All Roads Lead to Rome, Unless Your Plane is Hit by Lighting

We had been planning a Europe trip for August until we discovered we're expecting our second little one in November.  In less than two months, we rushed to plan an itinerary that will include 2 weeks in Italy, 3 days in Barcelona, and 1 week in Greece.  This is probably the first I felt the stress of planning a trip.

Nevertheless we are firm believers of the endless reward of being a traveller.  Our belief were tested right away. Our flight from YVR to Heathrow was delayed for nearly 5 hours.  As if that wasn't freighting enough, this was due to the plane being hit by lighting on its way out of Heathrow.  The mechanics had to do thorough check and repair a few minor issues in YVR.

We paced the airport with a very sleep delirious Drake.  Finally we boarded at 1AM.

We flew with British Airway who was are rated one of the top children friendly carriers in the world.  We were able to pick our seats before other passengers who could only pick 24 hours before the actual flight. In front of the bulkhead seats, a flat board could be pulled down to allow placement of a bassinet (for infant) or travel cot (for toddler). On China Eastern, they attached the bassinet (only available for infant) directly against the bulkhead. The advantage of that was it saved a lot of space.

Drake slept through the entire flight in his travel cot. The only complaints I had was I was trapped in the window seat. Getting up to go to the bathroom required a lot of internal debate of should I do it now or later before getting enough courage to wake up the fast asleep isle guy.  The second complaint was Greg in the middle seat couldn't enjoy his entertainment system since Drake's cot was in the way. These were all minor issues compared to Drake not having to sleep in my lap for 9 hours.

Our 5 hour delay of course caused a ripple effect. We missed our connection out of Heathrow to Rome. We asked to be put on another carrier. We had one hour to get from Terminal 5 to 4 but we didn't realize it took 20 minutes to reach T4 so we missed the flight again. Back to T5 with the only option of a next day 7AM flight. BA put us up at Sofitel Hotel in the airport.  At 11PM we were finally in a real bed ready to pass out.

Then at 3AM all 3 of us were wide awake from our jet lag.

When we landed in Rome we took the Leonardo Express (14 euro per person) train from the airport to Roma Termini Station. Then we transferred on to the city Metro (1.50 euro per person) to reach our Airbnb apartment next to the Colosseum. The Metro was really easy to maneuver around since there were only two lines.

After some freshening up we were ready to really start our Roman holiday with a nice Italian lunch. Poor Drake couldn't keep his little head up and slept through entire lunch in his stroller. On the bright side, we were able to have a nice undisturbed meal without flying food and random screaming. Despite being so tired after lunch we opted to walk around our neighbourhood to keep ourselves awake.  To spice up the day even more, we got caught in the rain.  It was time to head back to the apartment and wrapped up this long day.  We grabbed dinner at a closed by restaurant named I Clementini.  I was so tired that I didn't remember too much about the dinner other than I had clam linguini which was really good, but a bit salty.

I wouldn't call the last two days a great start to our Eurotrip, but it can only get better from this point on.


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Location:Rome

Quick Stopover in Adelaide and Brisbane

We had a good restful night in Warrambool.  Today's plan was to drive to Adelaide which was about a little less than 7 hours away.  I think if we were to plan it again, we would rather turn back onto Great Ocean Road and go back to Melbourne.  The 7 hour drive didn't have much in turns of exciting scenery.  It looked like any road we have been on, however we did make a unplanned but worthy stop at the Princess Margaret Rose Cave about 20km off the highway A1.  On route we spotted a bunch of Emus running in the field.  One more Australia animal checked off.

The cave entrance fee was $16 AUD per person.  It was a guided tour that happened every hour.  We got a ten minute background information before we descended down to the caves.  Photography was allowed, but video was not allowed.  I asked why during the tour, the guide said because once someone was video taping he wasn't watching where he was going and tripped and broke one of the rock formations.  Stroller was also not allowed in the cave so I strapped Drake in the Ergobaby.

It was a little chilly in the cave.  We all stood around in an area that was about 800 square feet listening to the guide.  I have never been to a limestone cave.  The cool formation was cool, but I started to wonder if that was all we were going to see.  The guide then walked over to a light switch and turned it on, we saw the rest of the cave which was completely dark without any lights.

