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It’s officially Fall! It definitely doesn’t fe It’s officially Fall! It definitely doesn’t feel like it in Miami, it really never does but that just gives us a reason to explore other states. West Virginia is one of them, fun fact I actually lived here between undergrad and grad school! Here are Things to do in West Virginia (SAVE + SHARE): 

1. Enjoy New River Gorge National Park & Preserve, or visit any of the states 35 state parks as West Virginia has 1.5 million acres of parks and public land. We personally walked the Shavers Lake Trail and canoed on the lake. 

2. Enjoy some serious adventures! We’re always trying something new and West Virginia offers a lot of options from whitewater rafting, to 1,000+ miles of off-road ATV trails, to rock climbing, caving and mountain biking . 

3. Take a train ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad which stops at the Whittaker Camp where those who worked in the lumber and coal industry lived during the work season. 

4. Explore Cranberry Glades Botanical Area where you might just get to see some black bears! 

5. Walk the Falls of Hills Creak trail to get up close to some gorgeous waterfalls! 

This week I’ll be sharing various cities and states you can experience a beautiful Fall getaway. What are some of your favorite places to enjoy autumn?

Tap the link in my bio for my West Virginia blog post and a blog post of the best places to experience Fall in the US!
Still not over our day exploring the waters of For Still not over our day exploring the waters of Fort Pierce. We danced, snorkeled, fished and went tubing. Definitely want more days like this and still pinch myself that this is what a day of work looks like for me sometimes. Thank you @seadoo for the opportunity.
If you know my husband you know water activities a If you know my husband you know water activities are his favorite! Fishing, jet skiing, just being on a boat on the ocean relaxing, name it, he’s there. So we couldn’t be more excited than to not only get the chance to test out the new @seadoo Switch but be the stars of a whole commercial for it. We had entirely too much fun filming this. Of course now he wants to buy one!

Do you like getting out on the water? Favorite activity?
Our 3 Day London Itinerary (SAVE + SHARE): 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Day 1: Walked across the Tower Bridge (you can take a tour of London of Tower as well), walked along the River Thames and took a make a fascination hat class with @create_your_own_hat! 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Day 2: Harry Potter walking tour, checked out Borough Market and went on a night ghost bus tour. 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Day 3: Morning Tea at Peggy Porschen, Buckingham Palace for Changing of the Guards, and explore Westminster for the infamous red telephone booths, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

If you have more time on previous visits to London we have taken a day trip to check out Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle, rode the London Eye, took a ferry ride down the Thames River, checked out Warner Brother Studios, and did a graffiti/street art tour.

Is London on your list? If you’ve been what did you do that you think is a must for visitors?

Things to do in London, London with kids, family travel
Then vs Now (swipe left)!🥹🥰 My babies are no Then vs Now (swipe left)!🥹🥰 My babies are not babies anymore. Where has the time gone? Excuse me while I go cry in the corner 😭😭😭😭. 

Too in my feelings to provide an informational post, I’ll be back tomorrow.
Why is this man always trying to stop my fun? List Why is this man always trying to stop my fun? Listen replace husband with whoever you need to but why these ppl keep acting like we can take our money when we’re gone?!? Y’all feel me or nah? 😅😬😩
Morning Tea in London! Afternoon or High Tea is us Morning Tea in London! Afternoon or High Tea is usually on everyone’s things to do in London list but since the girls and I don’t eat beef or pork the menus for most places didn’t make sense for us as they are filled with ham sandwiches and other things we don’t eat. I ended up finding Morning Tea at Peggy Porschen instead which offers a tea menu with breakfast items, while not traditional it worked best for us! It cost £35 pp.

For a traditional Afternoon or High Tea Try:

🫖Palm Court at The Ritz
🫖The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon at Fortnum & Mason
🫖Theatre Royal Drury Lane
🫖The Grill Room Hotel Cafe Royal (has vegetarian an vegan options)
🫖Coronation Afternoon Tea at Cellarium, Westminster Abbey
🫖The Rosebery Coronation Afternoon Tea at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
🫖The Goring Hotel

Afternoon Teas Geared Towards Families:

☕️Peter Pan Afternoon Tea at Aqua at The Shard
☕️Jurassic Afternoon Tea at the Ampersand Hotel
☕️Jungle Book Afternoon Tea at Brown’s Hotel
☕️Secret Garden Afternoon Tea at Taj 51
☕️The Buzzy Bees Afternoon Tea at St. Ermin’s Hotel
☕️Grover’s Children’s Tea at Grosvenor House Hotel
☕️The Peppa Pig Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
☕️Sherlock Holmes Inspired Afternoon Tea at the Mind Palace
☕️Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tea at One Aldwych
☕️Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea at The Sanderson
☕️Wizard of Oz Afternoon Tea at The Soho Hotel

Have you done a proper Afternoon or High Tea in London before? Was the one you did on this list, if so what did you think of it? If you have additional recommendations please do leave a comment!

