Traveling without Baby

[scotty138]

DH is going to San Francisco on a business trip the first week in October and invited me to come along. My parents offered to take care of both kids and all of our animals, so it will hopefully be a stress free vacation. I have plenty of milk pumped but I don't know what to do when I'm there. I plan to bring my pump and a manual pump. We will have a mini fridge, but I'm not sure about a freezer. Am I just going to have to pump and dump? We will be gone 5 days. The idea of dumping all of that milk makes me cringe but I don't know how to get it home cold enough.

Also, DH will be working during the day and I will be alone. Any recommendations for fun things to do alone in San Francisco?

[Deleted]

I know of lots of people who ship BM in freezer bags with dry ice or in a cooler with dry ice as a checked piece of luggage. I don't know how you go about getting dry ice... but they'll use it to ship it to post so I know it can keep BM frozen for at least a full day.

I'm also not exactly sure how long it works so if you don't have a freezer in the hotel room I'm not sure how often you'd have to replace the dry ice.

ETA we went to San Francisco for our honeymoon. Apparently we only took photos of Alcatraz. I don't remember anything else that we did there! I was pregnant with DD1 so wasn't an incredibly thrilling trip.

[URMySunshine77]

So excited about your trip! I would recommend visiting Golden Gate Park and the Academy of Science there. You could spend days at the park. Dolores park has some beautiful views. Alamo square has a view of the painted lady houses. Alcatraz is a highlight but be sure to buy tickets ahead of time. The ferry building on a Saturday is fun with the farmers' market. Definitely walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

PM me with any questions because that's where we live!

[Courtniko]

I believe that some hotels will let you use a kitchen freezer? I have heard of people doing this, but it sounds iffy to me. You can ask for a fridge with a freezer for medical purposes, but the freezers normally are not so good in hotels.
I need to figure this all out because I will likley travel away from DS for 3 weeks in January. Other breastfeeding mom's at work have made it work, so I know that there are things you can do.
Are you driving or flying?
You could fill a cooler with dry ice (most grocery stores should have it) if you are driving. And replace the dry ice once or twice.
There are TSA rules allowing BM to be carried on, but you have to pack it a certain way, and have the printed rules with you (not in the same package as the BM) so when you get a TSA agent that does not know the rules, and will not let you get to the BM storage location you can show them the rules.
Or ship the BM home with dry ice.

It has been a while since I have been to SF, but I always enjoyed a sourdough bread bowl with claim chowder. Ride a trolly car. Visit Alcatraz for sure. Drive Lombard Street. There is so much to do there!

[minae01]

First of all, that is incredible! I'm so jealous. I could really use some time away with H. Enjoy!

My SIL went to Mexico earlier in the summer and just pumped and dumped to save the hassle of travel. She made sure she had enough pumped for her time away before she left. She also has high lipase, so she needs to scald the milk before she freezes it. It's a huge pita. I'm sure that played into get decision to dump it.

[scotty138]

I think I might just dump the milk from the first 3 days and keep the milk from the last two. Then I only have to worry about having enough ice packs to keep it cold until I get home.