Cora the Explorer : Dubai, UAE

Well, it is safe to say that Facebook marketing works on me. I bought my first pair of Allbirds after seeing the Facebook ad and now own several pairs. We bought a shoulder baby/toddler carrier that kept popping up in my feed. There are so many examples. When the Sofitel Dubai on the Palm showed up with a discount offer and we were still looking for somewhere to go for our next trip, I looked into it almost immediately. Flights were reasonable and neither direction required quarantine, so we booked an apartment at the Sofitel and off we went.

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I usually do a lot of research before a trip, but with all the last minute changes to our travel plans, there just wasn’t that much time. Luckily Mark had a couple of coworkers who gave us some help. Dubai was never really on our list as a must-visit place. But it really ended up being a fantastic decision and this became one of our favorite trips as a family. Dubai is an amazing place with SO MUCH to explore. But for us, we had two very little kids, so most of our wonderful experience came from our wonderful hotel. We don’t usually splash out for luxury accommodation, but with the discount we decided it was worth it. We try and stick to a travel budget each year and there is always a tug of war with that and trying to do as much as we can.

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This place was so beautiful and so family friendly. We booked an apartment so we had plenty of space. We also rented a Tiki Cabana so we had our own private space at the pool. Mark went to the grocery store the day we arrived and stocked up on lunch and snacks. Breakfast was included at the hotel and we did takeout delivery for dinner each night.

We actually only left the hotel a couple times. There was a free shuttle to Mall of the Emirates so we went to check it out and to see the famous indoor downhill ski slope in the desert. There we discovered that just about any American chain restaurant you can think of is in Dubai. Our first dinner as a family of four at a restaurant was at the Cheesecake Factory. We got Shake Shack delivered one night. It was so awesome. We also went to see the Burj at night – it sparkles. And we did catch the fountain show but we left early because neither kid was into it – it was really loud.

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Again, this would have been a very different trip without the little ones along. We did not do any desert experiences so I still have yet to ride a camel. We didn’t go to the souks or to the Islamic Learning Center. We basically stayed at the beautiful hotel and relaxed and ate too much American food. And it was awesome.

Cora the Explorer : Disney World

My family has a reunion in Disney World every few years over Thanksgiving.  I was dead set against going this year.  Disney is expensive and really far from where we live now and Cora would only be just over one year old.  Why would I spend that much money to travel that far, by myself (Mark had to work), with a toddler, to the most overstimulating place on earth?  I told everyone that we would not be going this year.  And then I changed my mind.

I found some really inexpensive tickets and decided to set the lowest of low expectations for Cora.  We would focus on spending time with family rather than visiting every attraction and riding every ride.  Some may view that as a waste of money, but let’s face it, spending long days in the parks with a tired and cranky toddler would ruin it for both of us anyway.  Cora is not good at on-the-go napping, especially when there is a lot going on around her.  So that’s what we did.  We spent no more than a half day in the park on any given day (morning or afternoon) and I made sure that I had Cora back in the quiet room for a nap.  We stayed on site and had eight park days, so half days never felt too short anyway.

And honestly, it was great!

And what did Cora think of all of it?  Well, I would say she neither liked nor disliked rides.  She mostly sat wide eyed taking it all in.  I think sometimes there was a bit of fear, but that was overtaken by overwhelming interest.  She definitely liked to watch the characters, but did not want to get close to them or touch them.  She really doesn’t know who any of them are anyway.

Overall, I think her favorite thing to do was to just watch everything.  She was happiest when she was standing, hanging on to a bench, watching everything happen around her.  She would wave to everyone, smiling and flirting.  She also loved standing on the bus on our rides to or from the parks.  Standing seems to be the key here since she’s just on the verge of walking.  She also only wanted to stand on the plane, which was not so much fun for me.

And it was great to spend time with family that we don’t get to see often now that we live in Europe.  The travel days were super long and tiring, but it was worth it and I’m glad we went.  Maybe next time we will have to go to Disneyland Paris!

 

Surviving Long Hauls With a Baby

We had an unexpected trip back to the U.S. last week for a funeral.  While the circumstances were extremely sad, it was nice to see friends and family that we hadn’t seen in a while.  This also marked the first long haul trip that Cora and I did by ourselves as Mark had to stay in Switzerland to work.  And it was also the 3rd of 5 trips we are making back to the U.S. this year alone.  To top that off, Cora is arguably at the most difficult age to travel with.  She is crawling everywhere and on the verge of walking.  She does not want to sit still and is too young to be reasoned with.

Every child is different, and this trip was still not easy, but these are my tricks that helped us get through it.

