Tag: vivienne

• Packing for urban (and beach) travel with a 3-month-old

  

  We landed on our big-picture luggage strategy for Vivienne’s first trip, and our car seat versus no car seat decision (who wants to drive?), so now let’s look at some of the smaller stuff. As a reminder, we’re going to be operating with one large 85L check-in bag, a Patagonia 30L carry-on backpack, another smaller carry-on bag, and the Ergobaby Metro 3 travel stroller. Below is a mostly comprehensive list of the other, less-obvious things we’re bringing. Most of what you see pictured will be going in my carry-on backpack.

  Pictured (from left to right):

  • Baby carrier for urban exploring on foot
  • Portable fan that attaches to our travel stroller (charges via USB-C)
  • Diaper pack cube with 20 diapers and a fresh pack of wipes (this is going in our carry-on just in case we once again become quarantined at Brest Airport and we can’t buy diapers for 24-48 hours)
  • Smaller packing cube with clothes, burp cloths, and other important stuff for Vivienne
  • Smaller diaper bag that we’ll use for diaper changes (instead of carrying the bigger diaper pack everywhere)
  • AIAIAI headphones for the plane (these will get cut if we end up short on space)
  • Various chargers and cables
  • Plane and beach reading material (including Monocle’s summer newspaper, Med, Mountains & More)
  • Fujifilm camera (it’s been a while since I’ve taken this out)
  • GoPro, and selfie stick, which also doubles as another stand for our baby monitor (these are liable to be cut as well)
  • Cycling cap and cycling shoes not pictured here (plan is to do some road biking even though I’m the furthest thing from conditioned this summer)
  • Vivienne’s brand-new passport, where she could pass for George Costanza (reminder that I don’t love Canada’s most recent passport design)
  • MacBook Air (I used to carry my Pro around everywhere; this is a game-changer for weight)
  • Memory card reader
  • Sunglasses (including a pair for cycling)
  • Handheld luggage scale
  • Apple USB-C European plug block (we picked one up a few years ago for simplicity)
  • Baby monitor travel stand (for the Nanit)
  • 2 x universal travel adapters
  • Laser distance measuring device so I can nerd out about European built form
  • 45W battery pack with USB-A and USB-C plugs (note, this cannot be checked and must go in a carry-on)

  Not pictured:

  • Change of clothes for the flight in case we are victims of a blowout
  • First aid / pharmacy kit for Vivienne
  • Breast pump apparatuses & bottles
  • Pacifiers and clips
  • Disinfecting surface wipes for diaper changes on the go
  • Doggie bags and Ziploc bags for wrapping up dirty diapers and other such things
  • Floating pool lounger with sun shade for infants
  • Portable beach tent for Vivienne
  • Portable sound machine (charges via USB-C)
  • AirTags in our checked bag and carry-on

  2026.08.30

• Navigating cities through a stroller lens

  I love to travel and I try my best to be efficient at it. Pre-kid, Bianca and I would leave for weeks with just two carry-on suitcases and a laundry event at some point in the middle of the trip. But now we’re planning our first trip to Paris and Nice with Vivienne (she’ll be ~3 months old) and this has forced us to rethink our entire operation.

  I have spent more time than I care to admit researching travel strollers and super-light car seats and thinking about how best to navigate the places we are going. It’s an expensive world that I didn’t really need to know about.

  All of this is still to be tested out in the field, but here’s where we’ve landed:

  • Our two carry-on suitcases have been consolidated into one larger 85L checked bag. This is about freeing up our hands as much as possible.
  • I’ve swapped my personal item for a Patagonia Black Hole Mini MLC Pack (30L). MLC stands for maximum legal carry-on. This is not a referral link. I just like the bag. My business partner introduced me to it.
  • We got an Ergobaby Metro 3 travel stroller from family that we’ll be using. It fits into overhead compartments. Unfortunately, it’s not compatible with our car seat, and so we came close to buying a second and lighter travel-only car seat (along with the requisite travel stroller adapters). This felt wasteful. We scratched the car seat. I was also not excited about lugging it around.

  I think this is as minimal as we can be.

  We almost exclusively take the train and walk in Paris (though I have caused chaos in their traffic circles before) and, for Nice, I found a ride-hailing app called SIXT that allows you to reserve rides in advance and add in a car seat for newborns. The main reason we debated a car seat is because where we are staying in Nice is a little out of the centre and we would have wanted to Uber. Now we’ll just test our luck with SIXT and Vivienne’s capacity for long walks on steep inclines.

  It’s amazing how differently you start to think about cities and places when you’ve got a stroller to contend with and an infant with limited neck strength. If any of you have any tips, please leave a comment below.

  2026.08.10