i've been reading all the guides and blog posts about travel, but wanted to ask the bees as well!
we're taking a 2 hour ns flight to myrtle beach for my 30th birthday in a couple of wks and i will take ANY and ALL tips on travel/beach vaca experience with a babe! 
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
Did you get a beach play tent yet?? I would ship it direct there if buying online.
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
Get some sort of tent/ shade structure for the beach. It will take a lot of stress off of you. Obviously I also used sunscreen and rash guards but added shade is always good for sensitive little skin. If you want to bring him in the water go SLOW. M ended up loving the water but we had to introduce her very slowly because she was hesitant.
I don't have great advice on planes because M has always been really easy. I give her the boob at take off and then the combo of the motion/white noise of the plane makes her sleep until landing.
We are going to the beach next weekend and the flight doesn't even take off until after bed time. I praying I don't have an overtired baby meltdown on my hands : /
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I would research what grocery stores around you deliver and set up a shipment to reach your destination when you arrive. Get things like diapers, wipes, sunscreen, toiletries too, so you can pack the sun shade/tent in your checked baggage.
I'd have a game plan for your car seat, assuming you will be renting a car or somethng at your destination?
Also, pack or buy talcum powder, it's great for getting sand off baby feet!
And one other thing, I just ordered my son an intergrated swim diaper/swim trunks thing from One Step Ahead, and they're 50% off!
nectarine / 2242 posts
We just got back from a week at the beach with our 10 month old, two things we found -
- for us, the beach tent was a waste, it was a pain to set up and take down and kept blowing away. We ended up buying a beach umbrella when we got there, which provided more than enough shade for a blanket to play on. Next time we will probably just rent an umbrella for the week.
- naps on the beach were impossible for my daughter, there was just way too much to look at, so we ended up going down to the beach early, coming back to our hotel for a nap, and then hitting the pool in the afternoon after lunch
- we needed WAY less bathing suits for her than I thought. I think I had bought like 5 since we would be there all week. those things are TINY and dry so quick, you would be fine with just 2. the ones with rashguard tops are awesome since it is way less to sunscreen.
honeydew / 7235 posts
Totally agree with everything @woohoo585: said!
Beach tent thing was a waste and a pain - we use a good old umbrella. Rash guard shirts are awesome - I also got a big UV hat that LO will mostly keep on his head and it covers a lot.
Buy a big thing of sunscreen and lather him up BEFORE you get to the beach, then reapply as needed.... We brought the stroller to try to do naps in there but didn't work, so home for naps.
Be prepared for you all to be covered in sand, covered! And have fun!
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6581 posts
Awesome timing on this post; it looks like we will be taking an 8 month old LO to CA in march for the beach! @mrsjyw: what's your stroller/car seat situation? Are you bringing both? Checking them? Of course, you may have no idea, hence the post... 
pomegranate / 3768 posts
subscribing! planning to take DD on her first beachy vacation in a few months.
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
Aw yay, we just came back from Ocean Isle (and had a "Ladies Luncheon" in Myrtle Beach!)
I don't really have any advice, though. We rented a beach house with DH's family and we drove, so we could over pack for E.
E HATED the beach. Screamed whenever his feet hit the sand. When we put him down on a shaded blanket he walked over and yanked at which ever adult was closest until he was picked up. He didn't mind being on the beach...as long as he wasn't physically touching it, lol. He liked being walked around in our backpack carrier (or in the stroller--ps if you bring a stroller onto the beach make sure to rinse it off, particularly the tires area). Our house did had a pool, though, and he LOVED that.
We mostly dressed him in trunks, a rash guard and a hat, plus sunscreen. He was in the sun a lot, so I kept a full water bottle handy.
pomegranate / 3414 posts
Expect your LO to eat the sand. DD was 14m when she went to the beach the first time, hated the ocean (I think the waves scared her) but she loved the sand.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
@hellobeeboston: @woohoo585: thank you! we weren't planning on buying a beach tent because our resort provides huge umbrellas at the beach!
