Trip Reports - Lucas' Seven Month Old Travel Recap & Our Upcoming Plans

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While walking around SoHo in New York City we came across this awesome sign. It was in the window of Giggle, a baby store.

I thought it would make for a good photo with Lucas. It pretty much sums up our thoughts for traveling with a baby. Lucas has not held us back, he has been a great travel partner!

When Kim got pregnant many people commented on how things would slow down for us in terms of travel. I never listened to these remarks and always said how we plan to still go away multiple times each year. The question would then be- with the baby??? My answer was always a firm yes. I have always seen families traveling with infants so why couldn't we?

The other day I ran into a neighbor that I had not seen in a few months. She asked how Lucas was and then made a comment about us not traveling. I told her how great Lucas was doing and then went on to tell her about our trips we had taken. I also mentioned our upcoming trip to Southeast Asia. After each trip that I spoke about she asked "with the baby", was he coming along? When I told her yes she was surprised and impressed that we were still getting to travel.

On our two trips (flying) to date with Lucas we've definitely had to slow down a little. There are stops needed for feeding and changing but otherwise Lucas has been a great travel partner.
I don't feel like we had to pass up many experiences or missed out on much so far.

Lucas is having a great first year of travel. He might not remember the places he went and things he saw but we have lots of pictures to show him when he is older. It's also been an amazing experience for Kim and I!

Here are Lucas' trips and the age that he took them:

Barbados- 3 months old
South Dakota- 6 months old

Tomorrow we leave for Southeast Asia and Lucas just turned 7 months old this past Saturday. We'll be flying in business class thanks to our mileage collecting! (This should be a great experience in itself!)

We will be visiting:

Singapore
Bali, Indonesia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Hopefully we'll get in another little adventure before his first birthday!

Stay tuned...

As this seems most apt for FT's Travel With Children forum, please follow it as it moves there. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Thank you! I honestly did not realize that there was a travel with children forum. Great to know. I'll definitely be checking it out!

Actually, it better belongs in Trip Reports but come here if you have any questions or comments to traveling with children in general. The first year is always the easiest so take advantage!

Actually, it better belongs in Trip Reports but come here if you have any questions or comments to traveling with children in general. The first year is always the easiest so take advantage!

I definitely will be checking out this forum!

I don't think families with young children should be traveling frivolously (when not for things like weddings and funerals), both for the sake of the child (all risk, no benefit (small children can't remember the trip)) and the innocent bystanders who have to put up with what the child(ren) might do.

Lol I can't believe the rudeness of people on here! Disgraceful and totally uncalled for. I have no kids but quite happy to see people living life to the fullest in the way THEY choose to.

Glad you are enjoying life as a young family. Memories for life are created from times like this.

Look forward to the trip report on SE Asia. We've yet to try a trip that ambitious with our 10mo, but we have the same view on not letting him stop our travels. We're currently in LA on trip 6 with him (his second Do) and today's flight to PDX will be #27. If we'd paid for his seats, he's have status next year.

It gets more interesting once they can move, as we've found out this trip.

Lol I can't believe the rudeness of people on here! Disgraceful and totally uncalled for. I have no kids but quite happy to see people living life to the fullest in the way THEY choose to.

Glad you are enjoying life as a young family. Memories for life are created from times like this.
Thank you so much! Lucas was great on our flights from NYC-SIN. We flew business class and he was great. In fact on one of the flights the couple behind us was playing with him, holding him- definitely not hurting their time in biz.

Look forward to the trip report on SE Asia. We've yet to try a trip that ambitious with our 10mo, but we have the same view on not letting him stop our travels. We're currently in LA on trip 6 with him (his second Do) and today's flight to PDX will be #27. If we'd paid for his seats, he's have status next year.

It gets more interesting once they can move, as we've found out this trip.

Sounds awesome! Good for you for traveling with the baby! This is our third trip flying with Lucas. During our trip around SE Asia we also have 3 flights around the region. The funny thing is that he is better on planes than in the car!

People don't mind a baby at a DO? I'd consider that at some point. I've never been to any events like that!

I'd love to hear about your trip to PDX and what it's like with a mobile baby!

Would you rather have status for the baby or the free flights? (I'll take the free flights) We did have to pay tax of course to bring him to Barbados and SE Asia...

I don't think families with young children should be traveling frivolously (when not for things like weddings and funerals), both for the sake of the child (all risk, no benefit (small children can't remember the trip)) and the innocent bystanders who have to put up with what the child(ren) might do.


a self admitted infrequent travel person remarking like this. Wow.

Lol I can't believe the rudeness of people on here! Disgraceful and totally uncalled for.

Welcome to Flyertalk. People type stuff that they woudl never say to your face. I had one long-time FTer who posts a lot here on FT personally attack me because of the kind of meat that I liked to eat! :eek:

But I've gotten used to it; somehow this is the culture of FT.

a self admitted infrequent travel person remarking like this. Wow.

Please explain the logical linkage between relatively infrequent travel and being annoyed by a screaming baby on a flight.

Or was your point that, as an infrequently flyer, my irritation with screaming babies is not valid?

????

I have had to clean a few posts up in this thread.

The name calling ends now.

Moomba
Moderator: Trip Reports

Michael -- for your trip to Barbados: did you buy a ticket for Lucas or travel infant-in-arms?

My wife and I just had our first, and in November will be traveling to Tokyo for Thanksgiving. We're a little daunted by the idea of traveling internationally with a 4-month old, but the family's kind of far-flung and none of the aunts/uncles/cousins have met her yet. I've traveled a fair amount and have been to Japan a handful times...but never with a baby.

If it were domestic, I wouldn't hesitate to go the infant-in-arms route and save the money. But on a 12-hour transpac flight that might be too ambitious. I realize Barbados isn't quite as far, but from Brooklyn that's still a decent haul. What did you do?

Michael -- for your trip to Barbados: did you buy a ticket for Lucas or travel infant-in-arms?

My wife and I just had our first, and in November will be traveling to Tokyo for Thanksgiving. We're a little daunted by the idea of traveling internationally with a 4-month old, but the family's kind of far-flung and none of the aunts/uncles/cousins have met her yet. I've traveled a fair amount and have been to Japan a handful times...but never with a baby.

If it were domestic, I wouldn't hesitate to go the infant-in-arms route and save the money. But on a 12-hour transpac flight that might be too ambitious. I realize Barbados isn't quite as far, but from Brooklyn that's still a decent haul. What did you do?

Hey Timothy- We have not bought a ticket yet for Lucas. He has flown over 30,000 miles and is 7.5 months old! Each flight has been a different experience and I'm not going to say that it is easy but it is worth it and also worth the $ saved!
We just got back from SE Asia which accounts for around 23,000 of the miles he has flown!

Bravo to OP for continuing with your travels with the baby.

I fell in love with air travel when I flew on several occasions as a young kid, so I've tried to pass down the same love of flying with my kids as well. My kids are now 5 and 3 - they have been to MCO three times, AUA three times, LHR once (including BF on the way back). We have HKG booked next year, BF outbound! they LOVE to fly.

Yes, it's tough for infants with the ascent/descent as they can't clear their ears easily - but it gets much easier when they get to the age when they can handle that part.

However, I do understand that it can be frustrating for fellow passengers if a crying baby/kid is on board.

The downside for me is... hoping my kids are not too spoilt with expecting BF or F every time we fly! :)

Bravo to OP for continuing with your travels with the baby.

I fell in love with air travel when I flew on several occasions as a young kid, so I've tried to pass down the same love of flying with my kids as well. My kids are now 5 and 3 - they have been to MCO three times, AUA three times, LHR once (including BF on the way back). We have HKG booked next year, BF both ways! they LOVE to fly.

Yes, it's tough for infants with the ascent/descent as they can't clear their ears easily - but it gets much easier when they get to the age when they can handle that part.

However, I do understand that it can be frustrating for fellow passengers if a crying baby/kid is on board.

The downside for me is... hoping my kids are not too spoilt with expecting BF or F every time we fly! :)

Thanks for the kind words Maximus! It sounds like your kids have flown a decent amount. At what age did you start traveling with them?

So far Lucas has been fine on the ascent/ descents. He was only cranky on one of our flights so far. It was on our last flight of our recent Asia trip. He was crying on and off for a couple of hours but it didn't seem to bother anyone. There were lots of kids on the flight. It's also not like we didn't try to help calm him etc. I think he was all out of whack due to the time zone changes. He is still getting back on track with his sleep schedule!

Good luck with trying not to spoil your kids too much!

My Daughter got *G at 2 years old when we lived in Asia. Cabin crew gave us that look of despair when we sat down in Business and a Bottle of Champagne when we got off telling us what a wonderful daughter we have ^^^^^^

Thanks for the kind words Maximus! It sounds like your kids have flown a decent amount. At what age did you start traveling with them?


Yeah... my wife and I don't realize how much they've flown since we love to fly too. Our friends think we're nuts! Both kids had their first flight at six months old.