traveling

[same_sky]

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. :)

Comments

[e11en.livejournal.com]

I have done both, with and without the car seat. When Anders was 2 (and very little, remember I think he was only just 21 pounds or something) we took the seat because we needed it for our rental car. We gate checked them on the first flight (Ingrid had her booster - the seat only part) to make sure they stayed with us and didn't get lost someplace. Anders was NOT happy about sitting on the regular airplane seat on the first flight and I wound up having to have him on my lap. He had only turned two the day before and he was so tiny that no one thought anything of it, but for the remainder of our flights on that trip (one more connection and then the two to get back home), I put it on the seat and he was much more comfortable. If I hadn't been bringing it along for the car at the other end, though, I never would have bothered. Hauling it around the airports was a major PITA.

This last trip we didn't bring any car seats. Anders was fine and had no trouble sleeping. I would think Evie is much closer to Anders's current size than his 2-year old size so I think your harness is a good idea.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

You're always so helpful. :) E is about 40 pounds and 40 inches now.. how's Anders doing? It cracks me up that they're so close to the same size. I'm sure she would be fine without the harness, too, but I am paranoid and also, I think it might help encourage her to stay in her seat more. ;)

Oh, and I was thinking of Anders the other day because Evelyn has gotten it into her head that after her next birthday, she'll be going to kindergarten, and she keeps telling me that. So at least you just have a few months to listen to it. I have two years! :)

By the way, google leads me to believe that I need Evie's birth certificate and then M's naturalization certificate, our marriage certificate and both of our passports to apply for a coordination number, assuming they will let us apply in Sweden, since we might as well give it a try while we're there. Does that sound about right, like what you had assembled (minus the naturalization part)? I mean, don't put any effort into looking it up, just from memory, does it seem like the right stuff to bring just in case? And is this something that would take a long time to process or will they do it immediately so that you have time to apply for a passport? You might not know because it didn't work out for you, but was your intent to do the passport too while you were there? It'd be LOVELY to get all this done and avoid multiple trips to freaking Ohio.

[e11en.livejournal.com]

Anders is probably still his same 34 pounds and just about 42 1/2 inches, so a little taller and a little lighter. She is going to be the biggest kid in her class by a good bit when she gets to kindergarten unless she slows down a little there! I was relieved to see that Anders was not the smallest, closer to average really, at least among the boys.

As for the coordination number, we had Anders's birth certificate, all of our passports, but didn't bother with the marriage certificate as the people we were hoping would take care of this whole business are the ones who would give it to us anyway (since we were married there). I guess since you guys got married here you should bring it along just in case. I don't know what they need his naturalization certificate for but we don't have one of those either.

We had hoped that giving him a number was a matter of entering the info into the computer and having it spit out a number on the spot, which would have allowed us to do the passport (though probably not get it back) while we were there. That's what the people at the honorary consulate led us to believe was possible. They said to tell the passport people to send it to the NY Consulate for pick-up. How long will you all be there for?

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

We're staying for two weeks and their site says that passports should be ready in about a week, so if that's true, we can at LEAST get M's done. Of course, it'll be the middle of summer. I so hope they'll do this. I guess it's just a pipe dream but it can't hurt to try. :)

I'm not sure what they need his naturalization certificate for... it said that or his residence permit. Maybe to see that he's living somewhere else legally? Though why they'd care about that to issue his child a number is beyond me. It was on their site though. And yeah, we got married here. That thing about getting married in Sweden and making everything so much easier? They told M when he talked to them that that we couldn't do that, so here it was. Worked out just as well though. :)