Nia Peters

I was 34 and I was traveling with my mother and two small children ages 4 and 1. Needless to say, I was nervous. I’ve traveled internationally growing up, beginning when I was five years old. When I was younger, all the responsibility of trip planning and keeping us safe fell on my parents. Now the tables were turned. I was responsible for taking my two young children on their 1st international trip. Challenge accepted!

My 1st piece of advice: embrace fear, anxiety, and nerves. It’s natural. Just don’t give into it. Travel with the kiddos despite all that! You won’t regret it.

Our 1st international trip was to France, Monoco (the 2nd smallest country in the world), and Italy. Oh yes and we did this 3-country trip in one day. We went to celebrate my youngest daughter Elle’s 1st birthday. The budget for this trip was comparable to the 1st birthday celebration we threw for my 1st daughter’s birthday party (for those of you wondering about cost).

5 Top Highlights of the Trip

1. The Flight

This was the part of the journey that I feared the most. I empathize with parents whose children cry on planes. On the other hand, I didn’t ever want to be that parent. I honestly have this weird distaste for bothering/inconveniencing people (well I did then). I hoped and prayed for a peaceful flight with no or minimal tantrums and crying.

My oldest daughter, Sydney (4 at the time) was an amazing traveler. We took her on her 1st plane ride at 2 weeks old. We took her on a lot of national trips. I don’t think I can remember her crying once on a plane. I was always so proud when people would mention how well-behaved she was. Note, I am writing this post 3 years later and I cringe at how emotionally dependent I was on others’ opinions of me and my children. No más!

Anyway…

I just knew I was killing this mother and traveling with her children thing. Wrong! My youngest Elle (1 at the time) came along and gave me a run for my money. We took her on her 1st flight at 3 months and she was my crier. I would breastfeed her and that would calm her down, but she was a piece of work.

This trip was different. She was 1 y/o and I was no longer breastfeeding. We had a few tantrums and fussiness on the flights to France, and she cried the entire flight during the last leg of the flight home (1 hour from Chicago to Dayton). Also, it probably wasn’t the fussiness as much as the neediness that annoyed me. I could give Syndey a tablet, movie, or coloring activity and I could sleep on most of the flight. Elle always wanted something so I spent a lot of time entertaining and feeding her.

Well, it happened. My worst nightmare of the fussy kid on the plane was realized and you know what…

…being on the other side, it wasn’t as scary as I imagined. I had so much support from my Mom, the flight attendants, and even other passengers that there was some relief and few breaks. Plus I kind of miss showering her with so much attention. She completely ignores me on flights now.

2. A Rough Start – Saved by a 4 yr/old

On our way from the airport to our AirBNB I was chatting with the taxi driver. My 4 y/o kept saying, “what is your name? what is your name?” (asking the taxi driver). Finally I turned to her and told her to say “Comment t’applle tu” because we were in a place where they spoke French and that’s how you ask somebody their name. So she did and the taxi driver replied with this name.

Fast forward, my mother left her phone in that taxi. She noticed it when we arrived to the AirBNB. Without her phone she couldn’t contact the AirBNB host (and I didn’t have this information in phone or email either). We agreed we should get into the AirBNB and worry about her phone after. I suggested we find a cafe with internet and she could use my phone/computer to contact the host. No luck there since none of the restaurants/cafes nearby had WiFi.

Next I suggested we take a taxi back to airport to get access to the WiFi and contact the host from there.

So we found a taxi and headed back to the airport. On our way there I was venting to the taxi driver(in French) about our misfortunes with the phone and AirBNB. He started asking questions about what the taxi looked like. My. mother described the outside. When we arrived to the airport, instead of taking us to the arrivals, he took us to where all the taxis were waiting. He knew what the outside looked like, but there were several silver taxis. Finally he said, “you wouldn’t happen to know the name of your taxi driver?” Then we remembered my 4 year old asked his name and we recounted it. We told him the name started a inquiring about this guy. He was found, and the phone was returned.

Saved by a inquisitive 4 year old!

3. Trip to Monaco

The best part was the gelato! Otherwise we just wanted to add another country to our count. Plus Monaco is the 2nd smallest country in the world. The only one smaller is the Vatican.

4. Trip to Sanremo, Italy, and Pizza!

My daughter’s face captures everything about how amazing this pizza was! That’s it…Italy…pizza!

5. Trip to Cannes, France

Beautiful beaches and spending time with my favorite ladies!