Travel has become a lot easier with Nubby as she has grown older, with one exception -- car travel is really difficult now. She gets bored just sitting in her car seat, even though we now have her facing forward. In fact, I would have preferred to keep her rear-facing for a little longer, but we went to California to visit family recently and had a car seat delivered to the grandparents' home. When they picked us up at the airport, the car seat was already installed forward facing ... once Nubby tasted the freedom of the open roads, there was no going back. She was hooked and I don't blame her. I suppose after staring at the back of a car and sometimes at your own reflection in a mirror for 2 entire years ... I would feel cheated, too, if I suddenly realized there was a whole world of trucks, cars, motorcycles and buses whizzing by.
What I've realized is that traveling with a toddler can still be enjoyable if you shift your paradigm. Travel with kids is nothing like solo travel or travel when you were a carefree couple and could power through a 6 hour drive with nary a pee break or a stop for gas. Take your cues from your child, you will know their limits. For Nubby, a stop every 2-3 hours on a car trip is necessary to let her stretch her legs, change her diaper and scream and yell a little bit. When she was younger, these stops were necessary so she could nurse and look around. But we've also been surprised (pleasantly) when we look up at the 2 or 3 hour mark and she's happily playing with a toy we've surprised her with, or she's singing a song or pointing out all the green cars on the highway (you'd be surprised how many there are. I was ...)
When we can, we try to plan stops that can combine a few objectives ... fill up on gas, grab a bite to eat, find something fun for Nubby to do. On our way to Burlington, VT recently, we stopped at the Farmer's Diner in White River Junction, VT. The diner was kid friendly (the waitress was out of high chairs when we arrived, but checked in with us several times within 10 minutes to make sure we were okay, and as soon as a high chair was available, she brought it over to our table), The complex where the diner is located, the Quechee Gorge Village has a train that runs on a track and goes all over the village, an ice cream store, several local crafts shops, a toy museum ... I could go on and on ... easily a place to spend a lunch an an hour or two.
If we were better planners we probably would have figured out the need to leave a little earlier than we did so that we could get to lunch in time to hit the sweet spot in Nubby's nap window. Unfortunately for Nubby, she has parents who are well intentioned but don't always deliver. So we left a little late and stretched out her nap to about an hour after it was reasonable. No matter, she was a gem for most of the trip. For the less organized among us, this is where technology comes in handy. We were well on the road before we started thinking about our first stop. About an hour before lunch, we started talking about where to stop for lunch. Isn't there some placed called farm dine or farmer's diner or something like that? I wonder where it is? Look it up on your iPhone. Oh look, Quechee, VT. That's only an hour from here. Should we push her nap, yeah let's give it a shot. Literally this is how the conversation went. So all is not lost, ye poor planners. Just make sure you use all the tools at your disposal and it's better to be lucky than good.
