Travel Baby

Notify Family, Friends and Relatives

Before leaving on holiday, make sure that you give all travel information to your family and close friends. If anything should happen while travelling, multiple people know where you are and have a better chance of getting a hold of you and others who might need to reach you. Prepare photocopies of your passport, airline tickets, accommodation booking form. It might also help if you leave telephone numbers of where you are stopping just in case anyone needs to get in touch with you urgently.

Do you have a valid Visa and/or passport?

ALWAYS check your passport and ensure that you renew your visa or apply for one before departing. Make sure your passport does not expire within 6 months of your date of travel. A large majority of countries insist that your passport be valid for at least that time period or a year. Make a copy, in case you lose it while on vacation, you can send the copy to your Embassy.

E111 Medical form.

Still thousands of UK holidaymakers go on holiday without getting a signed E111 form from your local medical practitioner. This form is free and means that whilst you are in a country which is a member of the European community you will receive free or subsidised medical treatment. Be warned through this does not mean you are covered for return flights, transfers from destination to hospital, and pharmacy costs.

Travel Insurance

Millions of holidaymakers worldwide go on holiday WITHOUT travel insurance. How crazy can you people be, for the sake of completing a quick form, or telephone conversation you can be covered for any event whilst on holiday. It is so important that people get back in to the habit of buying travel insurance. The decline in holidaymakers taking out insurance is due to the increase in independent travelling, many UK travel agents insisted that you took out travel insurance as part of your booking.

Confirm your Reservations

Be sure your airline tickets and vacation rental booking is confirmed, otherwise you may have an unpleasant experience if the owners of the property are out of the country and have not left the keys. Visit the airport website, or if you are in the UK look on ceefax, or teletext for the latest flight departures and arrivals from UK airports to find if your plane is on time, back that up with a telephone conversation with the airline.

Location of the Vacation Rental

When making your booking, you may want to find out if the property is located near a hospital, chemist, police station etc. These services are great in an emergency, and it’s always good to know your way around before you arrive. You will find that most owners will have some literature about local doctors, chemists etc you never know what may happen whilst on holiday.

Buy a Destination Guide / Language dictionary.

Get yourself some travel books to know all the best spots, cheapest restaurants, best food, and hundreds of insights about your destination. You may want to write down some notes from the travel book relevant to the area you are visiting rather than taking the entire book with you to cut down on weight. Most importantly get a language translation dictionary and carry it with you. Learn a few essential terms in the native language of the country you are travelling to. People will appreciate and be a lot more helpful if you at least make an effort, it can also help you in an emergency.

Luggage Advice

Place photocopies of your identification in your luggage to help your airline or cruise ship to return it if lost while travelling. Another good idea is to get some masking, insulation tape or stickers and put it all over the suitcase, the worst start to a holiday would be to loose your luggage or get it taken by accident because its identical to another holidaymakers. Use your own padlocks instead of the padlocks supplied with suitcases. It is usually safer. Remember to keep the key(s) in your carry-on luggage., don’t do what I did and leave the keys in the suitcase!

Photocopy your Identifying Documents

Photocopy all documents and cards and store it in a secret place in your suitcase. If your wallet is ever stolen, you will know exactly what you have lost and will have all the telephone numbers to call to cancel credit cards and the credit card numbers, etc. at your fingertips. Or instead of photocopying all your important documents and carrying them with you, you can scan everything and email the images to your email account or family and friends as attachments.

Airport Transfers

Don’t forget to try and arrange your transfer to the vacation property before you set off. Worse thing that can happen is that it’s 11pm, and there’s no buses, and you have to pay a fortune for a hour drive to your accommodation. Most owners will have a contact for airport transfers, or there own management company will pick you up, there’s a charge, but it’s certainly cheaper than local taxi companies… it’s also safer.

Cash Safety.

Think of this scenario. You’ve just got to your hotel, and you see a nice bar over the road, you go to your pocket to get all of your foreign currency, and it’s not there! Your in a strange country, with a strange language and it’s your first day on a holiday you’ve been paying for all year. Please remember travellers cheques, order them before you go and you will not be in this scenario.

This article is not written to scare you but to put your mind on the important issues you will face when booking and organising your next vacation rental holiday. The best holidays I have had are ones where I have organised them myself.

Have fun.. but more importantly… BE SAFE!

By: Darren Cronian

The GR8X Baby Traveller bag is a unique diaper bag in that it contains a built in change pad for changing your baby.

