And We're Off

We are finally off to New York. There is so much that you have to take with you when you travel with a baby. Its no longer a matter of throwing a few outfits in the suitcase and taking off. No, you have to have the baby’s clothes and blankets, bibs and burp cloths, some toys and his toiletries. Goodness. Then there are the food and feeding implements to worry about. It took me all day yesterday to get packed. Between chasing the baby who was motoring all over the house, tidying, cooking, walking the dog and feeding the baby it’s a wonder I got anything accomplished! We have traveled on a plane before with the baby so I know what is manageable in terms of luggage and the amount of crap we take. This time we are going for a bit longer and it has proven to be a challenge to keep the baggage manageable, more so because of weight than anything.

I like to bring one suitcase for the baby and I and my husband brings his own suitcase to check. We then take one suitcase that we carry on which contains the diaper bag plus a few extras for mom and baby. My husband, again, takes his own carry-on bag that holds a laptop and all of his man goodies. He usually has a camera bag as well. After planning everything out and packing everything up it came time to weigh the large suitcase. Of course it was about five pounds too heavy. So, as much as we don’t want to do it, we are bringing an extra small bag to check. Boo.




We are visiting family and while there are items that we are able to borrow we decided to bring our stroller. We are hoping to gate check our Bumbleride Indie. I read several forums and it seems no one has had an issue gate checking their Indie. It seems as long as your stroller collapses, no matter how compact it collapses, it will pass, but who knows. American Airlines changed their gate check policy in June, but I have not heard of other airlines doing this yet, and I’m not flying American so all is well. We called and were told that it would not be an issue but we are still a bit concerned.

I also did some research about traveling with baby food and breast milk. The only thing that I found might be a problem is an ice pack. My cooler bag that I keep milk in has an ice pack that fits inside to keep everything cold. It was suggested that I just bring a bag of ice and get rid of it prior to going through security. I can do that. I would rather do that than lose the ice pack.

Now if the baby cooperates on the plane, I will be able to finally relax. I think I am going to sleep really well tonight!