After our train trip to Toronto in November, I was slightly less nervous to be travelling with Matteo. Thankfully, he is a great baby which makes travelling a lot easier. I decided to fly home for the holidays with Matteo in order to cut down on his time in the car, which he doesn't like at all (road trip post coming soon also!) That being said, in terms of packing we were able to cheat a little bit and send some of our things with Luis, who we were meeting back in Southern Ontario.
Once again I had the help of my sister on our trip - which also helped to make flying seamless, especially when carrying bags! Even though Luis took some things down, most of our baggage came with us (more on packing later). I had two main worries going into the trip... The first was that we were flying with Porter, which is an airline not particularly known for stellar customer service, and I had had many off-putting experiences with them so I wasn't sure if they would accommodate flying with an infant well. The other thing I was worried about was take-off and landing with Matteo, which I hear is the more difficult part for babies.
Even though we were on an afternoon flight, I had everything ready the night before so we weren't rushed the next day, all we had to do was get ready and go. This turned out to be a great idea since this was our state a few minutes before having to leave to the airport...
I was very glad that I didn't have to pack amidst that mess! My sister and I dipped Matteo in a quick bath and were on our way without having to stress too much about being late.
When we arrived at the airport we first check our bags as well as Matteo's stroller and car seat (which was free thankfully!) The lady at the desk was surprisingly very helpful - she allowed my sister and I to change our seats so that we were sitting together and closer to the front of the plane. She even helped me carry the stroller and car seat to the oversized baggage check.
I rarely have issues with going through security and this time was no different. Before getting in line, I put Matteo in his baby k'tan carrier and we went through security without a hitch. We were able to find our gate in great time!
Right before boarding, I changed Matteo's diaper - knowing that Porter doesn't have any changing tables on their planes. We were also able to board ahead of regular passengers which allowed us to get settled. The flight attendant that we had was also very nice and helpful, and Matteo was a dream the whole flight. He was sleeping our first take off so I let him be and he didn't wake up until we started our decent, when I just slipped him under the nursing cover I had mentioned in my previous post and fed him until we had touched down.
The only hiccup we had in our travels was in Toronto - we weren't supposed to have to get off the plane but there was a mechanical issue (its Porter, what did we expect), so we had to switch planes. Thankfully the layover was not long, the flight attendant was very helpful in getting us off and on the plane and Matteo slept through the whole thing! Our second flight went just as smoothly as the first and we didn't hear a peep out of my little guy.
Once landed in Windsor, we got off of the plane last and our luggage was already ready for us. We put Matteo in his car seat (the only time he cried) and headed home to our family!
The day we left I made sure to have Matteo in a one piece outfit, which would make it easier to change him on the go. For myself, I just wore my usual staples - jeans, nursing tank, a blazer and booties. I also wore my nursing cover as a scarf so it would always be easily accessible.
I was able to pack all of our belongings between a duffle carry on, Matteo's diaper bag, a small suitcase and my purse, which I think was just right for our trip of 3 weeks.
In my carry on I kept mostly my own clothes, plus a thick blanket for Matteo in case he got cold. In the diaper bag I kept our essentials - my changing matt, diapers, wipes, extra clothes, hand sanitizer, a couple soothers, a bib and burp cloth as well as some toys for Matteo. I would say my favourite toy at this stage to always have on hand is a toss up between his teething mitt and teething banana toy - right now he just likes to chew on anything! My purse was only a crossbody and I used it simply for our important docs like IDs and boarding passes! This helped minimize any time I spend digging around in my diaper bag (I don't normally carry a purse at all).
In my suitcase, aside from Matteo's clothes I also packed an extra blanket, a full bag of diapers, my pump, a bottle, and Matteo's snowsuit. For the most part I packed light since I knew we would be coming back with Christmas gifts!
As I mentioned in the beginning, I did send some things in the car with Luis including Matteo's bouncer, his bath seat, two more full bags of diapers and all of our Christmas gifts for our families. Sending the extra diapers with him left space in my luggage, and the bouncer came in handy when we wanted to be able to put Matteo down to play! The bath seat has also become a daily necessity since it is a part of Matteo's nighttime routine. That being said, the first few nights that we didn't have it I just got into the bath in my swimsuit and used a bath neck pillow as an inner tube for Matteo, ha! For a makeshift seat, it actually worked well.
As always I hope you enjoyed my little recount of our travels! We are so happy to have had the chance to go home for the holidays and spend more time with our families. Look out for my next post which will be another travel post about our car ride back to Ottawa! Though Matteo seemingly travels well by train and plane, the car is a whole different ballpark...
- Alix
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