The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
Getting to Nagasaki From Fukuoka to Nagasaki “Two bus tickets to Nagasaki, please. Via Hakata.” The ticketing officer at Fukuoka Airport looked at us in bewilderment. Then, he tried his best to explain in English that it was a bad idea. Upon his advice, we …
It’s hard to travel light when you have a baby, unless you are a very chill parent, or you can afford to buy most things at your destination. To add to the load, travelling during winter meant more things to pack into the luggage. This post is …
I suppose you are planning a trip with your baby and that’s why you are here. Is it going to be the first time you are travelling with an infant? Then, read about my first travel experience with 8 month old baby during winter. If you are still undeterred, read on! :) I will highlight the important things to pack for baby travel, and generally how you can dress baby for winter.
This post is based on our 9 days of winter holiday, where we had 7 full days in Japan. The temperatures were hovering from 0 to 15 degrees. You can take a look at our itinerary.
Hubby and I shared 28″ luggage, while baby EG has her own 24″ luggage.
Other than our luggage, we brought our hand carry bags – a small sling bag for hubby, a big shoulder bag for myself and a diaper bag for baby EG. On our return, we used an expandable bag to bring back goodies from Japan. An expandable bag is useful to give that extra luggage space for your shopping buys.
Other baby gear you might consider bringing are a stroller and baby carrier. Bring a lightweight stroller, preferably a travel stroller like GB Pockit. You can fold it until it’s small enough to fit into the cabin, great way to reduce bulky and heavy luggage. If your travel destination is not stroller-friendly, especially in crowded cities like Hong Kong, bring along a baby carrier! Good to alternate it with the stroller.
Find out from your airline if they limit the number of free check-in for baby gear. Some limit, some don’t. This will give you an idea of how much the extra baggage fee will be. Other baby gear include a car seat and a baby cot.
To carry on board, pack your usual diaper bag, and definitely with more diapers! Count the diapers you will need from the moment you leave your house till you reach your hotel, plus extras in case of poo-mania. Another good to have is plastic bags to store soiled diapers in case you can’t find any bin.
If you don’t usually pack in hand sanitiser, you might want to. It comes in handy when you can’t find a room with a wash basin. Use it to clean your hands before and after diaper changes. Viruses are easily passed to one another through poo.
You might also want to pack in 1-2 extra sets of romper and bib to change out stained clothes, depending on the length of your journey. Extra shirt for the mum in case of milk spills, puke, or whatever that may come.
Bring a baby jacket, fleece romper and/or a blanket for extra warmth. It can get quite cold on the plane. Snacks are something I regretted not packing in. Food to keep the babies less hungry and to distract them during crying fits. You will also need their toys, teether, pacifier and/or blankie as other means of entertainment or distraction.
Other than the carry-on diaper bag, we prepared another diaper set to pack into the luggage for convenience’s sake. Diaper set that includes non-travel size diaper cream, wet wipes, diapers, etc.
We didn’t bring as many diapers and wet wipes as needed because we could get our usual brand in Japan, and cheaper! If you can’t find your usual brand at your destination, don’t under-pack and buy a new diaper brand. You wouldn’t know how the baby’s skin is going to react to it.
Toiletries set that includes body wash, oral wipes, towels, washcloths and others needed during bath time. Then there’s also the dry toiletries set you use after bath, things like lotion and sunblock.
With so many tiny pieces to bring along to layer the baby, packing can be quite hair-pulling. You have to pack more for winter too – the thermal innerwear, woollen hat, gloves and scarves.
One useful tip I picked up online is to pack the baby’s clothes by day. Prepare small ziplock bags and pack in the baby’s clothing set by day and label them ‘Day 1’, ‘Day 2’, etc.
I didn’t strictly stick to what I had planned. Sometimes when she didn’t sweat or dirty herself, I made her re-wear certain clothes, e.g. the leggings. I would still pack in this way in future because it made sure I didn’t bring fewer pieces than needed. It’s better to overpack than underpack for a baby.
Don’t forget to pack in the pyjamas!
Milk Feed
If your baby is feeding on the bottle, remember to bring enough milk bottles. You may want to bring sterilising tablets instead of a steam steriliser. Or if you have a kitchen at your destination, use microwave steriliser bags or the boil method.
