Bike | Baby Carriers | Photography | Hydration | Accommodation
Gear for Your Everyday Adventure and Beyond
We thought it would be helpful to create a resource page where you can find all of our essential products for traveling with a baby and toddler. All of these products are items that we personally purchased, and we find them so useful in our everyday adventure that we want to share! As CZ grows, we will continually update this page with our newest favorites.
Bike
Once CZ had good head control, we put her on the back of JZ’s bike! We are currently car free, so we are avid bike commuters, and take them for longer weekend rides as well.
Yepp – Maxi Bicycle Child Seat – The Yepp Maxi seat grows with your child from 9 months to 6 years. We love it because of the five point harness, easily adjustable footrests, and integrated anti-theft lock. CZ loves it because she can easily point at dogs and wave at pedestrians.
RJays Mini Infant Helmet – This helmet is extremely adjustable, with a head width dial in addition to the chin straps. It was also the only helmet CZ wasn’t able to pull off.
Baby Carriers
We used baby carriers with CZ from the very beginning. A one week, our first outing, was to Target, nestled in the K’tan and snoring. Baby carriers are such game changers for everyday adventurers, as it expands your travel beyond the constraints of a pram/stroller. It did take several tries for her to get comfortable with each of our carriers, so don’t give up if your baby doesn’t like it the first (or third) time you try.
Baby K’tan Carrier – I love this carrier because it is easy to use (no crazy wrapping techniques), has soft fabric, and small enough to easily fit in the diaper bag. The biggest added bonus: I nursed CZ in this wrap for several months without having to bother with the hassle of nursing covers, and sometimes while hiking.
Baby Bjorn Carrier One – We lived in the carrier for several months of our lives. We used it for grocery store runs, festivals, hiking, and neighborhood walks. We chose this carrier for so many reasons and it has delivered on almost all of them:
- Easy to put on without help
- Adjustable straps so John and I can easily share it
- Wide leg position to help prevent hip dysplasia
- Built in infant support so you don’t need additional pieces
- Ergonomic and padded hip and shoulder straps – We found it very comfortable until CZ passed 20 pounds
Kelley Pathfinder 3.0 – As CZ grew bigger, the Bjorn became less ergonomic and put more of a strain on our backs, especially when worn for multiple hours. The Kelty came highly recommended by one of JZ’s coworkers in Charlotte, and there was much debate about buying our own to bring down under. We already had the K’tan and the Bjorn, but the this hiking carrier is in a class of its own. For extended hiking and other long periods of baby carrying this definitely a must. The only downside is that you have to wait longer to use it than the other two carriers on our list.
Photography
We met in the camera aisle of Best Buy so photography, along with all the gear and technical research that plagues most hobbyists, occupies a bit of space our life together. Starting with a point and shoot, upgrading to a Rebel XT, and finally to a 60D, we feel that we have found a good compromise between high quality gear and our budget. Here is a breakdown of what’s currently in our gear bag:
Canon 60D / 70D DSL Camera- The 60D is an 18MP crop sensor camera, with a great reputation as a “prosumer” camera. JZ likes it for the ability to run a bit more techie Magic Lantern firmware, and EZ likes the size, weight, and layout of the controls. We both appreciate the camera’s ability to capture good shots in a wide range of lighting, without the added weight of a full-frame DSLR. If you are on a budget, we recommend the 18 – 120mm “kit lens” that comes bundled with the camera, however, if you have a bit more to spend, grab the body only and pick up one or more of the lenses listed below. Also, we have a bag and different straps, but no solid recommendations on which ones to buy. You should definitely buy a strap that isn’t largely branded with an expensive because giant Canon straps let potential pick-pockets know the minimum value of your camera, when traveling.
Canon EF-S 15-85mm Wide Angle Lens – This is a great lens for everyday use, although its wide-angle did take some adjusting to. Fortunately, it also has a pseudo-macro capability so you can shoot great close-ups and detail shots. There is a slightly more expensive 17-55mm lens that is a little faster (has a better aperture for that blurry background and lower-light photos), but we are too happy with this one to part with the extra money. Both have image stabilization, which is a big plus.
Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 SP Di VC USD XLD for Canon Digital SLR Cameras – This is an excellent value for the money, and fills out our lens collection with the longer telephoto. It has image stabilization like the wide-angle, and makes a nice pairing with the wide-angle lens so we have coverage for the full range from 15mm to 300mm with two good lenses. The image quality definitely suffers a little a full zoom, full magnification, but you never look at full-magnification photos outside of editing anyway. Our photobooks are filled with amazing photos from this lens, and we love it for both portraits and wildlife shots.
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens – Fixed – We could go on and on about all of the gear and why we chose it, but to be concise I will say that this is a great, affordable lens that is incredibly popular among new and seasoned photographers. For the price, it is hard to beat. The f/1.8 aperture lets you get photos in lower-light, and while the autofocus is a touch slow, it gets the job done. We love pulling this out when we want to have more fun with the camera because losing the ability to zoom changes the way you take the pictures.
Gorillapod Focus Camera Tripod (Black/Grey) – We have a standard tripod as well, but it was far to inconvenient for us with the all of the baby/toddler gear required for our everyday adventures. The Gorillapod has multi jointed legs to fold and wrap easily. This tripod is perfect for wrapping around a pole or tree branch for great family shots with the self timer.
Hydration
CamelBak Podium Big Chill Water Bottle – Kind of random, but we have to share it because we have a ton of water bottles and only ever use our two Camelbaks. Simply the best water bottles for running, cycling, hiking, and general use.
Accommodation
Airbnb – 90% of our holiday accommodation is found using Airbnb. We love the idea of living like locals whenever we are traveling, and AirBnB makes that possible in a way unlike other accommodation options. We only choose entire homes/apartments that have numerous, credible, and recent visitor reviews, and so far, all of our stays were very successful. It is nice having the option to easily cook meals in the house, and many homes have little extra touches such as fresh flowers, breakfast in the fridge, and/or beach toys. If this sounds like something your family would be interested in, click the link to receive $29AUD off your first booking, and spend time living like a local on your next trip!
Finally, if you want to share your everyday adventure, this will help you start your site:
