Before having Joseph, I really loved traveling. Like most people I know, once we had a baby we sort of felt like our travel dreams were put on hold. Life got busy, really busy. Two working parents + managing a household, and planning a vacation really turned into how can we make this as EASY as possible. I’ve now realized that the only reason why we think we can’t travel with kids might be manufactured in our own heads and we all just scare each other from even attempting it. People seriously FREAK OUT when it comes to kids on planes — from both sides. You have the people who outright say they cringe when they see a baby sitting near them on a plane. You then have the parents who just think to themselves – no way in HELL am I going near an airplane with my 1 (or 2 or 3 or 4 year old). I’m definitely not saying we’ve got it all figured out, but I can say this that Joseph handled a 17 hour plan ride better than most adults… it helped that he slept about 75% of the time, but perhaps it’s because we built up to that. He took a 4 hour flight @ 10 months, 6 hour flight @ 2 years, 10 hour flight @ 3 years… etc. He’s like a seasoned vet traveler now. Of course, we have the gear (critical component here!)…. we’ve recently upgraded to wireless headphones + kindle (which is his PLANE kindle so has some special games and vids on it)… we also bring plenty of snacks, activity books, new toys, legos, & water bottle. We have a special “jet kids” carry on for him that he can ride through the airport and then it actually extends the plane seat to make a bed (very good investment for long haul flights!). If we’re armed and ready it’s usually smooth sailing.
Everything in Europe is super close…. we can drive to the Netherlands in 3 hours, hop on a flight to really anywhere – Spain, Italy, France you name it, in about 3-4 hours. So we’re really trying to make the most out of our time here. With summer coming I’m already dreaming up some of the roadtrips we could take. We’re also going to start taking more opportunities to travel with Miguel when he has work trips… the reality is that even though Joseph is in school here it’s “only” preschool. He’ll learn far more traveling & exploring than he will in the classroom. As one of my good friends here says, “You can practice coloring in the lines with him on the plane” – haha. So the new official Faustino philosophy of “Life isn’t about the destination, it’s the journey” is reaching new heights with lots of traveling underway. You can click on all the links to read and see more about our adventures in: