By Land, By Sea, By Baby?

I'd like to offer up a new term...Baby Travel.

There's already Air Travel. And Car Travel. I'm sure there's even Boat Travel. Each of these forms of moving from one place to another involves a different form of preparation.

For air travel, you will either check your bags or not. You have to plan your day around dealing with the airport lines for checking in, for security, for everything! You have to have plenty of money available to pay $5 for a bottle of water or $20 for a bag of chips. Depending on the length of the flight, you might need to have a carry-on bag full of games/snacks/books.

For car travel, you have to plan your route (including stops for gas and food). You need to make sure the car is in working order. You should pack a few games/snacks/books for those not driving.

And I have no idea what you'd need for Boat Travel, but let's assume there's some preparation involved. Maybe packing a life preserver and a pair of polka dotted swim trunks...and maybe a snorkel.

Michaela, Landon, and I will be heading over to the airport around 430am tomorrow morning to board a flight to San Diego, CA. We'll be in the air for a few hours, meet Landon's Grandpa Steve at the airport, and then drive a few hours to Yuma, AZ. So not only do we have to deal with the "air travel" planning mentioned above AND the "car travel" planning...but we have a third piece....Baby Travel.

Now please keep in mind that this will be Landon's longest car ride in his life, as well as the first time that he has ever flown in an airplane...oh yeah, and it'll be the first time that Michaela and I have ever traveled with a baby! Needless to say, we are fairly nervous/anxious/excited/terrified about the prospect of Landon in an airplane for a few hours. On one hand, we've heard that if you give the baby a bottle/pacifier/snack upon takeoff and landing, that they're usually able to equalize their inner ear pressure and everything is fine. But I think most of us have had the unpleasant experience of sitting next to an infant on a plane/bus/train/some other mode of transportation where the baby was screaming their head off.....we're hoping that won't be the case, but we just won't know until we get there.

But I digress, the reason that I wanted to come up with the term Baby Travel was the crazy amount of planning involved with bringing an infant along for the ride. You have to bring bottles/snacks/toys/pacifiers/diapers/wipes/ziploc bags/clothes/burp rags/booze (for you) in the carry on...ok, I made the last one up...but we should be allowed to bring that as a carry on!!

You have to make sure you get pre-boarding to get the baby situated. You have to bring the carseat along for the car rides. You have to remember their birth certificate so they can get on the plane. The breast milk needs to be declared at security so they don't think it's a bomb or something. The stroller has to be folded up and put through the x-ray machine before it can get through as well. Schedules for bottle feedings/snack times/nap times/etc. are all thrown out of whack (which is NOT a good thing for a fussy baby).

And that's just the shenanigans getting to your destination! You also have to figure out what to pack for the kid. I mean, we're only going to be there a week, but before you know it, we're packing bibs and rubber duckies and coordinating high chairs and pack 'n plays and just about every other baby gizmo that you can imagine! Not to mention the discussions about what level of baby-proofing the destination needs to have. I'm more inclined to just watch the kid a little more closely while we're there, but I'm sure we'll see some evidence that a child is present in the house.

Let's just say that Baby Travel is a process worthy of it's own term.

Anyhow...we'll be flying out first thing in the morning, we'll make it into Yuma around mid-day...I believe that we'll be in Yuma until Monday, then we'll be driving to Phoenix for a few days before returning back to Sacramento on Wednesday. You can reach us via our cell phones and we'll continue to post on the blog while we're there (hopefully).

We probably won't fit in a post between now and Christmas, but we'll get one up shortly thereafter.

Hope you all have a great holiday and we'll see you soon!