We found out the hard way back in 2009 – read about our experiences, and especially our mistakes, so you can avoid making the same ones.
My partner and I have both been backpacking countless times over the years, both separately and together. You could definitely call us seasoned backpackers.
In 2008, Lise got pregnant, and we had a wonderful little boy. Naturally, he had to be introduced to the life of his travel-hungry parents with a trip. So when Sebastian – that’s our son’s name – was just six weeks old, we set off on an adventure together.
We figured it couldn’t be that bad. After all, we were experienced backpackers and had always approached travel with the mindset that we’d figure things out along the way. Easy – or so we thought. Turns out, it wasn’t quite that simple.
The planning
As new parents, we didn’t want to run off to Asia as our first destination with a newborn, so we decided to stay in Europe. We ended up choosing Alghero, a town on the island of Sardinia, Italy. At the time, Ryanair had just started offering pretty cheap flights to Alghero.
Besides booking the flights, we also reserved a hotel room for the first couple of nights. We brought a small laptop with us so we could easily search for a new place to stay while staying at the pre-booked hotel. Before leaving, we had checked hotel availability, and it all looked fine – so we didn’t expect any problems finding places to stay along the way.
In addition to booking the hotel and flights, we also decided to rent a car. It would give us the freedom to explore more than we could have with public transport. After all, we had quite a bit of gear to bring along for the little one.
I’ll admit – we were both a bit nervous about what it would be like to travel with a baby. But since we’d both done so much backpacking, it didn’t seem like a big deal (well, not to me at least). Three words sum it up: I was wrong!
The trip to Alghero
The flight to Alghero went smoothly. Our little boy turned out to be a great flyer – and the journey was relatively short (just 3 hours).
The rental car was ready when we arrived, and we drove to the hotel we had booked in advance without any major issues. Our first impression of the hotel was good. But we quickly discovered that a hotel room without any way to heat milk or store it in a fridge wasn’t exactly a great match for our little family. Our baby cried a lot due to the heat and colic.
After the first 24 hours with very little sleep and an unhappy baby, we started looking for another place to stay. By day two, we still hadn’t found anything. It turned out that Italian hotels and rental places were fully booked. Their websites just hadn’t been updated, so every time we called a place, it turned out they were already full.
On the road again
When it became clear that there was absolutely no sign of available accommodation anywhere we searched online, we decided to take a long drive (4–5 hours) and caught the ferry to Corsica (which is French).
The ferry ride was actually nice – finally some fresh air, and a son who wasn’t crying more than what you’d reasonably expect from a six-week-old.
We arrived in Corsica, hoping everything would start to get easier. By then it was afternoon, and we continued our long drive, looking for campsites with available bungalows or apartments with kitchens. But as soon as we started driving again, our baby started crying – again. Every single place we passed was fully booked!
After ten hours on the road, we finally found a hotel for the night. It was only a temporary solution – and while we were relieved to finally have a place to rest, our mood was at rock bottom. Both my partner and I were, to put it mildly, extremely irritable.
Finally, a Place to Stay
The next morning, we went online again, searching for possible accommodation. We wrote down a few places and decided to hit the road once more. We pulled into several campsites, but they were all fully booked. But patience pays off – and one of the last campsites on our list came through. The place was called “Bagheera.” Best of all, they actually had a place available for us to stay – unfortunately without air conditioning. Still, we were happy. We had finally found somewhere to stay!
Unfortunately, the joy didn’t last long. That first night was rough – extremely hot – and Sebastian, our son, couldn’t handle the heat, which meant very little sleep for any of us. As if that wasn’t enough, we realized we had left something important for Sebastian at the hotel we had stayed at the night before.
I now had to drive a total of 5 hours to retrieve the forgotten item. Not exactly the relaxing holiday we had imagined. When I got “home” to the campsite, my partner wasn’t exactly thrilled – Sebastian had cried all day long. We hadn’t even had the time or energy to explore the campsite or the surrounding area yet. Completely exhausted, we decided to check if a bungalow or a room with air conditioning had become available.
Our luck turns around
Finally, our luck turned! A really lovely bungalow had just become available that very day. It had air conditioning, three rooms, a fridge, and everything we needed. Pure luxury for a couple of backpackers! We moved in, and that evening we sat out on the terrace, enjoying the night for the first time on our trip – with a glass of cold, delicious red wine.
The next morning, I was, as usual, woken by our son’s “natural alarm clock” when he started crying at 6 a.m. I picked him up and let Lise sleep a little longer. I made a good cup of coffee and took Sebastian outside to the covered terrace. I think it was the first time on that trip I thought, “We’re going to be okay.”
Sitting there on the terrace with my six-week-old baby, birds singing, the sun shining, surrounded by beautiful nature, and people slowly waking up around us – I truly felt alive and happy. I’ve always loved nature, and with coffee in hand, in those peaceful surroundings, watching the world quietly come to life, I felt completely present. It was everything all at once – and the best part was that our lovely little boy seemed to enjoy it too.
Those mornings became moments in my life I’ll never forget. An hour or two later, Lise came outside to join us. The day couldn’t have started any better.
Nothing lasts forever
I’m sure we all enjoyed our stay in the bungalow on Corsica. Unfortunately, we had to leave the Bastia region after just one week, as we were only able to rent the bungalow for that limited time. So we had no choice but to head back to Alghero (Sardinia, Italy). It wasn’t something we were looking forward to – by then, we had finally found our daily rhythm and weren’t ready to break it. We packed up the car and began the long journey back to Alghero. And it was with a heavy heart that I left that place behind.
The trip back to Alghero actually went okay, all things considered. Our son wasn’t exactly thrilled about the long drive, but he managed surprisingly well. We arrived in Alghero, where we had pre-booked a hotel. The hotel was dull, and the room wasn’t much to write home about either.
Going from being one with nature to suddenly finding ourselves in a bland hotel room was a jarring shift – and not in a good way. In fact, we ended up flying home a few days earlier than planned.
Lesson learned
So, what did I learn from this experience? First and foremost, I learned that traveling with a newborn is very different from backpacking without a child.
When you travel with a baby, it’s important to slow down – there shouldn’t be a long list of things to tick off during the trip. You need to take your time and simply enjoy being away – and for me, that was a major shift.
Since then, we’ve traveled many times with our son, and each time it gets easier – and more fun. It’s a new way of traveling, but it still feels like independent travel. I’ll never find joy in a package holiday with all-inclusive – it’s just not my style.
Traveling with a child as a backpacker is absolutely doable – you just have to accept that the conditions you travel under have changed. These days, I’d probably describe us more as independent travelers. The way we travel is still rooted in the backpacking mindset, but we plan more in advance and prefer more comfort than we did back in the ’90s, when I was backpacking solo.
