Spring is coming!
Daffodils almost make the winter worth it. Almost.
March 1st. Hallelujah!- the worst 2 months of the year are over. Seriously does anyone even like, much less love, January or February? If you raised your cyberhand, I’d wager it’s because your birthday is in one of those awful months, and unless you are bringing world peace, then the event of your birth doesn’t count. Anyway, back to March. Even though the official advent of spring is not until the 22nd, the promise of hillside daffodils makes up for that 3-week wait.
For my family, it means we are T-2 weeks from our vacation to Paris! We are trying to travel outside of the UK once a term while we are here. Interestingly, a Brit recently told me how much cheaper it is to travel outside of the UK than within it. So, we decided to take advantage of our location, which means toting along the kids. Traveling with kids is a nightmare at worst and an experiment at best, but after 3 and a half years of doing it across the States and now across the pond, we feel like we have mastered it. In fact, we know exactly how many bags to take, how many gifts to bring friends and family, how much space to leave for trinkets- and while we do have a scale, I can pick up the bag and tell you if it’s under 50 pounds.
Paris on Ryanair
We can afford these luxurious vacations because of Ryanair (think Southwest Airlines meets Greyhound). Ryanair views itself as a bus in the sky, so they offer super-cheap tickets, knowing they’ll get you on all the extras (such as checking in on-sight, checking in baggage, infant seats, snacks, etc). Thus, we have streamlined our packing strategy and, as a result, we (read that all 4 of us) are flying to Paris for under 20 pounds! You see, my husband is amazing at jumping through the hoops and paying the bare minimum to get from point A (Scotland) to point B (Paris). We flew to Germany for 20 pounds last fall and we wore a couple layers and purchased carry-ons from Flylite that are an exact fit for Ryanair requirements. We figured that the minor expense of the bags is worth the number of trips we can not pay for checking in baggage (plus the bags are very lightweight and we got a free rucksack with our order that we were able to fold inside the bag and then use as a backpack for all our kids’ stuff once we were in Germany.). We were also allowed one small, collapsible stroller/buggy, so we took a sturdy umbrella stroller that could recline a wee bit for our son to snooze. The trip was a huge success, so we booked Paris for March.
What we pack
Our trip is for 5 days. We booked an apartment, so we will have a washer. So, I figure a couple changes of clothes are fine. These are carry-ons, so all toiletries must be small and under 4 ounces since they’ll got through security. I pack a few snacks for the kids for the plane (both flights), as well as their sleepy things/lovies (pacis, blankies, etc.) . Fortunately, we had the insight to not let them get attached to huge items, so their necessary items are quite compact. Our little guy is still in a crib, but even a pack n play is not an option for the plane. A friend recommended this Peapod for compact, lightweight traveling. It is 3 pounds and fits in a carry-on with plenty of extra space for other essentials. Finally, and I am totally serious, we pack portable white noise generators. This is our vacation, so we are leaving our computers at home (yikes!!), so my usual free generator can’t come with us. As it is, we invested in a few portable sound machines for our flat, so we’re taking 2 (one for our room and one for the kids’ room). They’re small and they protect our sleep- I never leave home without them. (After staying a night in Mexico City after a football victory and therefore not getting a single moment of quiet the entire night, I purposed to never be unprepared again. I used to use ear plugs- however, my ears are pretty sensitive and I would wake up because they were sore. So, while very small, they still didn’t help that much. Thus, I resorted to white noise generators and fell in love.)
We are thinking Spain (I studied there a bit in college) or Italy for the next trip. Both paella and pasta sound marvelous to me. As Michael Scott would say, it’s a win-win-win.
