When our first daughter was born last April, we spotted a rare window in our lives where we could travel extensively and get our baby a few passport stamps before she turned 1.
My wife had a year of maternity leave, and I was about to leave my full-time job to start a company that would allow me to work from anywhere (at least during the setup phase).
So, we set out with the very loose, rather ambitious goal of visiting 10 countries with our daughter before her first birthday.
As soon as we’d registered her birth and taken a semi-adequate photo of her, we applied for an infant passport. She was about 14 days old at this point.
We waited until she was a month old, and then our journey began.
Our travels got off to a great start, especially when we stuck to short flights
Sam Shead
We started off easy by booking a single night at an inn in the English countryside just over an hour’s drive from our house. Before traveling further, we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could stay in a hotel with an infant and live to tell the tale.
With the exception of a little spit up on an expensive velvet green sofa, the stay was a success. We even managed to squeeze in a tasty al-fresco lunch while the baby slept in her pram, and a much-needed massage for my wife just before we checked out.
The next big challenge was trying to fly with a baby — something we were rather anxious about.
When she was 2 months old, we boarded a roughly two-hour flight from London to Pisa, Italy. It was surprisingly easy, as she slept pretty much the whole way. My wife fed her during takeoff and landing to help our daughter’s ears adjust to the pressure.
After realizing relatively short flights were a sweet spot, we booked a trip from London to the Isle of Man to introduce our little one to some of our friends and family. The hourlong flight was a breeze, and we stayed with my mum after we landed.
In October, we traveled to the island of Mallorca in Spain’s Balearic Islands. Again, the short flight — just under three hours — wasn’t bad.
For all of these flights, we also saved money by needing only two plane tickets instead of three, since our baby could sit on one of our laps. Packing a few essentials also really helped us make these trips smoother.
A blackout bassinet cover, for example, allowed our little one to sleep in complete darkness in her pram on the brightest of days, while a portable sound machine blocked out the background noise.
On our longest trip yet, our luck seemed to run out
Sam Shead
After a few successful holidays around Europe, we decided to embark on a big trip to Australia, which is on the other side of the world from our home in the UK. The trip spanned five weeks and took place when our daughter was about 8 months old.
The first leg of the journey from London to Singapore — a 13-hour overnight flight — was an absolute nightmare. We’d booked business-class seats with our air miles in the hope we’d be able to get some sleep.
But when we boarded the plane, the bassinet the airline provided for our daughter was more like a car seat than a cot or crib, and we couldn’t put a blackout cover on it for safety reasons.
We instantly knew she wasn’t going to sleep well, and we were right. It was a grim flight, and we were all very ready to rush off the plane when we arrived in Singapore. Except, we couldn’t.
A huge rainstorm descended on Singapore’s famous Changi Airport just as we prepared to land, and plans changed.
Roslan RAHMAN / AFP via Getty Images
We circled once or twice, and then the pilot told us he was diverting the plane to Kuala Lumpur. The weather in the area meant a bumpy ride, so the seatbelt signs were on, and our daughter was on my wife’s lap.
We sat on the tarmac at Kuala Lumpur for an hour or so, waited for the weather to pass, and then returned to Singapore.
The 13-hour flight turned out to be more like 17 hours long — and there may have been a nappy malfunction at some point, but I’ll spare you the details.
Thankfully, the rest of the trip was much smoother.
In Singapore, we went to a Jurassic Park exhibition at the iconic Cloud Forest, wandered around the famous Raffles hotel, took a river cruise, and visited the vast Aquarium on Sentosa Island.
In Australia, we visited Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. We loved seeing our daughter get to know the local wildlife and play with our friends and family.
Our flight home was via Doha with Qatar Airways. We used air miles, meaning we could afford to fly business on the 14-hour leg from Melbourne to Doha.
It was much smoother than the other long flights we’ve taken. And by the time we got home, we were ready to keep traveling.
We ended her first year of life with 8 countries
Sam Shead
We were on track to hit 11 countries by the time our daughter turned 1 until global conflicts led us to cancel one of our longer trips. So although we didn’t technically hit our target of 10 countries, we were close.
Traveling so extensively is challenging for an infant, but we’re hoping she’ll thank us for all the passport stamps one day — she’s got far more than other babies we know.
We’re keen for her to grow up meeting people from as many different ethnicities, cultures, and countries as possible. And although she won’t remember any of these trips, we certainly will.
These travels were hard at times, and some parts of them were pure chaos, but we’d do it all again. Perhaps we’ll be able to see 20 countries with her by the time she’s 2.
I expect we’ll do less long-haul travel between the ages of 1 and 3, though, since our daughter is running around a lot more. It’s hard to imagine trying to contain her for any longer than a couple of hours.
That said, we already plan to fly to St. Lucia in economy in January and to travel to Australia for a wedding in 2028. So if anyone has any tips on getting through flights with toddlers, I’m all ears.
