I thought this title of “Traveling With Bebe” would be quite fitting for our newest adventure. Next week, we’ll be traveling with our “bebe” (6 month old Jacob) to Ireland! Jon has to travel to Cork in southern Ireland for work and Jacob and I are going to tag along with him on his trip. There are actually some practical reasons why I’m going with him on this trip (more on that later), but it’s also pretty awesome that I’ll get a little mid-winter vacation and that we’ll be there for Valentine’s Day! We’ll just be there for a week, so it will be a quick trip.

Luckily for baby Jacob, he’s still nursing–and we don’t have to buy him his own plane ticket–so he gets to come along with us. Unfortunately for 2-year old David (and fortunately for us–can you imagine flying for 16 hours with a TWO year old?!), he’ll be staying state-side with his grandparents.

We’ve already done quite a bit of traveling with the boys. David rode on his first plane when he was about 9 months old, and I’ve already flown solo with Jacob down to Phoenix. Of the times that we’ve taken the boys on planes, about half of those times have been me by myself, and the other half I’ve had at least one helper. Even though we do have lots of travel experience, we’ve never done a trip quite like this. It will be a very long day of travel (especially by baby standards) and will involve a time change of 8 hours (hello, jet lag!). Plus, we’ll be traveling internationally so there are a few extra precautions that need to be made on that front. Overall, though, it should be a fun little experience for all of us.

There’s a lot to think about when you’re traveling with little people, so I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned along the way to make things run a bit smoother. First and foremost, just acknowledge that you’re not the one running the show–so don’t get too upset when things don’t work out perfectly. Kids will scream, babies will cry, and things will likely get a bit messy. Just go with the flow, have an adult beverage on the plane, and know that it will all be over in a matter of hours 🙂

This week I’ll get into the nitty-gritty of traveling with the under-two set. Check back tomorrow for my tips on organizing and packing, then later in the week for how we actually get through the airport and our flight.

I’m actually a bit nervous about taking baby on such a long flight, so I’d love to hear about your travel experiences. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any proven travel tips or great stories from your travels with kids!

*Author’s Note* Click here to read about what we did while we were in Cork, Ireland!