Travel - Which is easier with a 12-week old?

[L'sMommy]

Flying for 3 hrs or driving for 4-5? We have the opportunity to go on vacation soon and are trying to decide whether to go somewhere within driving distance or fly to FL. Advice? We travelled all the time before DS...obviously we're pretty limited now.

[maestramommy]

We drove from L.A to Zion Utah when Arwyn was bout 4 months old. It was hard. Because she still needed to be nursed, and her tolerance for the carseat, although much better than Dora's, was still not that great. At least if you fly you can nurse/feed the baby whenever and hold your baby whenever. But I would weigh the cost of the flight tickets against gas and mileage.

[hillview]

I think either --I'd go where you want to go. That is a pretty easy age for travel IMO.
/hillary

[ahrimie]

I think either --I'd go where you want to go. That is a pretty easy age for travel IMO.
/hillary

I agree. Which location is more enticing and how do the costs compare?

[Jenn850]

I was shocked by how easy it was to fly (from ny to fl) with DD at 10weeks. The plane's engine was like a huge white noise machine. You might want to consider all the gear you need when you get there. We had family arrange to have everything so we didn't have to worry about it, but I can see how some might be easier to pop in the trunk.

[egoldber]

Remember with flying to add in travel time to the airport, getting to the terminal from the parking lot, being there 2 hours ahead of flight time, etc.

Personally I would prefer to drive 4-5 hours than a 3 hour flight. And I have a kid who hated the carseat.

[geochick]

Flying. You can get the kid out of the carseat on a plane. It's easier to distract on the airplane.

[ncat]

When DD was 3 months old, we had a lovely driving vacation traveling from San Diego to the bay area.

[brittone2]

For me, flying hands down, but I had two carseat haters.

We flew w/ DS when he was 2 months and it was fine. A long cartrip would not have been.

eta: agreeing that nursing, diaper changes (especially if still having frequent poops at that age...I can't remember?) etc. would have made driving challenging for us.

[KpbS]

I would vote to make the drive. It is not that long of a trip (your dc could even sleep most of the way) and you avoid all of the crowds (ie germs) and security checks w/ car seats, strollers, etc. (such a pain!).

Happy trails

[rlu]

I'd drive. When DS was 5 weeks we drove from NE Texas to the Bay Area in CA and then back a week later. We were also bringing the dogs, so flying wasn't an option. We drove hard, staying over one miserable night at a hotel where DS would NOT sleep in the pnp we brought with us. The car part was great. DH drove while I sat in the backseat with DS (the dogs were in the back in the truck shell). When DS drank BM from the bottle I pumped (we have a converter so my electric pump worked) and kept the milk in our car refridgerator. Being up in the truck meant only the big rig drives got a peek and used my shirt to shield when they passed.

Anyways, DS slept most of the time. When he woke I gave him a bottle and DH looked for a rest stop. At that age, just talking, tickling and singing kept him entertained. At the rest stop we'd get DS out (or not if sleeping) while DH walked the dogs and then I would clean out the bottles at the rest stop.

As long as you can sit in the back with the babe, I'd do a 5 hour drive instead of the hassle of the airport. And pp has good point about the gear you might need.

[vonfirmath]

Drive. You can stop when needed, don't have to carry all your gear so you can take more stuff, etc.

[pastrygirl]

Driving, hands down. I would never fly without a ticket/seat for my child, no matter the age. The cost and hassle of taking a car seat onto the plane is enough that I haven't flown since my son was born and have no plans to fly until he's out of a car seat. Plus you have to add travel time to the airport (here, it's 1 hr), the advance time you need to arrive (1 hr), and the travel from the airport to your destination (2 hrs in the case of my in-laws).

We've been driving 4 hours to my parents and 9 hours to my in-laws at least once a year each since he was born. First trip was when he was around 8 weeks old. He cried a lot, so we stopped a lot. It didn't feel like a hassle, though. He cried a lot at a year old, too, but eventually became an awesome travel kid.