Back when I planned the trip a few months ago, going to Italy sounded like a great idea. “Travel before the baby’s mobile!” “She’ll just sleep through the flight!” These are the words that were echoing in my head when I booked the tickets and I thought I felt pretty smart. Well, here we are getting ready to leave this week, and I feel a liiiittle bit nervous about everything.
Let me start by saying: barring some kind of major illness, we’re going to Italy. My parents, my sister and her husband, and the three of us are locked and loaded and ready to go. Still, there have been a few red flags the last few weeks – so I’m just going to use this post to vent all my concerns (which hopefully don’t come to fruition). I’ll also say what I’m excited about too.
Red Flag: Baby M has turned her fussiness up to 11 in the past week.
Wow, I don’t know what happened, but literally in the last few days Baby M has become super fussy. Unfortunately, she decided to discover the magic of object permanence last week, meaning when we leave her line of sight it registers in her brain and she FREAKS. That combined with some lack of sleep have made her very, very cranky. She is a fairly easy going baby, but these past few days have not been pretty. Hopefully she works most of that out before our flight.
Red Flag: There is not enough luggage in the world for a baby’s stuff
We are trying to pack light, but packing is so much more stressful now. I have literally spent the last week making a mental list in my head, checking it twice, taking things off, putting them on, etc. etc. Adding to the stress is that we are renting a car in Italy and hopefully fitting my parents and their stuff in there so I don’t want to overpack.
The biggest source of stress was the pack n’ play – I went back and forth for days and have ultimately decided not to bring it. I’m just going to trust that the cribs at our hotels are up to snuff (and clean), or worst comes to worst we’ll just co-sleep. Man, I miss the days where Jess and I would just throw our stuff in a suitcase the day of a red-eye to Europe! Speaking of which…
Red Flag: The flights
I was pretty nonchalant about these flights up until a few days ago. We’ll be fine, we’ll be in business class, sure it’s not lie-flat, but it’ll be comfortable enough, and Baby M sleeps great through the night. Except with this onset of fussiness, she’s not sleeping as well. Uh oh. And business is such a small cabin, everyone will see us when she freaks. Uh oh! Also, I suddenly wish I had booked in a longer layover in JFK. We have an hour and a half to switch from Terminal 2 to Terminal 4 via the Delta shuttle. Our flight isn’t the last Delta coded flight out of JFK to FCO that night, but the last one is on Alitalia. Who hate babies (exaggerating!).
Green Flag: We’ll get to check out Delta’s new skydeck at JFK Terminal 4
If we make it in time, I’m looking forward to checking out Delta’s new lounge in Terminal 4. It comes complete with a Skydeck where we can watch planes take off and land. Plus, lounges are the best place to change poopy diapers.
Green Flag: We’re going to Europe!
I love Europe, and I love travelling, so I’m more excited about this trip than anxious. Sure, Baby M could go nuts, but at the end of it all we’ll be in ITALY! Gelato! Chianti! Gladiators! Everyone I’ve spoken to so far is super nice (hotels and such) and supposedly Italians love infants. So, yay!
Green Flag: We’re going to Europe with my family!
One of my real joys of being a dad is sharing Baby M with my mom, dad, sister, and her husband. It’s like our family has grown by 1, and they love Baby M as much as we do so it’s always exciting when she gets to see them. It’s always difficult to have a baby around, but the joy they bring is so much more than the hassle. I know my mom is dying to see Baby M (it’s been like, 8 days since she last saw her), and……free babysitting! Huzzah!
Final Thoughts
I’m hoping to post a couple things here and there while we’re across the pond. We used to be scheduled to the hilt when we traveled – I’d know the five or six places we’d want to hit in a city over our three day stay. But, with a baby, we’re just going to take it easy – like the Italians! We’ve planned very little so far, and are just going to take things as it comes. Hopefully that means downtime and updating the blog. YES! ITALYYYYYYYY!
Other posts in this series:
Have an awesome time guys. I look up to you guys for having the guts to travel with an infant. We’ll be living vicariously thru you guys for many years.
Have fun! In the future consider the Phil and Ted’s Traveller. It packs super small, and the best part is that it fits inside a large check-in luggage. We packed to Taiwan when the little girl was an infant. Let us know how it turns out! I agree with Christina- you guys have guts traveling with an infant!!
Exciting! Looking forward to hearing about it later, both about baby travels and Italy itself. I wonder if it would make sense to leave the terminals to take the JFK AirTrain (instead of Delta bus), but then you’d have to go through security again…so probably not. Good luck, and have fun!!