The Rockets Hit the Road: Traveling with (Active) Baby

When I found out I’d be attending the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston, I was thrilled for more than one reason: first, it was a great work opportunity for me; second, we have friends and family in Providence and Newport, so it would be a great opportunity for a mini-vacation. Of course, we were a bit apprehensive: our last flight with the Agent of Chaos had occurred seven months ago, long before she was 10 months old, mobile, 25 pounds, and able to shatter glass with her wail. And instead of traveling to Pittsburgh in early November, we’d be flying from a tourist city to a tourist city at the height of summer madness. And staying in a hotel. And attending a conference.

(Hello, by the by, to Jackie Cuyvers, of www.mommydrives.com, who tried her very best to hook me up with iPad at the Expo. No dice, but the conversation, wine and hors d’ eouvres were divine. And also to all the other amazing, brilliant people I hope to keep following online.)

We hit the internet, of course: what do we do with a baby in a hotel room? One who can’t co-sleep, hits the sack at 7 PM, and treats the changing table like a bed of nails? We found a few resources, mostly on message boards, but we were both surprised by the lack of information (please comment if you know of a great site to share!). So here’s the lowdown on our hotel stay (and a few other goodies).

1. Thank you, United Economy Plus. Somehow, though the flight was overbooked by 23 seats, RocketMan and I got moved up to the Economy Plus class without asking OR paying. One wouldn’t think five inches of legroom would be a life-changing experience, but among the benefits, we could pull down the tray with her in my lap; put her on the floor in front of me; prop my feet easily; and generally feel much better about the 5.5-hour trip, which was a bonus, since she turned into the baby equivalent of a lamprey the moment we left the house. (She’s never been clingy with RocketMan or me, but during this trip, it was Mama or nothing.) It’s $70 extra per person, but if you can afford it, do it. We’re thinking of upgrading for our return trip from Pittsburgh this August. I certainly could have used the extra space on our trip home last night, which was about 7 hours long, and, yes, we had THAT baby. Apologies to everyone.
2. Hotel beds + giant windows + floor-length mirror = happy, happy baby. The Boston Westin Waterfront hotel room was small, but safe; as there’s nothing in a hotel room (except outlets) there’s nothing to babyproof. And with a big down comforter, a full view of Boston, and an alternate view of her own self in a floor-to-ceiling mirror, she stayed plenty entertained.
   
   

   Looks just like home!

3. The sleep station. We got a crib from the hotel–one of those yes-we-have-them-but-you-can’t-reserve-them-until-you-get-here jobs–and after much finagling, shoved it up against the door, where we could mostly block the light from the rest of the room. The closet was far too small, and fortunately, the crib came with a ridiculous-looking skirt that, when raised about two feet, blocked her view fairly well. We covered the giant mirror in towels so she couldn’t see our reflections, brought along the iPod speaker and white noise track, and held our breath. After the first night, when she cried for about five minutes, she went down with little fuss and slept through the night. The only drawbacks: the crib was right in front of the bathroom door, which made for a lot of tiptoeing. Other than that, it worked brilliantly.
   
4. The changing station. For reasons still unknown to me, the crib came with a bathmat. After some discussion as to why we needed a bathmat, we slapped it on the desk and made it into the changing table. Extra bonus: the second giant mirror above the desk occupied the AoC during diaper changes.
   
   

   Yes, I moved the laptop charger before laying her down.

5. The great diaper debate. Despite some misgivings, we decided to try using the cloth gDiapers on the road. We stopped after the first full day. Not only did they need to be changed more often, but rinsing them and finding a good place to dry them just became too inconvenient after ten diapers. We headed into town and bought a pack of Huggies, and we’re back in the gDiapers now. (The flushable inserts may have been a better option, but we didn’t want to pack enough for an entire week.)
6. We got a refrigerator from the hotel. You can reserve the refrigerator in advance, but make sure when the clerk tells you it’s in your room, that there’s an actual refrigerator in your room. We mistook the empty minibar for the refrigerator and spoiled the baby’s yogurt overnight.
7. Naptime. For her morning nap, RocketMan slid her crib into the bathroom. While this impeded his ability to, you know, use the bathroom, it gave her more darkness and sound cancellation so he was able to watch some television. He scheduled his walking trips for naptime: pop her in the Snap’n'Go with her Wubbanub and a blankie as a sunshade, and she slept for at least 90 minutes for each of their outings. He was able to see some of the sights of Boston, and she napped in the great urbandoors.
8. Gear.
   1. Because we’d be visiting family with kids, we didn’t need to bring the Pack’n'Play, thank heaven–that thing is great but it’s not convenient to truck around unless you actually own a truck.
   2. Instead of bringing the big stroller, we brought her carseat (with the safety clip) and a borrowed Snap’n'Go.
   3. We also brought a small ditty bag with some of her favorite toys, three board books, two Wubbanubs (lest we lose one) and a blankie that we were OK with misplacing.
   4. Clothes-wise, I failed: I had been hoping for an East Coast summer and got three days of San Francisco. And I left behind legwarmers. The legwarmers, for heaven’s sake! My lesson there: bring the stuff you find indispensable on a daily basis and don’t think vacation is really THAT special.
   5. For food, we brought a full canister of dry formula and two bottles, although we ended up buying a bottlebrush. Fortunately she can eat enough of our food that just ordering yogurt everywhere we went (and feeding her from our plates) was plenty.
   6. The Ergo was a lifesaver on the plane. Because she sits a bit higher than my hips, she was able to sleep in it comfortably, and the hood blocked out most light. (Despite that, my upper back is likely to be sore for several days: the Ergo does squat when it comes to playing standies and peek-over-the-seat.)