Some people think we are weird….some think we are awesome…..most think we are crazy! Why? Because we are taking our toddler to Europe.
Some nights I stay up thinking maybe they are right! How are we going to handle a 12hr flight?! New room every few days, food for a picky toddler when we don’t speak the language…….my head is spinning!
At my calmer times I just remember that we have traveled with her extensively so far with no big issues (though she was immobile at the time!) and most importantly that we WANT her there! I want our trips to include our children. I want our children to see different parts of the world growing up….learn history by going to the sites…..open their views and accept everyone despite religion or color 0r sexuality. So with that in mind we WILL make this happen! 🙂
We are still waiting to get the final approval for Dan’s requested leave dates. Once we have those I can officially book everything! As of right now our trip will be 22 days. We will be flying into Paris where we will stay for 5 nights before jumping on a plane to Prague for 6 nights (exploring the whole Czech Republic in daytrips). After that portion we will hop on a long train ride to Budapest for 4 nights and then on to Munich for 5 nights where we hope to day trip to Austria, take in a concentration camp and a castle!
Paris! Can not wait to go back!
The itinerary might change if Dan doesn’t get approval for the entire time he asked. He has more than enough vacation time to cover it but his CO just has to make sure that the unit can be covered with him gone for 3 wks!
Prague...most people claim it is their favorite European town! We will see!
Budapest
With the itinerary pretty much set we had to buckle down and figure out the logistics of where we would sleep and travel around the countries. Dan and I do not care to spend a lot of money on nicer hotels during our overseas travel. We are rarely in the room and I would rather spend the money on yummy food, wine and museums! 🙂 As long as the place is clean and in a safe area then we are good! In the past a quick search on fodors.com for some recommendations and a quick rate check were all that were needed to find a place to stay. However, having a toddler threw that ease out the window!! European hotels are tiny….seriously tiny!! Our hotel in Paris for our honeymoon was in an amazing location, but it could barely fit the two of us and our suitcase (seriously the suitcase could not lay flat on the floor!). The entire room was pretty much just a bed. No biggie with just the two of us but now we have a third in the mix so that won’t work. Many hotels have triple rooms (“family rooms”) that are essentially a double bed with a twin bed. This would work great except for the fact that Harper can’t sleep by herself in a twin bed yet and she refuses to sleep with me & Dan now (sniff, sniff). We could possibly make do on a king bed with all three (the princess would just have to get over her sleeping alone issue)….but many European hotels do not have kings and even those that do sometime exaggerate the size 😉
Neuschwanstein Castle just outside of Munich!
With that in mind we decided that renting an apartment might be a better deal. A little more room (though not much! Most apartments there are about 400sq ft!) so we could put up some type of travel bed for Harper. Plus the bonus of having a small kitchen and washer will be great with a little one on board! We also know that we likely won’t be sitting up at the pubs until 2am enjoying a drink and the atmosphere like in previous trips so we are compromising with having a little balcony in the apartment that we can relax on with some wine after Harper goes down for the night. Searching for a suitable apartment is 10X harder than a hotel (you have to really pay attention to the little details and hidden costs!). Plus the fact that many of them charge you an extra fee for more than 2 people staying a night (and they count a 16mo old). Luckily after many many nights of googling, emailing, and playing with the currency converter I think we have it all figured out! The good news is we are saving money over hotels!
Many apartments will supply an infant crib (usually a pack-n-play) and we originally were planning on using them. However it makes me nervous that we will get over there just to find out that they don’t have one available or that it will be unsafe or dirty. No many risks for me. So now we are on the hunt for a light-weight easy travel crib! There are many out there but the 3 most recommended are: Baby Bjorn, Phil & Teds, and KidCo Peapod. We quickly ruled out the KidCo because of too many reviewers saying their kids could easily flip them while inside. Yeah…no. The Baby Bjorn travel bed is easily the most recommended by mom’s in my mom group….but it is also the heaviest and most expensive. The Phil and Teds travel crib looks like a good compromise to us (and the cheaper price tag is great!). It is the lightest at only 6lbs (vs the Bjorn at 11lbs) but does require some assembly to put up. Most reviews say that once you get the hang of it it only takes 5 minutes. I figure we can set it up a few times at home to figure it out (and let Harper get used to it). I’m not totally sure how she is going to take to the idea but she does fairly well in pack-n-plays when we visit family/friends so hopefully this works well! 🙂
It looks like we have sleeping with a toddler figured out….next up is packing and stroller vs. wrap!
Passports & Prams 