1. Pack early.  I start packing days before we leave.  Not necessarily having everything in a suitcase packed, but setting things aside that I don’t want to forget.  Life is hectic and it’s easy to forget stuff. I use the spare bedroom as a staging area so it’s very easy to just throw things in there that I want to be sure to take.  I don’t want to take too much, but I want to be sure to have stuff that we will need.
2. Pack light.  I needed to be able to get all our stuff from one place to the next by myself.  We checked one suitcase and the car seat. The car seat is one we use exclusively for travel.  It has zero bells and zero whistles, but it is extremely lightweight and I put it in a travel bag with backpack straps and used the straps to attach it on top of the rolling suitcase.  I carried on a backpack and my purse.  I didn’t bring a stroller this time because I knew we wouldn’t need it in Denver and Cora is only about 20 lbs, so still manageable in the Ergobaby.  We will need it on the next trip, though, so we have a small, lightweight travel stroller that fits in the overhead bin since her everyday stroller is the size of a bus.
3. Snacks.  Snacks for hunger and snacks for activity.  I had tons of snacks including a number of things that Cora had never had before as well as old favorites.
4. Screens.  Cora is just over one year old and screen time is not recommended until at least two years.  On a normal day at home we don’t watch any TV, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I bought an Amazon Fire Kids Edition when Cora was only 6 months old in anticipation of using it for travel.  It doesn’t really captivate her attention yet (chewing on the protective case is actually her preferred method of using it), but she will settle down to watch downloaded episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Baby Einstein if she is really tired.  Since she’s pretty bad at napping on the go (too much distraction!), using it to get her over the hump to settle down and actually get to a point where she can take a nap really does help.
5. Other activities.  Since watching a movie just isn’t going to work yet, we had other things to do on the plane.  I bought several sheets of stickers and a blank notebook.  I had her favorite books since she really likes to turn the pages.  I had a felt activity board since she’s pretty obsessed with velcro.
6. Pick your battles.  Stuff that normally wouldn’t happen at home can happen on the road if it doesn’t hurt anyone and makes life easier.  I let her crawl around an empty area of the terminal and get filthy.  At least she burned off some energy and we just washed up in the bathroom.  She ate cereal instead of her meal on the plane. Fine – at least something went in her belly and it’s better than cookies.  And I stick that pacifier in lightning quick on the road when at home they are mainly used for going to sleep.
7. Extra clothes, for the baby and for you.  I had two spare outfits for Cora and an extra shirt for myself.  And sure enough, once we got to Denver and were on the rental car shuttle bus, Cora threw up all over both of us.  We were at the end of our journey at that point, so technically I didn’t need the change of clothes, but you just never know.
8. Downgrade your seats.  This is the first time that I actually asked to be downgraded, but hear me out.  Airlines will give away upgrades to fill up those premium seats in the front of the cabin to keep their status holders happy.  I’ve been a status holder for many years and you are not going to sit next to an empty seat up there.  I gave up some extra legroom, but moving back allowed us to get a whole row to ourselves since the flight was not full.  Cora slept much better stretched out across the seats than she would have on my lap and I even got to lay down with her for a while.
9. Letter of consent.  This is one that I had luckily heard about from one of the various expat mom groups that I’m part of on Facebook.  If you are traveling abroad with your child without the other parent, have a letter of consent ready.  Of course this is not always possible for everyone, so check online to see what you need if your circumstances are different.  I did have a letter that Mark signed and I had a copy of his passport just in case.  And I was actually asked for it when I went through customs in the U.S.  The border officers will do this to prevent child abduction.  I have heard that they scrutinize people with babies more since they are easier to abduct, but I didn’t mind being questioned because I was prepared.

So there you go.  We survived.  Tired, yes, but happy to have gone.

Cora the Explorer : Kiev, Ukraine

Kiev was definitely not on my radar when I moved here to Switzerland.  I think it is very common for expats on a temporary assignment in Europe to make a list of places that they would like to go while they live so much closer to them.  Kiev was not on our list.  But, wow, it really should have been.

We ended up with a trip to Kiev on the books solely because we had a few free Hyatt nights to burn before the end of the year.  I pulled up the map on the Hyatt website to investigate the options.  The highest tiers of Hyatt are not included in this deal, so that whittled it down a bit.  And I eliminated cities where we had already been, which whittled it down quite a bit more.  What was left was a bunch of options next to major airports (no thanks) or cities in Eastern Europe.  After hearing some friends raving about the city, we booked some flights and headed to Kiev.

