Our month in Europe day 13: Lisbon
Sunday April 7
Today we wanted to keep it low key after a long day in Belem yesterday. We all slept in, and then had some brunch at the Whisk down the road from where we are living. We then went on a walk to a big park called Eduardo VII Park.
When we got there the playground was closed because they were filming a movie, but there was a small cafe with beer, and drinks and food next door so we grabbed a drink and sat in the grass to play until it opened around 2. After that Lilly and Nick played on the playground while I fed Camille and then I got to read a book in the grass and it was wonderful. The weather was so nice!
After a tantrum filled walk home, I went back out to stock up on groceries. We then cooked dinner and headed to bed. Lilly is still not napping so our later afternoons can be a bit touch and go. But we are settling into a routine that seems to be working well. Can’t believe we are 2 weeks into our adventure already.
A Food Tour!
One of our favorite things we do when going to a new city is booking a food tour within the first couple days. Here are a couple reasons why:
1. Your Guide is always so passionate about the city, and food, and just giving you a great sense of the area
2. You can ask them so many questions about etiquette, daily life, language, things to do
3. You get to do a mini walking tour while stopping frequently for local food and drinks
4. Helps you get the lay of the land and neighborhoods
The food is always amazing!
5. They almost always give you other recommendations for the rest of your time in the city.
How we did a tour in Rome: We booked a private tour with a local guide, who took us around the city to try some of the best spots. He also showed us how to order the different foods, and what to look for when looking for quality. This was good because traveling with 2 kids can be insane, and they may melt down. Having a private guide made sure we didn’t interrupt any other travelers who also paid for the tour.
Where have you done a food tour?
#foodtour #lisbonfood #familytravel #maternityleave #postpartum #momlife #familyof4
Our month in Europe: day 10 -Lisbon
Another beautiful day. We had a late start after having banana Nutella pancakes for breakfast and playing at home all morning. We went out around 12 and ended up catching tram 28 east toward Castle of Sao Jorge.
At the tram stop, we had lunch at a Tasca and enjoyed the view over the city. Then continued up the hill to the castle. However the line was long for tickets so we decided to skip (we saw plenty of old things in Rome, and castles in Scotland).
We found a playground nearby that opened at 2pm and had drinks at Ludos across from the park until it opened. They had very colorful dragon fruit cocktails.
After the playground Lilly decided she wanted to nap in the stroller 🙏🏻 so we decided to walk back instead of taking the tram. It was about 3km of hills so I got my work out. We also got snacks on the way home from a pastry shop.
We then cooked dinner and played till bed. It was a great day out in the sun exploring. We asked Lilly her favorite part of the day, and she said “playing”.
Packing list for 2 parents for a month in Europe:
Carlye clothes:
Underwear (10), socks (8), 2 daytime nursing bras, 2 sleep/nursing bras, 1 swimsuit, tennis shoes, 1 pair sandals, rain coat, shirts (5), Pants (4). Nursing friendly dresses (3), linen long shirt, black athletic zip up jacket, sweater, 1 nursing tank top, 1 pair pajamas.
Carlye Misc: nursing pads, belt bag, medications, sun glasses.
Nick Clothes: raincoat, underwear (7), socks (7). Shorts (2), pants (4), shirts (7), sweatshirt (1), nicer outfit (1), belt (1)
Nick Misc: sunglasses, hair clippers.
Toiletries for both: toothbrush, toothpaste, 1 mini shampoo, conditioner, bodywash (will buy more at destination), contact solution, contacts, extra contacts, glasses, floss, face wash, skin care, make up remover, make up, deodorant, sunscreen, nail care (clipper, file etc), tweezers, Q tips, chapstick, comb, hair accessories
Other: airplane foot rest, 2 umbrellas, 2 electrical power adapters, portable charging bank, passports, credit cards, debit cards, hamper, tide pen, messy eaters spray, laptop and charger, chargers for Ipad, chargers for both phones and watches, airpods, portable wine opener, waterbottles, reusable ziploc bags, chip clips, guide books, notebooks, pens, carbon monoxide detector, laundry tide pods.
#packinglist #packinghacks #packforeurope #thebucketlistplanner
Part 5: last minute details ✈️🌎✈️
After we have all the major components in place such as flights, hotel, and activities, it’s time to think about some of the details.
✈️This includes the most important thing for any international travel - TRIP INSURANCE. This is non-negotiable in my eyes for any international travel. It is relatively inexpensive and covers the cost of the trip due to cancellation, PLUS possible medical expenses, theft etc. You are just as likely to get in a car accident and need medical care in another country as you are at home, so PLEASE get insurance.
