How We Survived (and Enjoyed!) Europe with a 15-month-old
What we packed, what we learned, and why we'd do it all over again
It’s been a year since my husband and I took our then-15-month-old son to Europe with us. We visited 4 countries and 10 cities in 17 days. And yes, we managed to actually enjoy ourselves. There are a lot of narratives online about how difficult travel is with kids, and while, yes, it’s not quite the blissful adults-only experiences my husband and I have previously enjoyed, I can promise you that it is just as fun. Here are my best tips, tricks, and strategies for navigating a Eurotrip with a toddler. Please note: In a forthcoming post, I will be publishing our itinerary (including key activities and exact accommodation links.
First, though, a couple of very big caveats before I dive in:
Rowan was not walking during this trip yet. While he was taking steps, he didn’t officially walk until he was 17-months-old, so it made wrangling him much easier than had he been a very mobile toddler. It also made naps on the go in the stroller much more tenable.
Sean and I are very seasoned travelers, and we set our expectations exceedingly low for this trip. I recommend doing the same.
Everything linkable in this post is on my ShopMy.
Bags + Accessories: Our overall packing strategy
We had originally planned not to check any bags, so worked (too hard) to squish everything into two carryons, but there ended up being weight limitations on our full transatlantic flight (which wasn’t originally supposed to be full—more on that later), so I wish we had just had one checked bag. With that revision, here’s my recommendation for bags and accessories to bring:
Large checked bag for parents’ clothes, toiletries, etc.
Backpack duffel: We agonized over which backpack duffel to buy for far too long, but ultimately decided on this one, which was an excellent choice.
Diaper bag: Make sure to pack at least one change of clothes for the toddler and one pair of clothes each for you and your partner each in a carryon in case of blowout or other mess.
Ergobaby Metro Travel Stroller: The version linked is the new version of our travel stroller, which we’ve had since Rowan was about two months old. We researched and researched options for travel strollers and ultimately chose this one for its “Newborn Nest” feature (i.e., the stroller is suitable for newborns without a car seat attachment). We have been extremely happy with it. The travel bag is extra, but it’s a backpack style and IMO worth every penny.
Ergobaby Omni Classic Carrier (formerly Omni 360): This is our absolutely favorite carrier. Rowan still fits in it at almost 2.5 years old.
Uniqlo sling bag: I know people love the Lululemon belt bag, but this one is a fraction of the price and fits way more stuff. I have both and prefer this one.
Osprey Daylite Pack: We’ve had this for years, and it’s held up so well. We stuffed this in our luggage and pulled out for day trips.
Stanley Ice Flow water bottles: Okay, hear me out. These are superior to the 40-oz Quencher because of the built in straw, leak-proof lid, and handle. Sean and I each had one and kept them on us for the entirety of the trip.
Packing List: What I brought for myself and for my toddler
Must-haves:
Packing cubes: I didn’t used to see the hype, but I’m a convert. Especially for keeping everyone’s crap straight, they can’t be beat.
Hanging toiletry bag: I’ve repurchased this when the plastic on my old one wore out. I keep mine generally packed and ready to grab for travel.
Clear toiletry bags: I used this for Rowan’s toiletries.
What I packed for myself:
With limited space, I wanted to be judicious about my own packing, so I picked a color palette to stick to and more or less brought a capsule wardrobe. It was also quite a bit colder (and rainier!) than we had anticipated, so I ended up doing a lot more layering than originally planned. Note: we went to the laundromat once during the trip.
2 cotton dresses, 1 black, 1 red
2 button-downs, 1 white, 1 denim: I thrift all of my button-downs - look for Polo, Lands’ End, Brooks Brothers, or Eddie Bauer
1 pair jeans
2 plain t-shirts, 1 white, 1 black
1 denim jacket: Like button-downs, all of mine are thrifted
2 pairs pajamas
1 pair leggings
1 swimsuit
1 rain jacket: I bought this one a few days before the trip, and it was absolutely perfect - long enough to cover my butt, waterproof, and stylish
1 pair Sambas: We walked 15,000 - 20,000 steps per day, and I I primarily wore these and they were soooo comfortable
1 pair sandals: I bought several pairs of brown sandals to try, and these were the winner
What I packed for my toddler (clothing + toiletries):
8 shirts
8 bottoms: I did a mix of pants and shorts given we didn’t quite know what to expect with the weather
8 pairs socks
1 pair shoes
4 pairs pajamas
1 rain jacket
1 zip-up hoodie
1 swimsuit + reusable swim diaper
2 blankets: We packed one and kept the other with us on the plane
Toddler bath towel: We prefer to travel with ours because they’re easier to manage than large bath towels
Pack ‘n’ play sheet
Slumberpod: This is the GOAT of baby and toddler travel sleep, and while we no longer need it now that Rowan is almost 2.5, it was worth every penny on so many trips we took with him in the first two years.
