In December 2019 our travelling family just got bigger! We welcomed our second son “Roman”. He is named after our favourite European city, while also coincidentally referencing a certain Russian billionaire football club owner. We feel like first time parents again. The past month seems like a blur. Countless nappy changes, less than enough sleep, we are still adjusting to our new life with 2 boys.
“So you guys have no travel plans for this year?”… is one of the most common questions we get asked by kind friends who have been visiting us. “We are going to Europe in a few months”, we answered. Often our answer attracts (nervous) smiles and a few raised eyebrows.
The follow up question is then something along the line of: “Is he (our newborn) coming?” “Why go so soon?” “Why don’t you go somewhere easier like Bali?”
If anything in 2020 we are going full force with family travel plans. In a few months we will be exploring Central Europe (Croatia & Slovenia) and western Balkans. This trip will be a combination of long flights, drives crossing countries and exploring beautiful national parks. While later this year, we are hoping to go on yet another big trip.
2020 also mark our 10th year wedding anniversary. So this is definitely another reason to celebrate in a big way. No roses or diamonds, just exploring new countries will do!
For us the thought of travelling as a family of 4 truly is more exciting than scary. Just as we did with Berlin, we can’t wait to show how exciting this world is to our newest family member. Our little bubba will be about 4 months old at time of our first trip. We really think it is a good time to start our family adventure as a family of 4.
No doubt travelling with multiple kids will bring extra challenges. As regular travellers, we feel we got this – travel with 2 boys thing – covered. We have planned our itineraries well and won’t repeat the same mistakes from our earlier trips.
When planning our days we have taken into consideration both of our son’s routine and needs (even little Roman’s breast feeding needs!). We have reviewed our very first travel packing list (when our first son was just 6 months old). Looking back it was as if we brought the whole nursery with us! – All in the name of “just in case”. So once again we will pack things like nappies, bum cream, wet wipes and first aid kit.
Over the next few months, we are also making sure that we are fit for the trip. Tara will soon head back to the gym soon post giving birth. Alfred will as always ramp up his cardio and strength training. Being fit parents mean that we can keep up with our 2 boys and only rely on one coffee a day (not 5!).
We even reviewed our own blog posts including:13 Best baby travel tips.
We also decided to travel sooner with our newborn because:
Being parents is challenging anywhere. Changing nappies, crying babies, broken sleep, same anywhere. We don’t hire nannies back home anyway, so no difference for us travel or no travel. Might as well change nappies and not sleep in cool places!
Babies are easier to travel with! – ask any travelling families. Babies are hundreds of times easier to travel with than toddlers. We are training him for the (many) adventures ahead. Unlike travelling with toddlers, there won’t be any need for expensive toys, iPads or daily ice cream bribes. They don’t whinge, complain, chuck tantrums like toddlers do.
Our 5 year old is a proof that starting family travel at an early age (he started travelling from 6 months old) moulds kids into a super easy traveller! He is super easy on long haul flights and now fully understands the going travelling routine. For him the question is always “When are we going again?” Our Croatia trip will be his 15th country visited!
For this year’s travel plans we will mainly be relying on our Ergobaby carrier. Our trusted Maclaren stroller will still come along for our older son who most likely will nap (from jetlag).
Things will definitely become more challenging next year when we have 2 energetic boys running around.
We hope our travel plans show other families that taking kids along could not only be done but also enjoyable. We want to help encourage, support and inspire other parents to do the same!
For places we have visited, Checkout our website’s travel Destinations section. We buy our travel essentials online via Ebay
By the way we don’t recommend Bali as first time family travel destination. From unreliable airport, food poisoning and countless friends catching random viruses, leave it for your “once they are older” file. Bali looks great on Instagram but not in reality.