This diaper bag is manufactured in Australia. This bag is destined to become the hottest diaper bag on the market within the next year.

It is starting to get some justified recognition. Recently on a review site called Baby Scoop it out rated all other diaper bags as the most versatile diaper bag on the market.

The GR8X Baby Traveller diaper bag takes some explaining but the most useful and versatile bag on the market. This diaper bag is less of a fashion statement, but totally useful and functional. It comes in 8 great colors and does back pack, shoulder and messenger carrying positions along with the ability to hang on a stroller.

For those that own this diaper bag it has become an amazing baby accessory. It helps moms and dads out of jams – since you can unfurl its built in change pad virtually anywhere… even on a bathroom floor (not fun but sometimes necessary).

With its built in diaper pad the Baby Traveller bag unfolds like a large “T” and baby lies on the bag, with his/her accessories on each side. When done, the bag folds into itself and forms into a neat backpack. Very cool.

It is essentially your portable diaper changing table. For parents on the go, it’s a dream bag that not only includes the built in changing pad but has several convenient pockets for all of your diaper changing essentials, such as pockets for diapers, wipes, a change of clothes and little baby toys. It also has an insulated bottle holder that often came in handy.

Imagine being at a place where there is no washroom, or where the washroom has no change table, or if they have one it may be filthy – all you do is fold out the change pad, lie baby down and change their diapers. You can change your child anywhere – people have used this bag and it’s built in change pad to change their baby’s diapers on the sidelines of sports fields, changing room floors, and park benches – total flexibility.

The GR8X Baby Traveller comes with an additional changing pad, which can be replaced when you have those messier changes.

The design is simple and stylish, and does not look like a typical diaper bag. The back pack function allows free hands and is quite comfortable if you are carrying it for long periods of time.

By: Joseph Peterson

Now that your bundle of joy has arrived, it is your responsibility to keep her safe and healthy.

Immunizations/vaccinations protect your baby from serious and some life-threatening illnesses. They boost your baby’s immunity and help her make antibodies to combat infections.

Some vaccination myths busted

If all the children in his school are immunized, my child cannot get sick.

The chances of acquiring an infection are reduced if everyone else is immunized. But imagine what would happen if everyone had the same bright idea! Protect your child with a shot and help prevent the spread of disease as well.

Vaccines often cause the diseases they are supposed to prevent!

Vaccines are prepared using killed or weakened germs to prepare your child respond to the ‘real’ ones. Vaccine-induced disease is extremely rare.

My baby need not be vaccinated against the diseases, which are uncommon in my geographical region.

Germs know no geographical boundaries. They can spread via travel and immigration. If your child is not protected against a particular disease, he can acquire it if exposed to the germs.

Too many shots will overburden my baby’s immune system.

A normal baby’s immune system is equipped to handle vaccines as well as the natural microbes she is exposed to everyday.

ABC of baby’s first shots

The DTaP vaccine defends your child against three diseases: Diphtheria, an infection that blocks the airways and can affect the heart and nerves, Tetanus or ‘lock-jaw’ and Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough.

Three common infections Measles, Mumps and Rubella (German Measles) are taken care of by the MMR vaccine.

Hib vaccine prevents meningitis, a serious infection of the membranes covering the brain caused by a bug called Haemophilus influenzae (Type b).

PCV vaccine protects your child from pneumonia, meningitis and other serious infections that can be caused by another germ Pneumococcus.

You need to vaccinate your child against Hepatitis B (Hep B vaccine), a viral infection that can cause chronic liver diseases like cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Polio, an infection with serious complications like paralysis can be averted by the IPV vaccine or Oral polio drops.

Your child might also be given the varicella vaccine for chickenpox and annual flu shots to thwart influenza.

Confirm the immunization schedule with your doctor, since it may vary in different countries. Maintain an immunization card for your baby to know which shot is due, when. Marking those important dates on your calendar ensures you don’t forget them.

You will also need this record when you enroll your child in a baby-care center or school.

What about immunization side effects?

Most babies will only have minor immunization side effects like fever, soreness at the injection site or mild rash. An ice pack applied to the site will reduce the swelling. You doctor might prescribe acetaminophen or ibuprofen to reduce fever and pain.

Serious allergic reactions are very rare and occur within minutes to hours of the shot. Call your doctor immediately if you observe any difficulty in breathing, wheezing, fainting, weakness, hives or excessive crying.

Vaccinations may be an unpleasant experience for your baby (more so for you), but a few tears now will go a long way in keeping her healthy all her life.

By: Michelle Higgins