Toddler Travel Archives - Page 12 of 16

Dec 22 2014

Preparing for a Long Trip with a Toddler

M is our packing supervisor

I can’t remember where I read it, but I once saw someone suggest that parents should take a “lap baby moon” of sorts, one last trip with an infant in arms before they turn two (if you’re reading this and that was you, message me and I’ll link you). Sounded like an amazing idea at the time, so we booked one last trip with Little M – to Asia. I’d be lying if I said that sounds like an amazing idea to me right now; I have no idea what we’re going to do for 14 hours on a plane.

I thought it might be helpful for some to see the steps I’m taking to prepare for the trip. Full diclosure: I’m just making all this up as I go along!

Confirm Itinerary

I booked this trip almost 11 months ago, and there have been some schedule changes since, so I spent some time confirming my itinerary. Originally we were going to fly on the Eva Air Hello Kitty plane, which was going to be super exciting for Jess and M. Alas, Eva no longer flies Hello Kitty from Los Angeles, so we switched onto a flight that we think will work better for M’s sleep schedule (leaving at 350 PM PST instead of 1100 PM).

I've found myself using Award Wallet's travel plan feature out of convenience — I’ve found myself using Award Wallet’s travel plan feature out of convenience

When I confirm my itinerary, I double check the following:

– Confirmation numbers (PNRs) for ALL flights, including any partner carrier PNRs

– Departure and arrival airports/times

– Hotel rooms and confirmation numbers

In this case it took awhile because we are flying on four separate tickets (award ticket to Taiwan, award ticket from Taiwan to Hong Kong, award ticket from Hong Kong to Chicago, cash ticket home). After I checked all that stuff I loaded it into my travel plans on Award Wallet.

Clean up Travel Details

After making sure I remember which flights I’m taking, I take care of a bunch of travel details. In the past this just meant seat assignments for Jess and me. Now with the toddler, it entails quite a bit more. Of course, I started by making sure I selected seats on all my flights (needed the EVA PNR to do that flight).

The second thing I had to do was add M’s infant in arms ticket on our United award ticket. This took a phone call (and $500!). What worried me was I heard people have had issues on EVA flights with infants in arms when booking through United.

Nice touch by EVA to provide diapers on request

So what I did next (and would have done anyway) was confirm the infant in arms at EVA and on all other flights. When I called EVA, I learned some pretty interesting things. I ordered a children’s meal but what was really cool was I requested diapers for free. We’ll see how those turn out but it is pretty cool that they offer them.

The final thing I did to clean up travel details was to double check baggage allowance on all flights. My only concern was our one economy leg on Cathay from Taipei to Hong Kong but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a problem.

Oh wait I did one more thing! I’m super anal so I checked to see how full the cabins were on the long haul flights. Less full = better for M = offending less people if she flips out. Looking good so far!

Research Transportation at the Destination – Carseat or No?

Thanks to family, we’re all set in Taiwan for getting picked up from the airport and all that good stuff. However, I’m not used to hitting up Hong Kong without my parents, so I spent some time researching how we were going to get from the airport to the hotel. Turns out the Airport Express is the best way and the Hyatt Regency TST has a free shuttle from the terminus in Kowloon.

Won't need anything complicated this time (Amazon) — Won’t need anything complicated this time (Amazon)

What I spent the most time thinking about though was whether we needed a carseat. If you remember, I’ve debated how to bring our carseat overseas in the past. But since we could borrow/rent in Taiwan, I had to spend some time thinking about whether we would need it in Hong Kong at all. Figuring out we wouldn’t need it to get from the airport to the hotel made a big difference in my thinking.

At that point it was weighing two evils – being confined to public transportation versus lugging that thing around. I ultimately decided that I’d rather risk the stress of public transportation in short amounts than deal with carrying the car seat around. Even if we checked it in, we’d need to get it from the airport to our hotel and that’s just one extra thing to carry. My goal is to have at least one of our four adult hands free whenever possible on this trip. Which leads me to the next step in my preparation.

Evaluate Luggage Needs

On our last long haul flight we had the luxury of grandparents packing diapers for us, but not this time around. We also are bringing a few gifts for relatives, so it took awhile for us to determine what types of luggage we needed to bring.