The tour lasted about 45 minutes.  We could've loved to check out other stuff that was above ground of the cave but we had another five hours to go before reaching Adelaide and we needed to beat the check-in hour.  When we approached the Rose Cave earlier, we also saw a sign for a place called Platypus Cafe.  We asked the guide at the Cave if the cafe actually had Platypus.  She told us the cafe had been shutdown due management issues.  It was really too bad, Greg was really hoping to see a Platypus on this trip.

We reached Adelaide just after sunset and went to bed shortly.  The next day we only had the morning to check out the city before boarding a flight to Brisbane. We headed to Henley Beach since it was really close to the airport.  The water was really clear and we even saw a diver diving around the pier.  The Henley Beach Square offered affordable restaurants and ice cream shops.  We grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the airport.

We were actually only passing through Brisbane as well to get to Gladstone.  Then a ferry ride from Gladstone to Heron Island aka Great Barrier Reef.

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Location:Adelaide

Hello Daddy and Melbourne

Drake and I waited anxiously at PuDong Airport.  Greg's flight was delayed for a hour.  After 2.5 weeks away, Drake was a little unsure initially.  But he took no time to warm up to Daddy.

Our flight to Melbourne was pretty smooth.  We were again seated in front of the bulkhead with a bassinet.  Drake was much better on this flight.  He slept through it for the most part.  I even managed to get some sleep.

We arrived in Melbourne in the morning.  From the airport to St. Kilda took about 20 minutes and cost $100 AUD.  Since we were traveling with two other friends, we hired a Maxi cab which was a caravan taxi.  We were a bit surprised by the high cab fare. But we later found out, more than 2 person in a Maxi cab cost 1.5 times than the regular fare.

Melbourne was colder than expected. It was colder indoors than outside, especially during the day which was kind of like Shanghai. Although all of us were jet lagged we decided to still check out our St. Kilda neighbourhood.  It really reminded of me of a cleaner Venice Beach.  A lot of little shops, bakeries, and restaurants next to the beach.  It was a very chill place to hang out for a drink but St. Kilda was a pretty expensive area.  A bottle of beer at a restaurant went for  $8 to $10 AUD.  Apparently labour is very expensive which explained the even more pricy cocktails.  They went from $15 to $20 USD.

  giant Easter bunny roaming around the streets

Drake hanging out on St Kilda Beach. It was windy and overcasted that day which attached a lot of surfers in the water.

We had originally planned to go to Philip Island to check out the little penguins that marched to shore at dusk.  Then we found out there were penguins right off the pier of St. Kilda beach.  

 St. Kilda neighbourhood art work

Beautiful estate in St. Kilda, very Southern, no?

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Location:Melbourne, Australia

Drake Meets His Chinese Family

It didn't take very long before Drake was adjusted to the time difference.  I think babies are better at taking cue from the sunlight and darkness.  However, we were traveling in another country after all.  Drake was a busy little man. He had to stay up for a few late family gatherings which he met his granduncles, grandaunts, cousins and his great grandmother (who is 97).  Drake was a big hit with the family.  I didn't get to hold him much since there was always someone in the queue to hold him.  He also collected quite a few red envelops.  It is tradition that the elders give the new member of the family red envelop at their first meeting.

Drake also drew a bit of a crowd wherever he went.  Mixed babies are still a novelty in China.  People constantly commented how gorgeous his eyes were and he looked like a real life doll.  As a mother, of course, I was really flattered, especially when he was very well behaved when people who he never met before picked him up.  When I was at the spa, every shop girls wanted to play with him and passed him around like a little puppy. I got really nervous since one of them could just take him away and he probably still wouldn't cry.

Everyone might love babies, but China wasn't particularly a baby friendly place.  There was no such thing as changing table anywhere.  I felt very odd changing him in the middle of a restaurant where people were eating but I soon got use to it since no one else cared.  Babies can get away with anything.  No ramps where there were stairs. I really appreciated my Kelty Kids stroller that converted into a backpack.  It was a great investment!  I did think 99% of the people tried their best to accommodate Drake.  The other 1% were the idiots who had no problem smoking right next to Drake.

