So just to get the gruesome/gore out of the way, I am happy to report that superglue truly is SUPERglue. I finally went to the doctor yesterday afternoon and he confirmed the glue was the best approach to stopping the capillary from bleeding endlessly - now I just have to hope that the nail grows back evenly over the no-so-smooth (superglue) surface -- YUCK. And for those of you who are prone to kitchen accidents, the nurse who dressed my finger said that if you slice you finger (instead of a clean decapitation, as was my case) then sugar is also a great clot-er. Who knew!
And now, on to more interesting (and less gross) topic of travel. I was lucky enough to grow up with parents who love to travel - by the time I was 13 I had been to China twice, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, New Zealand and Israel as well as a ton of domestic travel. As a high school graduation gift my parents got me a euro-rail pass and I explored Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Czech Republic with a few friends. I lived in India for a year in college and upon graduation went back to India and to Russia with my (then) girlfriend. At that point, my parents had moved to Tokyo for a few years so in addition to bi-annual trips to Japan to visit them, we also explored Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. In grad school I had the opportunity to spend the summer in Bangkok working with other local planning students and then the next summer W and I traveled to visit some of her family in Sweden, Belgium and Holland and the following years explored Vietnam (by bike!) and Mexico. Just before our wedding we spent a month in India (W's first trip there, my 3rd). This is all to say, we have a travel bug -- big time! One of the hardest things for us about the whole TTC was the fact that we had to put our traveling on hold.
As Izzy approaches 1 we have been talking to my parents about a spring trip. They have recently relocated to London for a few months so we thought somewhere in that neck of the woods would be easiest. After throwing out a few locations, we settled on Marrakesh. And now a few questions for those who have traveled with little ones:
1. Do we really want/need a cabana-style suite in a quiet suburb (with pool and gardens) or can we handle the chaos and excitement of a Riad "downtown"?
2. If we are planning to be in-country only a week is it crazy to try to do 2 locations?
3. Should we focus on one outing per day and just hang-out at the hotel in the afternoon (related to q1) or try to fit in a double-header?
Any other thoughts or experiences you want to throw out as we start thinking more about the reality of traveling halfway across the world with a 13 month old....
Thanks!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hey there....well, you are quite the travelers, too! I loved reading all of the places you've been. How lucky to start traveling so young!
ReplyDeleteAs far as this trip...we took the twins to SF when they were 13 months old, so while the location is completely different, the age applies.
1. We had a hotel suite with a fridge, couch, coffee table and separate bedroom in a great neighborhood near the marina. We set up the pack n plays in the living area and slept in the bedroom.
This meant we were kind of stuck in the bedroom after they went to bed, but it was fine.
We did tiptoe past them almost every evening after they had gone to sleep and they never woke up.
All of this is to say--if you can find a place in downtown that suits what you need, I would always go for downtown and walkability. It's so much nicer to walk out the door and start your day and also easier to get back when you need to. She's a bit too young to enjoy a pool or garden so I wouldn't worry too much about that--although the riad would have a 'garden' and possibly a fountain, right?
2. I think this all depends on what kind of child you have and how well (and quickly) she adapts to new situations. You are already going to be battling with the time change (my boys never adjusted and woke up at 4am every morning for a week in SF) and you can't predict anything.
When we went to Argentina, we spent a week based in an apartment in BA and made some day trips from there. I would lean towards one location based on my personal experiences.
3. Plan one thing a day and then take the day as it goes. We found the boys were great at sleeping in the Ergos in Argentina and in the stroller in SF so I was able to spend the entire day out and often did.
The heat may get you in the end and it might be better if napping is done in the hotel. Again, we mostly played these things out one day at a time.
The hotel can get really boring very quickly, so we usually opted for walks and changing up the scenery.
Eating was our biggest challenge. What to feed them, where to keep it, where to buy it so think carefully about that in terms of accommodation. We went with a place that offered a breakfast in the morning and I would pop them in the stroller in their P.J.s, head down, load up and bring it all back to the room as we got ready for our day. I was also on my own most of the time in SF, so having a ready-fast breakfast was of high priority.
If we could've found a place with a kitchen--I would always opt for this while traveling with a baby/toddler/child. It made a huge difference in all of our other travels.
Is renting an apartment an option??
I'm anxious to hear how the trip goes as it's always a place I've wanted to visit.
I didn't see a place to contact you directly, but wanted you to know that because I am a total travel geek and I want to go to Marrakech, I went to VRBO and found this sweet Riad:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vrbo.com/314608
Crib available, near the square, beautiful, breakfast included, washer and dryer (less packing, more laundry cleaning!) and I'm sure they would let you 'use' the kitchen.
I want to go now!
super jealous of your travel history and future travel plans! ugh on the finger. hope it heals quickly.
ReplyDelete