In the end, I decided that what is most important is that at least one of us has a hand free at the airport. My thinking is that we need the flexibility to hold M’s hand if she wants to walk. I think this is what we’re going to end up bringing:

– Large spinner suitcase (American Tourister purchased from Amazon last week). Before then we had nothing larger than carry-on size suitcases

– Carry-on sized roller

– Stroller (the Uppababy G-lite which comes with a shoulder strap if necessary)

– 2 Backpacks

– Diaper bag

– Toy backpack

– Purse

The last four are what I’m planning to bring on the plane (gate checking the stroller). This way when we’re loaded for bear we’ll still have a hand free for M – and I’m gonna make her wear the backpack with the toys.

One thing we considered for awhile was procuring diapers on site. I decided against this for two reasons. First, packing diapers will prevent us from overpacking on clothes (I already find myself taking an extra garment here or there because I “have the space” now). Secondly, we rarely get to go to Asia, and we rarely buy souvenirs, but I figure the diaper space will empty out and we can buy things. In Asia there are a lot of fun things you can buy that are harder or more expensive to get here. Worst case scenario we stock up on Hello Kitty stuff for M (read: Jess).

Prepare for the Long Road Ahead (entertain the baby)

I’m more concerned about our flight to Los Angeles than I am about the 13 hour flight to Taipei for a couple of reasons. We’re leaving super early in the morning and that flight is just going to be tight – it’s pretty full and it’s not like we can like the seats flat or have her sit on an ottoman or anything.

Toddler headphones, hopefully these come in handy (Amazon)

To that end I’ve been preparing for doomsday scenarios. Will Little M finally get her first real taste of cartoon programming? Quite possibly.

I’ve been stocking up on crackers, goldfish, cheerios. I’ve downloaded a million mp3s to our tablet, Alphabet Aquarium, and a few videos. Our friend generously gave us a pair of toddler headphones. We are ready – I hope.

Find Ways to Save Money

This has plummeted to the bottom of my priority list – convenience over money at this point, so I haven’t even gotten a chance to do this yet. Taiwan is also quite inexpensive in general. BUT, if I end up having time, I really want to look up some ways on admission tickets and the like while we’re over there.

Get Excited!

It’s so easy to get caught up in the details and stresses of a trip that I can forget to get excited. But this should be a great trip. Taiwanese breakfast, Taipei’s zoo, Xiao Ren Guo, relatives, food, food, food, food, food, Hong Kong Disneyland, two confirmed suite upgrades, two new sets of pajamas – gonna be a blast.

Final Thoughts

Guess I’ve made up for my lack of posting with a ton of words here. But there are a lot of steps that go into taking a trip, and the work almost doubles when worrying about a toddler. These are the steps I’ve taken to keep myself sane – would love to hear some brilliant ideas in the comments if you’ve got them!

Dec 17 2014

Lazy Weekend in Lyon: Kid Friendly Activities in Lyon

She was packed and ready to go but wasn't coming... — She was packed and ready to go but wasn’t coming…

On our short trip to Lyon, we opted to leave our daughter – we just figured it would be more fun that way. But as a parent, I now naturally find myself constantly looking at destinations through the eyes of a parent. As far as cities go, I found Lyon to be super kid-friendly. Was that just me missing M? Yeah maybe, but I think like many French cities, the green spaces and walkability are great for kids. Here are some things we did that I wish we had brought M along for. I didn’t mind doing most of them as an adult, either!

Parc Tete d’Or

I know I wrote about the Parc Tete d’Or already, but it really deserves special mention. For starters, it’s a beautiful green space that kids would love running around. But it also could be super romantic for adults as well, pre-dinner stroll perhaps? Like any park, it’d be great for a picnic or a run or both.

Who doesn't like deer? — Who doesn’t like deer?

The park also has a lot of activities that would be great for kids. There are boats to rent on the lake which would be great for older kids. There also is a full blown zoo that actually had quite a few animals – way more than I’d expect from something with free admission! There’s also a train to ride and a ton of playgrounds. If we had brought M I think we could have spent an entire day at the park, especially since the Hilton was so close we could have gone back for a nap.

