When I last posted, we were just getting started traveling as a new family of 4. After a lot of bureaucratic delays, our little guy finally had his passport, and we were anxious to get moving. We tried a quick and easy beach trip to Mallorca, where we never even left the resort, as well as a few short day trips near London to get the hang of getting moving again. For our next trip, we wanted something a little more ambitious but less intimidating than a whole sightseeing tour- so we decided to take a long weekend to visit family in Vienna. The goal was to do just a bit of sightseeing and see if it worked, while knowing that we had family to rely on to get us around and even lend us critical baby gear. So - we found dates that worked for everyone and excitedly booked a long weekend to Vienna in July.
Day One: Travel
To get to the airport from our house, you have to take either a bus or a cab to the train station, and then a train to the airport. To avoid bringing a car seat for the baby, we had to avoid putting him in a cab - so it meant he needed to take the bus. But we didn't want to have all of us and the luggage walk to the bus stop (a good 15 minute walk), so we split up. I had the baby in the carrier on me, while Spouso and our big kid took the luggage in an Uber, and we all met up at the train station. Once at the airport, things worked out reasonably well and the baby fell asleep just as we were going through security, and stayed asleep through most of the flight. Awesome.
sleeping babies are the best!
Once we arrived, my brother met us at the airport to help navigate the train into the city and pick up baby gear from their house. Everything was going pretty smoothly until we reached our AirBnb, when I discovered that my phone with the check-in info was completely dead. So we stood in the dark waiting for my phone battery to charge enough to figure out what the door code was and finally went in - all around midnight - with 2 exhausted children.
Day Two: Sightseeing!
So the whole plan had been that we would arrive on a Thursday night so that we had Friday to try to do some exploring on our own, knowing they would all be at work. After a lovely Viennese breakfast, we walked to the Belvedere Art Museum. It turned out to be a further walk than we expected and it was already hot in the July heat. The stroller was helpful for switching between the two boys: either the little guy could ride while big kid walked and I got a break, or I put the little guy in the carrier (not pleasant in the heat), and let the big kid have a rest.
excited to have a sitting break
We finally got there and were really blown away by the Gustav Klimpts. Even though I had a huge poster of The Kiss in my freshman dorm - I was shocked to see it in person. It's so different because of all the metallic paint he used which really bounces light around. (Note: 'The Woman in Gold' is not in the Belvedere as was made very clear in the movie about it - though she is all over the museum pamphlets and posters).
museum maps are so much fun
beautiful museum-- but getting hot.
so shiny!! (not me- the art!!)
yup- getting too hot and tired to care
After quickly moving through the rest of the museum, which was not air conditioned, we ran to the nearest beer garden for some cooling off with lots of beers and Viennese food which is mostly meat, but very tasty!
yes.
Then, our last stop was at the Music Museum. Vienna, the City of Music, has had many very famous composers and musicians, so the Music Museum seemed like an obvious choice. There were a few features meant for kids -like the stairs that play notes as you walk up - but a lot was over our big kid's head. Plus, again, lack of air conditioning is killer - so we zipped through it and ran back to our AirBnb where everyone fell asleep.
piano stairs
After a short nap, we met up with my brother and his family for a lovely dinner on the river. Vienna has a long beach along the Danube, complete with burger joints and beer huts, and these awesome trampolines that float on the water - so the kids were thrilled to bounce while we enjoyed the breeze. After we got everyone back to their place and tried to put the kids to sleep, my brother and I ran down to one of the barges that float on the river for a quick glass of wine (amazing backdrop!).
relaxing by the water
bouncing kiddos
Day Three: Catching up with Family & Exploring Vienna
Saturday was to be our only full day with our hosts - so we tried to pack in as much as possible. Not only did we want to just catch up with them, but we wanted to tour the city and at least walk by a few of the sites. So after a slow brunch waiting for the little guy to finish his morning nap, we all set off for a short walking tour of the downtown. It was only supposed to be a short detour, but I think we ended up walking in the heat of the afternoon for several hours. Again - it was just hot - so the kids all started melting down. At one point both of the big kids were fighting over the stroller while I melted with the baby strapped to me. At several other points the baby just flipped out from the heat. We kept forgetting that he couldn't just take a drink of water and had no real way to cool down- so I had to stop to breastfeed in the middle of busy parks (not my favorite!!).
touring around the old city
lovely buildings
starting to melt...
park break!
so pretty
getting hotter
spotting people in traditional clothes
just melting - hiding in the shade
Eventually, we made our way to a part of the river where you can swim and relax on the beach - just in time for the baby to have another nap while the big kids splashed around.
splashing with his cousin
really not sure what this is a picture of. I think I told him to stand in the sun to dry off.
baby crash
Then, (slowly) we got everyone back to their house for a late dinner. At this point, our big kid was fully melting down after too much heat and not enough sleep - so we returned to our AirBnB to crash for the night.
