traveling

I sorta have an obsessive personality in some ways. When I am focused on something, it becomes a Big Deal and it colors everything else I am doing and then I want to write about it even though I think people probably wish I would just settle down and not make such a Big Deal over everything. Like, pregnancy--every twinge was analyzed and catalogued. Buying a house--tedious details on room dimensions and floor plans. Right now, it's our trip to Sweden, and it's an especially easy one to obsess over because a) I have never flown with a child before b) I have never flown with my niece before, and she has never flown anywhere and c) everyone is super excited, as it's been five years and we are SO thrilled to be taking Whitley with us and also do you have any idea when our last vacation was? FOREVER AGO, that's how long. So I feel like a dork writing about this all the time because clearly I am thinking about it all the time and most of my friends online are worldly travelers who don't seem to put much time and energy into planning and organizing their trips. But I LIKE planning and I LIKE organizing and I don't really have all that much to plan and organize in my real life, and you know what? LiveJournal is so dead that I figure that another post from me about how I make one measly trip into a Big Hairy Deal (Again) has gotta be better than nothing.

I hope. :)

I am slowly working my way through some of the things I had on my mind. I have really been wrestling with the car seat on the plane idea. I love the idea of taking it for reasons of added safety and psychological encouragement (she is accustomed to sitting in her seat, after all) and potential comfort for her. I DETEST the idea of schlepping it through airports, trying to install it on a tiny airplane seat and then finally sitting next to it for eight hours. M's parents have procured a seat for us to use while there so we don't need to have it then. Anyway, I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy the CARES harness. (kids fly safe.) It seems like it has good reviews and packing something that weighs one pound is much more attractive than packing a car seat. It's expensive, though.. $74.95 (will work out to $67 after cashback from bing.) You can rent them on eBay for $14, plus return shipping, so I was considering that, but then I decided to just buy the thing and then sell it on eBay when we get back. They seem to be selling for around sixty bucks, shipping included. I figure it'll be cheaper that way and easier than trying to make sure I return a rental item immediately upon our return. Anyone use one before? Or are you all more responsible than me and bring the car seat?

We went to lunch with some friends a couple of weeks ago. I used to work with her and we hadn't seen each other lately. Anyway, her husband is something of a geek (in a positive way!) and we talked about a potential theoretical purchase of a PSP for traveling. We weren't actually going to buy one, but that is what was recommended to M at a game store since it can play games AND movies, and that struck us as being a lovely idea. He thought it was a fairly terrible idea because they're apparently much more fragile than the game store clerk let on, but since he didn't use his much anymore, he offered to let us borrow it. I sent him a message yesterday and asked when it'd be okay to pick it up, and he replied and said that... they had just bought a 9" portable DVD player with a 7.5 hour battery life and wouldn't we rather take that instead? YES PLEASE. Actually, I argued that we wouldn't want to borrow something that they had JUST bought, but they are awesome and so we went this afternoon to pick it up. We have a portable DVD player, and it's really great for the weekend trips to my parents. (That's a 1.5 hour car ride.) We bought it for her first birthday, though, and we have used the heck out of it... mainly at home in the kitchen, but it's traveled a bit too. Anyway, the battery doesn't hold a charge at ALL anymore, so we had no expectation of bringing one. But, a battery that lasts that long--and of course it won't literally last that full amount of time but I also don't intend for her to need it on that long either--will be a totally useful addition to our flight, I think. Yay! And, I am not as excited about this as M is because to me, it just sounds like work, but they also gave M the sound system/speakers they just replaced.

I also finished my niece's travel guide. Want to see how much of a dork I am? Whitley's Travel Guide, as lovingly prepared by her favorite aunt. I know it was overkill, but it's exactly what I'm talking about. I NEED to plan and organize, and in Whitley's case... I also need to make sure she has as smooth a packing experience as possible since we're not going to be there to help her... and yes, I would like this to be one of those magical experiences she will always remember and I want that to start with her knowing that we're as excited about her coming with us as she is. It means so much to me to be able to do this for (and with!) my brother's baby girl. :)

So, yeah, I am dreading the flights and apprehensive about how it will go, but tentatively I am feeling relatively confident that it will turn out alright. I have things for her to do. I have been telling her about sleeping on the plane. I have been thinking of snacks and foods and clothing. I think she'll be fine. Truth is, M and I are giant wusses about this sort of thing. There's one of her and three of us, after all! :) Of course, once I get there and look around and take a deep breath, I will remember, again, that... oh yeah. this trip isn't for me. haha. I'll have plenty of fun though. I always do. :)