I get asked this a lot. Sometimes the asker is genuinely curious, wondering if a trip is worth the money and time with a baby who won’t remember a thing. Sometimes, it comes as a judgy comment.

(Click through this sweet comic. I love it so much I ordered the print.)

You’re right. But we will.

We’ll remember how we were so nervous for her first flight, but she slept through the whole thing.

We’ll remember her tiny swimming suit and lounging under the cabana with her in Croatia on her first trip out of Italy. We’ll remember her little face pressed against train windows, taking her out for a late night stroll past the Colosseum, how we realized she could crawl in a hotel in Seville.

We’ll remember all the long meals and glasses of wine we had while she napped around the world, each of which felt more luxurious for the fact that she was napping and we were getting away with doing something “normal.”

Why travel with a baby?

She may not remember these trips, but she can still enjoy the moments. Do you not play with a baby or make their life at home enjoyable because they won’t remember it? We’re exposing her to new sights, sounds, smells, foods, languages while she’s learning to take everything in. She won’t remember, but it may still impact her life.

Why travel with a baby?

Because babies are sooo easy to travel with! They’re light and portable and sleep a lot! It’s gotten harder as she’s gotten older and more mobile.

To skip the security lines in airports (at least at every European airport we’ve flown out of).

On the flipside––traveling with a baby shows you just how inaccessible so much of the world is for strollers, wheelchairs, anyone with mobility issues, making you realize how ignorant (and lucky) you’ve been all your life.

Why travel with a baby?

To see the world through her eyes. To experience different sides of cities (more parks, more kid-friendly restaurants and museums). I know this will get better as she gets older. But even as a baby, it’s fun to see her delight in the world.

Everywhere we’ve been with Stella we’ve experienced differently than when we’ve been alone, partly because we’re moving slower and doing different things, and partly because it’s opening a side of people we never would have seen otherwise.

There was the barman at a hotel in Asiago who plucked her from my arms to show her the snow. The waitress in Copenhagen who gave her a kitchen tour at Popl. The restaurant owner in Sousse who introduced her to all the other diners and the violinist, and the concierge who took her on as his assistant.

I’ve always heard about how much Italians love babies, but seeing that play out has been an unexpected highlight of the past year. We are stopped in the street constantly so grandmas can coo at her. I would never have had the chance to speak with these fabulous old ladies otherwise. I’ve learned new phrases, new nicknames (how did I not know I could call her Stellina??), learned how to talk about her birth in Italian, learned that if your baby isn’t wearing socks even in 80-degree weather, grandmas will tell you she’s cold, but mostly learned that babies are loved and welcomed in almost all spaces, and that they really do bring light to people’s days here. It’s been really nice.

Why travel with a baby?

Sometimes, I worry that all the travel and lack of nap or eating schedule is selfish. I shared this with an American woman in Normandy who offered to hold Stella while we ate dinner. She and her husband gushed over her and told us how much they missed their grandkids back in Seattle. Stella was four months old at the time and sleeping on the floor of our hotel, under the desk. “Are we ruining her, by not giving her a routine?” I asked. The woman laughed at me. “This will be her routine!” she said. 🥹​

Why travel with a baby? She won’t remember it.

But we’ll remember visiting Lake Garda with Nathan’s parents, sitting on the hotel patio overlooking a gorgeous sunset while Stella stared into her grandmother’s eyes. Stella won’t remember getting dressed up and going to tea in London, but my mom and I always will. And my childhood friends and I will remember taking her wine tasting and to Christmas markets around Vicenza, welcoming a new member to the crew that’s existed since we were babies ourselves.

We’ll remember how flight attendants have always been so sweet to her, how so many strangers have doted on her, how people have been consistently helpful.

We’ll remember the blowouts at the worst possible moments, the delays where we had to get creative, the frantic diaper runs before the stores close, the stressful and hilarious mishaps that taught us how to do it better next time.

We’ll remember her kicking her little feet in the baby carrier like she’s walking, giggling at everything she sees.

And we’ll remember how excited she was the first time she splashed in the sea.

Of course we’ll remember that sometimes it was hard, and tiring, and we missed how easy it used to be, and wondered if it was all worth it.

But then we’ll remember her crawling across the massive mosaics in Tunis, being extremely chill about the cable car in Tirana, in awe of turtles at the Shedd, fascinated by the giant beer steins in Munich, going on a swing for the first time with a view of the mountains, and on and on and on.

This is our first time being parents. These memories are for us.

A way to keep kids off smartphones

To parent through the climate crisis, give up hope (this is uplifting, I promise)

How to watch a baby (so well done! Would love to see more publications use illustration like this)

Don’t be this type of vacation dad

A post shared by @rebeccaleeholland

Thanks for reading.

- Rebecca 💛