A first, literally for all of us. Our first holiday with a baby. Wow – how many pieces of luggage did we load our car with? What I learned from our first trip with the three of us.
Honestly, I have never given any thought about traveling with a baby. Years ago, I just thought, one more person, one more piece of luggage and a slightly adapted route. Well … I was wrong. After a long pause of traveling, obviously due to Covid-19 and lockdowns across the world, we embarked on our first trip with our baby of about four months. We stayed within Switzerland, as crossing boarders is not something one did these days. So, we went to Adelboden to spend a long weekend outside our own four walls.
Packing our bags with baby stuff
Since we are (or at least we used to be) frequent travellers, we are used to packing our bags quickly and spontaneously. Did you find the mistake? Spontaneously – not happening now. I first packed my own bag, which was quite easy to start with. However, I realised that I did not think of everyday things that I need, now that I have a baby: vitamins, supplements, clothes for breastfeeding, the extension for my jacket to fit the baby carrier, baby phone, etc. I loaded the camera, the selfie-stick and made sure everything was charged. That was the easy part.
Then I started packing a bag for our baby boy. Since he does not have his own piece of luggage yet, I just used a big bag. A big pack of diapers was the first thing I packed. I added clothes like bodies, tops, and pants – two to three sets per day, since you never know what was going to happen. Toys, books to read, towels, cloths as well as warm overalls for the February weather in Switzerland’s mountains filled the bag. Toiletries including almond oil, wet wipes, cotton pads, vitamin D3 drops were put in a plastic bag to prevent everything else from being soaked in oil. He loves his play rug, so I packed it along with a warm baby blanket and his lovely teddy. He was just starting to eat baby food, so I added one small glass and a spoon, as well as another container to heat the food in.
Then I thought … what happens if he gets sick? I added a fever gauge, fever medicine, and a nursing bottle in case he needs water. Well, you might be able to imagine the big bag was filling up quickly and suddenly it was overflowing with things our tiny baby boy needs – or at least, what I thought he would need. Of course, we also brought our stroller, which filled our trunk almost entirely.
Oh dear – how do parents do that normally? How many pieces of luggage do you own and what’s the deal with traveling by plane? All the things I still need to learn 😉.
Hotel room adventure – what you need in your room when traveling with a baby
The journey was easy, as baby boy fell asleep a couple of minutes after we started driving. When we arrived, baby boy was busy looking at every person we passed, every picture on the wall and everything that was new. And that was indeed almost everything!
Our room was lovely, but tiny. We had the most wonderful view of the mountains and had an immense window to enjoy the panorama. However, I learned immediately, what I have to make sure for future holidays:
- Make sure the room has a fridge (for baby food). Our room did not have a fridge. The staff was kindly keeping our baby food in the kitchen’s fridge.
- Make sure to be able to regulate the temperature in the hotel room. We were almost boiling in there, due to the big window and warm weather (yes, even in February).
- Make sure there is enough space to put the luggage and the stroller. It was enough for our short trip, but it was tight.
- Make sure the staff knows that you are coming with a stroller to have dinner and repeat it at every reservation. Each of the three nights we were booked to a high-level table, which was not possible with our stroller. Luckily, the staff was flexible enough to change tables each night.
Surely, our little boss was responsible for our daily schedule. Of course, we were aware of that and didn’t mind, as we were just there for a little break away from home. Actually, our days did not differ significantly from our days at home. So, we went for a couple of walks a day, we had a lot of tummy time on our huge bed with the view of the mountains and we had our regular rhythm regarding food and diapers.
Newbie at traveling – baby adventures
Our first trip with our baby boy made us feel like newsbies when it comes to traveling at all. We still need to learn a lot and are thankful for every recommendation parents share with us. Even though it was just a weekend trip, it was completely different from what we have done on holidays before. And you know what? It doesn’t matter at all. We saw our baby boy smile at the waitress, at people waiting for the elevator, at the lady in the little bakery in the town’s center, we saw him play with his toys on his own and staring at the colorful pictures on the wall. He simply enjoyed his time – and that was the most wonderful that could have happened on our first trip with the three of us. May there be a looooot of trips coming soon :-).
