I’m writing this from back home, having returned from vacation.  If I wanted to be truly accurate, I would rename this post to “Traveling at the whim of a toddler.”  There has been much publicized over the past few years about children and travel. Some have voiced opinions that a parent who wants to travel with a child is “selfish” because it was our “choice to have a kid.”  Others whisk children around the world and don’t even bat an eye.  Yet others still, apologize to fellow passengers in advance with trinkets or goodies, even though it is the parent who holds a child on his or her lap for multiple hours.

We have definitely taken full advantage of not having to purchase a plane ticket for our daughter until she reaches two years old.   My hope is that by exposing her to travel at a young age it will make travel easier when she is older. That being said, there have been some moments when I have seriously second guessed my decisions; more often that not those moments come mid flight when a tantrum is about to ensue.  Overall, I consider my daughter a good traveler, but at the end of the day she is still a toddler, so when I have those stressful travel moments i try to remind myself of 3 things:

1. This is only XX hours of my entire life and I will most likely never see these people again.
2. I do everything in my control to rectify the situation, walking around, music etc. As long as I try my hardest to do everything within reason, I am not going to apologize for my toddler acting like a toddler.
3. Most fellow travelers who have kids understand.  Most of the time it is more stressful for you than them.

Today’s Tidbit: I thought I was so smart for booking our flight home at 11:45 AM.  My daughter typically naps between 12 and 1, so I figured she would sleep for at least an hour. Afterall, she’s a good traveler, right? One problem. I forgot that I was dealing with a toddler and toddlers often have their own ideas.  Needless to say my daughter not only decided to stay awake for the entire 3 1/2 hour flight, she decided to fall asleep in the car, literally 2 minutes from house around 4:00 PM. Go figure. Now that we’ve been home for 24 hours and I’ve had a chance to take a deep breath, I’m ready to book our next trip!

Stay tuned for my next blog post later this week where  I’ll be talking about changing tables (or the lack thereof) on airplanes.

Wishing you a peaceful week,

Emily