12th July 2010 , Posted by Jaime Teo

Planning THE holiday (Part 1)

I have mentioned not a few times that travelling is a big thing for me and Dan. Even before Renee arrived, we already planned for our first trip away with her. The place would be Perth for a few reasons :

  1. It is a relatively short flight from here to there.
  2. The weather would be cool the time we planned to go – always a welcome reprieve from the humidity here.
  3. For sentimental reasons – it’s the first place Dan and I went for a holiday after we hooked up (aww….)

This feels so long ago! I’d like to add that we won’t be using this mode of transport.

  1. We love free and easy driving holidays, so Perth really is ideal for us. We will have everything we need in the boot of the car, plus there will always be a place to feed and change her.

To prepare for the trip, we decided that we should first stay in a hotel to see how she’d fare sleeping in a foreign environment. After that, we’ll do a drive to Malaysia to see if she’s ok in the car seat for extended periods. THEN, we can go for our holiday.

My friends tell me to just do it but I like having any excuse for a holiday being prepared.

Last week, we checked into Marina Bay Sands for a night. I was pleased with the size of the room:


We got an upgrade!!

There was ample space to park the stroller, create a diaper change station, and have room for the table that comes with room service. Ordering room service completes the hotel experience right? (more on the food here!)

Next, the toilet. Where is Renee going to bathe?

I love space in a bathroom.

We decided that the bathtub is too big and potentially dangerous to bathe Renee in, so we tagged the sink :


Daddy duty time!

We put a towel on her butt so it wouldn’t be too cold, and a towel on the edge of the basin where her head was. It is a parallax error that makes it looks as if she is going to hit her head on the tap – there was enough clearance. More importantly, she had fun like she always does when it’s bath-time =)

Having ironed out the ‘living arrangements’, we went for a stroll downstairs (my first time at MBS), and upstairs (the SkyPark is beautiful!). Dinner followed and all too quickly, it was time for Renee to go to bed. After she fell asleep, I stayed awake admiring the stunning view of Singapore and was up later than usual because that’s what people do on a vacation(even a one night one counts ok?).

Renee didn’t seem all too bothered by the change in environment. She woke up at her usual 2am, 5am and 7am for her feeds and seemed her usual self in the morning.

So. Phase 1 of our plan went really well in every area that we had anticipated but it wasn’t as enjoyable to me as it was in the past. When we got home, I was a little despondent, thinking that being on a vacation has lost its appeal to me and thought really hard about the whys.

THEN it dawned on me the very important thing that I forgot to plan for which would make all the difference.

<to be continued…>

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3 Comments

Chloe

July 12th, 2010 at 9:55 am    


I love stay-cation. Feels decadent to stay in a hotel and enjoy being tourist in own country :)

As for travelling with baby, i say over prepared is better than under. Gone are the day when u can watch all the wonderful movies on krisworld! If baby is 3-5mo and has yet to start on solid, it may be easier. Mommy has breastmilk to feed any time. But once baby start on solid, finding baby food (eg food purees in jar) depends on where you’re going.

:)

Cheryl (aka Cailing)

July 12th, 2010 at 1:43 pm    


Like you and Dan, Alex and I love holidays, esp driving holidays as you get to see more by travelling off the beaten tracks plus yes, you have everything you need in the car (we always ‘over’ pack and fill a 7 seater car with 4 people’s stuff!)

Our latest adventure is a 2.5 weeks road trip from Melbourne to the Gold Coast. It was very enjoyable (until the last couple of days where I seriously had enough of the 2 kids) and would definitely do it again.

Anyway, a few things I learn about travelling with kids: a) Always request for a bassinet seat, don’t assume they will allocate you one just because you are travelling with an infant b) I always pack nappy and wipes (can never have enough of wipes) in individual bags for the plane ride so I can get to it quickly and ‘cos I don’t know how frequently I need to change them and my usual nappy pouch might not fit that many nappies c) Get an inflatable baby bath tub that you can bring with you everywhere you go and not have to worry about how ‘clean’ the sink is d) Breastfeeding helps calm down the baby when on the plane, so I feed more frequently than I would do when on land

Jaime Teo

Jaime Teo

July 16th, 2010 at 9:23 am    


Chloe: I like that term – staycation! Thank for the reminder about krisworld :P it’s a different challenge at every age isnt’ it!

Cheryl: THank you for your tips! I was gonna bring my own baby car seat until I realised I can rent them (no, the car rentals dont allocate them). Love that suggestion about an inflatable baby bath tub too!

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