Travel Tuesday: Passports and Car Seats

Last week, I booked my trip to Germany! The whole family is going - including Jake. The more I think about it, the more apprehensive I get... we are bringing a 15 month old on an 8 hr flight! How are we going to lug his car seat, stroller diaper bag - and him - through the airport along with all of our carry on stuff! Oh boy, this should be interesting...

In lieu of my newest dilemma, I decided to dedicate today's blog to Travel Tuesday - traveling with a toddler.

Any age child needs a passport to travel internationally. Thankfully, the cost of passport fee is smaller for a child ;) The fun part though - is getting the passport picture taken! If Jake was a little guy, it certainly would've been easier. But since he is into EVERYTHING, he refused to sit still, look at the camera or anything else we asked him to do. Here are a few tips, we learned from our two times trying to get his pictures taken:

1. Bring more than one adult. One person can hold him while other one tries to get his attention toward the camera.
2. Bring a toy he loves or something that usually grabs his attention. Hold it behind the camera to get him to look that way.
3. Know the passport picture requirements. It seems that Walgreens didn't know the accurate picture requirements (looking at camera, no shadow, certain size, etc) because we had to re-take them at the passport center.

And I did some research to figure out how to transport all the baby gear - stroller, car seat, diaper bag, etc. I knew about the Travelmate, but didn't want to pay that much (approx $80). I stumbled across these car seat straps. For $14.99, they claim to strap your car seat to your carry on luggage - and the baby can sit in it! The reviews are pretty high (mostly 5 stars), and the low ones sound like people who were traveling along (thank God I'm not...). I'll let you all know how it works once I try it, but my hopes are high!