My husband, Colin, and I have lived abroad in Prague, road tripped through New Zealand, and country-hopped around Southeast Asia. So years before we welcomed our daughter into the world, we knew we’d want to spend part of our parental leave traveling.
In September 2025, we left for six months of travel through Europe with our then 8-month-old. We also brought our dog along!
I was so excited to be traveling with my family. Even though I knew it would be different from our pre-baby travels, I still pictured us going on day trips, filling our itinerary with sightseeing, and spontaneously staying out past bedtime.
We planned to slow travel so we could keep our routines
Colin and I knew it wouldn’t be possible for us to switch cities every few days while carrying our baby, dog, and all our luggage onto planes and trains. Instead, we decided to slow travel.
We chose four long-term bases in France and the UK and spent one to two months in each base. In between, we did a road trip through Normandy and spent a week in Spain to celebrate our daughter’s first birthday.
We booked apartment rentals so we could have our own kitchen and lots of living space. Our apartments were all in walkable city centers, so we could easily take the stroller out to buy groceries or grab dinner.
I didn’t realize how much FOMO traveling with a baby would give me
Everyone told me that traveling with a baby would mean slowing down. But I didn’t realize how different — and difficult — that would feel.
Even if we only did one thing each day, we often had to rush through that thing, take turns going inside so one person could stay with the stroller, and leave early to make it home in time for the next nap.
We had weeks in each city, but it didn’t feel like enough because we were restricted by our baby’s schedule. The idea of day trips quickly went out the window; we barely had enough time to get through a local museum, let alone take the train for two hours first.
It was stressful to feel like we were on a timer, trying to squeeze in breastfeeding, lunch, commuting, an activity, and commuting back all before our daughter’s next nap. And it was always disappointing to leave an attraction early, knowing there was so much we had skipped.
Traveling as a family also opened up new opportunities for us
As hard as it was to see all the things we couldn’t do while traveling with a baby, I tried to focus on all of the things we got to do because of our daughter.
To make the most of her wake windows between naps, we spent a lot of time in our local neighborhood. This allowed us to immerse ourselves in the community, frequenting the same shops and cafes, to the point where people recognized us.
We got to do a lot of things that local families do. We spent a ton of time at our closest library, playground, and city farm. We even enrolled our daughter in a baby swim class!
And whenever we sought out baby-specific activities, like a baby-friendly comedy show, a kids’ theater, and a baby playtime at the Natural History Museum, it was always the best experience. Our daughter absolutely lit up, and my husband and I couldn’t have been happier.
Even though our trip didn’t turn out how I had expected, I wouldn’t change a thing
We didn’t get to half of the things I had researched for us to do in Europe. And yet, I’m so happy with the trip that we had.
Traveling with our baby (and our dog!) really slowed us down and helped me appreciate a more local approach to travel. I learned how to get to know a place without ticking everything off the tourist bucket list.
Our daughter celebrated so many milestones abroad, like learning to crawl in France and taking her first steps in England. She came home as an independent, friendly, and curious toddler. And her dad and I came home with countless memories from our first family trip.
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