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Say Goodbye to
Traveling Light
I recently saw a picture of an African
villager in the newspaper with her infant strapped to her
back with what appeared to be a piece of padded rope. Oh,
how I envy the simplicity of the arrangement.
I was planning to tag along with my
husband on a simple business trip but with the level of
planning and the amount of stuff we “needed” to bring
along, we might as well have been going on bivouac in the
rain forest, not stay at the Hilton. How is it possible
for one baby to require so much equipment? We were only
going to be away for five days and we ended up taking more
luggage with us than my husband and I took on a 17 day
European vacation last spring.
Aside from the two modest sized bags
which held our own clothes and toiletries, there was also
a bag for the baby. An entire suitcase filled with tiny
clothes – outfits and pajamas for five days as well as
backup outfits for those baby accidents that inevitably
occur (especially when you aren’t prepared for them). Also
included in that bag were cloth diapers for mom’s
shoulder, extra receiving blankets, baby toiletries and
just-in-case-we-needed-them medicines. Oh yes, and a bag
of diapers. <continued below>
We brought along her infant seat as
well. She can’t yet sit up and although her car seat can
be used inside, she often seems to get overheated when
sitting in it. And sometimes, when one of those ugly baby
mood strikes her and nothing else will soothe her, sitting
in her seat does. It seemed a sensible move to bring it,
for that reason alone.
I brought her stroller along too and
threw in the baby sling for good measure. Who knew when we
might run into some terrain too rough for a stroller to
navigate.
And of course we brought toys. I was
fairly restrained in this area but how could I even
contemplate leaving home without her favorite squeaky and
rattle toys? Thus armed for any eventuality, I was ready
to leave the security of home for the uncertain world
beyond.
I think that this was the first time
that we ever have had the entire luggage trolley at a
hotel to ourselves. In fact, I think this was the first
time we ever even used the luggage trolley.
I am happy to report that like a
talisman, the extra outfits seemed to ward off the worst
of the baby explosions we often suffer at home. I didn’t
have enough clothes myself, but that’s another story. As
baby was seized with a sudden bout of teething and gas as
soon as we left home, both the baby acetaminophen and her
infant chair were immeasurably useful. The stroller did
not get a lot of use, the sling none at all.
All I can say is at least I was
prepared. African villagers aside, I’ve come to realize
that traveling light and traveling with a baby are two
mutually exclusive concepts…

Jennifer Ismail is a stay at home mom to her daughter
Sarah and infant son Benjamin. She enjoys writing
lighthearted essays from her personal experiences. Her
work has appeared in the newspaper as well as on
20ishparents.com
and
babyuniversity.com.
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