One funny thing I noticed was aside from commenting on how big Drake's eyes were, people always thought Drake was wearing too little clothing.  China was still a little chilly in the March.  But not so cold that Drake needed 10 layers.  All Chinese children we saw including Drake's cousins wore so much clothes they couldn't even put their arms down and they always had red cheeks.

We had a great visit in China. I am so glad Drake's Chinese family got a chance to meet him and Drake got a taste of his heritage so early on in his life.

Drake's going to China

We are on the road again.  The plan is for Drake and I to go to China for 2 weeks and then Greg will meet us in Shanghai to head to Australia for 3 weeks. This will be the first trip with Drake, our 7 month old baby. I am really excited and nervous about this trip.  Excited because Drake will meet his family from China for the first time.  Nervous because Drake will take his first 12 hour flight.

We arrived at the airport very early to check-in. I requested a baby bassinet for Drake which put me in a bulkhead seat. When our flight was called I really appreciated because of Drake we got to board the plane first.  No waiting in the aisle for people to put away their luggage or showing up at our seats with no overhead compartment space left.  It definitely took some stress out of traveling with an infant.

Even though I was seated at a bulkhead seat, it didn't guarantee us a bassinet. It was first come first served. Once the plane reached altitude, I asked the stewardess for one right away. It was about 75cm long and held a baby up to 20lbs.  There were two studs on the bassinet that were inserted into the bulkhead in front of my seat.  There were two pieces of flaps that zipped together over the bassinet which acted as the seat belt.

Even though I was so happy to have the bassinet, Drake didn't get much sleep on the flight.  The stewardesses (and other random passengers) kept coming by to play with him, especially when he was about to fall asleep. I could tell he was getting really tired and increasingly fussy.  But I didn't have the heart to tell people stop bothering him.

Drake however did have a very good appetite.  I brought tons of food with me on the flight: an apple, a peach, two hard boiled eggs, steamed carrots and oatmeal.  He ate them all.  I packed a big bag of dry oatmeal for the trip.  Just add hot water and butter. Easy and healthy!

When we finally arrived in Shanghai, I was running on about 20 minutes of sleep and was happy for this flight to be over.

A Trial Trip to Los Angeles - Part II

Continue from previous post: A Trial Trip to Los Angeles - Part I

4. Travel gear - The first thing we have to deal with is the Drake's mobility. Currently we have a Uppababy Vista stroller, Ergo Baby carrier, and Baby Buddha sling. The stroller is too bulky. The sling or the carrier is compact, but a 20lb baby can be hard on the back after awhile.

I started researching light weight travel strollers for when we are tired of back carrying Drake. Aside from the typical stuff, I found this interesting car seat stroller combo. The Lilly Gold Sit n' Stroll is a stroller that converts into a car seat. I thought this will be so great when we rent a car to get around in Uluru however the car seat is only safety rated in the USA.

Our friend who has travelled with his baby extensively highly recommended the Kelty baby backpack.
It is a much more appropriate back carrier for our trip. I didn't think we needed another one until I found Kelty also made a backpack that converts into a stroller. Unfortunately, they have discontinued it so I turned to the good old Craigslist and found one that was really good condition for only 100 bucks.


We were pretty excited to try it out.

Pros:

• It was super light weight at only over 9 lbs. It also suppose to be able to hold up to 50 lbs.
• It was comfortable on the back with a good support.  Hubby took Drake out for a morning stroll everyday. 
• Its overall shape is upright instead of diagonally which meant it took up less space when in or moving through crowds.
• It acted as a high chair very well. Perfect height and didn't have to take Drake in and out in restaurants.
• Good under carriage space. We were able to store water, neck pillow and both of our jackets.

Cons:

• It didn't fold as well as traditional travel stroller. Only the handle part was foldable. It took up half of the space in our car trunk. But we didn't have any issue checking it at the gate of our flight.
• It didn't turn very well. It was great going in a straight line. But if I wanted to be agile and make quick and sharp turns, it was nearly impossible.  It took a bit to get use to.
• The stroller was only recommended for babies who could sit upright on their own which explains the lack of back support. I used a neck pillow to solve this issue. Drake was able to catch some Z's in it but didn't look all that comfortable to me. Then again I am not a baby.

