Road trips… ah yes… what once was the ultimate freeing feeling: put the windows down, blast the music and see how long you can drive before absolutely needing a rest stop.
Wait, with a toddler?
“Mommy up up” pointing at the windows crying as we’re listening to “baby shark” for the 17th time hoping it keeps her from getting car sick as we sing along.
Oh how the times have changed.
Here are some tips & tricks on road tripping with a toddler!
Living in Germany as an expat can sometimes feel.. lonely… and then spending a year out of work on maternity leave can feel even more alienating. Don’t get me wrong - I am grateful for my year of maternity leave. But - I loved my job, I loved working with my team, I loved working out at Crossfit every morning. And all of that came to a halt, and I was home alone every day with my (adorable) little baby girl.
Between Andrew and I, I am the more ‘social-needy’ one in the relationship. I love being around people, making new friends & working on projects in a group. So I was honestly worried that I would be jealous and spiteful when Andrew would come home from work telling me about his day.
So here are some of the ways I navigated through those fears, and made some of the most amazing memories (and friends) on that year off.
With our combined parental leave we decided to do a 23 day road trip through Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia & Austria.
Yes, a 23 day road trip with a 3 month old.
You have no idea how many times people told us “you are so BRAVE for traveling with an infant!”, and I am here to tell you… this was the BEST time to travel with a baby!
Obviously traveling with a baby will never be as easy as traveling before having one, but that should never stop you from continuing to travel and experiencing the world!
Here are some pros & cons to road tripping through Europe with a baby!
Some of our favorites from a little DIY photoshoot I attempted when Charlotte was 5 days old.
While we were home from Germany over the holidays we surprised our family on Christmas morning with our baby announcement. Here is a little compilation video of their reactions! We also did a ‘gender reveal’ party on New Years Eve… which in the end.. was wrong! (The cake said boy, but we found out later we are having a GIRL!)
We have some news - we are pregnant!! Since we've announced the news, I've gotten quite a few questions about the differences of having a baby in Germany vs the US. As this is our first pregnancy, I don't have much to compare it to, but I've done my best to answer some of the questions!
During quarantine it was impossible to turn work ‘off’. We weren’t ‘working from home’ we were ‘living at work’. Calls/whats app texts/emails/messages at all hours of the day. That is when we decided : we need to take a break. Turn work off and spend quality time together.
2.5 weeks spend on a road trip driving down to the South of France. Here the our itinerary from our travels.