Sleep sack: Rowan was still in sleep sacks when we went to Europe - do what works for your family
Diaper cream
Shampoo
Lotion
Medicine: Tylenol, Motrin, saline spray
Thermometer
Comb/Brush
Pacis
Stuffies: We brought two
Stroller fan
Travel dish soap and bottle washer kit: For washing milk cups, etc.
Milk cups and water bottle: Note Rowan uses these straw cups for milk now, but when we traveled to Europe was still using the transitional ones
The Flight: The good, the bad, and the ugly
We elected to drive from Indy to fly out of Chicago O’Hare, so we’d have a direct flight to Amsterdam. If you can manage a direct flight, I think it makes things a thousand percent easier because you don’t have to deal with connections. We took a 4:45 PM CST flight out of Chicago and landed in Amsterdam at 7:50 AM CEST the next day. Rowan fell asleep on the drive to the airport, which took care of his morning nap (he was still doing two naps when we went), and while we sort of missed his afternoon nap, it ended up being okay with the timing of departure for “sleeping” overnight.
Pro tip: My husband wore him through the airport in the Ergobaby carrier and opted to put the stroller in the carrier on his back. We gate-checked the stroller.
Rowan was a lap infant on this flight (I know people have *feelings* about whether children under two should be in their own seat with a car set, but we ultimately felt comfortable having him as a lap infant up until he turned two, mostly to save on cost). We tried to maneuver a row to ourselves (and would have succeeded had it not been for bad storms in the days preceding our trip, which resulted in what wasn’t a full flight before being a full flight on the day of). Sean and I were in the middle and aisle seat with Rowan oscillating between our laps. A college-aged woman was in the window seat and was an extremely patient seat mate. One note: on European flights (we flew KLM), they give you a special seatbelt for lap infants, so he was somewhat restrained for takeoff and landing.
I’ll be honest. The flight there was kind of hard. It was harder to get him to sleep on our flight than it had been on previous flights. He definitely didn’t want to be restrained and wanted the freedom to crawl around. Eventually, though, he settled, and we probably got a decent five-hour stretch.
Travel Toys (for 12-18-month-olds)
Travel toys are a non-negotiable. They might only buy you a few minutes, but those few minutes are clutch.
Indestructibles books: We love these for travel because they take up virtually no room and live up to their name.
Painter’s tape: Throw it in a diaper bag and pull it out for at least 10 minutes of toddler entertainment.
has a great tip where you wrap some around a pen so you don’t have to bring the whole roll. So smart!Fidget spinners: These stick to the tray table and will buy you at least 15 minutes of time. They also stick to the side of the bath tub for bath time.
Rowan does not have a tablet, and I still stand by that decision, but we did bring headphones and he did watch some Ms. Rachel on Sean’s phone.
Snacks
Be armed with snacks and plenty of them. Please check TSA Guidelines here, especially if you’re traveling with breastmilk or formula, but know that they, along with toddler drinks and baby/toddler food are allowed in quantities greater than 3.4 ounces, as they are considered “medically necessary liquids.” By the time we took this trip, I had weaned from exclusive pumping, so didn’t have to worry about lugging my pump or other equipment, but I do have tips for doing that if interested—let me know in comments if you’d like to hear about my pro-tips for traveling as a breastfeeding mom in a future post!
Here are some of our faves:
Kirkland organic fruit and veggie pouches
Whole milk: We brought our insulated bottle bag with two full cups of whole milk with ice packs inside and strapped that to our diaper bag; yes, it had to be screened by security, but it was no big deal.
Choosing Accommodations
We chose a mixture of both traditional hotels and Airbnbs and had good luck with both options.