Other details that need taken care of include if you need a
✈️rental car and if you plan to get
✈️internet access or cellular service while traveling (we use an E sim through Airalo).
✈️It is also a good idea to know common scams or other safety issues prior to traveling,
✈️how to get local currency (we use a Debit card that doesn’t charge ATM fees to get cash)
✈️ some basic phrases in the local language.
✈️I also like to go back through the airbnb listings I have booked and make note of what is included in the listing so I know if I need to pack certain items.
✈️The final thing is to check your passport and visa requirements. Check your expiration date and make sure that it is valid for the amount of time needed for the country you are visiting. For example Italy wants 6 months validity after your return date. This is the case for many countries.
✈️I then work on a packing list and get ready to go!
What other last minute things do you?
So glad you found me!
I want to encourage families to get out and adventure more. Parenting is HARD, and sometimes you just want someone to take something off your plate. That is where I come in.
I help busy parents who want to take amazing vacations, and help them create a once in a lifetime experience full of bucket list activities and unforgettable memories. I do all the research and planning for your vacation, so you can relax and enjoy your trip with your family.
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Part 4: Planning out activities 🌎
The next part of planning your trip is getting to the fun things! You get to look at what things you really want to do, and how you want to spend your time. I start by making a list of all of the possible things we could do, and then separating it all out to must dos and other things we could do if we have time.
I then look up any details about the “must dos” such as any days they are closed, or weird opening hours. And decide if I want to do a tour or explore on my own. I then plot my must do activities into a time line or itinerary on excel to make sure I am not crunching too much into a short time frame.
I then look for if there are blank times that could use an activity and plug in some “possible activities” and look up the timing that works best for those. We also usually do a “splurge” of some kind. For example a fine dining meal at a restaurant or a private tour.
I also look up some restaurants that we are interested in, and make reservations if we need to book far in advance, or just keep the options in a list so that if we are there and looking for dinner, I have some options available we can choose from in the moment.
That gets us the skeleton of our trip, with must do sights and tours, a list of possible activities if we feel we need to fill more time, and some plans for food so we are never left scrambling for dinner (I get very hangry).
Follow along for part 5!
Plan My Trip with Me Part 3: 🏠Where to stay.
Once we have flights booked, the next order of business it to find a place to stay. I generally will do some research on various blog sites and lonely planet books to help determine what area or neighborhood we want to stay it. We consider safety, convenience to things we know we want to see, public transportation, food and how crowded things are. Personally we don’t love to be in a super crowded area, or a neighborhood with late night noise. So we generally gravitate toward more of the “foodie” areas or places with a bit more outdoor availability such as parks. We also highly value ease in transportation. For this trip, we are not getting a rental car, and will have 2 kids with us, so easy public transportation is important this time around.
Once we have a general area of where to stay, we then decide if we want to do hotel or rentals. We are very loyal to Hilton brand hotels since we have their top status and credit card, so we will often stay with credit card points to offset the cost of accommodation. For this trip, since we will have a newborn and toddler with us, we were looking for atleast 2 bedrooms, so we focused on airbnb options. We filtered based on reviews, price, location, and ability to have a crib provided. We also closely looked at photos to make sure there was nothing major for safety of a toddler like unfenced pool/water, open stairways etc. We also wanted a washing machine at each place we are staying so we can pack less, and keep up with newborn spit up.
Other accommodations that we have done are a converted van (Iceland) and Motorhome (Scotland). This is a good way to combine a place to stay and a way to get around. It also makes traveling around a country very easy because you don’t have to pack up and unpack with each move. Just another thing to consider when deciding where to stay.
Follow along for part 4 of my plan with me series when we talk about must do activities and
Today is part 2 of the series: Plan my trip with me ✈️
The next thing I do after deciding when and where I will be traveling, is deciding how to get there. First thing to consider is road trip verse flights. If deciding on a road trip, just making sure you have enough room in your vehicle for all people, gear etc that will be coming with you. If you will be flying, some of the things you need to consider is major airports near you, direct or indirect flight options, and if you have any credit card or airline points that could help offset the cost.
Kids under 2 can travel as a lap infant. These means that they won’t have a car seat for them on the plane. If you want to bring your car seat, it is best to book them a seat. Domestically, lap infants are free. Internationally, they are usually 10% of the cost of the seat plus some taxes as fees. Anyone 2 years or older will need to have their own seat and ticket.
For our trip to Europe here is the breakdown for our flights, with associated points and cost.
