Summer In Scandinavia Part 1- Gear Up & Go!

August 30, 2017February 14, 2018 / babyflyerblog / 2 Comments

In case you missed it, be sure to read the preview post about this trip here: Summer in Scandinavia Preview

Our flight up to Chicago from LAX- Baby Flyer’s first 787 Dreamliner flight. (She slept through most of it)

We had a good (if a little tiring after a late arrival and short night) day in the Windy City. We made the most of our time- we took the train into the city from our airport hotel, and walked the few short blocks from Washington station to Michigan Ave. We hadn’t been up in time for breakfast at the hotel, so we stopped off at Le Pain Quotidien for some brunch. Baby Flyer hasn’t been feeling restaurant high chairs lately, so luckily they had a booth for us, and we all managed to eat a good meal. Next up, we crossed the street to Maggie C. Daily park.

We visited here last time we were in the city, and Baby Flyer wasn’t walking yet, so she couldn’t do much exploring on her own. It was also November, so the park was cold and quiet. This time, it was a different experience. We both thought she would be entertained for a while since the park has so many different sections and attractions.

However, this was one of those moments that encapsulates family travel with young kiddos. This time around the park was full of kids, mostly older than she was, and she wasn’t really enjoying the vibe. We played on the swings for a bit, and climbed up and down some grass mounds, and then decided to move on.

We ended up walking up the waterfront toward Navy Pier, which we hadn’t done before, and made our way to the canal where the boat tours leave from. At this point Baby Flyer needed a nap soon (and some air conditioning) so we bought tickets for the next river and lake tour. There are several tour companies that offer similar trips, for around the same prices. We didn’t have any trouble just getting a ticket a few minutes beforehand on the fly, which was nice. Most offer some form of an architectural tour, and a lake tour. The one we took, though not branded ‘architectural’ still hit the highlights of Chicago’s skyline, and given that it was a hot day, it was nice to get out on the lake.

We’ve always been curious about these on our Chicago trips, but never quite coughed up the time/money/planning to go. This time it was a great option. Baby Flyer LOVES boats, which is good, because we had a lot of them planned throughout the trip. She had a great time looking around on deck for the first half of the tour, and then we took her downstairs for a nap for the second half. True, you can’t see nearly as much from below, but the air conditioning was great, as was not having a cranky baby for the rest of the day.

From there, we headed back toward the train station, and stumbled upon the world traveler’s best friend when you need a good but easy dinner in a different city- Vapiano! Vapiano has locations throughout Europe, and the US. It’s a counter-order, first come first serve for tables place, which rescues the wandering traveler without a reservation. Plus the food is really quite good, and especially abroad- reasonably priced!

Now, we’d like to be able to say that Baby Flyer sat nicely in her high chair and let us have a relaxing meal, but that would be a large departure from the truth, which is also why Vapiano is a good choice. It’s just a little less formal, so if say…your kid wants to spend the whole dinner being helped to climb up and down the stairs from the bathroom while you each take turns quickly eating a slice of pizza, you won’t be all that ashamed.

“The Vapiano card” – you order from different stations and scan your card as you go, then check out on the way out the door. Nice when baby is tired and you don’t want to wait around for the check.

After we’d had dinner, and Baby Flyer climbed the stairs at least 40 times, we took the train back to our hotel for the night and got organized. For this trip, we worked hard to lower our ‘luggage footprint’ since we’d have several transitions between cities, including 8 flights, a round trip ferry, and many trains and trams.

Before, we’d been traveling with a pack-n-play when we needed a bed, and either our britax b-agile, or our summer infant 3D umbrella stroller. These are fine for simple trips, but for this one we swapped them out for a Phil & Ted’s Traveler crib, and a Baby Jogger Citi Mini Zip with a carrying backpack. What a DIFFERENCE!!!

The Phil and Ted’s bed is SO light- 8 lbs, y’all!! It sits easily on a rolling suitcase, and has a carry strap as well. The mattress is like a thermarest camping pad, so it rolls up small. It sets up in just a few minutes, and Baby Flyer seems to sleep in it as well as she ever did in the pack-n-play. It’s best if you can put it on carpet though, for a little extra softness.

As for the City Mini Zip, we agonized over a travel stroller for quite awhile, and we’re down to the Citi Mini Tour, or going all out on the Babyzen YoYo. The Mini Tour definitely is the lightest, with the easiest fold, but it seemed like Baby Flyer was a little cramped in it, and she’s not a huge kid for her age. As per the dimensions, she shouldn’t be, but it is generally a smaller stroller (which is the point). The YoYo is quite nice, which it well should be for the huge price tag. When push came to shove, we didn’t feel like we liked it $300+ more than other options, and we didn’t have luck finding one used in time for the trip. Besides, there’s a certain arrogance on the part of a company to try and sell you a $400 stroller- and not include he seat! Yes, that’s right- the frame is $400, and if you want your kid to be able to sit in it, that’ll be another $100.