Airbnb Pros
One thing to consider is that Airbnbs allow you more flexibility once you put your toddler to bed. You can hang out in the living room or kitchen, even if your toddler is asleep in the bedroom. This can be helpful for ensuring you and your partner/spouse have some time to yourselves, especially after a long day of sightseeing. Airbnbs also allow more flexibility in terms of managing meals. You might opt to cook dinner one night or have breakfast there each morning. The extra fridge space and room to cook can be helpful in that regard, as well. It’s also easier to manage eating takeout after bedtime in an Airbnb
Hotel Pros
Every hotel we stayed at had a toddler crib (called cots in Europe) available upon request (sometimes, there’s a nominal fee), and while we brought our own sheet for an expected pack ‘n’ play, all of those we received provided linens, as well. One of the more luxury boutique hotels we stayed at in Germany even gave Rowan his own baby bathrobe! Hotels are also where the Slumberpod comes in handy, as it does have some magical noise-muffling qualities and makes it at least somewhat easier to enjoy an adult convo without waking the baby.
What I was most impressed / surprised by was how accommodating hotels were to us with a young child. The hotel we stayed at in Cologne had a “stuffed Dom” (a literal stuffed version of the Cologne Cathedral) available for Rowan to play with while we were there.
Managing Jet Lag
To combat and manage jet lag, I know some people recommend gradually shifting time zones ahead of time before your trip. This felt like far too much work for us, so we opted not to do that. As I mentioned above, we arrived in Amsterdam after a 7.5 hour flight around 7:30 AM local time. We took the Metro from Schiphol airport to our hotel, which was fairly uncomplicated. We were allowed to check in early, so we dropped our bags and then headed out for a walk, some fresh air, and breakfast. My biggest piece of advice for managing jet lag is to get outside and into the sun early and often and try, as quickly as possible, to get onto European time. That said, don’t sweat it if it takes a few days. Nap schedules may go out the window temporarily. It’s okay. I promise. You will all survive.
Once we were done with breakfast, we came back to the hotel and decided to put Rowan down for a nap. We ended up crashing together on the bed for a couple of hours. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend napping on the first day, but we leaned into what we felt we (and Rowan) needed, and it ended up being just fine. We went back out in the afternoon for some exploring and a drink at a cafe and picked up takeout to bring back to the hotel to eat so we could call it an early night. The next couple days were a bit of an adjustment in terms of both nap schedules and bedtimes, but, again, it was far easier than I anticipated.
Food and Eating Abroad
Dining out with a toddler in Europe was a lot like dining out with a toddler in the States with one primary caveat—people in Europe are soooo much more tolerant of children than in the U.S., even when they’re acting feral. Plus, because it was late May/early June when we traveled, most restaurants had bistro seating set up outside, which made the times when Rowan was a little spun up a bit easier.
We almost always aimed to either eat breakfast at the hotel or Airbnb or grab breakfast and coffee at a bakery each morning and have lunch out each day. Dinner was less predictable—sometimes, we could push bedtime a bit and dine out. Other times, we’d order takeout, and either, we’d pick it up before returning to our accommodation or Sean would go pick it up after we put Rowan down for the night.
Some restaurants had high chairs available, and when they didn’t, we just kept him in the stroller or put him on one of our laps. Sometimes we did a late lunch, which coincided with Rowan’s second nap, meaning we could eat while he napped in the stroller. We were always sure to have snacks available—we stopped at a grocery store or market every couple of days to pick up milk and other snacks. Europe has a lot of the same types of toddler snacks we have in the U.S., including pouches and bars, so we stocked up on those. We didn’t worry too much about if he ate full meals with us, but we always let him try whatever we were eating.
Bars, such as beer halls and wine bars, don’t have strict rules about children or underage people like they do in the U.S. Use this to your advantage to grab an afternoon drink.
If there were any non-negotiable restaurants we definitely didn’t want to miss, we made sure to factor those into our individual plans for the day.
Itinerary Planning: Thoughts and considerations with a toddler in mind
With this particular trip, we knew we had a little over two weeks and that ultimately, we were there for a family reunion with the German members of my family in northwest Germany. We actually had a somewhat hard time figuring out our overall itinerary, but, ultimately, decided on a loop from Amsterdam > Belgium > Luxembourg > Western Germany. (Again, I’ll share more specifics in an upcoming post if you’re interested in exact details.) We aligned on countries, cities, and proposed day trips, and put all of that info into a shared Google spreadsheet. I then ceded train bookings to Sean. One other note: we tried to spend at least two nights in each spot (even if that meant day trips elsewhere), so we didn’t have to pack up allllll of our sh*t every 24 hours. This made transitions so much easier.