Unfortunately, Cora was under the weather for the trip.  She had been diagnosed with croup earlier in the week and her cough sounded really rough.  She is also in the process of getting two molars, so that really added to her discomfort.  We considered cancelling but decided to go see her pediatrician the day before we left.  She was armed with everything possible to keep her as comfortable as possible including steroids, an inhaler, and nose drops and we were given the blessing to travel.

Hindsight is 20/20, however, and we know now that just because we could travel doesn’t mean we should have.  Cora was tired all weekend so we spent a lot of time in the room.  Her cough was rough and her breathing was difficult when she slept.  I felt so bad for taking her away from her home and crib.  Luckily our hotel was able to provide car service (with a car seat!) instead of our normal public transportation and they also upgraded us so we had plenty of space.

Because of our poor baby’s condition, we were really limited on what we did in the city.  We spent one afternoon just walking around from amazing monument to amazing park to amazing monastery to amazing square.  Truly, the city is jaw-dropping amazing.  Luckily our hotel was right in the middle of it so we didn’t have to take Cora far to see so much.

We also had two dinners out that really knocked our socks off.  The first was at a Ukrainian restaurant close to our hotel and the second was at a Georgian restaurant where we used the car service again.  Both restaurants were oozing with ambiance and authenticity and the food was truly worth the trip.  We enjoyed as much as we could as quickly as we could before we had to get our poor baby back to bed.

Why am I so surprised that we liked Kiev so much?  I don’t know how to explain it.  I guess I expected it to be cheaper, but also more run down.  But we did not find this to be the case.  The architecture is incredibly impressive and the park we went to was nicer than most.  It was as clean as any city in Europe.  I also didn’t expect the people to be so friendly.  Everyone we spoke with was incredibly nice and helpful. We didn’t go wandering around late at night, but I never felt unsafe.

Basically, Kiev has really a lot to offer at a truly incredible value.  As with most places we visit, I wish we would have had more time!

It seems crazy to think about, but Cora has been to 13 countries in her 12 short months of life.  She got a baker’s dozen in right before her first birthday.  As we look to next year, I seriously need to give Eastern Europe more thought.  I’m sure there are a dozen more cities in the East worth visiting that will knock our socks off, just like Kiev did.  Time to update the list!

Cora the Explorer : Ticino, Switzerland

Switzerland has four official languages –  German (63% native speakers), French (23%), Italian (8%), and Romanch (<1%). We live in Suisse Romande, the French speaking area, in the canton of Vaud.  Monday was a holiday for us so last weekend was a long one. We took advantage of the extra day and drove down to Ticino, an Italian speaking canton bordering northern Italy.

We had heard many times that Ticino is just like Italy, but cleaner and with Swiss prices.  We found this mostly to be true.  We set up camp in Locarno, on the northern tip of Lago Maggiore.  Lake Como is not far away from there and the scenery was pretty similar. We splurged on a lake front room with a balcony, which ended up being a great choice since I wasn’t feeling well and we spent more time in the room than we normally would.

Unfortunately, I had caught whatever bug Cora had been dealing with the week before, so the entire weekend was pretty low key.  We walked along the lake a lot, we ate Italian food (at Swiss prices), and took naps right along with Cora.

We did hop in the car one time to go check out a nearby bridge in Lavertezzo.  The Ponte de Salti is a double arch stone bridge across the turquoise Verzasca River.  It is a truly beautiful valley with tiny, romantic, stone villages clinging to the hillsides.

It was a lovely little family weekend. Even our little angel, Thalia, was with us.

Cora the Explorer: Korčula, Croatia

Well, we did it.  We found a little slice of heaven.  And it can be found in the middle of nowhere on a small island on the Dalmatian Coast.

We got up unreasonably early to catch a flight to Split with the end goal of moving into what is possibly the coolest house of all time, for a week, with two other families.  There were three sets of parents and three babies with an average age of 1 year.  Sound like chaos?  It kind of was, but in the best way.

It became apparent early on that coordinating three babies to do something at the same time is really hard.  So we embraced it and went with the flow all week.  Baby needs a nap? Go take a nap!  (Mark needs a nap? Also, go take a nap!)  Want to swim in the pool?  Go ahead!  Want to go snorkel or take the boat out for a spin?  Go!

Babies were crawling everywhere, getting into everything, and talking (incoherent yelling) at the same time.  But it was all fine because each family had a baby.  Each family was right there in the same boat with us.  And there was always someone around to pull a baby out of the recycling bag. By the end of the week we were having baby crawling races, group baby bath time under the outdoor shower in a baby pool, and a lot of fun.

We had a lot of space, a lot of amenities, and a whole week to enjoy it.  I can’t say we explored much of Croatia. But on the other hand, even with a baby, it was truly a vacation.