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6 Tips for Traveling With Breast Milk Without Your Baby

October 5, 2016      Tips on Traveling with Kids, Trip Planning Tips

This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more information. All opinions are my own.

Breastfeeding and traveling without your baby? What’s the best travel breast pump, how to pump on the plane, what’s best cooler for traveling with breast milk, how to fly with breast milk and how get your breast milk through TSA? I cover it all in these 6 tips for traveling with breast milk without your baby.

Traveling with Breast Milk: Where to Pump at the Airport

If you’re traveling with breast milk without your baby you’ll probably need to pump at the airport. Some airports now have nursing pods made by Mamava. They are private, clean, and have outlets so you can plug in your electric pump. In addition to airports they have a few locations at stadiums, malls, and hospitals. Find locations here or download the Mamava Lactation Suite Locator from iTunes. Check out these other apps that help make travel easy.

nursing pod in the airport

inside of a nursing pod

Disclosure: “Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support, it’s much appreciated.”

You may be interested in reading: Is My Baby Too Young to Fly?

The Best Travel Breast Pump

For traveling I always pack my single pump as it’s easy to travel with. It also makes pumping on the plane and in cars a breeze. On my first trips without my eldest daughter I used the Lansinoh Manual Breast Pump to pump on the plane in my seat. It’s a manual and very quiet which I liked, however it was hard on my hands. As my breast pumping journey continued I discovered the Evenflo Single Electric Breast Pump. I think it’s the best travel breast pump as it can be used with batteries or being plugged in. Either way you save your arms, that manual pump is a work out!! It is louder since it’s electric but the results are great and you can use it anywhere. I have also heard good things about this Medela travel breast pump but haven’t personally used it.

The Best Travel Breast Pump (1)

How to Use a Breast Pump on a Plane

So how did I pump on the plane? On my first flight I was lucky enough to be sitting at the window seat. My husband sat next to me and I used a jacket to cover myself. Unfortunately I wasn’t always lucky enough to get a window seat and I didn’t always travel with my husband. I have pumped on the plane with a stranger sitting next to me and they never noticed, or at least they didn’t give me any dirty looks.


 

Traveling with Breast Milk: How to Store Your Milk on the Plane or Long Car Ride

When traveling with breast milk I bring a cooler to store milk in and bring two gallon-sized zip-loc bags. After I’ve passed security I ask a restaurant to fill up my bags with ice. If it’s a long flight sometimes I will ask the flight attendants to refill my bags if the ice melted. If you have freezer packs you can use those as well. Just test them out first to see how long they will stay cool. When on road trips you can stop at a gas station or fast food restaurants for ice if your cooler packs get warm. The best cooler for traveling with breastmilk is a soft cooler.


Traveling with Breast Milk: How to ​Store Your Breast Milk at a Hotel

If you don’t see that your room comes with a mini fridge call the hotel to confirm. If it doesn’t come with one let them know you will be pumping and need somewhere to store your milk. This is what I did when my husband and I traveled to The Bahamas. Most hotels have mini fridges they can put in your room even if it doesn’t normally come with one. This was the case for me when staying at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.  The hotel even gave extended check out for free so I could use the fridge until I was headed to the airport.

If your room doesn’t come with a fridge and they can’t provide one ask the hotel to store your milk in their fridge/freezer. I had to do this while staying at a hotel in Cancun. I pumped my milk into storage bags and put them in a gallon sized zip-loc bag with my name on it. Room service came each day to pick the milk up and store it until I was checking out.

You may be interested in reading: 8 Tips on Traveling with Babies

How to Clean Your Pumping Supplies on the Plane, in the Car or at a Hotel

After using my travel breast pump I clean it with either the Medela Quick Clean Wipes or the Medela Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags. The quick clean wipes are best used for cleaning your travel breast pump on the plane as you just wipe them down. You need a microwave and water to use the Quick Clean Bags so they are best used at a hotel. Each bag can be used 20 times.  There are 20 boxes on the back of the bag you can check off to easily keep track. For one day’s use you can put your pumping supplies in the fridge in between pumps. However, it’s best to clean them after one full days use or after each use if you don’t have access to a fridge.