These look like they could be fun... — These look like they could be fun…

Playgrounds

One thing I noticed about Lyon is that there seemed to be a ton of playgrounds everywhere. I guess that’s true of every city but for some reason they stood out to me in Lyon. A great example is a play space that was created near one of the bridges on the Rhone river. There were all sorts of fun things to do, a “sunken” pirate ship, and even a gigantic slide that I was pretty tempted to go down. So if plain old green space gets boring for the kids, there are structures to be climbed and slides to be slid on all over the place.

I really wanted to go down this thing but was wearing my only pair of nice pants... — I really wanted to go down this thing but was wearing my only pair of nice pants…

Bernachon

If there’s one thing kids and adults can both get behind, it’s chocolate. Yes, the Salon du Chocolat was in town, but even if it isn’t, there is good chocolate to be had. When I was reading about Lyon, Bernachon was on the must visit list. We visited on a rainy day and pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was a good thing too – we spent quite a bit of time there. They have some amazingly decorated cakes, pastries, desserts, and of course – chocolate! We’ve been slowly making our way through a box of truffles that we bought – amazing stuff.

Funicular

If you’re walking around Lyon, you can’t miss the Notre-Dame de Fourviere. It’s a beautiful building that is worth a visit in and of itself. For kids, the highlight might be the funicular ride up. For just a few Euros roundtrip you can ride a short tram ride up and down the hill. Just the kind of things a lot of kids would enjoy. And if they don’t, the views from the top are spectacular.

Traboules

Something cute kids might like, there are small passages cutting through some buildings that kind of feel like secret tunnels. Some nice architecture in there too.

Final Thoughts

It seemed to me like there were quite a few fun things to do if you have kids in town in Lyon. It definitely doesn’t feel stiff or unfriendly at all. We didn’t bring ours, but still enjoyed all these different activities. Especially the chocolate.

Other Posts in this Series

Introduction

British Airways First Class and the Ghost Terminal at Heathrow

The Hilton Lyon, Parc Tete d’Or, and Salon du Chocolat

Michelin Starred Meals at La Mere Brazier and La Remanence

Aug 22 2014

Bavarian Summer: A Seat, a Bed, and a Toddler – and The End!

The Lufthansa 747-400 features a full bed in first class

Ahhh…the best part of writing trip reports is the last entry. Originally we were scheduled to take a similar flight to our outbound so I wasn’t going to write about it. However, we ended up taking Lufthansa’s 747-400 first class product – aka a seat AND a bed. I figured anyone who was thinking of taking an infant or toddler in LH F might want to see how that impacted things. So let’s finish this!

A view I don't get very often — A view I don’t get very often

After our time in the First Class Terminal, we were driven in a minivan to our plane. People get driven in all sorts of cool cars from the FCT to their plane – Porsches, Benzes, and GRAND CARAVANS. I found it pretty amusing, hopefully the dude who shared the car with us did too (he was really nice). We were dropped off at the bottom of the plane which was pretty cool – 747s are big mamma jammas.

This could be a long flight... — This could be a long flight…

I think Jess’ exclamation, “We’re flying upstairs!?” summed it up. While being in the nose of the plane would have been cool, it was pretty neat to walk up the stairs to the first class cabin in the “hump” of the plane – I’m not sure I’ve ever been up there myself. The first class cabin consists of four rows of two seats each, we chose the last two seats in an effort to minimize bothering others. The cabin ended up being full due to some weather issues in Frankfurt the day before, so I was a bit nervous as we got ready to take off.

For once M was cool with taking off with me instead of mom

It turns out it was silly for me to be nervous, for a couple of reasons. First of all – the cabin had SO much stuff for Little M to play with that she just had a great time for the majority of the flight. Opening drawers, closing drawers, putting stickers on the armrests, putting headphones on, putting headphones on me, and best of all – playing on the separate bed.

Nothing like a pretzel and some first class butter

Having a separate bed with a lap/infant is pretty clutch. What that meant was she could lay out all her toys on the bed and just PLAY. Yes, she’d run back and forth between Jess and my seat, but for the most part she didn’t have to be sitting on us, climbing on us, or any of that.