The City Mini Zip when folded- reasonably light, around 17 lbs.

We ended up with the Citi Zip because CAR stumbled upon it at Home Goods, of all places. It was new & heavily discounted. It folds down nicely, though not as tiny as the City Tour. In the backpack though, it was comfortable to carry, even decently long distances. We didn’t try to carry it on the planes, but on the bigger ones with space, it would have fit sideways in the bins.

*Spoiler alert here- we took the stroller on a weekend trip to Seattle and loved it, but after bouncing it over cobblestones in Europe, we didn’t think it fared as well. Overall, it worked fine for our purposes, but it didn’t seem to take ‘off-roading’ easily. More on this later.*

In the end, we got all our luggage down to one carry on size roller, one cabin bag, the bed and stroller backpack, one mid size roller, plus a diaper bag. It was an amount we could wheel and carry fairly easily, even on 20 min walks to and from train stations. Once the bigger items were checked, we were going pretty light in the airports.

What was also different for this trip is that we made the decision to not bring our trusty Cosco travel car seat. It’s light as car seats go, but bulky, and we just couldn’t justify the hassle since we weren’t planning any rental cars in Europe. It did mean that we didn’t have the option to take a taxi or Uber (though we heard that in a pinch many European taxis may have a car seat of some kind stashed in the trunk).

We did a mix of checking and gate checking the stroller, and Finnair checked both it and the bed for free as ‘baby items’ even though Baby Flyer didn’t have her own seat. Baby Flyer wasn’t a big fan of any stroller- travel or otherwise- then, so much of the time it was nice to get rid of it at check in and carry her to the lounge and plane.

And the nitty gritty of all that, is coming up.

~CET, CAR & Baby Flyer

Up next- Summer In Scandinavia Part 2: Well Connected

Resort Life: Nuevo Vallarta

August 29, 2017 / babyflyerblog

Baby Flyer checks out the view of the ocean from Villa Del Palmar. She could get used to this.

We spent a week this summer in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico at the Villa Del Palmar Flamingos. We flew American Airlines and had an overnight layover in Phoenix’s Sky Harbor on the way, and a couple hour layover in DFW on the way back. You bet Baby Flyer visited the Centurion Lounge on the way back, plus the adults all had 15 minute massages! It was a welcome treat after having an almost 2 hour wait for our bags at baggage claim after customs because everything shut down because of lightening. Of course, safety is important but the wait was unexpected.

We stayed in the Aloft in Phoenix on the way out which has a free shuttle, is very close to the airport, and has a relaxed playful feel. They just started renovating and updating the whole hotel, including the rooms. They have a simple bar menu and we weren’t in the mood to go out for dinner since it was already around 7:45pm. We had grilled cheese- a guilty but tasty dinner, and Baby Flyer roamed around and stretched her legs. While we were waiting for our food, the hotel van took me to CVS to buy Baby Flyer a bottle of baby shampoo. Something I learned- they can take you anywhere within a three mile radius of the hotel for free (excluding tip). It was perfect!.

The penthouse deck of our humble abode for the week. We could also get used to this.

Fast forward to finally arriving at the Puerto Vallarta airport- we got off the plane, cleared customs, (which is generally straight forward if all your passports are in order. Tip for Mexico- they give you back half the form. Do not loose this part, it’s your ticket back out of the country!).

This airport has undergone some expansions and renovation since we’ve started traveling there several years ago. It’s nice to see, and makes the experience better. There’s a small Priority Pass lounge, even, and the majority of the flights are served by standard jet bridges, rather than buses.

After customs, we moved onto the gauntlet of getting our reserved shuttle to the resort. For whatever reason, in Mexico this is usually the sticking point. The resort provides us one free transfer per year, which is great, but it does mean you have to reserve in advance, and then wait for them to verify it and find you a driver. In the end it works out, but it can take some patience. We did learn that Uber has arrived in PVR, and seemed operative and reasonably priced from the airport, but when CET tried to use it for her return trip, it said ‘no cars available’ from the resort.

That all sorted out, we arrived safely and simply put, Baby Flyer LOVED resort life! Her day typically looked something like this:

After she woke up, she would often visit the pool or play in the room with her Mema and Bumpa while I worked out. She slept in while on vacation too! She would wake to nurse around 6 and then go back to sleep for a couple hours. Think her later bed time, two hour time difference, and all the pool time made her sleepy. Then we would meet for breakfast and she got to pick a pastry of her choice (total treat) which she had along with some watermelon or berries and orange juice. Of course, her favorite was what I initially thought was a bran muffin, but turned out to be a chocolate muffin- another first for her. This also was her first time having orange juice and she certainly enjoyed it.

