Hanoi was Yiu Yiu's first overseas trip. I wanted to ensure that everything would go well and starting reading up on books and surfing the internet to read on other people's experience on traveling with a small child, what to pack, etc. The first obvious thing to do is to apply for a passport for her. I downloaded the application form from the immigration department website and went to the Subang immigration office one Friday. As there was special privilege for children under two, we didn’t have to join the queue and was attended to almost immediately at the special counter. The whole process of submitting the form and making payment was painless and we were out of the office in less than 30 minutes. We collected the passport in two days time.
I also stocked up on baby food jars, which I've never given her before as I wasn't sure if we could find appropriate food for her. She ended up consuming only one jar, so the rest of them are collecting dust in my kitchen at the moment. She basically took adult food, mainly noodles and we also managed to order porridge at some places.
We bought a booster seat from Babyland SS2 during last year-end sales in preparation for the trip and boy, were we glad for the foresight. Hanoi is not a child friendly place and none of the restaurants we visited had any baby chair, so the booster seat was really a godsend or else I would have ended up carrying her at each meal.
Yiu Yiu was pretty excited seeing planes for the first time. As we walked on the tarmac towards the aircraft, she shrieked with delight and was visibly delighted. She to the flights well and didn't encounter any problems with ear pressure during take-off or landing.
Overall, I think the trip was tough on her. Meal times were irregular but thank goodness she's still breastfeeding, so at least she got sustenance whenever needed. She hardly took proper naps throughout the four days, and she really crashed out after the trip. She napped for two straight hours at the babysitter's place the day after we returned. That's quite something considering her normal nap time of 30 – 45 minutes, twice a day.
I'm still undecided whether to take her along to Siem Reap in August. I think Siem Reap will be even more punishing on a young child so it might be better to leave her with the babysitter. But I'd feel very guilty leaving her behind while I gallivant around Angkor Wat with her papa. Tough one, this! I guess I'll cross the bridge when the time comes.
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4 comments:
Haha...guess Yiu Yiu is a smart gal... she wants fresh food and not jar food! I got plenty from our flight to and from LA... hubby ate some as Darrius refused to eat after having them for a few days. Imagine we were there for 2.5 weeks! Can't find noodles and porridge so easily!
hmm..siem reap i think tough with kids esp u want to climb the angkor wat, cause it's pretty steep...
wow, hats off to you, Wai Leng, for never having Yiu Yiu on jar food before. I use them all the time when we are out shopping, which is pretty often. At home, she gets her homemade food ie. regular cod, salmon or pak chong with fruit/vege puree or porridge/oat/quinoa but i honestly dont relish lugging that around shopping mall here. I did lug some frozen homemede food to Surabaya with babyloft's technic ice though, with a mixture of Heinz's tin/can savoury babyfood lunch and dinners for her.
The booster seat is a lifesaver too, isnt it? Pretty useful in rural area in Malaysia too, (ie when we visit my FIL over the weekend and eats out)
alice, i can imagine the difficulty in getting suitable food for baby in LA, and you can't be feeding Darrius bread every meal, right?
jazz, that's what i thought. so maybe leaving her at the babysitter is the best option.
christene, we normally feed her lunch before going out and ta pau her dinner in a thermos food container and lug around with us. And yes, the booster seat was indeed a lifesaver. Glad we bought that.
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