Speaking of which, the second thing is Drake's sleeping arrangement. The three popular choices seem to be Kidco Peapod, Baby Bjorn and Phil&;Teds. The Peapod was recalled in November due a case of tragic infant suffocation death.  Although I believe it was a freak accident, I decided not to go with Peapod because it folds into a circle which is an awkward shape to fit into a backpack, suitcase or a overhead compartment.  Baby Bjorn has the same issue.  It folds into a shape of a large suit case.  It also had no side access.

Phil&Teds recently upgraded the crib from 9 lbs to only 7 lbs.  It hasn't gone on sale and unknown when they will go on sale.  With our travel date approaching fast, we decided to just get the Traveller II.

Pros:

• It is the most light weight and compact travel crib on the market.  It folded into a small tub shape that can fit into anything easily.  
• Once set up, it is almost as big as a regular crib.
• The side opening was really good to have if I wanted to lay down next to Drake before he falls asleep.
• It kept the light out relatively well (although the new design takes away this feature with all mesh sides).
• I just love the chic design

Cons:

• It took awhile (10 minutes) to put it together and take it apart and pack.

Before this trial trip, we asked for advice from friends about traveling with kids. They all gave us good ideas and suggestions.  However every child is different, your friends' experience isn't necessarily going to be the same as yours.  That is why we needed to do a trial trip.  We really didn't end up doing too much sightseeing.  We didn't have to deal with jet lag.  But we are still so glad we did it. We got to know our son much better.  Hopefully it will come in handy when it is time for our big China and Australia trip.

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Location:Vancouver

A Trial Trip to Los Angeles - Part I

We are planning a 5 week long trip to China and Australia with our son Drake but in the past 6 months one thing I have learn is that babies can be a bit unpredictable. They are in a constant state of change (and that is also why they are so amazing!). Hubby and I decided to do a trial trip to Los Angeles over the long weekend to help us and Drake better prepare for the big one.

Here is what we learn during the trip.

1. Airport - Learning the airport routine was the major reason for us taking this trial trip.  I feel much more relaxed now I know:

• I have to take Drake out of stroller and hold him through the metal detector while his stroller is being examined.  
• There is a security line up especially for families.
• Traveling with a baby means pre-broading. This may seems trivia but I didn't expect how much of a stress defuser it was! You don't have to fight for overhead cabin space and tons of time to get settled.
• Do diaper change before boarding. The lavatory on the plane was small and had no changing table. Of course for our long flight the lavatory will not be avoidable, but at least we will minimized the time in there.
• Wait to feed until on board, well, during take off.  This will help with the ear thing. 

2. Sleeping with noise - A few weeks before the trip, we started played music while Drake napped. My favourite is the World Beat channel on one of the cable channels.  We stayed in Venice Beach which was very noise with cars going by and people singing and yelling during the day, Drake had very little trouble napping through all that.

We downloaded an App called White Noise that played airplane noise and we would play the App while Drake fell asleep every night. Both of flights we took were night flights.  Drake had a little trouble falling asleep going to LA, but still managed to get some sleep.  It was his first flight after all!  Coming back he was an angel, slept the whole time including taking off and landing.  The ironic thing was he woke up only once and it was due to the guy sitting behind me clearing his throat really loudly every 5 or 10 minutes.

3. Packing - We brought 4 outfits, 2 pjs, and 5 bibs for the 3 day weekend.  Drake only went through 3 outfits, 1 pjs and 4 bibs.  Of course it is always good to have extras.  I brought a rubber bib (to put on top of the cloth bib) for feeding time which was great in saving Drake's outfits.

We only packed one toy for Drake. There were already a lot of new things and people for Drake to look at that we didn't need tons of toys to keep him amused.  One thing we were really glad we did is keep the toy on a string.  The string simply kept the toy from dropping on the ground.  It was especially helpful on the plane!  No more smushing my face against the food tray while fishing around blindly on the oh-so-clean airplane carpet looking for the toy that Drake wants to place in his mouth constantly.

We also made sure we packed Drake's sleeping blanket. Whenever I cover Drake with his blue fluffy doggy blanket he knows it is sleepy time.  On route to LA he was being a Mr. Screaming Pants but as soon as we put the blanket on him he calmed down and fell asleep. One or two items of comfort and familiarity was a must for Drake.

To be continued...

Getting a Passport for a Baby

Here is how I went about getting Drake's passport. 

