I heard a song this morning that took me back to a specific time in my life. In fact, to a very specific moment. I was in my twenties (ugh, just by writing "in my twenties" solidifies the fact that I am, indeed, no longer in them) and traveling alone from London to Amsterdam. I had taken a night-time ferry to a train that had me arrive in Amsterdam at 4:00 AM. I was nursing a broken heart at the time, thinking that the man I was in love with was in love with someone else, and found this journey to be just the perfect amount of dramatic for me. And now, in my thirties, as I look back at that moment, instead of thinking what a wonderful adventure it was, all I can think is, "I would never, EVER let my daughter travel alone to Amsterdam in the middle of the night!"
So, let's talk about Earth-friendly traveling, shall we?
I've said it before that convenience is the enemy of eco-consciousness. But so is stress. When preparing for our August trip to Michigan, thinking about the two flights there, the two flights back, the car trips in between, etc. I thought my brain might implode by adding cloth diapers into that equation. Plus, the last time we flew with Phoebe she was four-months-old and 100% breast-feeding, so everything was easy peasy. How does one bring home made, organic baby food on vacation? And toys? And books? Aye-yi-yi! Well, here is how.
First of all, if you don't have an awesome mother-in-law and sister-in-law, go out and grab some. I know I am ruining every modern cliche but I absolutely love my in-laws. They did everything they could to make this trip as easy as possible on us. Regardless of how you feel about the people you are visiting, lean on them to help you get thru this. If they can provide pack-n-plays, strollers, etc, let them. If they don't have any baby accoutrement or you are vacationing alone, there are plenty of websites that rent baby equipment so you don't have to bring your or buy it new. Just put in the the town you are visiting and baby rental into a google search and it should pop up!
If you are feeding your baby homemade food this is a bit tough. My Mother-in-law bought us a little food blender intended to make one-serving smoothies and it worked perfectly! The first day of our trip we went grocery shopping, bought a bunch of organic veggies, steamed them, blended them and stored them. I have this little contraption called "Zoli" that I love. It is little food or formula bowls that all screw together that you can serve from. I'll put a link below. We brought our own multi-grain baby cereal since it is super light and travels well. Along with a few spoons and a few empty bottles we were all set!
If you are a cloth diaper family I cannot say enough good things about the diposable gDiapers for travel. You can flush the inserts or just throw them away. I hate to say it, but I think cloth diapers on the road are nearly impossible. Or just, truly the greatest, stinkiest pain. If you go the gDiaper route, bring lots of back up covers and liners.
Our trip happened to take us to a fairly remote part of the country. The one grocery store (actually called "The Mercentile") didn't have much of a selection. So we brought a few jars of organic store-bought baby food to get us thru. Also, half way thru the trip we ran out of gDiapers. I had to buy...I can't believe I am even writing this...huggies. It truly broke my heart. So if you happen to be on an adventure far from civilization and don't feel like bringing the entire nursery with you, consider having a box shipped with your supplies. Either do it yourself or order straight off of Diapers.com, Amazon or whatever your favorite baby website is. With baggage fees being what they are you probably won't spend any additional money on the shipping. Can we take a moment to discuss the scam of baggage fees? The price of gas has gone down airlines, stop making us pay because you are running your business into the ground.
And, speaking of taking advantage of the customer. Do you know when you have a baby you can bring bottled water with you on a flight? I claimed it was for "formula" even though I was breastfeeding. It was somewhat hilarious though, as the security guy pulled my two giant Smart Waters from my bag and asked, "How long IS your flight?" He actually confiscated one because he thought my water usage was "excessive." We're really out there fighting terrorism people.
Whatever choices you make to ease the burden of travel, just think twice before you make "excuses." With a little planning you don't have to be any more destructive to the planet than you are on a daily basis.
Oh, so you want to know what song I was listening to, sailing across the English Channel, heart shattered in pieces? Not a chance! I'm in my thirties now, I don't have let myself be embarrassed.
LINKS:
http://www.zo-li.com/
totally depressing environmental fact:
airports are known to be major sources of noise, water, and air pollution. They pump carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nitrogen oxides (NO x ) into the atmosphere, as well as dump toxic chemicals--used to de-ice airplanes during winter storms--into waterways
AWESOME! One more reason to have a fear of flying!
POST SCRIPT
As I write this, my husband's New Yorker calendar is open to a cartoon of a man sipping a martini on an airplane. The caption reads:
"It's not enough that I fly first class...My friends must also fly coach."
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