If the baby is on formula, remember to bring a small stash of milk powder. Or a smaller stash if you are going to buy more at your destination. Make sure your usual formula brand is readily available and know where’s the nearest supermarket that sells it.
If you are nursing, bring your nursing cover to latch on the go.
If you are expressing milk, make sure you bring all the necessary parts of the breast pump. Not forgetting milk storage bags, ice packs, ice boxes or cooler bags, and other storage necessities. Wrapping aluminium foil around your milk bags supposedly will help to retain the coldness too.
If you’re exclusively expressing milk, put your frozen stash of milk packs in a cooler bag or ice box. Be sure to put in enough ice packs to keep your milk cold for the whole journey, from home to accommodation. To ensure hygiene, put your icebox or bag in another bag. For storage, check that there’s a freezer in your room when booking. If not, ask the hotel or hosts if they can keep them in their restaurant’s kitchen or own premises, preferably not with raw food.
If you are feeding formula or pumping milk, check that the kettle and fridge at the accommodation are working when you arrive. You don’t want to wait until the baby is crying for milk to find people to fix them.
Solid Feed
There are fewer things to pack for an infant who hasn’t yet started on solids. Usually, that means younger than 6 months old. If your baby is already on solids, staying in an accommodation with a well-equipped kitchen means you can bring fewer items such as a knife or peeler. It’s always a boon to stay near a supermarket!
For cooking, you can bring an electric lunchbox to cook in the hotel. You might also need a knife, baby scissors or a peeler to prep your food. Good to have baby dishwashing liquid and a sponge for cleaning up.
For eating, you need food storage containers or a lunchbox to bring the cooked food out, utensils, disposable bibs (baby EG tore it easily) and baby hand wipes or sanitiser to clean the baby’s hands.
For back up, bring along snacks, baby cereal, and food pouches. This is in case you don’t have time to buy ingredients or cook the food, or if you can’t find any good ingredients to buy at the supermarket.
Again, check that the fridge is working for you to store the fresh produce buys.
Most hotels provide baby cot or playpen for baby to sleep in, albeit a small fee. Hence, you need only to bring your crib sheet. But if you are booking an Airbnb, you might have to bring your own cot/playpen. That would also mean one big baby gear to bring along and around.
Other bedding items include blankets or swaddles for night sleep, swaddle for shading stroller, or clothes pegs to pin blanket/sheets to bassinet, or a big cloth to the cot, to block out light.
Most of the time, it’s not feasible to visit the doctor when you are on holiday. So bring along baby thermometer and medicine to self medicate first, such paracetamol, zyrtec, ibuprofen, and probiotics.
Let me know if I anything I missed out! Leave your comments and questions below. Before you go, you might want to check out my other baby travel tips: travel.joogostyle.com/tag/baby-travel.
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Dajia River flows through the districts of Taichung City and at the southern river mouth lies Gao Mei Shi Di (高美湿地, Gao Mei Wetland, “Gao Mei”). There used to be many wetlands at Taiwan’s west coast but many have been replaced by new developments. We …
Following our stop at Lavender Cottage, it’s more flowers appreciation at Zhong She Tourist Flower Garden 中社观光花市 (“Flower Market” or “Flower Garden”). With the colourful array of flowers, your eyes will be in for a treat. Get your camera ready too! Our itinerary was: Rainbow Village, …
Two ladies left their jobs in Taipei and Kaohsiung to pursue their dream of owning a lavender field, a quiet place for people to relax and enjoy nature. Lavender Cottage 薰衣草森林 is where their dreams came into fruition after years of hard work.
We came to Lavender Cottage after driving through a winding road up the mountain. Our itinerary was: Rainbow Village, Carton King, Lavender Cottage, Flower Market, Gao Mei Shi Di, and Fengjia Night Market.
Lavender Cottage is situated on a remote mountain in Taichung City. Imagine the big tour buses having to swerve and turn on the narrow road where only one car can pass through each time. Sounds dangerous already. Hence it’s not surprising that the place is not accessible by public bus.
