Long Distance Travel With Baby

Sorry for the long break, we were on vacation. I took my little caterpillar back to China to visit my parents, then we flew to Shanghai to meet with Stubborn and visited his family and friends. It was such a big deal, I was totally freaked out before the trip. I want to share with you my experience and tips & lessons I learned from this trip. I will tell you more about our stay in China and show you some fun pictures in the future posts.

Weeks before our travel, I read so many blogs and articles about travelling with babies, what to pack for long distance flight, where to find organic food in big cities in China, what medicine to pack for baby, etc. Spent many weekends shopping for gifts. I didn't pack too many clothes for me and the baby, since my mom said we could always buy new ones there if needed. Even with less clothing, my luggage still went over the weight limit. I know, I could check two luggages, but the thought of pushing the stroller and pulling the carry-on and two big luggages at the same time just frightened me. Well, Stubborn drove us to the airport, helped us until the security check point, and my parents picked us up at the Beijing airport, but I still had to manage everything myself for a short while, even with the help of those luggage cart, it still sounds like a nightmare. So, I decided just take one luggage and buy a backpack carry-on. Man, I am so in love with my backpack carry-on! It's so convenient, perfect size, tons of conpartments, genius organizing design, and best of all, it frees both my hands to handle my baby or push the stroller. It has to be the best gift Stubborn bought for me!

Here is the list of stuffs I packed for our trip:
- For me: 3 tops, 1 jean (wearing on the plane), 1 capris, 1 shorts, 1 set of PJs, 3 sets of underwear, 4 pairs of socks, and 1 pair of slippers.
- For little caterpillar: 3 long sleeve tShirts, 2 jackets, 3 pants, 2 dresses, 2 sets of PJs, 4 pairs fo socks, and bath towels.
- my homemade portable fabric high chair, a.k.a. a chair sling.
- lots of gifts for family and friends (including a big heavy 12 by 12 scrapbook I made for my niece)
- enough diapers and wipes for a week (bought more there for the rest of the trip)
- medicines for both of us
- 2 big cans of formula, toys and favorite fruit and snacks for little caterpillar
- my camera and lenses, my old Sony camera set (gift for my niece), and a point and shot camera (my friend's gift for his mom)
- my cell phone, laptop, and all kinds of chargers
- portable DVD player for the long flight

Doesn't look like too much, right? Well, my luggage was 14.5 lbs overweight, which translate to about $200 fine! No way I was going to pay for that. So, we pull the heavy items out of the luggage and put them all in my backpack carry-on, which means there was no space for that DVD player we bought just for this trip. Don't worry, I didn't throw away a new DVD player! Stubborn was not flying with us, so he brought it back home. We managed to get it down to exactly 50 lbs with just one try, very exciting! But the result, my backpack was super super heavy! I could barely push it in the overhead compartment on the plane, and before boarding the next plane at DC, I went down to pick up my boarding pass from the floor, lost balance, fell down. Two college boys tried to help me stand up, and it took 3 of us several tries! That's how heavy that backpack was! Not very smart thing to do, especially when you have to chase a super active toddler around the airport!

Another lesson learned, not only pack an extra set of cloth for the baby, but also pack a set for yourself in your carry on luggage! I ordered orange juice on the flight from Boston to DC, thought we need that extra VitC to fight the germs on the plane. Within five minutes, little caterpillar accidentally kicked that little tray table, and pour almost two full cups of juice on my lap! I felt so bad about making a mess on the plane and ruined their seat cushion, also I was so embarassed and uncomfortable about the all that juice on my jeans! Felt like I peed myself! I literally sat there with wet jeans until it's dried by my bodyheat! So, REMEMBER to pack a set of cloth for yourself too!

Lots of toys and snacks are a must for long flight with small children. Also, it helps to have an extra seat for themselves. My girl loves to sit down and buckle up like mommy, so holding her on my lap was a nightmare. Lucky for us, people next to me always willingly gave up their seat and looked for empty seat somewhere else. There are so many little things to consider when travelling with small children. I couldn't write it any better than Rachel from Small Notebook, please read her Tips to Travel Overseas With Babies and Kids and all the related posts linked from it.

Orlando Trip, Day 3

It's taking me so long to process pictures from our trip. Well, it's not because I am lazy, there are just way too many of them! Since I want to tell you about day 3 so much, I moved on to the day3 folder before finish day2. Crazy! OK, I had good plans for day 3, based on day2 experience. On day2, we waited for the shuttle to get us there, so wasted some time in the morning. We were not going to repeat that! So, with little caterpillar in the stroller, hat and glasses on, I just pushed her across the street and the huge parking lot, within 10 minutes, we were in the park!
'Oh, mommy forgot to take some pictures at the entrance, so stay still, and smile for the camera! No? OK!'
'Oh, we didn't see the stingray yesterday. Do you want to touch them? Too scared? OK, next time.'
'Oh, look, they are feeding the dolphins! See those big gray fish looking things? They are called dolphins!'
'Cannot see them clearly? Let's go underground! Oh, but first, let's check out the manatees!'
That's when little caterpillar had her first meltdown! It was very hot that day, 90F degrees! Guess she was overheated. She rather play with the buckles on her stroller, than go with mommy to check out the gigantic manatees! She screamed and cried for over 30 minutes! That's when I realized we could never set a tight plan when wondering around with her. Have to follow her lead! 'OK, no more manatee! Let's go somewhere cool and quiet! Oh, I know. Let's go to that underwater place to watch those dolphins!'
'Oh, look! They are jumping!'
'Can you pose for mommy? Quick, here comes a dolphin! Look up! Not down!'
'Oh, there are more coming at you! See them?'
Poor thing was so tired, she passed out before lunch! At least mommy got to eat first for a change!
'Hey, do you want to see some doggie and kitty?' 'Hey stop playing with your elastics, pay attention to the stage!' Well, obviously it was not going to happen. But at least it was very cool and comfortable in that Seaport Theatre.
'Oh, see those little kids playing in the water? Do you want to join them?'
Then we went to visit the sharks
and the sealions and seals
Oh, goodness, did we actually did all that! No wonder mommy was so tired at the end of everyday! Cannot wait to show what else we did on day 4!

