The lost day

Posted on October 16, 2013 by admin

I had a plan. (I always have a plan.) The dog sitter was coming at 8:30 to pick up Bailey, Dan needed to pick up the car, we would have some last-minute packing to do, we all needed to have breakfast, and Dan and I each needed a shower. I set my alarm for 7:30, with a goal of leaving the house at 10:00, but I really wanted to be on the road to Salzburg by 11:00. We’d have a busy morning, but not a crazy one.

But, things did not go according to plan. Dan, who was in charge of packing for this trip, left everything until the last minute. The morning became a flurry of tracking down boots (Dan had packed two right foot boots in two different sizes for Liam), finding winter clothes and accessories not yet unearthed from last winter, and keeping the kids out of piles of semi-organized but as yet unpacked clothes. But the last-minute packing was to be the smallest of our delays for the day.

Running only a little late (the 10:00 departure time was now impossible, but leaving at 11:00 was still a reasonable goal), Dan left to pick up the rental car from the other side of central Vienna. And then he came right back, because he realized that he had booked the car for the wrong dates. A somewhat frantic Germenglish phone call to the rental car company later, and he was off again, with a new car reserved. Except that when he got there, it wasn’t there. They had arranged to have the car brought over from another location (at the airport) but it wouldn’t be there … until noon.

Our schedule was quickly slipping away. But Dan managed to get the car, install the two rented car seats, and get back to us by shortly after 12:30. We were late, but it was still manageable. We could still arrive by late afternoon, with time to relax before dinner. We gathered up our things, got the shoes on the kids and went downstairs to pack the car … only to discover we had the wrong car seat for Benjamin.

We’ve run into this before. B is quite small and light for his age, so when we reserve the correct seat for him and also provide his age, they second-guess us and provide him with a booster (appropriate for a bigger child, but also technically ok for a 5 year old). Of course, he saw it and was so excited to have a “big kid” seat, so I was the most unpopular mommy (and wife) when I insisted we take it back and switch it for a regular car seat.

Of course, the original rental place didn’t have an appropriate seat, so we had to pick it up at yet another rental location. The one *they* had was too small for B, though, so we had to switch Liam to the new seat and put B in the one that had been “Liam’s”. Sigh.

At this point, we were exhausted, starving, and still in Vienna. What’s another 40 minutes, though? So we stopped for lunch.

At 3:45, we were finally all in the car, strapped into appropriate seats, fed, and on our way. Nearly 6 hours after we had planned to leave. 6 hours late for a just-over-3-hour trip (really, closer to 4 hours with several bathroom breaks). We could have almost driven to Salzburg and back in the time it took us to get out the door.

In all, it felt like the day that we didn’t have on our trip. Instead of a leisurely drive, stopping as we liked along the way, we instead started out tired and wishing we were already at our destination. Instead of having time to play and shop for groceries when we arrived, it was a stop at McDonald’s for dinner and then nearly straight to bed.

This was a hard one. I try to be flexible. I try not to let circumstances, mistakes or other frustrations take away from my experience of the moment. I try to stay mindful of the fact that although our day did not go as intended, nothing actually bad happened. I try to remember that we will remember this as a great, fun, relaxing trip, and that if remember the day spent watching tv and wandering through Vienna at all, it will probably be with humor. It truly was a fine day. At the end, we were safe and happy and where we wanted to be. But this was a tough one for me in terms of staying positive and choosing to be happy. I managed, but it wasn’t easy.

R’s house

Posted on October 8, 2013 by admin

Although I’m an introvert, I like to talk to people. It’s fun getting to know new people, hearing their stories, finding out what life is like for them. It’s one of the things I’ve enjoyed about all of our travels, and one of the (very many) things I’ve loved so much about visiting England, Scotland and Ireland — since I speak English, connecting with the people we’ve met there has been the easiest and the most rewarding. On our first trip, we met lots of new people, and this last time (back in July and August of this year), especially since we went back to some of the same places, we made some good friends.

Our single favorite place to stay has been Littletown Farm, where the food is amazing, the rooms are cozy, the scenery is stunning and the company is warm and charming. Besides, one of the Beatrix Potter stories I grew up with was actually set at the farm. (What’s not to love?)

Along with our wonderful hosts there, Rob and Sarah, are their children. Their youngest, R (he’s not my child, so I’m not putting his name on the Internet!), is only a few months younger than Benjamin, and on our first visit, the two of them instantly bonded over a love of Lightning McQueen. Ever since that first trip, Littletown has been known as “R’s house” in our family, and both of my boys would often ask when we were going back to “visit our friend R”. (In fact, everyone we met on our entire trip to the UK who asked the boys what we were doing on our vacation was told that “we’re visiting our friends in England”.)

