Is the hotel kid friendly? Traveling with your baby and/or toddler and planning on staying in a hotel? Kristy Wood, one of my favorite guest bloggers, and I have developed frequently asked questions to make sure the hotel you plan on staying at is kid friendly. If this is the first time staying in a hotel with your baby, make sure you ask the hotel the following questions or be sure to check their website for the accommodations before booking your reservation.  By finding out the answers to the questions before you arrive, will make for a more pleasant first time experience for your entire family, plus you will be more prepared. Do you have refrigerators in the standard rooms? If not, be sure to ask if they could put one in for you. A refrigerator is essential if you are breast feeding and you need to store breast milk. Or you have a toddler that is already on whole milk and you need to keep some at your disposal. In my experience some boutique hotels might not provide refrigerators in the rooms, but they will put your breast milk in their kitchen refrigerator. If they do, be sure to mark the cooler well with your last name and identify it is breast milk. Do they have a crib available to use or rent? This is only essential if you are planning to not bring your own pack-n-play or another sleeping device.  Ensure you ask them how old the cribs are and if they know when they were purchased.   From experience, I found that higher end hotels generally have the newer cribs ones that have not been recalled, but with lower end or cheaper hotels they have cribs that have been recalled or the...

  The holiday season is just around the corner and it one of the busiest seasons for airlines; like millions of other people you probably are considering traveling to see your family and friends.  And if you are anything like me you want to carry on to avoid checking in bags, if at all possible, especially now that airlines charge you for checked baggage. As I stated in my post on 15 Tips for Flying with a Lap Infant, I am not an expert flying with a toddler, but have done it many times in the past 20 months since C2 was born. To provide additional value, I have partnered with another mom, Kristy Wood stay at home mom to 20 mos. old J. Kristy travels often with J and has been on 14 flights with him. We are two moms that want to share our tips and experiences with other parents in hopes that our tips will make your travel experience a bit more pleasant and less stressful. Here are our top 10 tips on how to Travel Carry on Only with a Toddler. 1.  Research. Research. Research. Purchase. Prior to purchasing any items for travel, research and think about the items you really need versus the items you want. My husband and I travel a lot, so when we found out we were expecting we knew we had our work cut out for us. I hate to check baggage with a passion, so this also fueled my need to pack smart, and buy products that served more than one purpose, or were compact. Every trip that we went on after we found out we were expecting became a research trip. We would look around the airports, planes, and at families traveling with...

  My husband and I travel a lot with our toddler. After doing numerous road trips, triathlon weekends and hotel stays, we got tired of lugging around our Pack-N-Play. Pack-N-Play’s definitely serve a purpose especially for babies under 12 mos. old, but we realized once C2 could roll over and move around without any worries of SIDs, that the Pack-N-Play could be replaced. The reason for the realization is we were taking our two week vacation to California and didn’t want to have fly with the Pack-N-Play. We already had a BOB jog stroller, Deuter Kid Comfort II Child Carrier, three suitcases and other baby equipment and if we could find something more compact and safe for C2 to travel with we were bound to find it. I did research and found two other viable options that we felt comfortable with other than the Pack-N-Play. 1) Tuck-Me-In Travel Bed with Removable Mattress & Accessories – $79.99-$89.99 From One Step Ahead travel bed bigger and cozier! One Step Aheads kids’ inflatable bed features a larger, fully-detached mattress, for snugglier sleepovers and easier linen changes. Soft and cushy, with a flocked surface and built-in safety bumpers. Pump and tote included. Coordinating travel blankets, linens, and accessories sold separately. 2) Kidco PeaPod Plus Indoor/Outdoor Travel Bed, Red – $84.99 KidCo’s PeaPod™ the travel bed that does it all for the on-the-go parent!  The inflatable air mattress helps protect baby from cold, damp floors while providing a comforting place to sleep.  Great for outdoors because of its UV protection and wind screens.  Zippered panels allow parents quick and easy access to baby from virtually any angle.  The slick, easy to fold design makes it ideal for storage and use anytime. Weighs 4.75 lbs. Ultimately, we chose to go...