It’s true, we loaded our 6 month old up, flew to Europe and stayed for a month. There were beautiful moments and ugly moments. Here’s generally how we did it!
Curtis and I tend to look for AirBnb’s a bit outside of the city centers. We love to be able to get there easily, but want to avoid the crowds if possible. When we decided on going to the Amalfi Coast, we booked this AirBnB in Anacapri.
Anacapri is the small city way up in the mountains of the island. We took buses all around Capri, if we didn‘t need to be somewhere on time. If we were trying to make a ferry, we called a cab (it was a bit more reliable). From Capri, we were able to ferry to all the towns along the Amalfi coast. So, we spent most days on Capri and then about every three days we would do a day trip.
Day to day, I was up early with Dean doing the normal routine. Once Curtis was up we’d spend the morning exploring, shopping and eating a big fun lunch. Sometimes we would post up at a beach club for the afternoon. Curtis works remote and kept east coast hours so he would work in the shade, Dean would be napping on a lounge chair, I would be snapping photos and making sketches.
Then we’d make our way back home in time to feed Dean some dinner and put him to bed. Curtis would be working this whole time. So, I’d make dinner for us, and then start painting from what I’d seen that day. Finally, I’d go to bed, while Curtis would keep working usually until 1am. Then we’d start all over again!
One of our first afternoons, we were at a beach club and Dean was not loving it. He was fussy and couldn’t sleep, but we had only been there an hour. Curtis said he thought we should go home and I agreed, but was bummed. Then he reminded me, our life looks different now, and even if we are out for just 30 minutes, that’s something! We had fun, we saw something inspiring, and now we have to go home, but at least we did it! This mindset really took the pressure off the whole trip. We felt like we could get out, give it a try, and no one would be mad if something didn’t work out.
Another afternoon, Dean wouldn’t nap at the beach because it was so windy, and so we moved up to a patio that was covered and out of the wind. While Dean was finally happily asleep, I was bummed because we weren’t in the sun and water. Then I started sketching and taking photos and they turned out to be some of my favorite pieces. It offered a different perspective of the typical scenes.
So, there were moments were Dean cried and one of us was eating quickly while the other rocked him. We tried our best to stay on the same team and laugh through the crazy moments. Truthfully, the beautiful moments outweighed the hard. Dean ate his first tomato — right off the vine in Italy. He squealed on the ferry, loving the gusts of wind. We hiked with Dean on Curtis’s back. We took turns swimming, the other chatting from the shore, Dean’s toes in the Mediterranean Sea! People helped us, offered us seats, spoke to him in Italian and made him giggle. And lucky for us, Curtis’s parents joined us for a few days, and my brother came for a bit as well! Definitely helpful to have extra hands. Overall, we felt so grateful to have this little one with us after years of wishing for him.
In 2023, we went to Greece for a month and it was a pretty hard time in our infertility journey. One of my overwhelming feelings was, I’d look through the lens of my camera, and I’d long for my baby to be on the other side. So, it was not lost on me to take this trip and be able to put my camera to my eye and see Curtis holding Dean. It was my dream come true.
Bullet Points
• Pick a place to stay that is walking distance to something interesting, this means you can get out, go and see, without much effort
• Pick a place to stay that has a great outdoor area so you can enjoy the scenery and sun while baby is napping
• Try to stay on the same team as your partner when baby gets fussy
• We took turns on the plane, unless Dean was sleeping. 45 min on. 45 min off.
• If traveling makes YOU happy, it’s worth going for it.
1 comment
💕💕 love this !!
