travel

10 Favorite Travel Gear Items for Kids

We’ve become seasoned pros at traveling with kids. I am not one to buy a lot of baby gear (less is more in my book.) But here are some kid items we’ve used when we traveled that were very helpful. Of course we always adjusted what we brought based on the trip and what phase the kids were going through. Moses could fall asleep in a hotel bed even when he was a baby so we forgot about the baby crib. But Roman needed one to fall asleep so that became a priority. Here is my list of 10 favorite travel gear for kids.

1. Toddler Headphones. My kids have free reign with the ipad on these flights. Throw in a pair or two of head phones and with luck the flight will be uneventful.

2. Car Seats Travel Cart. On trips where we will be in cars a lot we don’t bring our stroller. Instead we add this cart to the car seat so we can wheel it and check it at the gate. It turns the bulky car seat into a stroller, just for getting through the airport.

3. Kid Backpacks. It’s time they started pulling their own weight, make them carry their own goldfish crackers! Fill these with snacks, stickers and activities. The kids are ready for their adventure.

4. Cute Hats. Dress your kids cute, let them make friends while they are happy. You never know when you’ll need forgiving glances later on in the flight.

5. Disposable Bibs. These don’t take up space and you thrown them away like a napkin when the meal is over. Easy peasy.

For the whole list and sources continue reading.

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Spain, Portugal, Morocco Part 3

Here is the last of our vacation photos from our two week trip to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Today I’m sharing pictures from Sevilla, Arcos, Tarifa, and Tangier. Sevilla was magical. Orange trees everywhere and just a really pretty city in general. We loved our hotel there. We spent an extra day there doing laundry and just relaxing. After that we went to Arcos de la Frontera which was one of my favorite places ever. It is a very small town on top of a mountain. Our room had the most amazing view ever and a deck to sit on. It was gorgeous. Tarifa was next which was our crashing place for our day trip across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangier.

Click through for more details and to see our Morocco pictures.

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Spain, Portugal, Morocco Part 2

Today I wanted to share the second part of our two week trip to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco (here is the first part.) After Madrid we rented a car and drove a long 7 hour car ride to Lisbon, Portugal. I speak Portugese so I was excited to be able to use it. Lisbon is a beautiful city with lots of hills and it isn’t too big. This combined with the fact they have a look a like Golden Gate Bridge, it reminded me of San Francisco a bit. We weren’t in Lisbon too long but we did the regular tourist stops including Sao Jorge’s castle and Vasco de Gama’s tomb. We also ate lots of pasteis de nata which are little custard pies (we ate them warm sprinkled with a little cinnamon.) They were delicious. In Bairro Alto we went to an awesome store that sells the handmade shoes I’m obsessed with (address is below.) We tried to go to Sintra but just ran out of time so we’ll have to go next time. After Lisbon we drove a few hours to a teeny tiny adorable beach town called Salema that sits on the southern most tip of Portugal. Since it was the off season it was pretty desserted. It was so great to get out of a city and have a good beach day. We made a quick trip to nearby Cape Sagres where there is a lot of exploration history and where they believed the earth ended.

Click through for more photos

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Snapshots of Normandy

We took a quick trip to Normandy with our house guests this weekend. My sister offered to take my kids so we could see more (Thanks Gabby!) Their house in Normandy is the most charming place and their little blue car is unbelievably adorable. I love getting away from Paris and going to their home, it’s like heaven. After we dropped the kids off we went to Mont St. Michel, which is a giant abbey on top of an almost freestanding island. We stayed the night there which is pretty much a ghost town after dark. It was so cool to be there by ourselves and explore it. We even got up early in our pajamas to watch the sunrise. After that we went to see some of the WWII beaches and memorials. It was so sad and sobering. War is so awful. We stayed the last night at my sister’s house and got to hang out with my wonderful nieces and nephews before heading back to Paris. IT was fun to getaway with out kids even if it was for just a day or two. Have you ever been to Normandy?

Snapshots from Spain + Portugal

I’m finally back home in Paris and I got a chance to look through our trip photos. I can’t wait to share them. It was such a special trip and I feel lucky we got to go and it worked out so well. It was the kind of trip that when it was time to go home we were sad to leave. Paul usually totes the big camera so I wanted to share some of these snapshots I took from my iphone. For the itinerary we used these suggestions as a loose guide.