Cora the Explorer : Triglav National Park, Slovenia

A few years ago we went on a vacation to the Salzkammergut in Austria.  This is a gorgeous, mountainous area close to Salzburg and is also home to the now-pretty-well-known small town, Hallstatt.  If you haven’t seen a picture of Hallstatt, I don’t believe you.  Anyway, we decided to visit the town, and much to our dismay, it was completely overflowing with people.  There was no where to park.  There was no where to eat.  It was absolutely nothing like the tranquil, idillic pictures you see of it.

And that’s exactly how Lake Bled is as well.  We stopped there for about three hours because we were driving right by it anyway, and I actually regret all of those three hours.  Yes, the water is a beautiful color, there’s an island with a church on it, and it is surrounded by pretty hills.  It’s also fairly small, completely packed with people, and there is a lot more development on the shores than you would expect.  I wish now that we would have kept driving right on by because our less-well-known lake turned out to be just as beautiful but also tranquil and idillic.  Lake Bohinj is only about 25 minutes from Lake Bled, but much more calm.  And we stayed on the shores here for a few nights while we explored Triglav National Park – Slovenia’s only national park.

**I’m not trying to hate on Hallstatt or Lake Bled, but I can’t stress enough how much I recommend to go there in the off-season if you want to see them.  Your experience will be immeasurably better.

We really wanted to see the Soča River while we were in the area.  As the crow flies, it’s actually really close to where we were staying.  Unfortunately there were some pretty big mountains in the way.  So we jumped in the car for a day of driving and exploring.

Mark got to really test his driving skills as we went over the Vršič Pass.  This pass crosses the stunning Julian Alps to the Soča Valley and pretty much defines the term “hairpin turn”… 50 times over.  There are 50 switchbacks on the pass and they are all numbered with a small sign that also gives their elevation.  And truly, you almost want to stop at each one because the views just get better and better.  We did stop at the top on the Soča side to give Mark a break from driving and Cora a break from her carseat.  It was breathtaking.

The Soča river is so beautiful that it doesn’t even look real.  I have not done any editing or added any filters to the photos below.  That blue is the real color of the river.  There is a trail that runs alongside the river for about 20 km.  We stopped a few times along the way to walk along it for a bit.  It was a fairly warm day, so sticking our feet in the cool water was nice for Mark and me, but Cora hated it.  I don’t think she was expecting it to be so cold!

After stopping for lunch, we went on a short hike around the Tolmin Gorge.  This is the Tolminka River, not the Soča, but you can see that the colors are just as stunning.  The dramatic cliffs kept it really cool down there and it felt nice on the hot day.

Since we had such a long day in the car, the next day we spent enjoying our lake.  It rained in the morning but in the afternoon Mark got to go paddle boarding while Cora and I took a walk along the shore.

We really loved Lake Bohinj and I wish that we could have stayed there longer.  The town on the lake was small and much less crowded than Lake Bled, but there were still plenty of great places to eat and a lot to do.  I think we will have to get back to Slovenia some day!

Cora the Explorer : Ljubljana, Slovenia

If you follow the traditional wedding anniversary gift schedule, the first anniversary gift should be paper.  I chose to get Mark a framed push-pin map of the world with a small emblem in the corner that says “The Adventures of Mark and Kelly”.  We have been adding a pin every time we travel somewhere new, and it drives Mark crazy that I only allow pins for places that we have been together.  Sure, Asia pins are little sparse (only Japan so far) but it is the Adventures of MARK AND KELLY!  Last week we finally got to put a pin in Slovenia, where he had been and I had not.

As the designated travel agent of the house, I follow several travel blogs, and I’m always looking for up and coming destinations before they get crazy popular.  Many, many, MANY of them have said that Slovenia is an underrated destination.  And they were absolutely right – with the exception of Lake Bled, in my opinion, which is for another post.

We started the trip off in southern Austria, visiting Mark’s host family from high school.  It is always so nice to catch up with them and Carinthia in the summer is absolutely perfect.  After a few days near Klagenfurt, we drove over to Ljubljana, which was less than two hours in the car.

The population of Slovenia is just over 2 million people, so the capital city is significantly smaller than other, more popular, European destinations.  It’s incredibly walkable, incredibly charming, and well worth the few days we spent there.  The food was fantastic and we relished in prices that were so much cheaper than Switzerland.

Mark’s host mother (and Cora’s Austrian Oma) came with us to visit a friend and offered to babysit one night, so we even had a night out!  Not only was it a treat to eat out without worrying about how much food was being thrown on the ground, but we could also eat out at a normal time – a rarity since Cora’s bedtime is around 7:30.