 

Traveling with Breast Milk: How to Get Through TSA

Prepare Your Breast Milk for Easy Inspection

When traveling with breast milk it’s important to know breast milk is allowed in all quantities and does not have to follow the general TSA rule of 3oz or less for your carry-on. Do let the TSA screening agent know that you are traveling with breast milk. Have your milk separated from the rest of your liquids so it can be easily screened. Be prepared for the TSA agent to do additional screening on your milk. They will put it in a testing machine but they should not open it!

In my experience with traveling with breast milk TSA usually only tests 1 bottle or storage bag even if you have multiple bags. Since so many people do not follow the 3oz liquid rule the line for additional screening can be long. Be sure to get to the airport with at least an additional 30mins when traveling with breast milk. Ice packs, freezer packs, or frozen gel packs are also allowed in your carry on or cooler but if they are only partially frozen or slushy they may also be put through additional screening.

What to Do if  You Encounter a Problem

I have never had an issue traveling with breast milk throughout the U.S. but did when traveling home from Cancun. The TSA agent said I wasn’t allowed to travel with breast milk without my baby. Ummmm hello, I have all this breast milk because I don’t have my baby! If this happens to you stay calm and ask to speak with a supervisor.

Carry a printed copy of the TSA rules directly from their website in the event you encounter any issues with the supervisor or one is not available. If you are still having issues have them call a representative from the ticket counter of the airline you are flying to intervene. I have never had to go this far in the two years I have been traveling with breast milk.

Did you find this article helpful? Please share it and help another mom find the best travel breast pump and be prepared for traveling with breast milk.

The Traveling Child is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

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Comments

  1. Allison says

    October 18, 2016 at 6:33 am

    Very informative ! Thanks

    • rush essay says

      April 11, 2017 at 11:34 pm

      I love all of it! I love the different information and how they are all explained in the post. I will see if there are other post that may have a similarity in this post or if there are any blogs that have the same goal and that is to inform the different types of people to have a safe trip with their kids. I wish that it will help those people that are in need of this post. This can make their trip more fun and memorable in their hearts and minds.

  2. Gillian says

    May 22, 2017 at 12:30 am

    Great article and thanks for the tips. I’ll be travelling across the country (it’ll be 9 hours of flights/layovers) and will spend 4 days and 3 nights away from my little one who will be 7-months old by then. It’ll be my first time being away from her for more than 12 hrs!! What size cooler would you recommend I travel with? I’m thinking to bring the smaller Medela one that came with my pump for the flight but after so many days of pumping I’ll need something larger. Also, would you recommend taping the cooler shut and packing it in my checked luggage at the end of the trip or its best to carry it on?

    • Monet says

      May 31, 2017 at 11:44 am

      Gillian,
      So sorry for the delayed response as we were traveling. Thank you, so happy you find it helpful! I’m not sure how much you will be producing then but I still think the small cooler that comes with the Medela will be too small for 24hrs of pumping for 4 days. I personally wouldn’t check my milk, airlines lose so many things my milk is not something I would chance. I typically freeze all my milk and that helps it to stay cool and then after passing security I fill ziploc bags with ice and lay on the bottom and top of my cooler and the milk stays frozen since there would be so much of it. I have a friend who just traveled for her anniversary for a week and she used dry ice. As far as the size of cooler I would maybe buy a few sizes and if you have a freezer stash now pack the amount you think you would pump during that time into the different sizes to see what works best. If you don’t already be sure to freeze them flat with no air in the bag as it allows for more to fit. Hope this helps!

  3. Tish says

    February 4, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    I just came back from Cancun and my experience pumping and storing my milk was very easy and effortless! TSA seemed to know the drill and i had no problems getting through. I bought a soft backpack cooler to hold my milk while out on excursions and while traveling on the plane. Also my manual pump became my best friend. I also plugged my electric pump up in the airport and just put my breast-feeding cover that I use to cover my baby over me while I pumped.

  4. Lathyra says

    May 30, 2018 at 12:54 am

    Thank you so much. This was truly helpful!

    • Monet says

      May 30, 2018 at 8:00 am

      You’re very welcome Lathyra!

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Hi! We’re The Hambricks

Hi! We’re The Hambricks

If kids live there, kids can visit! That's our motto and you'll often find us exploring destinations most don't find "kid friendly". We've traveled to 35 countries on 6 continents with our children since they were 10 weeks old and share tips to make it easier and affordable. But mom and dad are people too so we also write about solo travel, baecations and girlfriend getaways.

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