London & Paris 2017

The world is a beautiful place. It's giant and full of people, food, cultures, and places that amaze us. We travel as much as we can to remind ourselves how small our little part of the world is, how interesting people are, and how different life can be.This adventure took us to London & Paris. And the crazy/fun bit was that we brought along our little nugget. Yes, we traveled abroad with a toddler and survived to tell the tale! In case you need some survival tips to travel with your nugget read our guide at the end of this post.We began in London...Saw a lot of Sherlock Homes buildings for super fan Erik...Bryce basically slept through half the sights...Of course we had to get some fish and chips at a pub...We loved and did not anticipate how traveling with a small child slowed us down. We got to appreciate the small things in each city, like live music and a bubble artist along the waterfront.Then we traveled to Paris with our friends...Loved everything about this city from the palace gardens to the bustling nightlife (and of course the desserts)...Bryce was actually awake to see the Eiffel Tower...It's just like Paris to let us wander into a square, listen to live music, find a seat at an outdoor cafe, and enjoy some hot sandwiches and wine while listening to sweet melodies (and alternating who chases after the little guy)...We probably spent more time in parks on this trip...Wandering Paris at sunset...The new buddies...Packing and traveling with 2 boys under 2.Can you spot the Eiffel TowerTo end our time in Paris we decided to wake Bryce up from his nap (against all the good parenting knowledge we know) and shoved a hair net and helmet on his head hoping he'd be excited to ride a pony...He was not thrilled...but we loved the photos anyway...The comparison of Bryce and his friend Henry's pony experience is polar opposites...So he spent his pony ride like this...Loved that our friends were able to capture this happy photo for us...Back in London- isn't this a Harry Potter building?...Making calls...We loved everything about our trip. Staying with friends, having our little guy with us, tasting loads of croissants and hearing some wonderful accents. Now we're just wishing we'd been there longer than a week! ~Erik & MarissaThe Ciccarellis Traveling with a Toddler Guide:-it's not as scary as it sounds!-bring a stroller for naps- once we left the flat in the morning we weren't coming back until bed so naps in the stroller were a must! We ended up getting a super cheap umbrella stroller just for the trip so it would be light and easy to pack ($20).-snacks! A TSA agent actually asked us why we had so many snacks (duh, they're for our baby!).-Target dollar section is your friend. We bought a lot of little things (dinos, erasers, stickers, etc.) and brought along old Medela bottles with lids to fill up and pour. We saved them all for the flight so they were new! This accounted for nearly half of his airplane entertainment along with books, videos of himself he likes to watch on our phones, and many trips up and down the aisle.-maybe our most important tip: keep your expectations low. Our trip was not like trips we took before Bryce that were full of tours from sun up to sun down, long dinners late into the evening and quiet museums. It was slow, full of loud parks and lots of walking, many stops for snacks, earlier nights in and meeting other families. It was a different kind of trip, but amazing just the same. Traveling with kids made us see things we would have missed otherwise, seeing new places through their eyes and trying to enjoy each moment like them.