When she fell asleep, we just lay her down there and could still sit next to her and keep an eye out. The seat itself doesn’t recline to fully flat so parent and child can’t both sleep fully flat at once, but it was a daytime flight anyway. The biggest issue was that there was way too much for her to play with – she was completely overstimulated throughout the whole flight. That meant it was pretty tough to get her down for a nap.

Being able to sit on the bed together opens up a lot of options in terms of space for the toddler

Eventually, after Jess tried in vain for over an hour to get her to sleep, I just took M into the lavatory until she passed out. There was about 5 minutes of intense crying there, but thankfully all the other passengers in the first class cabin were awake (and the noise cancelling headphones + bathroom door did a lot, Jess said M was tough to hear with all of those barriers).

We once again survived the first class flight by dividing and conquering. Jess would watch M while I ate, then we’d switch, and the same if anyone wanted to watch a movie. We both managed to get through one movie on the seven hour flight, haha. We also used up almost every single “present” we had wrapped in “the bag” – the nice thing about the return journey is you don’t have to save any of your tricks!

Nothing like a little overstimulation on a 7 hour flight

All in all, I’d say having a seat and a bed is pretty awesome – especially if you have a lap child in tow. I realize that this isn’t something that people have the chance to do often, but if you are considering Lufthansa First Class with a lap infant, I definitely think the 747-400 product is better than the other new first class products. You just can’t beat that kind of space.

Final Thoughts

We had an amazing trip to Germany and Austria this summer. We climbed mountains, sang the Sound of Music, and ate some amazing food. In terms of summer trips, this one ranks high up on the list. If you’re thinking of visiting Germany, I say do it. For some reason it doesn’t get the press of Italy or France, but it’s a lovely country and we had an amazing time. Thanks for following along! Until the next trip…

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Other Posts in this Series

Introduction

Final Preparations for the Little One

Lufthansa First Class with a Toddler

Slow Days with a Sick Toddler

Sightseeing in and around Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Observations After a Week in Germany

Climbing to AlpspiX and Neuschwanstein Castle

Zugspitze and Mittenwald

Sound of Music Bike Tour in Salzburg

Lazy Sunday in Salzburg – not

Rainy Days in Berchtesgaden

Visiting Museums and Biking in Vienna

Food in Germany and Austria

Rating the Toddler Friendliness of Our Hotels

Lufthansa First Class Terminal – Good for Toddlers?

Aug 21 2014

Bavarian Summer: Lufthansa First Class Terminal Good for Toddlers?

I was super, super tempted to slice my own prosciutto at the Lufthansa First Class Terminal

On our way home, we had the chance to stop by the Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt. Aka the building that in its entirety is a lounge. I gotta say, I think it was a bit too overhyped. Don’t get me wrong, it’s super cool – but I personally feel it’s only marginally better than the regular Lufthansa first class lounges. It’s a neat thing to have and experience, but the first class lounges are pretty spectacular on their own. I’m going to try to stick to the toddler-related aspects of the lounge; it’s been over-covered extensively elsewhere.

We kinda walked through the employee entrance...or something — We kinda walked through the employee entrance…or something (Wikipedia)

We arrived in Frankfurt from Vienna around lunchtime and our flight wasn’t until late afternoon so we had a good couple of hours to kill. It was a good thing too because finding the lounge was a bit of a pain. First of all, not every Lufthansa agent in the terminal seemed to know where it is and we received a few different sets of directions. Eventually, we exited baggage claim and turned left. After walking for ten minutes (with a Beco’d toddler and our carry on bags), we walked through what must have been the waiting area for taxis and car services and finally reached the lounge. Some nice Lufthansa agent saw us looking pitifully at the set of stairs leading up to the main entrance and let us in to the elevator downstairs.

Upon exiting the elevator, we were met by an agent who led us through security. This was a huge help because at that point we were really losing grip of all of our bags. She also booked us a sleeping room where we immediately put M down for a nap. When she woke up, the three of us took lunch in the First Class Terminal restaurant. Apparently it’s catered by DO & CO which means something to Jess? Not to me though. There was a buffet set out but the highlight was the burrata and coppa from the “mozzarella bar” (it’s made to order). Jess was only ordering for herself but we ended up getting two orders delivered to our table.