My boys were so happy to be reunited with their friend on this most recent trip. Each morning, and after every meal, the constant question was, “Where’s R?”, and Benjamin explored all over the property seeking him out to play. (I think R enjoyed it too — he apparently talked in his sleep about playing with Benjamin, too.) B even got to explore some parts of the farm usually off-limits to guests, since he was escorted by R.

My boys loved playing with R. They started asking about our next visit to R’s house before we got back to Austria. I’m so happy to see my kids making new friends as we travel, too. And I’m sure we’ll make it back to R’s house again.

Stone circle

Posted on August 26, 2013 by admin

On neither of our trips to England so far have we made it down to Stonehenge (although it’s on the list, probably for the next trip). I really want to go — I’m certain it’s very interesting, most likely even more impressive and intriguing in person than in the images I’ve seen, and I imagine it will be goosebump-inducing, on account of its mystique, at the very least. Besides, it’s “just one of those places” that you want to see when you go to England. (At least, I do.)

We found out that there was a stone circle — Castlerigg Stone Circle — in the Lake District, though, very close to where we were staying, and it seemed like an excellent place to check out on a rainy morning with some free time. Although it lacks the renown of Stonehenge, it was fascinating, very old (one of the oldest stone circles in Britain and all of Europe, constructed around 3200 BC) and also quite beautiful, with misty views of the mountains and valleys of Cumbria in every direction.

We loved it. It felt like an appropriate part of our British trip, and, from a practical perspective, it was a great place for the kids to run around a bit outside. They liked it mainly because rocks are fun to climb on (although it may have been uncouth to do so — we did it anyway) and there were lots of great puddles to splash in. The circle had a great ambiance and stunning views, and we were lucky to visit between your buses, so it wasn’t very crowded. For whatever purpose the ancient inhabitants of the area constructed the circle, they certainly chose an excellent spot. We went just on a whim, and I’m so glad we did.

The National Trust

Posted on August 23, 2013 by admin

Along with our amazement of and appreciation for the public footpaths in Britain, we’ve gotten to experience a few parts of the National Trust — a program that preserves all sorts of historic, scenic or natural places all across the England, Wales and Ireland(Scotland has a separate National Trust, which we also visited and enjoyed), and opens them to the public. It’s fascinating and wonderful, and we’ve included several parts of the National Trust as pieces of our adventures in the UK.

I first learned about the National Trust through my mom, but experiencing parts of it firsthand makes me appreciate its importance even more. What’s interesting and different about the National Trust as opposed to regular National Parks (which also exist) is that a wide variety of kinds of places can be placed into the National Trust, not just the stunningly beautiful natural places you might expect (like the Giant’s Causeway), but even small places (gardens), functioning places (farms and pubs), things (such as historical artifacts) and whole villages (we’ve visited at least two of these — Buttermere, and tiny Watendlath which is FAR off the beaten path). It felt like every time we went to explore somewhere new, we’d end up crossing paths with the National Trust.

Although I’m not 100% clear on how it all works, I do understand that it’s a pretty profound way to preserve and share so much of Britain’s essence. The places that belong to the National Trust can’t be sold or developed, and they’re preserved, maintained and opened for everyone to share. We’ve gotten to explore a tiny piece of these national treasures, and I think it’s so wonderful that they’re looked after in this way — we’ve certainly enjoyed them.

Public footpaths

Posted on August 22, 2013 by admin

All across England, Scotland and Ireland, we encountered signs marking public footpaths. These are (relatively) maintained walking paths that the public has a right to use. It’s remarkable to me because, out in the country, they’re everywhere — not just along the edge of the road, or through parks or other public spaces, but very often through and across private land.

Following several of these public footpaths in England (we did less exploring on foot in Ireland and Scotland) we went across meadows, around lakes, into forests and through (occupied) sheep pastures. (All of the pictures I’ve included in this post were taken while we were on a public footpath.) Many of these areas are enclosed by fences and you have to pass through a gate (or a stile) in order to enter the field. As a horse owner, and someone who spent a lot of time during my growing up years on a sheep farm, I’m astonished that this actually works. (But, I guess it must, because I imagine that otherwise, something would change.) I would have nightmares about my animals getting out, or someone getting trampled and suing (although things are different outside of the States when it comes to litigation). Most of the gates we encountered were either kissing gates (basically a livestock comparison to an airlock door) or weighted to fall closed on their own, which is good, because people are generally bad at remembering to close gates (especially when the animals in question aren’t theirs).

