As first time parents readying ourselves for the challenge of flying out to another country with our 6 month old infant, there were a few key concerns we sought to mitigate to help ensure we could have a safe, good time. The following were our key hurdles -
Ensuring a smooth flight
Perhaps one of the biggest concerns for us was the flight time and the flight itself being potential disruptors to our baby Bond's comfort, which would set the tone for the trip itself. Long story short, I have a very distinct memory as a young child experiencing immense ear pain for hours while flying and my parents not knowing what to do about it... I cried so much that eventually a rescue worker approached, investigated, and gave me a piece of gum to chew which immediately relieved my pain. To prevent this, we researched and found that for infants, pressure induced pain can be mitigated by sucking on a pacifier or bottle feeding... so we chose to align the flight time with his feeding schedule as closely as possible so that throughout take off and landing we could ensure him a pain-free journey.
Bond enjoying his morning meal on his first flight ever
It was also a nice surprise (ignorant parent) to receive a welcome care package from the attending staff, including apple sauce, diaper, bib, and wipes... the apple sauce proved to be useful for us because it turned into an alternative choice other than just milk he could snack on to relieve air pressure from his ears with.
In-flight baby care package
Bond enjoying a nice apple sauce treat on landing approach
A Light Stroller and Baby Carrier
Next, we figured we would require a new light stroller and a baby carrier. For normal everyday outings our go-to stroller is a hefty tank unsuitable to lugging around the whole day in transit. Mom found a really good one available on Shopee that fit the bill. Worth mentioning was an option we discovered to let the airline stow our stroller for us at the boarding gate, which allowed us to push (instead of carry) him around before boarding. If you go this route, they'll give you the choice of waiting at landing gate for 20 minutes to use again, or to pick up with your luggage at baggage claims. For us, leaving at the gate and picking up at baggage claims was probably the more flexible/efficient method - It didn't make much sense to use to carry on board directly, as it becomes another item you have to lug through with baby in tow since we also had a carrier.
With so much luggage in tow, convenience is key
Acquiring a Vehicle
Lastly was the issue of safely driving in Japan, which is on the left side of the road. We rented a mini SUV through OTS, which provided review material here. Applying for international driver's license was pretty straight forward through the local Taipei DMV. However, accessibility to the rental spot required dragging our luggage from the airport to the connecting shuttle (free) to get there, burning another hour before we could start our drive.
Covid and Immigration
Pre-registration of our covid documents before departure to speed up processing after arrival, saving the screenshot of QR code to scan clearance.