Travelling tots tips

From our experience, when travelling to Europe, there is a whole different approach to baby shopping!  General baby supplies are mostly available at larger grocery stores but these are not always easily found in the centre of major cities.  Pharmacies (apotheke) do not as a rule sell nappies etc – they sell medicines and drugs only. Conversely, ‘drug stores’, such as Rossmores and DM, do generally stock some baby supplies, but not medicines or drugs!  One DM store that we went into was next door to our hotel in Berlin.  Being a drug store, it stocked mostly toiletries, perfumes, cosmetics, vitamins etc.  It did have a small baby section with a limited selection of nappies, but what impressed us was right in the middle of the baby section was a change table and complimentary nappies and wipes!

The range of nappies was quite surprising.  Clearly Australia has a huge market for disposable nappies.  Every store we tried overseas only stocked two brands of nappies (usually some sort of generic one, as well as another more recognisable brand, usually Pampers).  The size range was mostly limited to two, new born and other. The sizes covered a huge weight range, unlike Australia where there is different size for every milestone; crawlers, toddlers, walkers, juniors, teenagers, middle age, geriatric.  You will also quickly notice that they are gender neutral, not like the ever stereotyped pink and blue boxes we get at home!  I have to say though, the three different types we tried were nowhere near as good as our ever-popular Huggies!  

Back to that burning issue of where to sit on the plane...from our recent experiences we have had a change of tune. Despite the short one being too big for the bassinettes on the planes, these bulkhead seats afford you much more legroom and I think, are a better option.  

The armrests do not lift so you can’t stretch out much, but the reality is you can’t anyway if your flight is full.  Standard seats (non-bulkhead) give you absolutely no legroom and the added benefit of moveable armrests gives you no relief in this regard, unless of course your legs sprout from your armpits.  When the seat in front is reclined you literally are pinned in with nowhere to move.  During the two flight sectors that we were in standard seats, the short one found it very difficult to get comfortable (and as a result so did we!)  The challenge here is she is just under the 2 year old age cut off where babies can still sit on your lap to fly, but she is too big for the bassinette and too big to comfortably nurse.

Short one decorating daddy in-flight

Still, we take comfort in the knowledge that the next time we fly (in 6 months time), she will have to have her own seat.  No option!

Next time we fly?

What?

Have you completely lost your mind?