Traveling with a 20 month old child a.k.a. Traveling volume 3

As we just recently returned from a trip to a cold snowy country with our little M, I decided to write another post with tips for traveling. You can find the previous parts here and here.

We took the train, then flew and then drove. What a long journey it is! I wish we would have appreciated how easy it is to travel before having kids :-)

- The regular: bring a lot of diapers, dress the child in an easy outfit (undershirt, long-sleeved shirt, easy pants and little shoes. And breath in and out, it will be fine!

- Moving around: we used our Babyzen Yoyo travel stroller again. It does great in the city and at the airport, but not when there is snow... We used a sleigh otherwise but opted out of many commutes in the capital during the last day because of lack of proper transport. Our running stroller would have done better, but it is two times bigger...

We did not bring a carrier and were fine without it.

- Winter with temperatures down to -15 degrees: prepare yourself for it with good clothes (she had a merino underlayer, merino second layer, and a lighter winter snowsuit. I ended up buying a warmer hat and a second pair of winter gloves. I wish I had bought a better pair of boots because the cheap ones from the Lidl were really not good. Next time, we will invest in a good pair from Finland (Scandinavia always makes proper winter gear!) which I can resell later.

- Entertainment: we used every little bit of entertainment brought along for the trip (and remained screen-free!). Favorites were a book with little books in it, a book with magnets, Play-doh, and stickers. We packed some of her stuff in her little backpack so she could go through it and put things in and out of it.

- Travel pharmacy: we brought paracetamol suppository, vaseline cream, hydrocortisone cream for her eczema, cream against the diaper rash, Gravol for travel nausea and her Ventolin inhalation with her. Used everything but the latter. We could supply a half of a small town with all the creams we have for her...

She was a champ with not getting sick during the turbulence when we landed back in Amsterdam despite not having had medication against nausea. We were so lucky! Maybe we should have packed exchange clothes for ourselves in the carry on just in case :-)

- Food - we tried to give her less snacks during the normal days of the trip, but during the travel days, she got a lot of them to keep it all right for everyone (including our fellow flighers...). We packed raisins in mini packages, squeezable apple sauces, pancakes and fruit bars for her (Nakd bars are all right with the price and ingredients).

- Sleep: try to stick to your traditions. She has a hard time falling asleep in our lap now so she pulled a 10 hour awake time on the way back and could only sleep in the stroller.

- And my tip to you: if there is an empty row or rows, like we had at the business class, see if you can go and sit there with the toddler. More space, less moving, fewer irritations.