We just got back last night from Paris, and since I'm wide awake at 5am, I thought I'd jot down my travel tips while still fresh in my head.

What I did that we loved:
1.  We packed light (sort of).  Only one suitcase and a small rolling duffel for my stuff and the kids' stuff, plus the pack'n'play and Christopher's sleeping mat. John brought a suitcase, but he had to  pack all these suits for his conference, poor guy.

2.  We took a single umbrella stroller.  I had been looking for a double, but couldn't find an appropriate one.  A single stroller, with a little practice, can get through the turnstiles on the Metro (it took a little practice, but if I sent Christopher under the turnstile ahead of me, he would push the door open and hold it as soon as I slid my card through, and then I'd send Natalie in the stroller under the turnstile, tipped practically parallel to the ground, and I'd follow through last, actually turning it.  I had to keep the bags hanging on the stroller on the left (or opposite side, if the turnstiles were based on the right) side, or else they would get caught on the pole on the arm coming from the under side).   They have lots of escalators and a few elevators, and we had to do quite a few steps, but there were often people offering to help, and when not, we just went down step by step, or I picked up the entire stroller and Natalie to go up the steps.

3.  We took a cloth backpack--the Chinese type that doesn't weigh anything.  My friend, Cathay, lent me one for Natalie, when she was an infant.  I lost it for a long time, but found it recently, and brought it along.  It was so light it wasn't a problem to keep it with us, and once or twice it was useful if Natalie wouldn't sleep in the stroller, or if Christopher needed to sit for a litt.e  We also invented the "double decker" position, where Natalie would sit on Christopher's lap in the stroller, and that would work for short stints, more to his liking than hers.

4.  We bought the book Paris with Kids, which had awesome info we didn't find anywhere else.

5.  We stayed 10 days, which was enough time to get over jetlag, and take things a little more slowly with the kids, rather than forcing them to endure endless sightseeing because we have to do it all in three days. 

6.  My valiant husband arranged for us to stay in apartment/hotels (more later).  It made life much better because we could eat breakfast at "home", pack a lunch, and cook ready-made suppers in the evening.  This was way cheaper than eating out every single meal (although we ate out enough).  These apartment hotels are way more expensive, but my husband managed to get a deal at about a quarter of the price--what can I say, he's the master travel agent!  We did have a single-room hotel the last two nights, and we spent the last few hours of the day chatting in the hallway outside our room after our kids were in bed.

7.  I took almost no toys, and only a few books.  I brought a pad of paper and Pipsqueak markers, the children's lovey animals, plus one doll.   Our toys on the 8hour day-flight home were the markers, paper, diaper wipes, the DVD control/phone on our airplane seats, some plastic disposable bowls I had bought in Paris, and a tin box, plus a few snacks.

8.  Doing laundry:  Washing clothes is more expensive (like 5-8 Euros, which is about 10 or more bucks), while drying is cheaper (about 1 Euro for 15-30 minutes), so washing in the tub and drying in the dryer are good, if the hotel is nice enough to have one--they dont' all have it). 

9.  Pack layers of clothing, to be able to adjust to the weather

10.  Visit Jardin d'Luxembourg.  It has the BEST playground and carousel I've ever seen in my whole life.  There were enough things for kids up to young teens, and I could have gone there every single day, not to mention the kids would have liked that, too. (:

Things to do differently:
1.  I would pack enough outfits for the children to wear each day of the trip (since they are small), and I plan to purchase some easy-dry clothes from Travelsmith catalog (I've only seen them in the catalog and have not browsed the website), so that doing laundry wouldn't be as big a deal.  I did get used to wearing some clothes for a few days--it wasn't pleasant, but not as bad as I imagined.

2.  If booking through Expedia or other internet service, call the hotel ahead of time, even if you've received the reservation confirmation by e-mail.   We have used internet services for years, and never had a problem, but this time, when we arrived, our hotel didn't have our reservation, but they put us up for the weekend in a sister hotel to honor our reservation printout.  On Monday they informed us that they actually didn't have a contract with Expedia directly, and that it was Expedia's job to find us a place (during the Rugby World Cup), and that they were full.  It involved wasting almost two days with the two kids, while I made calls, waited on hold, waited for calls, in the hotel room, the hotel lobby, or in a phone booth (this was the most humorous and trying, when you throw in the stroller).  We did solve the problem, but we had to move from hotel to hotel for a few nights until we were able to settle in one place.  So all that packing up and setting up with the two kids while my husband was in a conference was doable, did not ruin our trip, but it's not desirable to be repeated.   One trick they tried (while I was in the phonebooth) was to offer me a place while I was in the phone booth, without a map.  I declined until I could get back to the hotel to check it out, only to find it was an hour and a half away.  I had to go through about four different representatives before one actually did the job.  The silver lining in all this was that we got a better feel for different neighborhoods and hotel types in Paris.

3.  I would be more diligent (I really want to be) about teaching the children more in advance about what we were going to do, so they can get more out of it.   I did buy My Little Orsay at the Louvre kids book shop, and it was really helpful for enjoying the Musee d'Orsay, even though there were some pages we skipped over due to content. 

4.  I would pack an entire box of ziploc bags

5.  I would pack a foldable handled bag for carrying stuff to hang on the stroller

6.  I would bring a pillowcase for laundry

7.  If I were in an apartment hotel again, I would bring salt, papertowels (if I could fit them), possibly plastic picnic ware.

8.  I would carry on Benadryl with us on the flight over (most flights to Europe are overnight flights).  Natalie barely slept at all--yuck! 

9.  I would consider paying the hotel to let us in early the day we arrived.  Our hotel actaully did it for free because they had the room available, but it was so great to crash for a few hours when we arrived.  We all felt better, and we still slept like logs that night. 

10.  Sometimes I remember to do this, and sometimes I dont:  In the carry-on, I always take one change of clothes, and everything we'll need the next day, plus whatever we need for the flight.  What I forget sometimes is to pack all the in-flight needs in a satellite bag that can be easily removed from the carry-on suitcase when getting into the flight seat.  It's a good way to avoid the popping up and down to get this or that from the large suitcase, or worse, trying to remember what all I need and digging it out while the airplane is loading up with impatient people. 

Okay, no promises, but I will try to put some pictures on in the next few days of some of the FUN stuff.  I admit I have not yet solved my scrapbooking/blogging dilemma.  I love the paper scrapbooks, but they're so hard to keep up, so I do much of my journalling, etc., with blogging, but want enough paper pictures to have a nice scrapbook for our kids.  Our digital doesn't print out the best pics, so I use both cameras, but don't have the full story on either..... 

(:
Lori