Even so, I think it’s a wonderful system, and I’m amazed, yet thrilled, that it exists. Vast parts of the English countryside are open to the public, allowing so much of the beautiful land to be explored. We weren’t limited to public parks and sidewalks, we really were able to explore. It was fantastic.

“Drive on the left!”

Posted on August 21, 2013 by admin

Whenever we rent a car, it’s never so easy (or inexpensive) as JUST renting the car. We need two car seats and a GPS as well. (We own car seats for both boys, but dragging them around the world is impractical, and the navigation provided by our phones is only free in Austria.) It adds up to a lot of expense — the cost of the GPS and car seats is usually as much as (or more than) renting the car itself.

It’s entirely worth it. Although I do miss our wonderful car seats from home, they’re heavy and bulky and I’d worry about them being cargo when we fly. And the GPS is essential — not so much to get us where we’re going (we could look up directions from anywhere we could get wi-fi) but because it enables to deviate from our planned route, always knowing we’ll find our way back. Sometimes we do that out of need (stopping for a potty break or looking for lunch) but, even more often, we do it by choice. We can take the “scenic route”, explore an interesting looking turn off of the main road, or just drive, always knowing we’ll be able to get back to wherever we were headed. We do it all the time — it’s one of our favorite things to do when we travel (that’s how a 2.5 hour drive became an 8 hour one in Scotland, and how a 2 hour drive became an 8.5 hour one in Ireland). It’s how we have some of our favorite experiences and get to see some amazing places. So we feel the GPS is always worth it (though with what we’ve spent renting them, we probably should have just bought one at this point).

We had fun with ours on our most recent trip to the UK and Ireland, setting the English language accent as appropriate to where we were (English, Scottish or Irish). And we also laughed each time we turned it on, because EVERY TIME we started it up, it gave off an alarm sound and reminded us to “Drive on the left!” (including the exclamation point). That still didn’t stop me from ALSO reminding Dan myself that he should drive on the left, not only each time we started out, but also almost every time he made a turn from one road to the next. Dan did an amazing job, though — he drove on the correct side the entire time! (And I’m incredibly grateful to have gotten to experience far-flung parts of England, Ireland and Scotland without having to drive at all. I would have been a stressed out mess on those tiny roads AND driving on the “wrong” side.) It is amazing how ingrained the habit of driving on the right is — I kept wanting to get in the car on the wrong side, and crossing the street, I had to constantly remind myself to look both ways VERY thoroughly, because if I didn’t think about it, I would forget which direction the traffic was likely to be coming from.

It’s funny, though, because I don’t recall our GPS shouting and dinging at us to “Drive on the left!” the last time we were in the UK — and even though the two GPSes we rented during this trip were different models, they BOTH had the warning. (I wonder when they added that feature — and I wonder if it makes UK drivers crazy, or if there’s an option somewhere to turn it off?)

(As a note, we had Tom Tom GPS units on both pieces of our trip, and in both cases we had good experiences. Again.)

No rain, no rainbows

Posted on August 20, 2013 by admin

On both of our trips to the British Isles, we’ve had incredible luck with the weather. (We actually seem to have fantastic luck with the weather wherever we go.) England and Ireland are known for being gray and rainy. And although we’ve had more dry days than wet ones when we’ve been there, I’ve never been disappointed by a rainy day in the UK or in Ireland. After all, the only way the countryside can be so wonderfully lush and green is for a lot of rain to fall. Not only that, but we kind of WANT to have appropriately British weather when we’re visiting Britain — otherwise, it feels like we’re kind of missing out on some of the experience.

In addition to making everything vibrantly green, the persistent rain showers in England also seem to create excellent rainbows. We saw several rainbows during our most recent trip (all of them in England, although I have to imagine that Ireland can spawn some impressive rainbows as well — not only because it’s an equally drizzly country, but also because of the ubiquitous folklore and imagery that ties Ireland and rainbows together) but one was particularly outstanding. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a double rainbow, and the bottom arch was visible across it’s entire length — from the ground, up into the sky and back to the ground again. We were so struck by how vivid and complete it was that we pulled the car over and got out to see. For the first time in my life, I could actually SEE the rainbow’s end (it was at the base of a tree in a cow field not very far from where we were). I’ve always been a bit perplexed by the whole “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” thing, because I’d never before been able to see where a rainbow ended. They have always dissolved far above the ground, leaving a vague sense of their destination. But this one was clear. It was amazing, and it lasted for quite a while (we stopped, stared, exclaimed, gazed at it and took lots of pictures before getting in our car and heading to dinner, and it was still there). As the rain shower which created it marched off down the valley, the rainbow shifted slowly up the hillside, but only lost a bit of its clarity.