Cora really enjoyed the city as well.  She ate at least half of my food on a few occasions and was pretty obsessed with every dog she saw.  So, the dog thing isn’t really Slovenia related, but hey, she was happy!

Life Lately : 9 Months

We’ve been a little MIA lately because we’ve been in the good ol’ U.S. of A!  We made another trip back stateside for the 4th of July and to spend time in Minneapolis and northern Wisconsin.  We got to see friends and family that we haven’t seen in a while and celebrate America’s birthday in true American fashion – a cookout and swimming at the lake.

Cora is ringing in at 17 lbs and just shy of 28 inches.  She learned to splash at the aforementioned lake so bath time will hereafter be known as Hurricane Cora Makes Landfall.  She sits by herself and still rolls a lot.  No crawling yet but she sure wants to.  If she could just figure out how to work those knees!  She also has three teeth that are coming in out of order.  After plenty of Googling by yours truly, I learned that getting the bottom two middle followed by a top side is not uncommon.  Her smile is going to be interesting!

And smile she does, a lot.  And laugh with her mouth WIDE open.  She has figured out object permanence by now, but if I leave the room and come back, she acts like she hasn’t seen me in days, greeting me with the biggest smile and she’ll laugh at literally anything I do.

 

Unfortunately jet lag got us this time on the way back.  Actually, I think it’s a combo of jet lag, 9-month sleep regression, a slightly runny nose, those darn teeth, summer warm weather (remember no air conditioning here!) and my effort to get her from 3 naps down to 2.  Cora has been waking up around 10 crying each night we have been back.  She normally doesn’t wake up and normally doesn’t cry when she does, so adjusting back to Central European Time has been bit rough.  We will get through it, though, and carry on with our beautiful summer.

Cora the Explorer : Fjords of Norway

Roughly one year ago we went to Copenhagen.  I know I’ve mentioned in previous posts, but our trip was cut short because of a cancelled flight.  This was a travesty because we fell in love with the city and we knew we had to go back.  Fast forward a year and we made a trip back to Copenhagen and decided to hit up another country on our list as long as we were in the neighborhood: Norway.

Planning a trip to Norway was a little tough because we were mostly interested in the western coast where all the fjords are.  Unfortunately, this area is a little more difficult to get around and we knew at the time that we’d have a baby.  Babies aren’t always the most flexible travelers and they need a lot of stuff.  I made a tough decision and bit the bullet and booked a cruise.  Mark’s parents also decided to come with us, giving us a 4:1 adult to baby ratio.  Pretty nice!

If you know Mark’s and my travel style, you will know that we are not exactly the cruising type.  I understand that some folks absolutely love them for the convenience and ability to visit many places quickly, not to mention all the amenities on board.  For us, we’d rather travel without 2000 extra people, both on the ship and in the towns where they unload.  You also don’t get to spend much time at each place.  BUT, a cruise offered a way to us to see some of the places we wanted to go without having to move all of our stuff.  Plus, the journey through the actual fjords would be built in.  We booked a “suite” (not an actual suite, just a bigger room) with a balcony and the cruise line brought in a crib for Cora.

We boarded the ship in Copenhagen and set off for 7 nights.  And it was fine.  Our room was nice, the food was good, and we had an all-inclusive package on the drinks.  We aren’t gamblers so we never visited the casino.  We also never went to any of the shows.  But we did enjoy the spa a couple of times as well as the gym.  Overall the ship experience was ‘meh’.  The real star of this show was the destination.

Norway = stunning.  Period.

We were blessed with gorgeous weather.  I had packed our warm jackets, hats, and gloves, and we never needed them.  I probably overdressed poor Cora a couple of times.  The sun came out every day.  We barely used our rain gear.  We were so lucky to have clear views everywhere we went.

We didn’t have a lot of time on shore for the stop in Bergen.  We mainly walked around town, ate some of the best salmon ever, and did some shopping.  Nana bought Cora a Norwegian sweater.  It is literally the most beautiful piece of clothing she owns.  We bought it big and I’m going to squeeze her into it until it’s so tight the buttons pop off.

In Flåm we rode the famous Flåmsbana train, the steepest standard gauge railway in Europe.  It is only a 2-hour round trip ride, and you go back exactly the way you came, but that was actually fantastic because we got to see everything on both sides of the train.  The views were absolutely amazing.

My favorite part of the trip was in Geirangerfjord.  We stayed in our room that morning for breakfast because we couldn’t take our eyes off the fjord.  We passed by the Seven Sisters waterfall and it felt like you could reach out and touch it.  The cliffs were SO dramatic and the waterfalls were SO picturesque.

 

Will we book another cruise again?  No, probably not.  Will we visit Norway again?  Yes, definitely someday.