Check out those curls!

Once we were done eating, she would walk out of the restaurant and lead the way to the pool, so more time splashing around until it was time for her afternoon nap and a quick lunch. Afterwards she would head out to the pool once again, then play in our room while we all got ready for dinner. After dinner, she often would finish the evening with one last wade since the restaurant was next to the pool and it was too tempting not to stop as we walked back to our room. We paddle boarded and played a couple games beach volleyball one morning. It was fun, but let’s just say I have some room for improvement with beach volleyball.

Baby Flyer even managed to stay in her high chair during our long dinners. Something that has rarely been happening lately. But was a welcome change!

I never appreciated the pool as much as I did on this vacation. As silly as it sounds, I really noticed all the features of the pool while playing with Baby Flyer. From the wading pool to the sprinklers and waterfall steps, to the infinity edges and gradual beach shoreline slopes. There was so much Baby Flyer could do! She doesn’t always like being held in the water when she can’t touch the bottom so she loved being able to walk in so many areas.

I could have packed Baby Flyer a few less outfits but she did wear almost everything I packed. I thought I was being silly bringing a whole package of swim diapers but we left with only two extra. Her long sleeve UPF rash guard was my favorite since it covered all of her arms and I didn’t have to worry about sunblock. After one afternoon when she wore her short sleeve rash guard and it seemed like she got some sun, despite putting on sunblock multiple times (it’s strong down there!), I ended up just always having her wear the long sleeve top. It turned into a tan, but still…mommy guilt abounds.

We’ve been going to this resort for years now, and many of the staff are familiar faces which makes it extra fun. This year for simplicity, we opted for the all-inclusive meal plan so that meant we ate a lot of our meals at the resort. However, one night we took a cab to the neighboring small town, Bucerias. Pre-baby, we used to do the 30ish minute walk all the time, but since it was so warm that really didn’t sound like much fun with Baby Flyer. We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Sandrinas. They take Visa and MasterCard but offer a 15% discount if you pay in cash. We also really enjoy Mark’s and Karen’s Place. Both are in Bucerias. Karen’s Place is on the beach which is perfect for watching the sunset. In the past, they have been cash only but there is an onsite ATM (in the adjacent hotel).

Bucerias is a fun town to walk around and get more of an authentic feeling for the area. Since we’ve been going for so long, we’ve been able to see how it’s changed over the years. They have open air markets where you can find some good deals than from the sales people on the beach.

Baby Flyer loved spending some time on the beach too, especially as the sun went down and the sand cooled. Puerto Vallarta’s coastline is beautiful any time, but the sunsets were truly stunning. No better way to end each day.

By the time we headed home, we were already looking forward to coming back next time!

~CAR

To read more about our trip, you can head over to Cruising Altitude for CET’s trip report and more photos.

Zoom Zoom Zoom

August 29, 2017August 29, 2017 / babyflyerblog

Baby Flyer met ‘Bluebell’ a few months ago now. When we were expecting, knowing CET’s passion for travel, CAR’s mom wanted to buy Baby Flyer a suitcase. Through CET’s travels, she had seen kids with Trunki Ride-On suitcase in different airports, and she instantly knew which suitcase she thought Baby Flyer should have.

Trunki is a pretty fun idea- it’s a ride-on or push-along kids’ suitcase that fits nicely under standard airplane seats, or in the overhead bin. They come in all kinds of themes and colors. “Bluebell” the pony comes complete with a saddle and ‘tail.’

We waited to introduce Baby Flyer to Trunki until she was around 13 months because it didn’t seem to be all that useful when she was really small. However, once she started loving to push anything with wheels around the house, and we were headed up to Seattle for the weekend, it was perfect timing! We thought ‘Bluebell’ would give Baby Flyer some independence. Boy did she love it!

She pushed it all around the Centurion Lounge in the Seatac Airport. They had recently opened a new area with included additional seating and a bar so Baby Flyer had even more space to cruise around.

We used it to hold some toys for her for the weekend, keeping it fairly light, and sticking with our shared suitcase method we typically do for our clothes.

‘Bluebell’ fit easily in the overhead bin as advertised, and proved to be a trusty travel companion. Baby Flyer was too young to ride ‘Bluebell’ through the airport on this trip, but once she’s older, we expect she will. She’s gone on a few short ‘rides’ through our house and has enjoyed them tremendously. Plus it’s so darn cute!