We were so impressed that we were still talking about it the next morning at breakfast, and mentioned it to our host, who smiled and gave us a look that clearly said, “Yeah, you’re not from around here.” I guess the perfect rainbows just come along with the verdant hills and the need to carry a raincoat everywhere. Just another amazing thing from that part of the world.

Pilot and copilot

Posted on August 19, 2013 by admin

I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure that we travel a lot more than average with our kids. My boys have each already logged more airborne miles than I had by the time I was 30. But for some reason, we’d never done the whole “visit the cockpit” thing — I’m not sure why. It might be that we haven’t flown airlines that are likely to invite a child to stop by, or that we often have felt stretched pretty thin while flying, or that we were always supposed to be the ones that suggested it, and it never occurred to us. (Is it something that even happens anymore in the US these days?)

A few months ago, a friend posted pictures of her grandson sitting in the copilot’s seat of an airliner, and it seemed kind of odd to me that it was something that my boys hadn’t yet experienced, so I made a mental note. But I didn’t know how it would work. Who should we ask? When? The first day of our most recent trip involved too much stress and literal running to even think about it (besides, one plane actually waited at the gate for us while we raced through the airport and had our Legitamations cards scowled at by German passport control, so they’d already done plenty for us).

But on the second day of our trip, early in the morning, we were the first to board, the cockpit door was open and the flight attendant was immediately friendly to the kids, so we asked. She said we couldn’t do it before takeoff, but she asked the pilot and he told us to come back after landing. B was so excited. He started telling me about how he couldn’t wait to see the front of the plane, and how he needed to learn how to fly it because he’s going to be a pilot one day (the first time I’d heard that particular aspiration) followed by Liam’s enthusiastic, “Yeah!”

After a quick trip to Edinburgh, we stopped by after landing. The pilot (who looked closer to Benjamin’s age than mine) was happy to have both boys visit. The kids were so happy. B was a little overwhelmed by all of the buttons and levers, but Liam wiggled his way right in and started pushing buttons and flipping switches. I was afraid they were going to do something catastrophic, but the pilot assured me that everything was off and that as long as the parking brake stayed on, we were good. After a moment, both kids had made themselves at home and were completely thrilled by the experience. They loved it.

We had such a good time that the next time we flew, B asked — all by himself! — if they could go in again, and again, they got to go — they even got to bring their dinosaurs along. This time, the pilots seemed a bit wary of Liam’s desire to mess mostly with the big red buttons (the ones that seemed like maybe not the best choice for operation by a 2 year old), but they were still great about showing the kids around, and even demonstrated what all the warning lights looked like. (We tried again after our next flight, but they said no — and I was impressed at how well the boys took it. They seemed to completely understand.)

Both boys already love flying, and I have the distinct impression that this is something they’re going to make a habit of. I expect that flight attendants around the world will now be subjected to the sweet, polite, super cute requests of Benjamin and Liam.

Lost luggage

Posted on August 5, 2013 by admin

It was bound to happen eventually — after 9 or so international journeys (I’m losing count) our luggage was lost on our trip to the UK. It’s easy to see how it happened. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and we got to the gate without a problem. Then, just at boarding time, our flight disappeared from the monitoring screen at the gate — never a good sign. Then “all passengers connecting to London” (us, plus a woman named Dorothy) were called up to the desk. Our flight was delayed, and the airline was worried about us missing our connection, so we were rebooked on another airline, connecting through Cologne. We were assured our luggage would be rerouted, too, and of course we were only ACTUALLY booked from Vienna to Cologne, but we had to go “right now” to make our flight, and so we did.

We were only booked standby on our new flight, and although we got seats, they weren’t together. But while the first person I asked to switch so B and I could sit together actually said no (Dan worked out seating for himself and Liam), another passenger switched with me, and yet another switched so that B could have a window seat, and all was well.

Until THAT flight was delayed by about 45 minutes, which resulted, after a trip to the check-in counter for another booking, in a flat-out “Home Alone” style sprint through the Cologne airport while they actually held the plane at the gate for us while we got through security and passport control. Of course, we didn’t have seats together on that flight either, and the plane was literally backing away from the gate while we sorted things out. (Again, one person gave up their seat so B & I could be together while another volunteered to switch so that B, who wasn’t even whining, could have the window. People are awesome.)

So, sweaty and exhausted, we made it onto a plane bound for Stansted airport, and, 2 hours later than we’d planned, we finally arrived. But our luggage did not. So there we were, day 1 of an 18 day trip, with two kids, no bags and an early morning flight the next morning to Edinburgh (after which we planned to rent a car and drive 3 hours further away).

