Zen and the ‘art’ of travelling with a baby and kids
Zen, really Zen ? Well, a bit aspirational but mostly, ironic. As Zen as a mum could ever get. Here is our collection of places to travel with baby, some tips and adventures, best travel gear for baby, travel essentials with toddlers and kids.
Art ? Well, babies’ happy routines involve planning, structure and habits. Travelling involves quite a bit of opposite, but again you could aim for, naively and happily (50%), observe and take clues from baby (20%), re-plan and re-structure (25%) and go with the flow (5%).
Motherhood? My take on it, well, the hard work is so undeniably there, every little occasion should be used make it more pleasant and to the extent possible re-energize yourself. And whilst working hard on routines, and at the beginning sleeping at night 4-5 hours interrupted and breastfeeding 6 out of 24 hours, I’d better make most out of it and make sure we all enjoy it.
That literally meant taking our (very) little men to gastro-pubs, starting with 3 days old anniversary, attending wedding in Rome when our first child was 5 weeks old and enjoying Amalfi cuisine and sights when he was 6 weeks, getting some winter sun first in Dubai and then Abu Dhabi when he was 4 months, experiencing European continental winters at 5 months, the Caribbean at 7 months and so on.
Having suffered from the travel bug my entire life, I’ve seen no reason to do anything different when I was pregnant and once we had our first baby. Specifically first 6 months of pregnancy had been lucky enough to enjoy a sort of paid sabbatical, which took me around Barbados, Grenadines, Dominica, Australia and Fiji. The first year with our baby we kept on travelling more or less monthly basis, Rome, Amalfi, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Brasov ski resort, Dominican Republic, Liguria, Bucharest, Cornwall, Crete, Rome – full circle. Would love to share those experiences some pictures included. Have now returned to a full time job in banking however with 30 days holidays per year we are continuing to travel but of course no longer on a monthly basis.
With the second baby we’ve done pretty much the same: by 7 weeks we were at the Ritz in Tenerife; 2.5 months Sani in Greece; 7 months Four Seasons in Nevis. More about the cheeky lovely monkeys in here; and more about collaboration opportunities in here.
Little wonder so many friends turn to us for travelling advice and suggestions for places to travel with baby, inspiration and ease with kids, best travel gear for baby and toddlers . Aiming for easy refreshing and reassuring, life with babies and kids is richer and whilst travelling is slightly more complex is still rewarding and enjoyable.
Happy travelling all, big and small!