✈️Appleton WI to Chicago IL - American Airlines - economy - booked with points + $5.60 x3 for each ticket ($16.8)
✈️Chicago IL to Rome Italy - United Airlines - Premium economy - booked with points (78,400 x3) + $5.60 x3 for each ticket ($16.8)
✈️Rome Italy to Lisbon Portugal - TAP airlines - economy - $326 x3 + $55 for lap infant = $1035 for all tickets
✈️Lisbon Portugal to London UK - TAP airlines - economy - $205 x3 + $45 for lap infant = $661 for all tickets
✈️London UK - Chicago IL - British Airways - Premium Plus - booked on points + $314 for taxes x3 + $8 for lap infant ($951)
✈️Chicago IL - Appleton WI - United Airlines - Economy - booked 2 on points, $485 for the other seats
💰Grand Total: $3165 for 6 flights, 4 people. Both long haul flights are premium class (between economy and first class)
This total was a bit more than I was originally planning, because we couldn’t buy the flights between Rome, L
Plan my trip with me: Part 1
The first thing you have to do when you are planning a big trip is to determine WHEN and WHERE you are going.
For this trip, Nick (my husband) and I have some overlapping time for our maternity/paternity leaves. He is a teacher and is taking the entire 4th quarter off which starts end of March. I am taking the 13 weeks right after birth (early Feb) as my maternity leave. This ends up overlapping about 6 weeks. But of course we didn’t want to travel right up to my return to work. So we settled on about 4 weeks right after Nick’s leave started so that I could get back from our trip and have 1-2 weeks to settle back at home before going back to work full time. So we will be traveling from the last week of March until the last week of April, totalling about 4.5 weeks.
Now to figure out where we wanted to go. It started out as a plan to go to Florida for 4 weeks and just “live” down there with warm weather. However after realizing how EXPENSIVE a month in Florida would cost during spring break time, we started to look other places. Initially I pivoted to Hawaii, but then on a whim I searched for an airbnb in southern Spain or Portugal and realized the cost would be cheaper to travel to Europe than to stay in the US.
We then weighed the pros and cons regarding health care, getting a passport, buying flights, and making sure we have our first round of vaccines before our planned trip date, and realized that if the baby and myself were both healthy after delivery, I think we can make it work!
So we assessed what we were looking for on our trip, and this came down to wanting to travel “slow”, and really not move around a ton. We wanted to experience living in a new place. We also wanted weather that was warm enough to be outside a lot, but not hot, and also wanted walkability. We knew we wouldn’t be renting a car, so we wanted stroller accessible, walkable streets, and decent public transportation. So we did s
TOP TIPS for getting a passport photo for your baby ✈️👶🏻
You can get photos done at many locations, including CVS, Walgreens or your local post office. Call ahead to make sure they offer that service, and that someone will be available when you plan to go. We used CVS for Lilly, and USPS for Camille.
Photo requirements:
1. Must be taken within the last 6 months
2. Clear image of your face, without any digital retouching or cropping
3. No glasses
4. White background without texture, lines, or shadows
5. Size must be 2”x 2”. Most places will print out the correct size for you
6. Looking at the camera, with neutral expression (no smiles)
7. No adults/parents in the photo
8. Eyes should be open (if newborn, eyes don’t need to be completely open)
9. No binkys, hands, clothing or hair covering any part of their face
How we did this:
- Set infant car seat where there was good lighting.
- Filled carseat with a blanket to provide support.
- Put a white blanket or sheet over the entire thing to provide a white background (USPS had one, but we also brought one just in case)
- Lay her on the white blanket and take the photo from above, but watch for shadows as you are taking the photo.
For Camille, she was 10 days old when we got her photo done, and the USPS employee got it on his very first try. He made it so easy!
Other tips: Child passports are good for 5 years, and can not be “renewed”. They have to resubmit a full application and fee with each new passport, until the age of 16.
Any other tips or tricks you have tried?
#tinytraveler #passport #passportphoto #familytravel
Flash Sale!
24 hours only my travel planning services are all on sale for 20% off any package. This is in honor of National Plan for Vacation day today, and the sale will continue through tomorrow.
All you have to do is message or comment here to lock in the discount. Can be used for any trip planning services ANY TIME in 2024.
Share with your family and friends who could use a vacation to look forward to as we are stuck with dreary gray days.
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Checked into my hotel in New Orleans and I was expecting a standard room. They told me I had a free upgrade, so figured it was a better view or high floor. Turns out the suite is bigger than my first 4 apartments.
Thanks @hiltonhonors
This warmer weather is getting me anxious for our first camping trip in a couple weeks.
Throwback to my FIRST backpacking trip last summer, when we decided to try it with our daughter, who was 16 months at the time. 📍Copper Falls: Wisconsin State Park
It was only a couple mile hike into the site, but it felt so secluded and perfect. Right on the water, and it was gorgeous weather. It was the perfect trial run for a backpacking overnight trip.
What are your favorite backpacking spots?
