Let the travel planning begin!

Have baby will travel?

A throwback to traveling with friends (and baby) in Europe in 2010

When you read our blog, specifically about all the places we've travelled to, you may think to yourself, "How fun is that? LK and BK just jet around Europe on a whim, as they please." I hate to disappoint, but as fun as that sounds, it's not exactly how it works with BK and me. Spontaneity is not really our strong point. For those of you who know me well, I like a plan; I want to know what's going to happen, when it's going to happen and how it's going to happen.

All that said, we've started planning travel for this year. We do this so that BK can go ahead and take time off of work, we can look at where else we want to go during the year and make sure that happens, and so that we don't get locked out of hotels/flights/activities we want to do while traveling. 

So…we've started planning for 2014! The one huge difference this year? We'll be traveling as a party of three for the first time. My dad recently told me that my organized world was about to be in for a big change. I know this is true, but hopefully we'll figure out how to manage. I refuse to miss out on travel while living in Europe just because we've had Baby K.

Here's what we have planned so far:

• Day trips to other regions of Switzerland
• Lake Como/Lugano (Italian part of Switzerland)
• Prague, Czech Republic
• British Open (UK) and Ireland
• Two trips back to the US

And here's the other stuff we want to do:

• Istanbul, Turkey
• French wine country
• Exploring more of Germany
• See some World War II landmarks
• Budapest, Hungary 
• Morocco
• Spain (not sure which part)
• Lisbon and other parts of Portugal

Our first day trip is planned for when Baby K will be around six weeks old. I figured we would start with a day trip by train, then a long weekend by train, then try a long weekend via a short flight; hopefully we'll be good at this by the time we hit that long-haul flight back to the US.

I'll admit, I've started reading and researching blogs that talk about traveling abroad with a baby, although I've been told they are easiest to travel with when they are really young and not yet mobile. I quickly found that I was annoyed by the ones written by your typical American sources, as all they talk about is how hard it is going to be and that you have to take everything you own with you to be successful. 

I've found I really enjoy the ones written by other expats or Europeans who act like it's not that big of a deal, and no, they are not going to give up travel either. I'm hoping because so much of our day here will be spent being transported around to various places, similar to how we'll move around on vacation, that it won't be that big of a shock to her system. I honestly think going to the US will be the biggest change and challenge because it's will be such a change from our usual routine.

BK and I are headed to Zermatt, Switzerland this weekend with some friends for our last trip as a party of two. We'll live it up…as much as you can at 7.5 months pregnant!