Greece and Paris with Prince-Amary
I did a thing. Something different. Something that had me on the edge of my seat. Something that made me slightly nervous yet extremely happy! I took Prince-Amary to Greece/Paris for his 2nd birthday. Yes, you heard me right, my 2 year young endured a 15.5 hour trip just to eat an eight course French dinner for his birthday. Call me crazy, but that’s the level of entertainment he signed up for when he chose me as his mother. Now that I have your attention, let’s dive into the details.
For those of you who follow me on instagram, know that my son is no stranger to aircrafts. I was 38 weeks pregnant flying from NYC to Miami simply to get my hair done. I introduced him to the aircraft at the age of 3 months old; which he did lovely by the way. He has been traveling domestically (from state to state) ever since then, but never internationally. When I originally came up with the idea of taking my son to Paris for his birthday I knew I was facing a challenge. However, what I did not know was that I was entering a whole new level of traveling. There’s not one specific book that can give you the blueprint to the perfect traveling experience with a 2 year young toddler so don’t expect that from this blog. However, from my experience I will share the essentials with you. Here are the top 5 things I’ve learned from my recent international trip with my son Prince-Amary.
1. Air Travel
As an experienced traveler, I was not ready for this trip. Don’t go judging me, I'm just sharing my experience with you. I did fly first class with my son for the sake of comfort. However, I did not factor in layover. DO NOT MAKE THAT MISTAKE. We had a two hour layover in Istanbul. Although it was short, we still had to transfer from one aircraft to another. Keep in mind we were already traveling for twelve hours and we had another hour and a half to travel to get to Greece. I wish I had picked the nonstop option.
So lesson number 1 when traveling with a toddler choose a nonstop flight.
2. Safety remains
the #1 priority:
Although it may seem like a lot of trouble to carry a stroller and a carseat, DO IT! Trust me, it will make a big difference. I had to purchase a seat for Prince-Amary on our way back from Paris because he turned 2 while we were in Paris. The best part about it was, I was able to use his car seat in the aircraft. He probably could have just sat in the chair, but for his safety and my peace of mind I chose to use his seat (to and from Paris). Also, you’ll need the car seat for the car when you get to your destination. It makes sense to just have it. So if you are debating whether you should carry a baby seat or not, please carry it.
3. Comfort Menu/Package:
OK, If your child is like mine, listen CAREFULLY. I give it up to the mothers who have their baby/babies on a schedule. Allow me to be completely honest with you; Prince-Amary has me on his schedule. It’s definitely the other way around in my house lol. Because of that, I had to really be creative and designed a comfort menu for him during this trip. I packed all of his favorite books, snacks, shows, games and massager (yes Prince gets head and foot massages daily). Thankfully, he slept a whole lot during the trip. The first two hours of the trip we played, drew, and I read him a book. He slept for six hours right there after. Keep in mind, the flight was overnight. When he woke up, he ate, watched a movie, and we walked up and down the aircraft a few times. I highly recommend that you move around frequently with your child when traveling long distances. It will help with blood flow and just get them moving for a bit. The flight back was even better because we were tired. We slept almost the entire flight.
4. Diet
This by far was my biggest surprise. Being that we are vegetarians/vegans our choices of food were limited; especially in Greece. Needless to say, we ate a lot of Greek salads. I was not so strict on what Prince-Amary was consuming. As long as it did not have any meat in it, I allowed it. What I wish I did 2-3 weeks prior to our trip was expose his body to cheese, milk, and fish (some of the things he did eat on the trip). The outcome was not so bad. This may be TMI, but three days out of the entire trip; instead of him having 2 dirty (poop) diapers a day, he had 1. When we returned to the states, I did a mini cleanse for him. So he is back on track now.
5. Lodging
Finding a place to stay that’s toddler friendly is extremely important. I made a huge mistake with our AirBnB in Greece. I picked a two floor apartment with stairs on the inside. However, the stairs were paragon stairs. The stair rails were braided steel cable- yes, imagine that. Go ahead and say it “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING DASH?” All Prince- Amary wanted to do was walk up and down the stairs. I’ll tell you this much, I’ll NEVER do that again. Paris was a different story because I was diligent about where we stayed. Again safety remains the number one priority. So what I’ve learned is to make sure to stay somewhere safe, close to the airport and to convenient stores. Basically stay in the heart of the city. It costs a little more to be in the heart of any city, but it’s worth every penny when traveling with a toddler.
I know the things listed above seem very apparent. I thought so too until I was put on the spot. I can only share my experience with you and hope that you don’t make the same mistakes that I made. All in all, I loved the experience of traveling with my son. I learned so much about myself as a mother in just a few days. So family, there you have it: the 5 things I learned while traveling with Prince-Amary. As usual, I look forward to hearing from you. If you have any tips please share below. Don’t forget to share and subscribe for more updates.