The reservations have been confirmed. The checklist is written. The clothes are all laid out. The sunscreen is bought. The swimsuits have been begrudgingly tried on. We are ready for vacation. As ready as we’ll ever be, given that we’re traveling with a four month old. I’ve never been a nervous traveler, but it’s safe to say that this time around, I’m, well, I’m a little apprehensive.
I’ve been playing a silent movie in my mind, one in which I foresee all that could go wrong while traveling with an infant. We come stumbling through the terminal, lugging sixteen bags because one baby necessitates a very disproportionate amount of take-along items. The baby screams all the way through the security line, a hotbed for human nastiness own its own, now amplified with dagger-eyed stares directed at us and our screaming child. The baby somehow sets off the security alarm, resulting in a full-body pat down of chubby baby limbs that renders him wailing and inconsolable while I spew nastiness at the offending TSA officer. We take twenty five minutes to board, despite the pre-boarding privilege because we are tripping over our own carry-on items in a desperate search for the wipes—WHERE DID YOU PACK THE WIPES?!—because baby just pooped like he’s never pooped before just as we’re boarding the aircraft. And on and on, ad infinitum, right until we settle into our hotel room.
Of course, I’ve also silently pictured all that could go wrong post-flight during the course of our vacation, but I trust that your imaginations are capable of being as dire as mine, so we’ll leave it at that.
I’m sure that things will go far better than I’ve let myself imagine. They will, right? Tell me they will. I’ve been telling people that I kind of just want to get this vacation behind us so that we know what it’s like to travel with an infant and will be more confident travelers in the future with solid experience behind us. I’m not usually this way. I’m more of an ‘everything will be fine, don’t worry!’ kind of person. But. But. I just LOVE to travel. I want our child to love to travel. I want the addition of a child in our life to mark a seamless transition from being a traveling couple to a traveling family. So I guess I see this trip as setting the tone for our future, which I know is ridiculous because Drew will not always be four months old and in need of a warm boob to calm him down (which, BTW, nursing in public, I’m terrified of you too!).
I want—need?—this trip to go well so that we can continue to be inspired to see new places, not just the two of us, but all three of us. And if it doesn’t go well? I’ll just have to order enough poolside pina coladas to make the memories a little fuzzy.
I wouldn’t sweat it, your experience will probably be similar to ours. We have a son who is now 13, he has travelled with us whenever we travelled (at least once a year) – 1st trip was at a couple months. At the time I was travelling a lot and used miles for 3 1st class seats. You get some hate filled looks when you bring a 3 month old onto an airplane and plant yourself in 1st class alongside the beutiful people who have paid many hundreds if not thousands just so they could avoid the screaming baby in the car seat. long story short, baby slept on all 4 legs there and back. never a problem. Our vacations have always been complete with our son along, even though each year presents its own challenges; 2 year old jumping off the side of the pool when you’ve turned your head for a split second, teenager who doesn’t want to join us on our cruise because he thinks there will be nothing to do without his friends from home only to realize how easy it is to make new friends. you’ve made the right decision to include your child, savor the moments
You know what they say, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I’ll bet it will be a million times smoother than what you’re anticipating and you’ll be all, “hey, that wasn’t so bad at all!”.
Or, it could be an epic disaster, in which case at least you’ll have some hilarious material for the blog.
Win-win?