It’s best you hire a taxi or private car driver or rent a car to reach Lavender Cottage.
If you are getting there on your own, do note that the cottage closes at 6:30PM daily. It opens at 10:30AM on weekdays and 10:00AM on weekend.
And yes, you have to pay for the entrance fee again. This time it’s NT100 (S$4.70) per person and like Carton King, you get to offset this amount with purchases inside Lavender Cottage. Oh, latest update on their website: ticket price has increased to NT150, while only giving you NT100 credit to spend. NT100 is definitely not enough to spend at Lavender Cottage.
As we entered Lavender Cottage, we first passed by a souvenir shop before a climb up the steep slope. On the way up, we spotted a button on the side, pressed it and “showered” ourselves in Lavender mist.
Refreshed, we continued up to this beautiful open concept restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor spots were scattered among the greenery. It seemed like a nice environment for lunch and hence we requested for one of the spots. However, the waiter dissuaded us, citing mosquitoes and insects. Perhaps it’s harder to serve us out in “far-flung” seating area.
Our driver brought us here for lunch, so that he could get a meal ticket from Lavender Cottage. We assumed this because we saw the drivers, including ours, getting a meal with a ticket. I suppose this “free meal” was priced into the food, because the menu is quite expensive.
We ordered the cheapest main dish to share, chicken with a tinge of lavender flavoring, and a cup of coffee for hubby. The dish was simple and quite nice, and the coffee was alright, but the meal was not worth the NT295 (S$13.70). We ordered just to fill our hungry stomach.
After our lunch, we continued to trudge uphill. On the way up, you can make a detour towards Vanilla House 香草 house, accommodation you can book to stay. Start your shopping at the pushcarts found along the way or at the souvenir shop at the accommodation place.
You can find a good selection of Lavender products such as fragrance bags, handmade soap, lotion, and essential oils. However, you will soon realise the shops located in different parts of Lavender Cottage sell similar stuff. If you are not a shopaholic, you can still make that small detour to view flowers other than Lavender.
We didn’t make that detour initially but went straight up to the ‘official’ highest point of Lavender Cottage. Technically, you can still follow a trail and trek up into the forest.
Because of my pregnant bump, we decided to just hang around at the lower end of the forest. We did not have time anyway. Here, we spotted many “floating” poetic Chinese words mounted in various spots. The words actually looked good in photos. So snap away!
After basking in the nature, pop by at the nearby cafe with serene surroundings. Instagrammable place. If not for the time limit given by our driver (as mentioned in my previous post), we would have chilled there while hubby enjoy his cup of coffee.
After roaming around in the nature, it’s time to head back down to the main character of this place – the Lavender field. We were there during off peak, and even so, it’s hard to take a photo of the field without anyone to photo-bomb you. So it was with great timing I got a perfect shot.
To be honest, we were disappointed when we first passed by the Lavender field. We had imagined it to be like those in Provence. But what greeted us was a small hill planted with rows of lavenders flowers. The Lavender seemed sparsely sprouted, probably not in full bloom too. It was a pretty sight, but underwhelming.
After taking photos of the Lavender field from different angles, it’s time to head back to the car. You will pass by a house like structure with lots of postboxes lining outside.
If you want to send a sweet gesture back home, you can purchase postcards here and have Lavender Cottage post it for you. If that’s not your thing, go have fun – pay to ride on the carousel or merry-go-round strangely planted in the midst of Lavender Cottage.
I didn’t really like Lavender Cottage, perhaps because we were rushing. Otherwise, it’s a nice place to chill and relax. Or perhaps because my initial expectations were high. Someone raved about this place to me and she loves all things lavender. Personally, I prefer the Lavender and flowers in our next stop, Flower Market.
After Rainbow Village, we arrived at Carton King, the second stop of our Taichung outskirts tour. We first came across Carton King’s smaller branch at Cingjing Farm, near to the Swiss Garden. I didn’t know what it was about until hubby enlightened me. Most exhibits …
For a one day tour around the outskirts of Taichung, I’ll recommend booking a driver. Our driver is Mr Ye, 葉師榮 and if you are interested in engaging him, you can find out more in “Taichung Driver for the Outskirts“. But if you cannot find a …