? can be troublesome (pickpockets, etc.). þ Is the weather appropriate for your baby's health (e.g., not too hot or too cold to be outside)? þ Does it have good transportation options? þ Is it a walkable city? Can you push a stroller on most of the city streets? þ If your baby is breastfed, does the local culture accept breastfeeding? Fortunately, New York City is a great choice as a destination for travelling with a baby! þ NYC is a safe city. þ They have a good first world health care system. Be aware of your coverage or lack thereof before you leave home. 8
PREDICTING YOUR BABY'S NEEDS The first step in planning your trip is to think about the needs of all the travellers - including both the baby and the parents. Having a solid idea of each of your needs will help you make thoughtful decisions about your trip.
change from the time you book your trip. Will they be eating solid food? How long will they nap each day? Will they be crawling? The table below provides guidance on what your child may be like at the age of travel. Every baby develops at their own pace, so treat these as guidelines only.
It is fascinating to watch infants grow; their skills and personalities change so rapidly. For these reasons, you need to spend a bit of time anticipating what your child will be like on the date you travel, as they will certainly
9
By considering what your child may be like at the proposed time of your trip, you can plan accordingly. The key elements to consider are sleeping and feeding:
When planning your trip, factor this time into your sightseeing aspirations. How will you feed them? What will you feed them? Where will you feed them? And how long will this all take?
Amount & Location of Sleep Your baby's need for sleep will be one of the biggest factors in how much time you will have sightseeing at your destination. Very young babies tend to have the most naps, but are generally able to fall asleep anywhere and anytime. As they become older, they become more aware of the world around them and may have more difficulty falling asleep on-the-go, especially if your destination is very stimulating. As they get even older, their need for multiple naps dwindles and becomes less of a factor in your daily planning. Feeding Method Very young babies are easy to travel with - you can feed them on-the-go either by breastfeeding or by bottle. As your child transitions to solid food, feeding them takes up more of your day. The months after they start eating solids are especially slow going as they are just learning to eat - they play with their food, eat half, rub the other half in their hair, clothes, the carpet, etc. As they get more skilled at eating, the time it takes generally decreases and will become less of a factor in your daily planning.
TIP
Generically speaking, the most challenging age to travel with an infant is between 6-11 months. They typically need two naps per day and may have difficulty sleeping on-the-go due to the exciting world around them. Their newfound appreciation for, but lack of skills to eat solid food may also slow you down.
10
HOW DOES NEW YORK CITY FIT? NYC is a world-class tourist destination. When planning to take your infant there, you need to factor in two main things: â–ş It is very easy to get around NYC, but it is big and takes time to get places. You can count on 1 minute of walking for each north-south block and 5 minutes of walking for every east-west block. A typical subway ride from Midtown to the Financial District will take 30-40 minutes each way. â–ş NYC is one of the most exciting (and noisy) cities in the world and as a result can be very stimulating for your baby. If your baby is just starting to become aware of the world around them, taking them from their comfortable home to NYC puts you at risk of overstimulating them. Despite some of the potential challenges you may face, you can take a baby of any age to NYC and have a wonderful time. Just start with a clear set of expectations to avoid being frustrated during your trip.
11
OUR EXPERIENCE Our daughter was 10 months old when we brought her to NYC. Before leaving for NYC she was sleeping around 11 hours per night at home and was taking 2 naps per day (around 3 hours total in duration). She was eating solid food, but was a very slow eater. We started our trip with the assumption that she would have her first nap of the day while we were on-the-go and then we'd go back to the hotel early afternoon for her second nap of the day. It took us a few days to catch on that she was not sleeping easily or very well for her first nap of the day. NYC is very interesting for a baby her age. She was also taking 30-45 minutes to properly eat solid food. The combination of needing to be in the hotel for her naps, plus the time to feed her solid food required some changes to our plans: 1) We stopped going out first thing in the morning. We would feed her and let her play a little, before putting her down for nap #1. 2) We typically had 3-4 hours of sightseeing time after her first nap. We would feed her solids while we ate lunch and breastfed her on-the-go as required. 3) We would go out for another two hours after her afternoon nap. This gave us time to have her home, feed her and let her play a little before bed. We had a great time in NYC, but we found it to be a little challenging with a 10 month old. The time it took to get places reduced the time we had to enjoy the sights. The level of excitement also made it harder for her to sleep. To make the most of our time, we continually monitored how she was doing and adjusted our approach as required, making sure her needs were met first. 12
NYC ATTRACTIONS OUR ITINERARY
89
TOP OF THE ROCK “...the Top of the Rock is a fun alternative to the Empire State Building.”
