Got a young traveller?

Actually, I stopped travelling for almost 2 years since I was pregnant with Nisa until she was nearly a year old, and the 1st place we went was Bukit Tinggi, At that time, Nisa could already walk and eat normal food instead of baby food, and she was fully breastfed so travellingis not hassle for us. But while pregnant with Idlan, my hubby moved to work in KL so we take turn each month to see each other.

The 1st time I went there, I was in 1st trimester and not advisable to take flight, so we booked Aeroline Bus from Penang to Sunway Pyramid...

You can choose between double seats or single seat, but since I was travelling with Nisa, I took double seats. All seats are in the 2nd level as the 1st level is the lobby with toilet, but we never get to try the lobby as tourists already 'berkampung' there. The seats are pretty comfy as they are very big and adjustable. The bus also provided meals but both of us didn;t take any bite, no appetite...

Travelling with a 2 year old toddler is no joke! I was very worried if Nisa gets bored and started fussing so I made lots of preps. Since she loves jigsaw puzzles, I bought a new one and hide it from her. I also bought a coloring book with new set of color pencils and a few of her fav books with 1 new one. Althought we are going to spend 3D2N there, I didn't bring 2 sets of day clothes and 1 set of pyjama. Nisa was not on diaper during the day but we still put her on diaper at night, but I didn't bring any. And since Nisa is VERY picky about public toilet, I put her on diaper that day just in case, though she wasn't very happy. I bought a packet of anymal shape biscuits, a bottle of water, a bottle of her milk. So in summary, I travelled with one very small backpack but I still brought along my travelling luggage bag which was empty, coz I wanted to shop a lot in KL *grin* Just my luck, Nisa slept the whole way on the bus, saving me from having to entertain her, but as we are approaching Sunway Pyramid, the road was badly congested so Nisa finally woke up. She started to get so excited and bored within 5 minutes, and all my preps - the puzzle, books and others lasted only half an hour before she started to make fuss, but luckily the bus arrived at it's destination in the next minutes! My hubby bought all the diapers and new pack of milk, saving me from heavy luggage.

My next travels to KL after that was by flight, but I would highly recommend using MAS rather than Airasia if you are traveling with small kids. Yes, the tickets may be a bit pricey, but my few times experience with Airasia was, even though Nisa's ticket clearly stated she's a small kid, the check-in person keep putting us at the seat by the emergency door, and we ended up having to wait for anyone who is willing to change since kids can't be seated at the emergency door *Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr* 1-2 mistake is acceptable but every time I went they keep making the same thing so I like MAS better, and they entertain kids too!

When Idlan was about 6 months old, we travelled to KL by car. This time, since Idlan is not fully breastfeed and he can already eat solids, we have to do a lot of preps. For his formula milk, I still bring the whole container, but I packed a few times meal in this as I'm a fan of this type of container:

It's easier to prepare for his milk rather than having to measure how many spoonsfuls...it's a long journey, more than 4 hours at least, and with a toddler and a baby, it feels like days :P We do bring a little flusk of hot water, apart from a bottle of drinking water. We stopped for lunch and Idlan's food which is his cereals are packed in these:

You can easily get this in any Toys 'r' Us stores and I just LOVE these! It's so easy and convenient! I just put in a few spoonfuls of cereals according to how much Idlan is taking in each meal, into the containers. There are 6 bowls with lids so I put in 3 bowls with one extra empty one, just in case. When we stopped at any R&R, we just request for hot water to mix in the cereals and WALLA! Idlan's ready to be served! *Grin*

Yes, some moms like to prepare home cooked food for their babies even during travelling, but after Idlan's incident of Rotavirus, I avoided this and take precaution by feeding him commercial food instead. It's only for a few days anyway, and much safer than the risk of being contaminated.

For Nisa, I bought a packet of alphabet shapes biscuits and she can also eat with us at the R&R.Our main challenge is making both kids enjoy the journey. For Nisa is simple, we just bring along a few of her fav cd/dvd and she can watch them all the way on the portable player. I also downloaded some Barney songs and other cartoon's songs, and also bring along Nisa's fav cd for songs. Idlan was the biggest challenge, and apart from some toys, we still has to stop a few times to let him out to distract him.

As usual, I don't bring much clothes as we'll buy them there, together with Idlan's diaper (though we still bring about 6 pieces from home to be used on the way. Apart from that, I will always bring the head cooler packs (for fever), insect bites cream, ointments, Panadol Actifast (this is for mama & papa), hand sanitizer and thermometer. Of coz, not to forget some toys and books too to keep them busy.

Nisa usually doesn't like to eat much during travels, but she needs her energy so taking a tip from a friend from India, who is a cameraman for Hindi movies and travels around the world with the family for his work (you know how Hindi movies always change loocations in one song, it can be in London in 5 seconds and India another 5 seconds and in Alaska perhaps next? Well, apart from them changing their clothes *grin*). He got 2 toddlers too and while travelling with us around Malaysia trying to find a nice scenery for a scene, he keeps reminding us to stop at either KFC or McDonalds. Why? He feeds them with the fries/wedges or whipped potatoes! Yes, if you want to think of the sodium and fat intake, of coz it's not healthy but he said the energy is much more important. They only it healthy food at home so travelling is also a treat for them to eat something that is forbidden back at home *grin* So, that's what we did also with Nisa, since it's kind of true too, she rarely gets to eat these food unless travelling, and we travels like once in a month only. Apart from that, she loves Italian foods especially tomato-based spagetti so if we already settled down in our hotel, we'll order or find spagetti restaurant around.

I think that's all I can remember what I did when travelling with my kids. I admit I'm not an expert, but just sharing :)