Indian Summer in La Rue St. Pierre plus Tips for Traveling Avec Baby
Weather.com really screwed us.
Strolling the Streets of Honfleur
All reports called for rain with a chill in the air. And we packed for it.
Now, I really can’t complain as it would have been worse in reverse. But, the entire time we were in Normandy, it was 80-90 degrees by day cooling to around 50 at night. And I’ll take that over chilly rain any day! What can ya’ do? At least I brought one pair of shorts along for the ride…and boy oh boy, those shorts are worn out!
This Travel Gal adventure featured my husbands first experience in Europe and my daughters first trip ever.
Some neighbors were pretty jealous of little 11 month old Livy. “I’ve never even been to France!” they shouted across the driveway upon hearing the news. Whenever I hear something like this, I have to wonder.
Why? Why haven’t you ever been to France?
Why is it so many people spend their time fantasizing about travel and never just up and do it? If you say it’s because you don’t have the money, that’s just lame. You can honestly travel anywhere on a budget if you plan. So please just get past the “I wish I could” BS and figure it out. I have been lucky in life…but really, I’ve made it what it is too. And anyone can…I’m not that special.
Livy was quite the star on the flight over. I was shocked. It was pretty stressful wondering how she’d respond to being trapped on an airplane for 9 hours. Plus, I have to admit, I had visions of my single, carefree self traveling in the past. Shear panic consumed me every time I saw a baby get on-board. So when we boarded the plane, sneers pierced the back of my head from everyone just realizing they were about to take off with a baby in the next row. But the hours of “travel with baby” tips I gathered before our departure really paid off. As the plane landed, our co-travelers joyously complimented Livy. And when I say joyous, I mean joyous. Exuberant even. Shock and awe came streaming to us…in a good way though. “I can’t believe how good she was.” “OMG, is she always like this?” And my favorite comment (which actually came after our return flight) “You could get 200 letters of recommendation from people on that flight to hand out to other people when you get on planes in the future. That baby is amazing!” And yes, she truly is.
So for anyone looking for “traveling with baby” tips, here’s what I did:
- Made sure she had a bottle for take off. Sucking on something will relieve the pressure during take-offs and landings. This is key! (In spite of my thorough planning though, Livy couldn’t wait to have her bottle at take off. She pounded 8 oz. while everyone was boarding and passed out. Unbelievably, she actually slept through the entire take off and for about 2 hours after.)
- I didn’t purchase a seat for her. But we lucked out and the flight wasn’t full so we got an extra seat to spread out. Air France was really awesome by the way. They also have bassinets for babies that are under 22 lbs. I strongly suggest getting a seat with one of these. We had one for our return flight and she really loved it. She slept most of the way. Plus, she loved being able to sit up, smile and wave at her neighbors on-board. For those of you that know me…yes, this is my child.
- I purchased a Moby Wrap for the flight. My thought was that if I wanted to sleep without worrying about her falling off my lap, at least this wrap would hold her close to me but allow her to spread out a bit too. It worked great. I didn’t find a ton of products for lap flying. There’s a few but they seem to be more for take offs and landings then for comfortable security mid-flight.
- Packed snacks and toys.
- Used bottles with disposable liners so i just had to wipe down the nipples instead of cleaning an entire bottle on the plane. An impossible task as you can’t use the bathroom water to clean them.
- Speaking of wipes! I used pacifier wipes to clean the bottles and facial wipes for her. I was wipe crazy on this trip and I strongly suggest it.
- We brought our own stroller with us. City Mini Jogger. We opted to check this instead of using a cheap umbrella stroller. I’m glad we did too. An umbrella stroller would never have survived the cobblestone streets of Europe. Plus, Livy wouldn’t have been as comfortable. This allowed her to sleep when she wanted as we were out on 6-9 hr adventures everyday.
Comfy and Loving France in her City Mini Jogger
- Everyday while we were out and about, we made sure to find time for Liv to run free a bit. Most little villages have some kind of park and she truly loved hanging out with the Frenchies by the swing.
Just enjoying the park
That’s about it for this post. I’ll be posting more with pics from our time in Giverny, Honfleur, Fecamp, Rouen and more.
