Category: <span>Travel</span>

Two years ago, hubby and I agreed to go on a family cruise with his parents to celebrate his grandmother’s birthday. We had to bow out of that cruise unfortunately as we found out that we were expecting Sophia. We were sad to miss great family time and promised to make time as soon as we we could.

My in-laws were very accommodating and we settled on a cruise departing from New York to avoid flying with a young toddler. No flying meant I could take as much luggage as I wanted and we wouldn’t be challenged by airline delays. We boarded Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 shortly before Christmas for a relaxing vacation NYC-Carribean-NYC.

Before I dive deep into how we liked traveling with a toddler, I feel compelled to share how we managed to pack and organize ourselves. The only way we were able to organize, pack and maintain even a small amount of sanity was through extensive list making and any starting to pack two weeks in advance. The greatest challenge was to pack for both warm and cold weather since it was frigid in NYC and well into the 80ies three days later in St. Kitt’s. We had six pieces of luggage (1 for Sophia, 2 small, 1 medium, 1 large, and one collapsible that housed 100 diapers, baby meds, baby food and Sophia’s much beloved KiX cereal).

More on the trip itself in forthcoming posts.

Travel

What do you get for a man who has … well, everything? I don’t mean literally of course, but in reality, we’re very fortunate. We have a warm home, food, jobs and too many material possessions. I was seriously challenged in the gift department for hubby’s B-I-G 3-0. It finally dawned on me that perhaps at this stage in our life, the best gifts are experiences or gifts that enable experiences. Ephemeral gifts are often treasured because they are fleeting and we always treasure them just how we want to remember them in our minds.

I also realize that the most fortunate people in life, are those who can control their destinies by making their own choices. We may not always have all the information to make the perfect decision, but that’s part of life — making do with what you have.

So, the morning of his birthday, Sophia presented her papa with an envelope that contained a card and another envelope. The “other” envelope contained two envelopes. The rules of the present were this: you choose one envelope and return the other one to me. This way, he doesn’t get to see what he didn’t select. The first two envelopes were labeled “Romance” and “Adventure”. Inside “Romance” there was “Rustic” and “Luxe”. In “Rustic”, there was “Sticks” and “Stones” and in “Luxe” there were “Hot Pink” and “White”. In each of the Sticks, Stones, Hot Pink and White were destinations. The same went for Adventure. Stay tuned for what hubby ended up choosing…

Life Travel

When in doubt… always check the urban dictionary. Hubby and I got away this past weekend; away from the cooking, cleaning, the baby and just away on our own. My parents agreed to watch Sophia over Friday night and we headed to the Big Apple for some needed R&R. We headed just as Sophia was going down for her morning nap and came back right after her afternoon nap the following day (Saturday). Looking back, the getaway felt like it lasted a New York Minute as we made the most of it cramming it with either rest or adventure. It was so short in fact, that we took no pictures and just decided to be in the moment rather than capturing the moment.

Hubby planned the majority of the destinations based on some of my requests. There was of course the much needed shopping in SoHo, a visit to a few galleries and a dinner out. First things first, I really enjoyed Apothecary NK and Jacques Torres Chocolate and a small Saturday new designer’s market in the Village. I also loved the Forbes Galleries which had a lovely Walter Stuempfig exhibit. Incidentally, the artist was born in Philadelphia and painted several landscapes that we recognized. We visited the Strand which was amazing; We spent a fair bit of time there mostly salivating over rare and out of print books that had that [amazing, old and worn, read many times by many hands] smell. Hubby was especially eyeing this book (a 1st edition copy) though after me asking him about it, he passionately maintains that he does not want it.

Our time in the city went by too fast. We didn’t even have enough time to see a play. This trip was a perfect reminder that we should go out more often, enjoy life and remember that children are happier when parents are satisfied and feel self-fulfilled even if it means a night away from mom and dad. Our New York Minute was just short enough to allow us to witness our daughter’s first steps.

Culinary Adventures Life Travel

As promised, this blog documents not only our culinary adventures, but also our globetrotting escapades with little Sophia. We’ve documented our frequent trips to the Philadelphia area to visit our families and this summer’s shore trip. This past weekend marked our first trip further afield. Specifically, we traveled to West Bloomfield, Michigan to attend my cousin’s beautiful wedding. As Sophia is a little young and would probably make too much noise at the ceremony, we decided that she would spend the evenings with my amazing mother-in-law who traveled with us just for this purpose. Before I share the nitty, gritty of our first experience in airline travel with child, I must say that all went fine.

First, we took a flight from Baltimore (BWI) to Detroit (DTW) on Friday at 9:45 in the morning. We were renting a car in Detroit and visiting with family briefly before heading to our hotel for the mandatory afternoon nap. Much to my surprise and delight, Sophia held out for her morning nap until we boarded and promptly fell asleep as we were taking off. We weren’t so lucky on our trip back as the flight from DTW was taking off at 10 am and Sophia decided to sleep while we were at the gate and still only took a 20 minute nap. She spent the duration of our return flight playing and jumping and interacting with all of us until we were exhausted and she was hungry and ready for her afternoon nap. We got home on Sunday with just enough time to bathe the airplane grime off our little girl and put her to bed.

My general observations are that it is entirely possible to travel with an infant, although I am not sure I would travel with a small child and an infant. I would also dare not travel alone until the child could sit, stand and somewhat walk on their own. The amount of stuff we brought was significant and I doubt would decline until Sophia was potty trained and eating table food. All that said, I am happy we chose to attend the wedding as it was beautiful and the experience with travel with Sophia was enlightening. Looking back, we did the right thing and we will travel again. I grew up in a family that traveled, enjoyed and saw the world and so will my own family.

Lastly, I owe my wonderful mother-in-law a big thank you for traveling with us and leding a helping hand throughout the weekend while we went to the wedding.

Life Travel