What's up with Elisabeth & George?: So long! Farewell! Auf Wiedersehen, Chiang Mai!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

So long! Farewell! Auf Wiedersehen, Chiang Mai!

We left Chiang Mai late last night. We've spent what was left of the night in Bangkok, and now we're flying back home to Penang in a few hours. Details and photos to come, but for now I'll just say that I really liked Chiang Mai but didn't like the travel to and from. If only I could be beamed directly there...

3 comments:

team woelfel said...: i'm interested in your tips for traveling with a toddler as we'll be headed to hawaii for xmas with a lay over in seattle. any good tips?; 11/20/2008 8:28 AM
Elisabeth said...: Hmmm... Not sure we were so successful at it ourselves, but I suppose we learned a few things:

1. Flying sucks at this age. Regin screamed through the entire flights because they were short enough that we were either ascending or descending the entire time and that equals constant, excruciating ear pain. He refused to drink or eat anything, and he didn't understand my pleas for him to suck on something. For one flight, I got him to pretend to suck on the top of a sippy, which he found funny (since the cup wasn't attached), so he tried it. Other than that, the only thing that gave him relief was boobage. And we had to take him out of his seat (that we'd paid extra for for his safety) to give him milk. If there is ANYTHING you are certain Palmer will eat or drink or suck on, even when he is upset, bring it and bring extra. When Regin was smaller, it worked to have him start eating or drinking before the pressure change occurred. Maybe try that.

2. Being strapped into his seat during this horrible experience only made it worse. It's exhausting because you are constantly trying to actively distract and entertain for the duration of the flight. Be prepared to get creative and make puppets out of air sick bags.

3. Everyone online recommends bringing surprises to open along the way. I didn't see the benefit of this, but I'm sure it would work with some kids. When he's this upset, same old same old isn't going to catch his attention and make hm stop crying for a few. But for our kid, new toys didn't cut it either.

4. At your destination, be flexible and work around his needs. Regin wanted out of the hotel, so that worked for us, but we also spent afternoons in while he napped (unless we were lucky enough for him to nap in a baby carrier).

5. You're traveling in the US, so you probably won't have this issue, but many international airlines and cities aren't baby friendly in the ways we're used to in the States, and strollers and car seats are useless. Baby carriers are your friend!! :)

6. Baby carriers are also good if you plan to go for walks on natural terrain at all. If you're not used to using a baby carrier, you might want to train now! :) Sight-seeing gets exhausting pretty quickly when you are carrying an extra 20+ pounds all day.

7. Make sure to see sights that Palmer is interested in too. And go places where he can run around as much as possible. Toddlers hate to be restricted (as I'm sure you know) and he's too little to understand why he's strapped in or held all the time. He'll need to blow off a lot of steam. We let Regin run around some of the temples, where appropriate, and we also took a trip to one of those huge aquarium places, (like Ocean Journey) even though that's not our thing.

8. I don't know if you're doing early potty training at all, but we are (though it's not so early anymore) and we carried around a "potty bag," (with one of those baby toilet seats) with us everywhere we went. This ended up working out great. We had very few diapers to deal with during our trip.

9. In case you're doing cloth diapers, don't switch to disposable while you travel. No need! I so regret doing that for the month after we moved here. I asked around and learned that it was pretty easy to hand wash. I brought our own laundry soap (though you actually only need hot water), soaked the dirty diapers in hot water with a drop of laundry soap, then rinsed and squeezed like crazy. Then let the diapers dry while we were out during the day. It wasn't bad at all, but we only had about 6 or dirty diapers for our 1.5-week trip and no poopy diapers (love EC!).

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know! Good luck!!; 11/22/2008 1:24 AM
Elisabeth said...: Just saw this on Simple Mom. More tips on traveling with kids. There are also lots of ideas online for traveling with toddlers specifically.; 11/22/2008 11:07 AM

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How we're doing right now.

April 6th, 2009
Oh man, moving back home has been quite a transition! For Regin especially. It has taken him three months to return to being fully, or almost fully, potty trained. But we're home and happy to be with friends and in an environment where things are easier.

But of course, not everything is easier. George's first day back to work he learned that the company was exiting the business and he and all the other people that work on that product (including all those people he trained in Penang) were told to look for other jobs.

His last day was March 31st. No time for that cozy little 'sabbatical' though; after he finished his last day of work, his family called and told us they are coming (from Florida) for a visit on the 10th! This would be no big deal (other than being terribly exciting) if we were fully moved back in, but of course, until now, we've had VERY little motivation to fully unpack! So now we're preparing the house at warp speed!

You know, I do miss Penang. Hard to say what I miss exactly, because I know it's more than our friends there, but I feel a certain pang. And all the time we were there, other than missing family, friends, easy living, and snow, I never once actually missed 'Colorado.'

When we got back to Colorado, I expected to have a new and complete love for the place. I do appreciate some things a lot more, especially visual things. I see beauty where I didn't before. But it hasn't been the feeling of home that I expected, and I still have some of the same issues with the place. But what I do love IMMENSELY and will always love IMMENSELY is the people we have here. And it's been absolutely amazing to see how Regin has picked right back up where he left off with his loved ones here. There's no doubt in my mind that he somehow remembers them.