These are some learnings from traveling with our 5 month old to Madrid!
By: Katelyn Stoffregen

Overall Advice
We traveled with our friends who have a 1 year old and it was great to have partners in crime who are going through exactly what you are going through. Biggest plus of this was taking turns watching the babes post bedtime so the other couple could go out to dinner
What happens on vacation, stays on vacation. Particularly for sleep stuff, if you need to do something out of your routine that feels like backsliding (nursing to sleep, extra pacifier time, etc.)- don’t worry, a few disruptions are not going to mess up the work you’ve done at home – just do what you need to do in the moment so you can enjoy some of your holiday!
Don’t give a f*ck about what other people may think about your baby on the plane, in a restaurant, wherever – never apologize for your baby being a baby!
Traveling with an infant is not a vacation… it’s just parenting in a different place without all of your shit. There are small moments/glimpses of that vacation feel and it’s so great to get to show them new things – but shift those expectations from the jump and just call it an adventure!

Flight
The infant bassinet is NOT guaranteed – we got him his own seat and strapped in the car seat and were so happy we did.
What Delta told me was that the gate agent was the only person who had the power to bump the people in the bulkhead with the bassinet fasteners, so I had to go there ASAP when I got to the airport. On the flight out the gate agent moved us to the bulkhead but once we got on the plane, there were no bassinet fasteners, we saw them up in the comfort+ cabin though, but they wouldn’t move us up there because… capitalism.
On the way back, the gate agent refused to bump people because they had already checked in. So we didn’t even get a bulkhead without fasteners for that leg!
Moral of the story: Buy the seat for the babe if the flight is long!!
Flying to Europe on the way there was super easy because he slept the whole time. We did as much of our bedtime routine as we could in our seats and then put him in the car seat. On the way back is a bit more difficult because it’s daytime and he got antsy, so we took turns walking him up and down the aisles and made sure to have access to toys

Accommodations
For overnight flights where you arrive early in the AM, book your accommodations for the evening before so you don’t have to wait till 3pm to check in
Beware of getting nap-trapped! We did some hotel travel previously and were miserable because for naps we were stuck in a dark tiny room sneaking around – not an ideal way to spend your vacation! Highly suggest an airbnb with separate living space and ideally an outdoor space. We had a tiny little balcony and it was so nice to sit out there and soak up those vacay vibes
This could be a no-brainer, but if you are traveling to Europe in the summer, check for AC in the listing and make sure it’s in all the rooms – we got burned (lol) a few times
Also specific to Europe, make sure the building has an elevator!

Sleep/Jet Lag/Schedule
This was the toughest part for us. The first night was hell – he would not stop crying no matter what we tried. Every night it got better and we did end up adjusting to the time more or less. For context, he usually does 7pm bedtime, 7am wake up – the first night it was like 10pm – 10am, then the second 9-9, and by the third we were at 8-8 and ended up sticking with that. Some people choose to just not adjust and that may work!
We were traveling with our friends who have a 1 year old and while she did not sleep a wink on the flight over – she slept 8-8 on the first night and didn’t make a fuss and never strayed the whole trip…so you just never know!
Jack is on 3 naps a day, and we found it helpful to aim for nap 1 in the crib at the airbnb, nap 2 on the go in his stroller and nap 3 back in the crib
For that nap 2 on the go, we made sure to time our activities around this so we were setting him up for success to sleep – that meant being in motion and ideally finding some AC – museums are great for this! He snoozed through some Spanish masterpieces at the Reina Sofia! Also found the museum a very pleasant place to nurse
It was also good to have those two naps at the airbnb so he could have some time not strapped into the carrier/stroller to wiggle his body and get some energy out!

Supplies
We brought our baby zen yo-yo travel stroller with our pipa nuna car seat (need adaptors to make that work) and it barely fit into some elevators/on some sidewalks! If we had brought the big UppaBaby Vista, we would’ve been screwed! European sidewalks are not made for wide loads!
The guava family travel crib was great – easy to pack and set up. Highly recommend
Diapers. We brought a lot with us, but when we ran out we went searching for pampers and couldn’t find any! We ended up buying some pretty weird diapers that felt more like puppy pads, his ass was fine in them but I hated how they felt!

Global Entry
If you have global entry, you can’t use it unless your baby has it as well – mine was expiring so I was already in the process of re-applying and there is an option to conduct your interview upon international arrival instead of having to go back to the airport for it- here’s how it went:
Fill out the paperwork for the babe online and once they get conditionally approved you have to go in for the interview
There is an option for conditionally approved people to do their interview upon international arrival, which is what we did
Before you can go do your interview, you first have to get cleared through customs and you can’t use global entry because the baby doesn’t have it BUT instead of going through the long regular line, download the mobile passport app – the line for that had 0 people in it (I downloaded it and filled out the paperwork on the spot and it took 30 seconds … and we got this hilarious pic of Jack to commemorate the trip copied below)
Once you are cleared, you just ask the people (or follow signs) where to go for the interview and they will give you a piece of paper to let you go back around without having to wait in any lines