Feb 25 2005
The traveling mind
My thoughts recently have been about some upcoming travel.
In March we will be taking our annual Spring Break trip to the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament. This trip is a continuing tradition from D’s childhood and now we are passing it along to the next generation.
We plan on being good Auburn supporters, even if they are solidly in last place. And once again, the Auburn Elvis will be making his appearance, now with a mini-Elvis in tow. All so they can get on TV (and it has worked the last 3 times he has worn the costume).
And the mini-Elvis will be a delight to have with us, but I have a feeling it will exercise our time management skills.
Since Auburn is last in the conference, their first game will be the very last game on the first day of the tournament- 9:45 pm. I told D that we will set up a deal with his uncle. Once Charles sees us on TV, he will call my mother-in-law’s cell phone and then Fuller and I are going back to the hotel room, where he (and I) can crash.
April will see Fuller & me traveling to Auburn to see the NCAA Women’s National Gymnastics Championship. Since Grandma Great lives there, we will bunk at her house and she will get to spend some time with Fuller. Plus Vieja plans on coming down to spend a little time with her little man. I see that trip as being less stressful than the March Madness trip, since he won’t be going with me to see the events.
And then, in May, I have a business trip for a conference in Boston. Last year, D and I went together. This year, with Fuller, it will offer a whole range of maneuvering for traveling with an infant. For example, I was worried about the transport of a car seat. And then I found out, I won’t need one. Did you know that taxi cabs, in Boston, are exempt from child car seat laws? I don’t know if this is a good thing or not. But, I don’t want to wean Fuller yet, so he is my traveling buddy for the next few months.
I like to travel, and having Fuller with me is fun and different, but I know that there is no place like home.
WAIT! I just read this with a sense of dismay… Whether or not the state has cars seat laws for its cabs should NEVER mandate your use of them. It is SOOOOOO incredibly easy to travel with a carseat– you simply check it! I actually had a carseat bag that I packed the carseat in- after taking the baby out of the car at the airport– and then stuffed other various baby things into the bag as well- checked it and VIOLA– no big deal. The bags are very inexpensive- buy one at BabiesRUs– for about $20… But you can just check the seat itself also- throw a tag on it.
WHO CARES if the state has no laws regarding it!
Have you been in a taxi cab ever in your life?!? They are already nutty enough… Look if I hadn’t already done it loads of times and figured out just how easy it is I may keep my mouth shut… Just so you know! Its not any harder than all the other stuff you gotta deal with when you travel alone with an infant. OH– another tip- You can take the stroller ALL the way to the gate– keeping the baby in it til the last minute– when you board the plane the flight attendant will take the stroller and check it… when you land the stroller will be right there when you step off the plane– just in time to drop baby back in and take off to baggage!!!! SO easy! This means you can take whichever stroller you feel the most comfortable with all the time… I took the big one the first couple of times– with no problems whatsoever!
Good luck!
AND TAKE YOUR BABY’S CARSEAT!
Love, Lissa
Um… yeah. Sorry to imply that I wasn’t going to take the car seat with me. I am the girl who is worried about leaving Fuller in the car in my backyard while I run in the house real quick. I was shocked to find out about the car seat exemption rule for taxis. I just didn’t get it out in writing properly.
And for the record, I know I can check the car seat and take the stroller to the gate. That is how I got Fuller to Ohio at Christmas. It is just that we are switching to the bigger car seat/ booster and that is going to be a big pain to take with me, especially for only 2 car rides- from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the airport.
And then again, I may decide not to go this year, I still have time to get out of it.