When my husband and I travel alone, we are apt to cram as much as possible into each day. But with a toddler in tow, that’s simply not possible, and therefore, my biggest piece of advice when itinerary planning is to pace yourself. Here’s what I recommend: pick 1-2 must-dos for each day, and if you can squeeze in additional sights or activities, great! If your toddler melts down at 3:00 PM, you can call it and find a cafe to take a load off and eat a snack or head back to your accommodations.
So, how do you decide what should go on your non-negotiable list vs. what would be a “nice to have”? Follow Rick Steves. Always. I’m not kidding. He’s the GOAT for a reason, and his books are so useful, especially when traveling with children. I’ve linked the latest versions of those we used here.
Leading up to our trip, I reviewed his restaurant and activity/sightseeing recommendations in cities we’d be visiting and saved those I was interested in to a Google map list I shared with my husband. This is because, especially for restaurants, I could pull it up when we got hungry and find a recommended place to eat around where we were so we didn’t have to go searching or travel too far should we all get hangry. I also did Google searches for “[DESTINATION CITY] + KIDS + BLOG” and poured through other Facebook groups and Reddit threads to pull out everything that we could possibly do! Again, I added it to the shared Google map. I also tried to find and bookmark parks and playgrounds in the vicinity of our accommodations and must-dos for the day in case we needed a break to blow off some steam.
One amazing thing about Europe is that almost all museums and key attractions are free of charge for children under 12, some even for children under 18. And, because European countries invest in arts, history, and culture more fully than we do, tickets for adults are also inexpensive compared to the U.S.
To get around, we opted to use metros/subways and buses, which were incredibly easy to navigate with a strollers and baby carriers. Most cities have cheap day passes available for purchase, and Luxembourg’s entire public transit system is free!
Pro Tips + Mindset Shifts
What I would tell you if you’re planning a trip like this:
Lower the bar. Then lower it again. Any trip you take with kids this little won’t be about ticking off every single bucket list item or lingering over three-hour dinners at Michelin star restaurants (though we did manage to have a couple of nice meals out). This is okay. Traveling with a toddler might mean shorter days and slower mornings. But it also means seeing the world through their wide eyes, discovering fountains and pigeons and playgrounds in ways you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Your toddler’s mood will shape the day. Plan accordingly. As I said above, we learned pretty quickly not to pack our days too full. 1-2 major activities per day felt like a win. The rest of the time, we followed his lead: naps in the stroller, impromptu café stops, a lot of “just exploring.” Pro tip: Rick Steves’ walking itineraries are *chef’s kiss* for seeing a lot and getting the lay of a city’s land in a short amount of time. Let go of rigid plans, and I promise you, the whole thing will feel more relaxed.
Good-enough parenting applies abroad, too. Jet lag, unfamiliar food, and long flights mean nobody is at their best 100% of the time. If you’re doing your best to meet your child’s needs with the resources you have in the moment, you’re doing it right. Even if that means a skipped nap, a third croissant (we literally joked that Rowan was made of laminated pastry by the end of our time), or a meltdown on the canal tour.
For the love of God, give your kid the gelato. I had been so worried about sugar before two that I almost didn’t give Rowan a taste of the gelato we had frequently after dinner. Just do it. Trust me.
Toddlers are surprisingly adaptable. This is certainly kid- and temperament-dependent, but Rowan adjusted faster than I expected. Kids are wired for curiosity and newness. It’s us adults who panic about change. With a few familiar comforts (like our sound machine and bedtime book), he actually found his rhythm pretty easily.
Ask for help. Say yes to help. We found that flight attendants, waitstaff, kind strangers would often go out of their way to accommodate Rowan and help us. This was in sharp contrast to what’s mostly been my experience in America. See: my post from late March.
Lean into it and let them. You might just encounter an absolutely magical restaurant experience where the staff carries your toddler to the kitchen twice, shows him a live lobster, and gives you free dessert. Yes, this really happened, and yes, it was amazing.
Remember that while your child will not remember the trip, you will. Their childhood is also your motherhood. Don’t put it off. Just go.
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