The rest of our time at the FCT was spent trying to entertain Little M – we did this by splitting time with her, museum style. We spent a lot of time in the sleep room – that way M was contained and not too loud for everyone else. Nobody was on the waiting list so I didn’t feel bad hogging it. Jess spent some time in the lounge chairs which she said were way more fun than they looked – unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures because I was busy drinking Macallan at the bar with my daughter.

Quite possibly the funniest and most horrifying aspect of the First Class Terminal experience involved the infamous Lufthansa ducks. Little M is obsessed with water as you may have gathered from this trip report. Well she was calmly observing this nice fountain in the FCT when she was approached by a lounge attendant with a duck (her like, fourth Lufthansa duck of the trip I think). This was all well and good until the attendant was all, “Do you want to throw it in the water?” Me: “Noooooooooo!”

For the record, I did not encourage this

It was too late, the attendant had already thrown the duck in the water. After a few minutes playing with the duck in the water, the attendant left us with a child who wanted to do nothing except throw ducks into this beautiful fountain. It was super cute and also super embarrassing.

Why look at planes when you can look at buses

Anyway, overall the FCT was a great way to prepare for our flight home. M took a bath, we both showered, I drank some wine and scotch, we ate some great food, and who doesn’t want to be driven to their plane in an awesome car. In our case, said “awesome car” was a minivan.

Sweet, sweet ride. — Sweet, sweet ride to our plane.

Final Thoughts

The Lufthansa First Class Terminal is a pretty cool place, once you can find it. I wouldn’t say it’s toddler friendly, but I wouldn’t say it’s a bad place for toddlers either if your toddler is relatively well behaved. There is enough to distract them (not including the fountain) and if you can score a sleeping room it’s great for a nap. I’m glad I went, and I’d go back if I’m ever in Frankfurt on LH F, but I don’t think I’d reroute just to visit the FCT in the future – Lufthansa’s regular first class lounges are good enough. A gummy bear is a gummy bear in any terminal!

Other Posts in this Series

Introduction

Final Preparations for the Little One

Lufthansa First Class with a Toddler

Slow Days with a Sick Toddler

Sightseeing in and around Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Observations After a Week in Germany

Climbing to AlpspiX and Neuschwanstein Castle

Zugspitze and Mittenwald

Sound of Music Bike Tour in Salzburg

Lazy Sunday in Salzburg – not

Rainy Days in Berchtesgaden

Visiting Museums and Biking in Vienna

Food in Germany and Austria

Rating the Toddler Friendliness of Our Hotels

Lufthansa First Class Terminal – Good for Toddlers?

Aug 15 2014

Bavarian Summer: Rating the Toddler Friendliness of Our Hotels

I wasn’t planning on reviewing the hotels we stayed in on our trip, but I got to thinking I would have loved to see a parent’s view on the toddler friendliness of these hotels before we got here. So instead of a “review”, I just wanted to give a few thoughts on how each of the hotels we stayed at were equipped to deal with toddlers. As always, bear in mind we were in a unique situation having only one child and grandparents in a nearby room.

Crowne Plaza Salzburg

I booked two rooms at this hotel for 30,000 IHG points per night – the going rate was about 190 Euros/night so it was a pretty good deal. In terms of location, the Crowne Plaza worked out well for us. It was far enough away from downtown that we didn’t have to deal with parking issues (the garage was less than 20 Euros/day), and the hotel was right Mirabelle Gardens which was great for walks.

The scenic walk along the river to Old Town

The 15 minute walk to downtown might be a deterrent for some, and it definitely prevented us from just hopping out of the hotel to eat in the city. There are a lot of food options just one street over though that we found to be perfectly decent. Personally I didn’t mind the location because the walk to town was a scenic stroll along the river.

I’d say my biggest concern about the Crowne Plaza was the temperature of the fridge, it was only slightly cooler than the room, so we were a little worried about the milk. We had them clear out the minibar so that we could keep our food and baby supplies in there. The crib was older but seemed safe and it was on wheels which made it really useful to move around the room. Little M was also given her own blanket and towel which was cute.

