Sadly the lady from my last post, the one who made the inane comment has two children. She is a "career" woman. The kind that had both a day and night nanny and who went back to work after only 2 months. Whatever.... I don't judge her. I just wish she didn't judge me.
Anyway, let's talk decisions.
It is time to book my flight. Rick and I have decided that we want to stop somewhere relatively half way on the way to India and on the way back. At a different point in our lives we would spend the whole three weeks in India exploring. Unfortunately, with an 11 month old, I just don't feel that comfortable. Perhaps if I had more travelling under my belt. Perhaps I am being paranoid for no reason. BUT Boo is too young and too little to have most of the vaccinations. He can't have the Hep A & B shots. He can't have the typhoid shot. He can't take the medication for Cholera and traveller's diarahea. He can take one form of a malaria medication so we will do that. But given the rest, I am just not comfortable keeping him in India for any longer than necessary.
Pity, I would have loved to do this... or this
Alas, I am a wimp and would never forgive myself if I did these things and he got sick because he wasn't properly protected. And since my soon to be sister-in-law is from India, I am hoping I get the chance to go again when he is older and can explore more confidently. Did I mention we are very close, my soon to be sister-in-law and I . I am to be the matron of honour at the wedding. So really, it is likely we will all go together again someday.
Anyway, we don't want to fly direct as this would be a 22 hour trip (including a 3-4 hour stop in Dubai) and we can't imagine doing this with/too Boo. Instead we want to break up the trip by stopping and staying somewhere for close to a week each way.
We are trying to be realistic. We can't expect to cram our days full each day and see as much of the place as possible. I think a realistic schedule would be to be up around 7:30 each morning, have breakfast and see something nearby (a market, or just go for a walk), plan to be back by 11:00 for a good morning nap and then leave again by 1:00 and go for the afternoon (afternoon nap could be in fancy new stroller I have found for our trip. It's this one and if you have experience with it I would love to hear it, I haven't actually bought it yet!) Then we would have to be back to our hotel again by 7:00 or so, so that Boo could have some downtime and a good nights sleep.
My boy is an angel and is very happy even when overtired but he does not sleep well in new places so sleeping while travelling is going to be a challenge even with a good routine.
So here are our options. If you have any ideas on whether any one of these would accomodate our structured schedule I would love to hear them. Rick and I haven't left North America so we have no idea!
London
Manchester
Frankfurt
Paris
Rome
Zurich
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I hope they always stay this close!
12 comments:
All of those choices sound tantalizing. I've never been to any of them but I think London would be number one on my list.
What a wonderful adventure!
I'd vote for London if those are your options. A woman I worked with a long time ago started a travel service for families with kids. Check them out at http://www.ciaobambino.com
The have a lot of baby-ready/toddler-ready/family friendly options in London, Paris and other places on your list.
They do sound like good choices, but I know that London and Paris are insanely expensive, so maybe check out somewhere else? What about Portugal or Spain, like at a resort? Frankfurt is lovely and not soo expensive on comparison.
Maybe Ireland instead of the UK?
Oh weird thing about the Hep A/B shot. They give it at birth in the US. Same manufacturer, sooo I'm not sure why they said he couldn't have it. I guess I view it as a risk reward ratio thing, and worth it. Regardless, I would move up his MMR. Normally he would get it later, at one year, but considering that measles is so rampant in those countries and so risky, what's one month?
NOT manchester or frankfurt, definitely not interesting enough for the length of time you're staying. I agree w aurelia, though, London and Paris will be v expensive given the current dollar exchange rates. Rome might be a bit better but not much.
P had the first Hep B a day after he was born and then on the rest of the schedule after that (2nd a month later and 3rd 3 months later, or something like that). I'm surprised they can't do it earlier there. But I also understand that's only one of the vaccines that you need to consider!
We went to both London and Paris for parts of our honeymoon (we made it to Switzerland but went to Interlachen and went to Italy but in Florence). Of those two, I would choose London for the increased daytime activities. We did a lot during the day in London and it all would have been easily done with a baby as well. The Tube is really easy to take wherever you want to go--we found it much cleaner and more intuitive than the Metro in Paris. We also found that a lot of Paris is best enjoyed at night.
I've been to London and Rome and you really can't go wrong with either. London is super expensive and that is probably the downside. Rome will be a lot of walking, but if you are in the city center it won't be so bad. Plus the food is fabulous so can't go wrong with that!!! Can't wait to hear what you decide.
Switzerland is kind of cool, so maybe Zurich just to be different.
If you are going in May, consider what the weather may be like in some of those spots, I have no clue, but maybe it might help make a decision for you.
Came here from Millie's blog: Zurich and Frankfurt are nice but more "business" cities. However, if you have your heart set on a German kind of experience, there's a lot to do very close to Frankfurt (Heidelberg, Romantic road). You could rent a car and literally be in Munich within hours (and Germany is very easy to drive in). London is great, but it would be way down on my list. But really, if you've never been to Europe, why not Paris? Everyone has to go there, right? It's sort of a rite of passage.
However, having just travelled with kids that age, I would just go to India. You'll have to adjust him to every new place you sleep. Some kids are fine, some are not. Better to do it once than multiple times (but then, I have twins so it's a little different).
You are going to have so much fun wherever you go! My favorite vacations are with my little family (my husband, my son, and me)!
Rome Rome Rome Rome.
I am delurking to say Rome. It has plenty of amaing things to see, beautiful places to walk around, plenty of benches to sit, and amazing food. It isn't quite as expensive as Paris or London (only by a fraction, but still).
Defintely not Zurich or Frankfurt.
Paris is my second choice.
London last - it was really a nice city, but just really really expensive.
Well my love if you end up in Paris you'd better pop in for tea, but it can be expensiv-ish but not as expensive as London.
Rome is gorgeous, Manchester really isn't worth it unless its REALLY changed since I last went, Zurich is lovely but REALLY expensive, and I've never been to Frankfurt but I'd love to go one day.
Lets us know what you decide. My choice, Rome and Paris of course :)
XXX
I don't have any suggestions; I just wanted to say I am very excited for you and your family, wherever you decide to go! I don't think you could make the wrong choice given that selection of cities! How awesome!
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