Orlando Trip, Day 2

This was our first official fun day at Orlando. First thing first, some nice and warm breakfast! Well, mommy was not going to pay over $20 for a breakfast buffet, since I didn't have much appetite, and little caterpillar eats maybe several bites. Thank goodness there is a Starbucks right in the lobby level. Guess what, I got to use the portable highchair I made, and it worked perfectly. Little caterpillar didn't fight to get out, and was very secure and safe when mommy turned around to get the hot Chocolate.
It was such a nice day, around 80F degree, bright sunshine and not too hot! Perfect! Little caterpillar looked so cute in her new dress! Such a little lady already! First, dancing time! Well, we didn't plan this. Little caterpillar loves music, and loves dancing with it! Only thing mommy could do was just let her get that out of her system, and of course snap some cute pictures.
Look how cute she was wearing her monkey harness!
Then we saw the flamingos!
We found the bridge to Shamu stadium. Oh, you can see one of the bottle holders I made.
We got to the stadium during the first show, and since I noticed the last several rows in the soak zone was not splashed, we just sat there for the second show. The show was amazing, the view was fantastic,but the decision was absolutely wrong. They don't call it soak zone for nothing. At the end of the second show, that biggest shamu came out for the splashing! Even though I was prepared, covered us with a beach towel, (only from the neck down, since we still want to watch the show), we got soaking wet. Little caterpillar didn't understand it and of course didn't expect it. She was shocked and almost cried. I thought that she probably will hate this for a while, but to my surprise, she started chanting "Shamu! Shamu!" right after we left the stadium, just like what we did during the show, right before the splashing! She loved it! And she picked up a new word! What else mommy can do, except buying this cute cuddly Shamu for her to hug!
The dolphin show was amazing, but I guess little caterpillar already had enough excitement for the day. She refused to sit with me on the bench, sat on the stairs instead, and kept saying she wanted to leave! What? In the middle of all these fun?
After dinner with daddy, she was happy again. And mommy got a chance to take more pictures of our gorgeous hotel! The setting in the lobby/courtyard/open space, whatever you call it, was so beautiful. You can tell someone spent lots of time designing these. Instead of the same seating everywhere, every direction you turn, there will be a totally different setup, all very calming and relaxing!
Also the outdoor garden and pool are beautiful and serene. After the sunset, the outdoor fire pits are lit, you just kick back and relax, listen to the soothing music, and completely surrounded by the sweet aroma of the gardenias. They use lots of gardenia and jasmine as garden elements in Orlando. I am slowly processing those pictures now. If you want to see more pictures of our hotel, please go to my flickr later.

Orlando Trip, Day 1

OK, this is what my little girl looked like at the end of the super exciting day one of our trip. She was very excited at the airport, seeing so many interesting things for the first time. We were so glad she is not a shy little girl, but rather a quite curious one. So she didn't cry at the security check point as I worried. Good girl! This was little caterpillar's first flight, I was so worried about how she is going to tolerate the air pressure change, and the confined space. Well, she read the safety instruction with daddy, she loved the pictures, and excited to find her alphabets and numbers on there too. Then she spent some time figuring out how to open that hidden little tray table. 'Oh, I just turn this little thing this way, this little table will open up. How fun!'Then she moved on to the light and air controls. 'Wish I am just a little bit taller, so I can reach that pretty little light.'Of course, some spying on the neighbors. We were so lucky Stubborn's coworker and his family sat right in front of us. Little caterpillar adored their two little boys, and admired their shiny iPad2. Ok, just the interesting games they played on it. 'OK, mommy, this is getting boring! I want to get out now.' She was hyper during the entire trip, climbing back and forth between mommy and daddy, ate all her favorite snacks, restless, but overall, a very happy little girl. Shocking to us, as soon as the captain said we were approaching Orlando and ready for landing, she actually told me she was scared. I guess the lost gravity feeling was strange to her. And after said 'scared' twice, I found her quickly felt asleep in my arms. The lady next to us laughed and joked that it's a fascinating 'defensive machanism'.

Then we landed at Orlando airport, little caterpillar was totally confused! What happened to the cold weather and snow? Why is it so hot and sunny here? The trees are all different! Oh, she got to ride a taxi for the first time too!
Before we knew it, we arrived at our hotel, Renaissance Orlando at Seaworld! You guessed right, we were right accross the street from Seaworld! Stubborn can take shuttles to conference everyday, and little caterpillar and I can just walk to Seaworld! Nice job, stubborn!
Look at our beautiful room!
And what a view!
After an exhausting day of travel, we only got enough energy left to get some water and fruit at nearby CVS. Yeah, we didn't rent a car, so cannot go too far. That's when I remembered mommy forgot to pack sunglasses for her. That's ok. She got a new pair of princess glasses. Look how cute she is! Oops, mommy forgot to remove the sticker!
We stayed in after dinner, everyone was so exhausted, no need to rush to Seaworld. It's just accross the street, and we had the next few days to explore it. All we needed at that moment was a nice long hot shower, plenty of rest, so we can play with the shamu and dolphin the next day.