Baby's First Flight

First flight is in the books! And believe it or not, we survived...

Flying with a baby is definitely one of the least desirable things I can think of when traveling. Airports and flights can be stressful enough, but when we add an unpredictable infant into the mix, it just feels like a recipe for disaster. 

Since Kailah and I share a passion to continue exploring our world, we knew we would need to raise Selima with this is mind, in order to keep doing what we love. If we didn't take a long term approach, we would risk building habits and expectations (for both her and us) that would not be conducive to the unpredictability of travel. This is not to say that we already have a bulletproof strategy, but we are happy to share what worked for us (and what didn't) the first time around and hope that it will help others develop their own.  

Our flight didn't exactly get off to a "roaring" start. As soon as we parked our car at Logan airport (Boston), we received an alert from Delta that our flight had been delayed by five hours. And just like that, our planning for Selima's feeding and napping schedules immediately went out the window. We had to start ad-libbing before the journey had even begun. 

Getting through baggage and security was a breeze. We generally do not travel with checked bags, but since we were traveling with a three month old and staying in a rental, we needed to pack her bassinet. So we checked one very large suitcase (stuffed to the zippers with a bassinet, clothes, wipes, diapers, bottles, blankets - on and on) and our two backpacks containing our clothes for the weekend. We figured checking everything was easier, so we could focus on the diaper bag, stroller and car seat (car seat and stroller checked at the gate)...oh! and the baby...

Once through security, it was time to get some food. Selima was still acting like a true road warrior because she had napped on the way to airport and it wasn't time to eat again. We were traveling with friends (thanks for your patience Elijah and Kristen!) so we made a reservation for five at Legal Test Kitchen in terminal A. Selima didn't want anything to do with sitting still, while we waited for dinner. There was too much to see. So we took turns walking her around the terminal, holding her upright, so she could see everyone. This was something we had done dozens of times in public since she was a few days old. The constant stimulus was enough to keep her mind busy, especially because she got plenty of smiles and attention. 

When our names were finally called for dinner, it was time to eat for everyone, including the baby. We had prepared to feed her a bottle at this time, but originally, we thought we'd already be on the plane. Our plan was: a bottle during ascent - resulting in a sleeping baby until touch down in Austin. With many hours worth of delays, we "audibled" and planned on feeding her one more time before lift off. After dinner (we would definitely recommend Legal Test Kitchen in Terminal A by the way) and a few beverages, we had to find a way to waste a few more hours. 

This was by far the most difficult stretch. Selima started to get tired, but since she was over stimulated, she refused to close her eyes. I'm pretty sure I did 300 laps around an empty gate area that night, bouncing, juggling and begging her for slumber. But even then, she had no intention of settling down. We played the last card in our deck, by plopping her in the stroller and continuing to cruise her around the terminal. No dice.  

We planned on bringing Selima aboard as a lap infant. Meaning we only purchased two seats and since she is under the age of two, she could sit on our laps during the flight. We were five hours delayed, so we were now dreading entertaining an awake baby for four in-flight hours. 

We were lined up to board the plane, when a flight attendant came over to me and gave me the best news of our fledgling, baby-toting, travel lives. She said that they had held the seat between Kailah and I and we could bring Selima's car seat on board. It was at that moment that I looked over to see Kailah rocking back and forth with a FINALLY exhausted and sleeping baby. I literally could have cried. When it was time for families to board, we rolled down the jet bridge, checked our stroller and let that beautiful, sleeping infant dream for four hours at 40,000 feet. 

I have to be honest. I thought flying with a baby would have been worse. We had ups and downs, including a giant wrench thrown at us in the form of a five hour delay. But it really wasn't THAT bad. Which is probably a good thing, since we have three more flights booked for Selima in 2018. I'm sure they will all be just as unpredictable, but we'll keep learning and adjusting, so we can continue to pursue our travels. 

Cheers!

Kyle

The "Nine-To-Five" Traveler

In a world full of us "work less and play more", participation trophy loving, expect-everything-given-to-us millennials, it's hard to believe that some of us work a "nine to five". In addition, many of us like to travel, which works well with our lack of motivation and downright blatant entitlement. But I mean come on, why work hard, when the world already owes us? 

Oh the sweet sound of sarcasm (baby boomers and gen Xers can stop high fiving now). Just like any generation before us, we have a diverse workforce, with varying ambitions, motivations and personalities. The difference is the environment in which we work as we shift from manual based work, to knowledge based work. Our world is changing, and this allows our young people to change with it. Thanks to technology, there is a rise in both workplace flexibility, working from home and other employee benefits. This gives our workforce, as a whole, the opportunity to get creative with their lifestyles. 

I can't count the number of times that we have been asked "Do you ever work?", or "it seems like you are always traveling somewhere!". 

