This post is brought to you by GoAuPair.com.
Family vacations aren’t as easy, and sometimes, they end up being a lot harder than we envision. That’s why families say having an Au Pair is one of the best travel hacks.
“Vika has enabled us to get out as a family and explore our town and our state… I will forever remember our trips together as perfect days. To be honest, there are many such days with Vika.” –Katie, Host to Au Pair Vika
The first time I flew with a baby, I was a brand-new mom. My son was 4 months old, and his father had been in training with the army for 3 months.
I was sleep-deprived, alone, and stressed from taking time off work, but I thought a little travel wouldn’t be a big deal. After all, I’d been a Delta baby myself; the first time I flew, I was 6 months old, and I’m an airport pro.
This wasn’t exactly one of my best family vacations. In fact, it wasn’t much of a vacation—it was my one chance to see my husband for a few days, and after that, he wouldn’t be home for another 6 months.
I vividly remember going through security, hauling a stroller, a car seat, a diaper bag, a backpack, and a suitcase by myself, with Baby strapped into his carrier.
What was I thinking?? I literally packed a week’s worth of diapers! A word of advice: buy them when you get there!
Suddenly, the simple things had become impossible.
Every parent’s been there, right?
Why is it so hard to bend over while holding a baby? I blocked the entire security line while trying to fish my boarding pass and wallet out of my suitcase, something that usually takes 30 seconds.
Do you know how difficult impossible it is to lift a stroller onto the conveyer belt with a baby strapped to your chest?
(Yes, they made me put my bulky stroller on the conveyer belt. At that moment, I vowed to never bring a stroller through the airport again).
I mean, I didn’t even know strollers could fit through those things… In retrospect, a lightweight stroller from Costco would’ve been easier, but Baby wasn’t really sitting up at the time.
After going through security, I opened the stroller, strapped the car seat into the holster, and took Baby out of his carrier.
Aaaannd realized he had a stinky diaper.
I was worried about getting a seat, so we rushed to the tram. Once onboard, I whipped out the fastest poopy diaper change ever seen.
I sat on the bench, changed his diaper, flung his pants back on, and plopped him back into the stroller, all between one stop and the next.
People looked at me like I was nuts, but I was just pleased that I’d basically pulled off a magic act.
The Waiting Game.
Since airlines overbook flights more often than not, flying standby has become more difficult over time.
I waited for 6 hours with a fussy baby, and I’m pretty sure the gate attendant took pity and bumped me up the standby list… or maybe I just got lucky.
I remember on the return trip, I was so exhausted that I strapped Baby back into his carrier and fell asleep sitting up—something I never do.
What counts is, I made it out there, and it was well worth the time, stress, exhaustion, all of it.
Au Pair Envy
It wasn’t all smiles and giggles, though, and most of our time was spent caring for Baby.
What I would’ve given for an extra pair of hands!
And what we would’ve given for an extra pair of hands around the house, too.
Travel is a bit rare for us because it takes so much energy with little ones. That said, I want to take my little boys on trips, to see the ocean and go camping, to visit relatives, and generally explore the world myself, too.
That’s why, when I was reading the stories from Go Au Pair’s #LoveMyAuPair Contest, I had instant Au Pair envy. I felt like I’d been missing out on the most genius travel hack, and I hadn’t even realized it.
Because Au Pairs provide live-in childcare, the nature of their relationship is very different from other childcare providers.
Families have told me again and again how quickly their Au Pair has become a family member, how the entire family sees him or her as an older sibling, and how they take their Au Pair everywhere, even if it’s just a weekend skiing trip.
What’s more, Au Pairs love to travel. They’re more than happy to ride along on family vacations because they’re part of the family.
Plus, who turns down a free trip? (Heck, I’ll watch your kids if you take me on vacation!)
An Au Pair’s help has to be one of the most brilliant ways to enjoy family vacations (without sacrificing adult time).
In the words of Host Mom Alla,
“I love to travel, and with Mariia by my side, I’m able to take my family on vacations without too much stress for me. Some of my favorite memories of Mariia and my girls were when we went on family vacations together. We have traveled a lot including going to Florida, Mexico and Baltimore/ Washington.
“Normally I would be the one watching my kids, but this time with Mariia, I got to relax and actually enjoy the vacation. I would never dream of taking vacations as a single parent without help because it is just too hard to watch two when you are only one. Now with Maria, we can team up and watch the girls with no problem.”
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Au Pair Mariia agrees.
“[Alla] helped me to explore America a lot in a short period of time… We actually have a long list of our trips already! Our first trip was to Baltimore, MD to visit relatives of my new American family… We visited the Baltimore Aquarium, walked around the Baltimore harbor, and then we went to the capital of USA—Washington D.C. Wow… It was during this time when the USA celebrated the 4th of July holiday, so of course, we had to see the fireworks! On the way home, we decided to do a spontaneous journey and we went to the ocean! … Before I saw the ocean just on photos, so one of my dreams came true!”
Right now, my husband & I are in the process of buying a bigger home and rest assured, when we do, I’ll be registering with Go Au Pair.
As the Au Pair Sis, I’ve seen firsthand how live-in care beats daycare any day—on multiple scales, including flexibility, consistency, convenience, price. On top of that, I’m an ambitious trip planner.
San Diego, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone.
Heck, I want to visit Tokyo!
And maybe, just maybe, with an extra set of hands, we’ll make it there with our sanity intact.
Jenni Julander
Jenni is the Au Pair Sis, advisor to Au Pairs and Host Families during placement. She has worked with hundreds of Au Pairs and U.S. families and specializes in helping families enhance the experience of hosting a foreigner. Connect with Jenni on Facebook if you have questions or just want to see more awesome stories.
***Do you have any genius travel hacks you’ve been keeping a secret?? Tell us in the comments!***
