We’re heading to Europe for a whole MONTH! This is by far the longest we’ve ever been away from home with Weldon. I’ve been thinking about our packing situation for months and finally have it all ironed out. We’re hopping around to a few different cities while abroad, so we’re keeping our bags as lean as possible. Easier said than done when packing for a three year old. Here’s what we’re bringing!
Checked Luggage
For our main bags, we’re checking two Large Away bags (full review of the bags here!). Michael and I are both big fans of Away luggage. We’ve had our bags for over five years, and they’ve held up great. The Large Away bag fits a ton!
Gate Checked Luggage
We always travel with our UppaBaby MINU stroller. It folds down with the push of a button. We have the MINU specific bag that we use to gate check the stroller. One caveat is that you have to remove the two back wheels of the stroller for it to fit properly in the bag. Michael usually takes on this task while I handle Weldon. The stroller fits in the overhead bin, but we always choose to gate check it so we don’t have to deal with bringing it on the plane.
Carry On Luggage
For this trip, we each have our own backpack. I packed Michael’s NorthFace backpack, my Herschel backpack, and Weldon’s adorable TRVL Backpack (I had it monogramed too). Michael’s backpack served as the snack bag for our travel day, and I used mine as the entertainment backpack. I kept all of Weldon’s usual items in his diaper bag. In addition to the three backpacks, I brought my Uniqlo sling bag to carry all of the items that I needed easy access to during our travel day like my wallet, passports, and boarding passes.
One new item for this trip that we’re also carrying on, Weldon’s travel carseat. I invested in the WAYB Pico carseat and its corresponding travel bag for this trip (and for all future travels too). It’s SO incredibly light weight and compact. We used to travel with a large carseat and carseat bag, and wow, this carseat is a game changer! There are height and weight minimums as the seat only faces forward so be sure to check those if you’re looking into purchasing. We’ll be carrying this bag on and storing it in the overhead bin.
All together we checked two bags, gate checked one item, and carried on four items (five if you count my Uniqlo bag) total. While it seems like a lot, it was pretty manageable for Michael and I to make our way through the airport with all of our gear. I hope this post was helpful! If you’re considering traveling with your kids, my advice is to just do it! Are there challenges along the way? Do you have to plan and pack farther in advance than usual? Are there bound to be hiccups? Yes, yes, and yes! But it’s all doable and totally worth it! I highly recommend traveling with your toddler!