The truth of the matter is that Kailah and I hold 9-5 jobs just like everyone else. It's hard work trying to balance our passion for travel with the part of our life that finances it. The difference is how we approach our lifestyle design and priorities, but also the discipline we apply to both. In order to demystify what may look like "no work, all play", we want to share a few of our strategies, in hopes it may help others do the same.  

Travel as a priority:

First and foremost, travel is a priority for us. It's our passion, so naturally it is where we spend our money. Would Kailah rather save up for that Italian Dolce and Gabbana handbag or actually go to Italy? As a rule, we spend our money on experiences and not things.

Secondly, we treat our paid time off from work, just like we do our money. We use it for going places. We do not take days off, unless we absolutely have to. There are generally no "mental health" days, or "just because" days. We don't even take a "rest" day at the end of a trip. This is probably not for everyone, but it is extremely helpful in giving us more trips per year. With that being said, we use almost all of our allotted time every year. Gone are the days where it was cool to have eight weeks of paid vacation in your FTO bank. Use that hard earned time!

Personal Finance: We spend time every month reviewing our monthly expenses and financial health. This allows us to evaluate our strategy and look for areas to save money for travel. Over time, we've reduced our monthly financial obligation significantly, in order to afford to spend more on our passion. Similar to our time off, we've taken this to the extreme at times. Who else sells their house to pay off student debt, has a baby and then moves into a one bed, one bath apartment in their in-laws basement? Keep an eye out for future posts on our personal financial model and travel budgeting. 

Time: It is the most important asset we have in life. This goes for traveling as well. Simply put, we save time whenever possible. If we can buy a direct flight, shorter layover, or red eye, then we do it. In order to leverage these time saving techniques, we take advantage of our highly valuable paid time off and flexible work arrangements. Kailah and I are both fortunate to work in positions that offer flexible start and end hours, and also an option to work from home. With that being said, this is part of our lifestyle design because we look for these benefits when factoring in professional opportunities. 

Experience Over Relaxation: We've found that traveling for authentic experience is more refreshing than traveling to relax. This may sound fake, or unrealistic, but we literally feel rejuvenated and motivated after returning back to work from a new experience. While we love a good beach vacation, full of sun, sand, eating and drinking, we generally don't return feeling like we have gained anything (Except for maybe a few pounds and a week long, job loathing hangover). However, after a trip of hopping destinations abroad, we come back with a fresh perspective and exciting thoughts of our next adventure. This isn't something we expected when we began traveling, but it is certainly a welcome advantage, which makes our "nine-to-fives" much easier to return to.  

I hope the above article gave a glimpse into some of the strategies and sacrifices that we make in order to do what we love. Please reach out to us if you want to chat in more detail. We want to continue to learn and help others do the same. 

Cheers!

Kyle

Booking Airfare: Why is price relative? Our guide to choosing flights.

Whenever someone tells me that they found "cheap" flights to a destination, especially abroad, I immediately question the value. It blows my mind in our culture how we get so focused on price when making a buying decision and blind to everything else. Cars, consumer electronics, vacations, clothes - you name it and we let companies manipulate us to their advantage when we put on our purchasing blinders. The same goes for airplane tickets. There are so many variables when it comes to flights that price should only be a piece of the pie and far from the most important slice. For me, flying sets the tone for a trip and enhances the travel experience. Instead of thinking of it as a burden, I try and optimize my time and in-flight journey, so that I enjoy myself and arrive as rested as possible. Balancing this experience with cost is the key to buying airfare. Here are the things I consider when booking in order to maximize the value for my money. 

1. Number of stops and duration of travel

This one's easy. Avoid long and multiple layovers when booking. You're time is the most important and valuable asset when travelling. One stopover alone introduces risk into our schedules when flying, however it is generally necessary in order to reach specific destinations, or make a trip financially feasible (remember, cost isn't everything, but it certainly is part of the equation). However, two stops is only worth it in a small percentage of bookings (ie HUGE savings, or remote locations). At the end of the day, is $100 worth it to you to lower your risk of missing a third flight and sacrificing a day of your vacation? The same goes for length of layover and length of flights. I am careful when choosing because I want to avoid 3+ hour layovers and flights that take me WAY out of my way for my destination. For example, if I was traveling to London, it wouldn't make sense for me to save a couple hundred bucks to travel through Istanbul with a long layover. I'll fork over the extra money in a heartbeat, in order to get my vacation started sooner. 

2. Service

When you see negative airline reviews, this is usually the cause. In my mind, there are a few reasons for this. I'll touch on two in this section and then the third will be mentioned in #4, the legroom section. I wanted to mention legroom here because for many reviews that I have read, comfort is a major driver of service and sets the tone for a flight. It doesn't really matter how great the service is, if people aren't comfortable, airlines are going to get a lousy review (Google Air Canada Rouge reviews).

