SRahill

Husband and I are about to embark on our first trip with a new baby at end of February/first of March (baby will be 4 months old). My husband will be attending a conference at the Moscone Center We are traveling with another couple. Would appreciate any tips for getting around the city with a baby (!).
We plan to rent a car at least one day to drive to Sonoma and will be using public transportation the rest of the time. We visited San Francisco two years ago and are aware of the high hotel prices and very dear parking. Would also like recommendation for hotel in $100-$150 range that is safe/pleasant/clean/convenient in the convention area. Lastly, any favorite restaurants (Italian, Greek, Chinese) that are inexpensive. Thanks so much!

kam

Plan to have a comfy back carrier and good shoes for mom or dad. You can take the baby on the Muni or cable cars....no need to have a car in SF itself. Know that you could find rain at that time of year. Moscone Center is pretty convenient either to the Union Square Hotels or to those near Market St. You don't give a budget figure. If I were to attend a convention at Moscone tomorrow I would want to stay at the Sheraton Palace Hotel---a turn of the century, but renovated grand old SF hotel. You can easily walk to Moscone Center. My favorite, very clean, no frills hotel, in North Beach is the San Remo. Wonderful people and spotlessly clean although not a whole lot of luxury. But, it's a neighborhood where you would feel OK about walking with the baby without husband. In Chinatown try the R&G Lounge or the big Great Eastern or wander around in North Beach and look for Italian restaurants. It's really interesting to me that I live very close to SF and don't know of one Greek restaurant in the city!! Maybe some other poster can help. There's a pretty upscale one down in Palo Alto, but it's not worth the trip down for you. You might research Mexican instead. I think our tourist site is www. sfvisitors.org and another is sfgate.com. Lots of info here. As I remember, a 4 monther pretty much eats and sleeps--it might be a really good time to take him/her on a trip! Good luck and search for the post about the Washington Post article about flying with babies---keep your sense of humor!

SRahill

Thanks so much for the information. Our hotel budget is pretty meager so I think the Palace is out of the question. We are looking at the Clarion Bedford near Union Square. Does anyone know anything about this hotel? We got a rate of $131 which seems really reasonable . . .

S

Remembering back to when mine were 4 months old, I'll have to agree, you're at the tail end of easy to drag along with you anywhere. Try to hit the restaurants fairly early when they're not as crowded. You and everyone else will appreciate it, especially if there is a problem with the baby. Start now by making sure the baby can sleep through ANYTHING. (i.e., don't tiptoe around the house during naptimes) Plan on using ready-to-use canned formula from home. Have the baby comfortable with a room temperature bottle.

Do a search on children or babies in planes. This subject has been hashed and rehashed innumerable times. Ignore all the flaming, but look for the suggestions for traveling with a baby. There are a lot of good ones. The piece of advice that would sum it up the best would be "Be Prepared." Have fun!

stephanie

The best item I've taken with me when traveling on a plane with a small infant (the last time with our then 3 mo. old) was a Baby Bjorn baby carrier. If you're not familiar with it it's a front carrier in which you can place the baby facing you or facing out toward the front (which they love, esp. if you're sightseeing because they can see everything.) It's the most comfortable of all the carriers out there (at least when I bought it, compared to all those sold at Toys R Us.) You can buy them on line by searching the name or find out where it's sold near you. It's more expensive than most, but so worth the money!! Mine was $75.

One of the best things about it is that if you don't buy a seat on the plane for the baby (Good for you if you do!) you can wear the carrier and put your baby in it on the plane. Better to have baby secured in something to protect against sudden unexpected turbulence in which the baby could go flying up off of your lap and hit the ceiling. I was also able to lay my baby on his back inside the carrier like a sling and placed a small baby pillow under his head - he slept great! It does help to have an empty seat next to or between you two. When you first get on the plane if you don't have a seat for the baby make it known that you're very interested in having an extra seat if available.

I would imagine and hope that you intend to take the baby car seat with you whether or not you have a seat on the plane for it - obviously for use in car, cab and restaurants.

Hope you have an enjoyable easy trip!!