Marti - Stories - People - CheckPointBlack

As soon as I booked our trip, the flood gate opened. Oh my, I’ve made such a big mistake! It was fine for us to travel that long on a plane ride, but a 3 month old? It was okay for us to go to a third world country, but to bring our 3 month old? Were we letting our obsessive travels get in the way of the wellbeing of our baby? And I hear the São Paulo is now the kidnapping capital of South America. Are we being irresponsible parents?

Overwhelmed by my fears I declared to my husband that we were not going. He in term calmed me down with enticements of “warm and beach.” Unfortunately, it was only a temporary relief as I spent the week with nightmares about all the issues we would face while traveling with our little guy - Horrified stares from passengers on the plane as we take our seat besides them. Crying fits on the plane in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping. Sanitation issues, scary mugging in São Paulo, medical emergency that takes us to the hospital…aaaahhhh!!!

My stress stayed with me as we got out the door with our two full-size roller-bags (completely packed!), a pack n play, stroller and car seat…plus overflowing carry-ons. (How much does this little guy need?) And it stayed with me as we negotiated our way through check-in with the awfully cold workers at JFK and through the last minute plane diversion to Rio de Janeiro due to fog in São Paulo. BUT as the Brazilian Customs Officer stamped our three-month-olds passport, it was our proudest moment as parents. He was now an international traveler and my stresses disappeared instantly.

We drove to the beaches near São Paulo to find beautiful white sands with lush tropical vegetation covering the surrounding mountains and islands. It was such an incredible site which we fully enjoyed with passion-fruit caprioskas in hand!!

We spent 4 days at the beaches and to answer everyone’s question, it was great traveling with the little guy! We arranged our day around his usual 3-hour cycle of eating, playing, sleeping. The key was his playtime. He needed to be active during this part and then if we wanted to go somewhere, we would plan the journey during his sleep. It actually worked quite well and we were able to explore the surrounding beaches and get in some much needed swimming, surfing and sunbathing!

We went back to São Paulo and for our last three days and ate our way through the city…literally. We ate so much that we went on South Beach crash diet when we got back home! The restaurants there were unbelievable and could have been in New York or Sydney.

Our next adventure hit on the way home. We were half hour before boarding when the airport traffic controllers went on strike. It closed all the airports in

Brazil

. Despite this Delta kept saying that we were flying out that night. We finally realized we were stuck when a message came in from my Dad saying, “Delta’s website lists your flight as canceled.” That was the most information we got from anyone all night. By the time Delta got its act together (way after the other airlines), it was close to three in the morning. The little guy slept through everything, but Mom & Dad were certainly exhausted when he woke up at six!

Tips for traveling with a baby (The serious stuff):
- Arrange for a bassinet on the plane – At the airport you can ask for the bulk-head seats that have a bassinet. If the plane is not full they will probably give you the three seats. They fix up the bassinete once you are in the air. Our little guy slept through most of the 9.5 hour flight. In fact, for once, he slept better than we did!

- Take an overnight flight – It was easier to be on the overnight flight because this is when our little guy usually sleeps. He just passed out for most of the flight, which made the passengers around us remark ‘what a well-behaved baby we had!’

- Watch the ears – We actually did not have any issues with our little guy’s ears because he slept through take off and landing. However, we were ready with pacifiers and I was ready to breastfeed if necessary.

- Pediatrician & hospital names – Get the name of a pediatrician and hospital ahead of time. You will feel a lot better knowing that if a problem came up you already know where to go or who to call.

Essential items to travel with:

Pack n play - Before you lug a pack n play with you check if your hotel has one (ours did in Brazil). If not we found it to be very handy. Ours has a bassinette and we attached the tiny love first book to the side and our little guy was right at home.

Disposable mats – If the sanitation is not great you can just put these down before putting him down.

Purell – of course!

Tiny Love portable mobile – it hooked onto the car seat so he could sit there and stare at his mobile anywhere.

Tiny Love first book – we put this in his pack ‘n play and it reminded him of home.

Tiny Love chimes – these hooked onto his stroller and were great distraction as we walked around

Baby Mozart DVD – this was such a life-savier at times!!

Skip Hop Diaper Bag – this was the best diaper bag to have because it is so versitile and quickly clipped on and off the stroller.