@Bookworm: we are going to rent a carseat with our car rental (less hassle) and we'll likely only be driving minially to/from airport. since our resort provides shuttles to the beach. for stroller - we will be buying an umbrella stroller. haven't decided if we're going to buy at our destination and bring back with us so it's one way (gate check) or if we'll buy here and take it-- dh says he won't mind babywearing for our first leg of the trip and says we should buy there, so we're leaning towards that...
i am def planning on boobing it for the ascend/descend on flight. i learned from one of my twitter friends that you can bring water/ice packs through security (use baby as excuse).
we bought a blow up bathtub, travel high chair, a pool float w shade, requested a pnp, and plan on taking monitor/toys/marpac.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
@dolphin: @Bookish: hey mamas-- just wanted to report back from our trip!
DS did amazingly well both flights and the week there, and I'm so glad we went!
We ended up taking our stroller (we have a graco literider so it wasn't too heavy)... I plan on investing in a nice UB Gluxe soon, so I decided to take the one we had and not worry about damage. etc.
It was a 2 hour flight (1.5 on the way back because we ended up early!), and we timed it to leave ourselves 1-5-2 hours at the airport before takeoff. Worked out perfectly! Got through security and baggage checked with no rush and had time to eat breakfast on the way there. We were also able to bring over two bottles of aquafina (using the baby as an excuse) NO problem. I carried him thru the old xray machine.
We had the stroller with us and gatechecked it- worked out great for transportation in the terminal and easy access when we got off the flight.
My one regret (tho it worked out ok since we didn't drive much) was renting the carseat. THEY WERE JANK. We only had a 10 min ride to our hotel, but if we ever go anywhere where we had to use the rental car often, I'd DEFINITELY ship ours.
We didn't buy a travel boppy, glad we didnt because our neck pillows worked out great We nursed on the way up and DS fell asleep before we even reached altitude and woke up as we were on the descend on both flights! I also packed mumums and annie's bunnies for him to eat/suck on the way down. (Didn't nurse on the way down). He had no problems! There were actually 19 infants on the flight there!! CRAZY and they all did well!
As for the beach itself, DS def loved the sand and it drove DH crazy to keep as much sand out of his mouth as possible, but it's a losing battle! We didn't take him into the ocean, but there was a sand bar with calmer water and DS loved it!
I alos highly recommend the infant tube with shade for the pool, DS is def water baby and loved being in the pool and it also made it easier on us not to have to carry him in the pool.
We had a couple of cloudy days so we mini-golfed and shopped on the boardwalk. We took our beco and LOVED IT. DH wore him and they both enjoyed it and made it a real convenience on us too!
I def am glad we bought the travel high chair, bath tub, and our sound machine/monitor. DS did SO well in the PNP (he STTN like at home!! he usually sleeps like $hit away!)
I went grocery shopping the first night we were there after DS went down and got all our food in for the week! It was def nice having a full kitchen and the 2 br for after DS went down so DH and I could enjoy time together too!
I probably overdid it on the new toys, cuz he was more interested in the cups, magazines, remote controls in the resort, etc.
Sorry for the novel-- enjoy your trips!
pomegranate / 3768 posts
@mrsjyw: thank you for the update! we survived our first flight with baby too! flew from chicago to jersey last weekend and DD did great. she only slept for 15 minutes on the way there but she was happy just looking around. i was so afraid she was gonna get all cranky from being overtired but luckily she was okay. on our return flight she slept for almost an hour and half (two hour flight). we also gate checked our stroller/car seat and i nursed during take off on both flights. virtual high five for first flight success!
i'm so glad to hear you guys had a fabulous time in myrtle beach! DH and I were just talking about taking DD on a beachy vacation when she turns one in december. we weren't sure though if we could fully enjoy and relax with a baby in tow at that age or if it's better to just wait until she's a bit older. did you find it challenging at all or were you and your DH fully able to enjoy/relax?
btw, happy 30th birthday!
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6581 posts
@mrsjyw: thanks for the update!! We are definitely going to the beach in march, so I'll be favoriting this to read again in a few months! I'm glad you had fun!!
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