As for the other two drivers of service, I'm talking about availability of food/beverages and overall customer service. The first seems obvious, but we have actually flown on a 10 hour flight where all they served were snacks (Again, Google Air Canada Rouge). When we went to order our dinners (commonly complimentary on long haul flights) we found out that not only did they not provide the free meals, we couldn't even order them if we paid. This was a major bummer, especially for a 20-week-along pregnant woman :). Needless to say, I do a little research about what is offered on flights before I book them. Meals? Complimentary beverages? Snacks? And then if the price is still too good to pass up, we simply plan ahead by bringing plenty of food with us. Something of note here, when we flew Emirates to Thailand, we were served all complimentary meals, snacks and drinks in economy. Not only did we receive free meals, we were presented with a menu prior to serving, so that we could choose what we wanted to eat. Now that is service in the sky! 

Overall customer service isn't generally something we think about when flying. If you are strictly a domestic flyer, this may not be on your radar because the flights are too short for you to get hungry or thirsty more than once (with the exception of cross country legs). But on 6-7+ hour day flights, it's a huge kudos to service when food and beverage are at your disposal. Not to mention if they are high quality items that taste good too. To take it a step further, imagine if the staff also welcomed you with a smile and treated you like the loyal customer base that you are. Now that is service. On our 7 hour Emirates flight from Dubai to Bangkok, we sat in the front exit row seat in economy (see #4 for tips on getting exit row seats) and our stewardess went above and beyond to ensure we had the best experience possible. Want water? Here's a 32 oz bottle and two cups to drink at your leisure. Hungry? Let me see if we have any more of those mini pizzas to snack on (she gave us 4). Oh it's the little things...

3. Entertainment

This is becoming less and less relevant, now that we all have laptops, tablets and phones when we travel. However, I think it is still worth a mention. Most long haul flights currently have seat back entertainment, including live TV, movies, music and games. I usually research and factor this in when making an airfare purchasing decision. I like to be able to pass the time when I can't sleep and there really isn't any better way to do so than watching a few movies. With that being said, I think most airlines will be transitioning to exclusively "stream your own device" from an entertainment standpoint. This really won't be a burden on the passenger, as we all have our own devices already. The key will be to make sure that the flights we book offer these internet and streaming opportunities free of charge. 

4. Legroom

For us "tall drinks of water", this one is big. When I book a flight, I always search for flights on a third party site such as Kayak, Orbitz, Skyscanner etc. Once I decide on my flight, I then go directly to the airlines website and run the same parameter search. Generally, the price is exactly the same. So what is the advantage you might ask? With most companies (no not Southwest), you can then choose your seat on the aircraft. You generally aren't able to do this on the third party site. In addition to seat selection, you can pay a fee to sit in an exit row. When Kailah and I flew to Greece, through Montreal, we paid $100 a seat for exit rows. Sounds expensive? Trust me my tall friends, on a 10 hour flight, you will be kicking yourself if you don't cough up the extra cash. If this strategy falls flat (usually because of a specific airline's seating operations), I arrive at the airport 3 hours before the flight because this is when the ticket counter opens. At this point, no one else has been assigned the exit rows because I am first in line. I then ask the gate agent for an exit row seat and secure my legroom. Ticket in hand, it's time for a beer! 

5. Plane size:

This one actually holds little weight, but I figured it was worth bringing up. I check the size of the plane before I book long haul flights (6-7+ hours). As a timid flyer, I like to know that I'm flying on a larger plane for a couple reasons. First, I've read that you feel less turbulence on large planes, so why not? Second, I like the freedom to be able to get up and move about comfortably. It's nice to be able to have the extra space to stand and stretch at your leisure and not be in the way of food/drink carts, or other passengers. In fact, on some of the 777s and A380s we've flown on, there are large open areas that several passengers at once can stand when they are sick of sitting. 

6. Price:

Alright, alright. Price holds its weight as well. We all have budgets when we travel and depending on the length of your stay, flights can be a large portion of the expense. Since time is more important than money for me, I balance all of the other factors above against dollars. What am I willing to pay for the flights that meet my criteria (layovers, flight duration, seats/legroom, service, entertainment, plane size). Am I willing to sacrifice any of these variables for my hard earned money? These are the questions I ask myself before booking airfare. On every. Single. Trip.

As you can see, we put significant thought into our flights because they bookend our itineraries and set the foundation for our adventures. At the end of the day, a flight strategy is defined by the traveler. What balance is right for you and your budget? If you need help deciding, we would be more than happy to talk through your plans with you. Simply fill out the contact page or shoot us an email directly at kyle@nowhereonearth.com.

Happy flying!

Kyle