103
A three story observation deck on the 67th, 69th and 70th floors of 30 Rockefeller Centre, the Top of the Rock is a fun alternative to the Empire State Building.
PLACES TO BREASTFEED The most convenient place to breastfeed in this area is to go to a restaurant. There are also many plazas around Rockefeller Centre which have places you can sit, but be prepared for it to be very crowded.
EASE OF GETTING THERE Walking Top of the Rock is found within Rockefeller Center, so if this is your starting point, no walking is required! Subway The nearest subway stop is "Rockefeller Center" (Lines B, D, F and M). Ho Ho CitySights NY Downtown Tour and NY Sightseeing Downtown Loop.
STROLLER ACCESSIBILITY The Top of the Rock is fully stroller accessible, however their rules state the stroller must be collapsible.
EATING NEARBY There are countless restaurants both within and around Rockefeller Centre. You will not go hungry for sure! 104
INTERESTING FOR INFANT
OTHER INFORMATION
If your infant is old enough to notice that they are up high, then there might be a slight chance this attraction will appeal to your baby. Most likely though, they will not notice what the big deal is.
Official Website Time & Money Savers: You can skip the line by buying your ticket online and selecting what time you wish to go to the top. Selecting the exact time may be difficult for most parents of small babies, but the option is available if you are confident in your arrival time. If you are also planning a tour of the Rockefeller Centre, you can buy a combo ticket which gets you the tour, plus Top of the Rock at a small discount. The New York Pass entitles users to free admission along with the ability to skip the line, while the New York CityPASS entitles users to free admission. Top of the Rock can also be added as a free attraction to the New York Explorer Pass.
TIP
Top of the Rock has a free iTunes app which contains a free audio tour and a visual guide of the sights from above.
105
Nearby Attractions NBC Studios, Museum of Modern Art, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Radio City Music Hall and Times Square.
OUR EXPERIENCE Top of the Rock was one of our secondary attractions. Our 'must see' for the day was the Brooklyn Bridge walk, which we did earlier in the day. After the bridge, we went back to our hotel so our daughter could have a decent nap in her crib. Once she woke up, was fed and changed, we went out to take advantage of the remaining time in our day. As luck would have it, our daughter began teething a few days before our trip and as such she hadn't been sleeping well. We really wanted her to have a good sleep on this night, so we decided to have her back at the hotel by 6PM. By the time she was up from her last nap of the day it was around 4PM, so we needed to go somewhere close and that wouldn't take too long. Thankfully, the Top of the Rock was one block from our hotel and was a fairly straightforward attraction which we could control how long we stayed. This is a good example of picking an attraction which fits your schedule best. Thankfully the ticket line wasn't very long. We were on our way in about 5 minutes, but we were soon faced with another line-up (this one to get a souvenir photo taken). We weren't interested, so we tried to bypass the line. One of the security guards tried to stop us, but another guard saw our baby and let us pass. Never underestimate the power of a cute baby!! The elevator ride up to the 67th floor took less than a minute. Once at the top, the incredible views are everywhere. They have thick glass panels from the floor which you can look through to get unobstructed views of NYC. Rockefeller Centre's ideal location provides sweeping views of Central Park to the north, the Empire State Building and the new World Trade Centre to the south. After having our daughter in a stroller all morning, we elected to take her up in our carrier, which enabled us to easily get around the attraction. 106