On the bright side, everyone we talked to from the airline was thoroughly helpful. Also, we didn’t have much luggage to drag to our hotel. And, I got to do a bit of unplanned shopping for the family at a mall outside of Edinburgh. By late the next evening, our bags had been located, and, with our carry on stuff, the fruits of our shopping excursion, and the kids’ clothes kindly lent to us by our bed & breakfast hosts (who have a 4 year old son), we barely missed a beat of our vacation. Both suitcases were delivered on the fourth day of our trip, safe & sound. (Never have I been so glad to see old socks.)

Our trip is going wonderfully (lost luggage aside), but we fly to Ireland tomorrow, and I can’t help over-thinking every single thing I pack in our carry on — instead of packing light and taking just what we need for the trip, I feel a little like I’m packing the carry on for wilderness survival for a week. We managed quite well for being without our bags for about 72 hours, but I’d really rather not do it again . . . especially not on this same trip.

Can it possibly be like we remember?

Posted on July 26, 2013 by admin

We’ve just about arrived at the “vacation” part of our summer vacation. We leave this weekend to spend 2+ weeks in England, Scotland and Ireland. Yes, we were there for 2 weeks less than a year ago, and we’re going back already. We loved it that much.

I wonder, as I do anytime I go back to a place I’ve been before, if we’ll like it as much this time. Was it a fluke, or was it really as fantastic as we remember? After a night outside of London and an early flight the next morning to Edinburgh, we’ll actually drive back into England and spend 5 days in the Lake District, at the same place we stayed last year (it was so great last year that we just had to go back . . . and stay longer this time). We’ll follow that with a night in Glasgow (which will be new to us) on our way to the coastal highlands (which we tried to visit last time, but we had to reroute that part of the trip due to illness). Then we fly to Ireland, visiting both Northern Ireland and the Republic while we’re there, before flying back to London to spend a last day there before we come home. I am really excited to go back to my absolutely favorite travel destinations so far.

Last year, when we were in England, we fell in love. There wasn’t a single place we visited where we didn’t find something wonderful. And then, astonishingly, we maybe even loved Ireland more. (We loved Scotland, too, but we saw so little of it that I want to reserve judgement.) We were lucky to have wonderful weather most of the time (an anomaly, I know) and to meet kind and welcoming people (who all spoke English, which, alone, was a treat for us) throughout our travels. So, with amazing, picture-postcard-perfect memories like these, is it possible that it’s going to be as great this time around?

And then I pause for a moment and remember the other stuff that was also true of our trip. I planned parts of it very poorly, and we ended up driving for hours (and hours and hours) in some cases (I think the worst day involved 11 hours of car and air travel). We got a flat tire while we were in the Lake District, had to limp back to the hotel on the bad tire with both kids soaking wet in the backseat, and had to wait until the next day to have it fixed. Both boys got horrible stomach illnesses. They were sick in 3 different countries, 4 different hotels and 1 car. Liam fell when we were at Edinburgh Castle and bonked his head and we spent the rest of that day in the Emergency Room. Our hotel in York had NO HEAT even though it was COLD. Our trip to the Giant’s Causeway was a disaster — the weather was terrible, the kids were miserable, we had to change a diaper outside, in the rain — I don’t think that trip could have been more traumatic if there had actually BEEN a giant in residence.

But, for all of that . . . *including* all of that, in some cases, partially BECAUSE of some of those things . . . it was my favorite trip that we’ve taken since we’ve been abroad. (Well, it was my favorite destination(s) — having 2 of my sisters with us in Italy might have made that *trip* my favorite.) Without blowing out our tire, we would never have had a warm, boisterous, a la carte dinner with our fellow travellers in the Lake District. Without the kids being sick we would have spent even MORE time driving, and would have missed out on one of our favorite pieces of Scotland. The stories and pictures from our miserable day at the Giant’s Causeway make me smile and laugh EVERY time I think of them. We had a fantastic, wonderful, amazing, memorable, family trip, and it didn’t have to be even nearly perfect to be magical.

So, I don’t think we’re painting an overly rosy picture of our trip from last year — I think we just had a great time. This trip won’t have to be perfect to be excellent, either. I’ll be there with my most favorite people in the world, in some of my most favorite places in the world. We’ve got less driving, less “stuff” to do, and more downtime planned. We’re going back to some of our favorite places and trying out some of the ones we wish we’d seen last time. (And, it’s also true that everyone still speaks English, so that’s still going to be a major plus again.) I’m so excited to go back.

A Mommy Abroad

Our big adventure, as a family of three.

Category Archives: Destinations