When I was pregnant with my daughter a good friend told me to try to travel as much as we could when she was still a young baby. At the time of midnight feedings and a new baby we were just learning about, this sounded so overwhelming and staying at home seemed like the much easier option. Her reasoning for this was not only for the baby to become comfortable traveling while still young enough to adapt to it, but also because children under age two can fly on your lap (not as safe as purchasing their own seat with a car seat) for free. Once turning two they need their own purchased seat and are no longer a “lap riding infant”.

Since she was a newborn our family has been many amazing places and travel has become a very normal part of our lives with her.  She is now approaching two and we just bought her first airline ticket with her own seat. It’s more expensive now and she will still probably prefer to lay on us but the extra room for snacks and in flight entertainment will be a nice change.