Day Four: Time to Go Home
For our last day, we had enough time for a leisurely brunch before we needed to get to the airport. Unfortunately, it was just a bit too leisurely, and we suddenly realized we were really really late. We literally ran through the city and subway to get to the train to the airport. My sister-in-law grabbed my bag while I carried the baby as we ran. We jumped on the train as the doors were closing - doing a quick check to see if we had both the kids - as we all slowly realized she still had my bag. We tried to pry the train door open to no avail, as we slowly pulled away - realizing that the bag not only had my keys and wallet, but the passports and boarding passes too. There would be no way to get on our flight without it. So over text she agreed to catch the next train (not for like a half hour) and meet us at the airport. We were thankfully able to check our big bag and get back to meet her just in time to grab my bag and run to the gate. A super stressful goodbye after a very lovely weekend.
feeling sheepish on the train
time to go home
A Few Lessons Learned:
- It is really helpful to not have to carry a crib when traveling. Pack N Play portable cribs are portable only in-as-much-as they can collapse, but they are still heavy and bulky and not easy to carry. So, borrowing theirs was a lifesaver!
- Similarly - borrowing their stroller was really helpful. Even though the baby was still small enough to go in a carrier - he got heavy and super hot - so having an option to put him down was nice - as was it nice to give our big kid the ability to rest every now and then. Our stroller at home was for infants only - and was also huge and not really collapsible- so having one stroller that could work for both of them was very helpful. As soon as we got home we got rid of the massive infant one and pulled out our much smaller, collapsible City Mini instead.
- Make sure your phone never dies and that both travelers have the necessary logistics information like hotel check-in details and copies of boarding passes!
- Summer is hot. I forget this now because London doesn't really get very hot in the summer, but it's important to remember. No one wants to sightsee when they're melting. Avoiding travel during the peak summer months would have been a better idea.
- Diaper bags are important. I was trying to use a big tote bag to carry everything, and at some point lost the train return tickets into it. I felt awful having to buy more tickets (even though it was only a few euros), so as soon as I got home I bought the diaper bag i'd been ogling for years. It has 6 pockets - and then I also got smaller pouches to hold different smaller items. It is critical to be organized when you carry as much stuff as I do.
- Most important-- protect the sleep schedules at all costs! I always seem to forget this rule and then relearn it every time. At this point, the baby was about 7 months old and still liked to have 2 2-3 hour naps per day. Because we didn't want to be stuck inside waiting on him to nap, we tried to make him nap on the go in the carrier - something he doesn't really like to do. This meant that he was exhausted and cranky. Similarly, because we were out and about - we were getting back home much later than usual for us, so our big kid's bedtime was pushed back several hours. Instead of that meaning that we got to have more fun - it meant that he was a mess and falling apart - which is no fun for anyone. So - protect those sleep schedules!
Conclusion- traveling with family is good!
This was not only our first time really traveling as a family of 4 - but definitely our first time trying to travel with our extended family. One huge mistake we made was not leaving enough time to see them - I wish we'd added another day so that we could've had more time with them and not felt like we had to squeeze everything into that one day. I think the other really important lesson we learned was how hard it is to manage three kids on different schedules. Not only did we have a baby who needed 2 naps and lots of snacks throughout the day, but our big kid had a bedtime a good hour or two earlier than his cousin - so there was just no way to synchronize them all or get everyone moving at the same time. But it was really nice to see them while also seeing other things and not just being stuck in someone's living room the whole time - it really planted the seed that traveling with family could be fun. All in all, it was a good practice trip to give us some experience with sightseeing with two kids, while getting to see a bit of their beautiful city and catching up with them.
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