Everything But The Kitchen Sink...Not Including Carry-On
Packing for International Travel With A Baby
Once you've made it through the hard part of planning a trip with a baby, you move onto the harder part, which is - packing for air travel with a baby. Don't worry though, if you can get through the planning phase, you can get through the packing phase, but trust us, don't leave it until the last minute to pack your bags!
If you are preparing to travel with your baby and don’t know where to begin, hopefully, we might be able to point you in the right direction. Here's everything we took on our first international trip with Miss Adventure, our 8-month old baby:
CHECKED-IN LUGGAGE
2 x Travel Backpacks
As we were going to be on foot when moving between stays, we wanted to take travel backpacks rather than wheeled suitcases. By using backpacks, it freed up our hands for one of us to push Miss Adventure in a stroller, while the other one wheeled the portacot on the make-shift trolley. We ended up taking 2 x 50 litre travel backpacks - if you want the complete packing list leave us a comment and we will share all the details with you.
Portacot
We searched all around for the best portacot that fit the criteria of - safest, easiest to set-up/pack down, lightweight and comfortable. We ended up choosing the Bugaboo Stardust. Have you ever been in a mad rush to pack all your bags before the check-out deadline at your accommodation? We sure were, multiple times on this trip, and the Bugaboo Stardust really saved us in those moments. This portacot is set up or packed down in literally 1 second. It was so easy to use, Miss Adventure loved it and we could highly recommend it to other travellers. The only downside to it is that the packed size is not as compact as other products on the market. This is why we ended up taking a fold-up trolley that we could strap the portacot onto when we were traversing the cobbled stone streets of European cities.
Portable High Chair
With Miss Adventure just beginning to eat solid foods in the months leading up to the trip, we wanted to make sure that she had a comfortable, safe place to sit and eat which would promote healthy eating habits. There were no guarantees that the accommodations we booked included a high chair, so we decided it was important to bring our own. We chose the Inglesina Fast Chair - a fold up material chair that clamped directly onto tabletops, the big plus of this item was that it could condense down into an attached compact travel bag. This is a highly recommended travel item to have for a baby as we found that the high chairs provided at restaurants (especially in Italy) were more suited for older children and were far too big to accommodate a small baby.
Baby Carrier
As crucial as a stroller when exploring the cities of Europe, was a baby carrier. We opted for an Ergopouch Omni 360 Cool Air for it's breathability, due to the heat that we would be facing in the European summer. The baby carrier was super useful in bringing Miss Adventure along for the ride in the front facing mode, where she could see and experience everything around her. It was also useful in the inward facing mode for her to cuddle up for a nap.
CARRY-ON LUGGAGE
Stroller
Before Miss Adventure was born, like most parents, we bought a big, safe, cruiser of a pram that could hold a bassinet as well as all your shopping in the under carriage. As soon as the idea of travel with an 8 month old came to be, the need for a compact travel stroller became apparent. A three-fold, slim-line stroller was the only option for this trip. We wanted to be able to take this as carry-on for a couple of reasons - Reason 1, baggage handlers that handle your delicate luggage like they're throwing a shot put. Reason 2, we had a long layovers in Ho Chi Minh airport, so we needed to be able to use the stroller when we got off the plane whilst our checked bags went straight through to the next destination. We opted for the Bugaboo Butterfly - a fantastic, durable travel stroller that, much like the portacot of the same brand, folded up in one smooth action. It was perfect for navigating the streets and train stations of Europe, especially when we needed to fold it down quickly to move up and down stairs if there was no ramp/lift option, which there often wasn't.
Nappy Bag
We took a backpack for a nappy bag. It had all of the essentials you need for a baby - nappies, wipes, sudocream, change of clothes, changing pad, microfibre towels, rubbish bags, some books and toys. A compact nappy bag is essential when using a small travel stroller, this one just fit in the under carriage.
Backpack
This held all of our valubles - passports, cameras, travel documents, spare clothes for the flights and toys to keep Miss Adventure entertained.
Tote Bag For Food
When we left home on the first international flight, we had a bag filled to the brim with food for Miss Adventure. The airline stated that they didn’t provide any food for infants, so we knew we had to pack our own, especially considering the long layovers. When we say filled to the brim, we aren't kidding - we could've fed half the Economy passengers on the flight with the amount of food we took. If you want Jess' recipes for airplane-safe food for a baby, hit the subscribe button and then comment below!
Travel hacks when packing for a baby:
Most airlines won't have a weight limit for checked baby items such as portacots and strollers. However, they will require that these items are in a transit/travel bag to help secure them whilst stowed. The hack is that by using a travel bag, you can easily add extra items that won't fit in your checked luggage, which does count towards your baggage allowance. On our European trip with Miss Adventure, we used a travel bag to not only hold the portacot, but also a folding trolley, an amount of nappies that made it look like we were trying to smuggle them out of the country, the baby carrier and a portable high chair. The airline check-in attendants always asked what was in the bag and when we replied "a portacot", they sent it through without further questions or inspection. We're not condoning smuggling, but as parents, you gotta do what you gotta do. IYKYK.
Similar to the above hack regarding airlines not being concerned about the weight of checked baby items, they are also very lenient when it comes to taking baby food on board. As mentioned above, we can't stress enough just how much food we took for the plane trip from Australia to Europe. We had an entire tote bag filled with a mix of fresh fruit, homemade baked goods, and prepackaged snacks (eg. pureed fruit pouches), that was always waved through by airport staff. The airline attendants asked what was in there, to which we replied "baby food" and they never counted it towards our baggage allowance. The real plus, was when passing through airport security, they did a brief inspection of the contents of the bag, and we were never denied taking it through the checkpoint. The funny thing is, the volume of liquid that we were taking through in the form of pureed fruit pouches was far greater than the passengers behind us who were busted for packing 5ml of shampoo over the carry-on limit.
The final thing we found super helpful with the flight was freezing snack foods to take with us. We made batches of pancakes and veggie-packed muffins that we froze. Not only did they keep the food bag cool so that we could take a bunch of fresh fruits, they also defrosted slowly, which meant the muffins/pancakes lasted the whole flight and we knew Miss Adventure would be eating nutritious foods all the way through transit.
Once everything was packed, we were ready to fly!
We would love to hear from fellow travellers, what is your one essential item to have when travelling with a baby? Leave a comment to let us know and share it with fellow adventurers.
See you on the road!