top of page
Traveling with a Baby/Toddler
What I have learned traveling to 5 countries with my little one under 2 years old
Traveling with a baby/toddler, is it worth it?
The simple answer is...hell yes! But you didn't come here just to hear that did you? Odds are, since you are here, you are considering traveling with your little one, or wondering how feasible it is to do so! Well, firstly, I want to disclaim that I am by no means an expert in the subject, however, I have traveled to 5 countries with my daughter under the age of 2, 4 of those countries before the age of 18 months, and I have learned a lot! I want parents to know that traveling doesn't need to stop once you have children. I am going to break it down by tips when it comes to flying, baby/gear and what to pack, sleep and how to manage time change, as well as everything in between! I hope this blog finds you well and I am so happy to all of those who have encouraged me to do so! Now...let's get to it.
Take me straight to:
Flying with a Baby
I feel like most everyones' biggest anxiety when it comes to traveling with a baby/toddler is the flight there. The biggest fear being you are the parent of the screaming crying baby on the plane. I personally have flight anxiety regardless of having a baby with me, so I know that this would be my biggest challenge. Honestly, If I can do it, anyone can.
Buying a plane ticket for your baby
First things first, lap child or buy their own seat? An infant over 14 days and under two (2) years of age, qualifies at as a lap child. Once your little one turns 2 years of age you will need to buy their own ticket. I have personally chosen to have Indie as a lap child for all of our trips (mostly because she is under the age of 2 and can still milk paying the cost of an additional seat).
However this TRICK can get you a FREE seat for your baby:
If you are traveling with your baby/toddlers car seat, you can choose to gate check this and 9/10 times if your flight has extra seats, you can ask the attendant at the gate if you can bring your car seat on board for your baby/toddler to fly in. Now you can't be picky about where you are sitting, but if they do have an extra seat they can usually switch you and your baby to this unoccupied seat. You would install your little one's carseat to the chair and they would sit in their car seat for the duration of the trip.
Hidden international fee's for lap child you should know about:
One thing that was a complete shock to my husband and I was that while flying domestically with your lap infant may be free, traveling internationally you will have to pay a portion. When you have a lap child internationally, you have to pay around 10% of the adult price fair. EVEN if you purchased the ticket using points or rewards (more on this later). For example, if you purchase a ticket for yourself valued at $500, you would have to pay 10% of that cost to have a lap infant added to your ticket. This especially sucked when we used our credit card rewards to get first class tickets to Spain, to think Indie would be a free lap child, only to find out we needed to pay 10% of the ticket price for her ticket. Oops.
To add your baby as a lap child all you have to do when you book your ticket is choose, "passenger details" and add lap child.
bottom of page