There was enough space to picnic in the room

Bathtime was a cinch due to the bathtub and removable showerhead. If you’re fine with walking, Salzburg is a great city for kids and the Crowne Plaza will suit you just fine. It should be noted they are still finishing up some renovations – so some sections looked much more updated than others.

Intercontinental Berchtesgaden

To sum it up in a sentence, the Intercontinental Berchtesgaden was the hotel that worked the hardest to accommodate our toddler but was also the hotel where M was the most out of place, so to speak. It cost us 35,000 IHG points per night. We’ll start with the negative.

Bad weather made Berchtesgaden tough to entertain Little M

Like I wrote before, we were hit by a spat of terrible weather in Berchtesgaden. That really hurt because we weren’t able to walk any hiking trails with M – a real shame because the Intercontinental has a free BOB Revolution that you can borrow for free! There was a playground but it was kind of on the bottom of a hill with no stairs so M had to be carried down there – kind of weird.

Taking shelter in the playground structure

But what the weather really meant was that we were confined to the inside of the hotel the whole time – and the Intercontinental was a quiet, peaceful place so we kind of didn’t want her running around screaming. The only restaurant in the hotel is also pretty fancy. To their credit, they had a kids menu and crayons and things like that, but it just wasn’t the ideal environment to be eating dinner with a toddler (especially because we had to eat inside). In terms of location, it’s a 15-20 minute drive down or up the mountain to get to any civilization, which is definitely much less convenient than being able to walk into town.

"Why couldn't the weather have been like this for longer than two hours!?" — “Why couldn’t the weather have been like this for longer than two hours!?”

Now, to the good stuff. I was really impressed with the amenities the Intercontinental Berchtesgaden provided M with. First, she was given her own bath soap and lotion. Next, she was given a nice pack and play, Euro style, complete with a blanket and pillow. But perhaps the cutest amenity I have seen ever were the little bathrobe and little slippers! We didn’t keep the bathrobe (not sure if that was even an option) but we did take the slippers home!

Still a little too big... — Still a little too big…

Probably the best activity at the hotel for a toddler is the pool. There are two pools, an indoor and an outdoor pool. The outdoor pool is actually warmer, think they have the heat up more on that one. Anyway, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves – the outdoor pool is pretty nice.

Anyway, I give the Intercontinental Berchestgaden credit for trying to cater to families with young children. I think if the weather had been better our experience might have been different, but you definitely don’t want to be marooned there with a toddler in bad weather. Though I guess when would you want that situation ever?

Hilton Vienna Plaza

In terms of location, the Hilton Vienna Plaza is on the outskirts of town (on the ring), but still just a fifteen minute walk to where all the action is. It’s in a nice, quiet location that’s busier during the week since it’s more towards the business-y area (as far as I could tell).

The hotel is still under renovation so there are only two floors of rooms open. Our room was spacious and gave M enough room to run around. Probably the best part was having executive lounge access as a HHonors Gold member – there were snacks at happy hour which were useful for tiding M and ourselves over before dinner. There was no bathtub so that made things tough – if your child can’t take showers yet that’s something to bear in mind.

If you give your kids candy, the executive lounge is pretty useful

Other than that, I don’t think there’s anything too special to write about the Hilton Vienna Plaza toddler wise – it was perfectly passable though not spectacular. Hilton definitely had the most attentive staff – the staff at the executive lounge knew me by name (from e-mail correspondence before we arrived) and was the most friendly and welcoming.

Final Thoughts

I realize this isn’t the most thrilling post, but hopefully it’s been useful to anyone who will be traveling to Vienna, Salzburg, or Berchtesgaden with young children. We had a blast and so did Little M!

Other Posts in this Series

Introduction

Final Preparations for the Little One

Lufthansa First Class with a Toddler

Slow Days with a Sick Toddler

Sightseeing in and around Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Observations After a Week in Germany

Climbing to AlpspiX and Neuschwanstein Castle

Zugspitze and Mittenwald

Sound of Music Bike Tour in Salzburg

Lazy Sunday in Salzburg – not

Rainy Days in Berchtesgaden