In Canada, babies under the age of 3 can get a passport for $22 CAD and is valid for 3 years.

Fill out the application form: It is pretty straight forward, only two pages. One parent can be the applicant on behalf of the baby and the other parent (or relative) can be the guarantor. Baby passports don't need a signature, I almost accidentally signed the signature box on Drake's behalf.

Birth Certificate: One of the required document for Drake's passport application is his birth certificate with our birth information. The certificate can be ordered online which was a disastrous experience.  Greg (yes, he is taking the fall for this one) filled and submitted the online form with the wrong birth province, his own birth province. I thought I just had to pay the fee and submit the online form again to receive the birth certification with the right information.  When I received the new certificate, it still had the wrong province on it.  Apparently the form can only be submitted once and that one was the one that counted.  There was no changing it online due to security reasons but when I ordered it the second time there was no prompt to warn me that the information I entered was different from the first one to stop me from paying second time for the wrong information.  To correct the situation, Greg had to pay for a notarized copy of his birth certificate and pay a change fee. Finally a $27 certificate cost us almost $100.

Passport photo: Not every passport photo shop will do infants (ie: Costco). Walmart and Sears will do passport photo for infants. We went to Lens and Shutter in downtown Vancouver. The photographer laid Drake down on a white mat on the ground. He took quite a few shots since Drake decided he was going to put up a fight and not make this easy. The best one out of the bunch had Drake not looking straight at the camera (not to mention it is a bad picture of, in my none-bias opinion, my very photo generic and cute baby which is proof that no one takes good looking passport photos). I was a bit concerned whether the passport office would accept them. The photographer said they tend to be more lenient with babies. Besides, if they were not accepted Lens and Shutter would retake for free. Cost: $9.99 CAD plus tax.

Trip to the Passport office: the Downtown Vancouver passport office opens at 7:30AM. I was there right at 7:30 hoping I didn't have to wait too long. Apparently everyone else had the same idea. There were at least 40 people ahead of me and I had to wait about 45 minutes for my turn. They did accept Drake's passport photos. Phew.

Two weeks later the passport was delivered to me at home via Canada Post.

Travel with a baby, bad idea?

I'm finally back blogging! Since my last trip to the New Orleans, I have been busy creating another human. Meet the future world traveller: Drake David Rui Matthews.

Earlier this month, Drake at age 2 month got his first passport.

Before Drake was born many people told us life is going to completely change after children including not being able to travel as much as we use to. While I looked forward to my son's birth I was getting a bit bummed about our future travel prospects as a family.
One day I was sitting around with my massive belly eating ice cream and watching a Chinese talk show about traveling with children. One of the mothers said: We love to travel. We believe making our children fit (or adjusted) into our way of life, not trying to fit our life into theirs. A light bulb went off! She was absolutely right. Why should we change how much we travel because now we have a baby? We just had to travel differently. Greg and I became very excited over this new take on parenthood. We did some research. There are so many benefits to traveling with your baby as much as possible.

Valuable bonding time: Most people argue that taking a baby traveling is pointless since he is not going to remember the experience. I'm lucky that I will be spending almost 24 hours with Drake for the next 10 months. Greg doesn't have that luxury. Travel will give him that chance to deepen his bond with Drake.

Baby travel is cheap. Most domestic air travel for kids under 2 years old is free. International air travel is 10% of your airfare. Of course, free fare also means I have put the baby on my lap during the entire flight, but I found some airlines (ie: China Eastern) will provide you with a complimentary bulkhead bassinet . A friend also gave me a tip when booking seats. Instead of booking seats right next to each other if you are traveling with the hubby or another person, book the seats with an empty seat in between. Doing this increases the chance you will end up with an empty middle seat to put the baby in since most single travelers tend to stay away from middle seats.

Of course, we understand we still have to make certain adjustments and take precautions while we travel with him. For example, we have to reduce amount of bouncing around from one spot to another. During our trip to South America we spent a few hours in Lima, a couple of days in Cusco and Macchu Picchu, before flying to La Paz. We moved around a lot and spent two nights at the most at one hotel. With a baby we will reduce number of spots we hit and take our time with the spots we do hit.

We can't wait to plan our next trip with Drake!

(found this on weibo.com and love it. but don't know where this photo came from originally)