Trip to Victoria, BC – Day 1

We have been in Seattle for more than 5 years, but we never made the trip to Canada. Vancouver is just 3 hours driving distance away. We had planned a trip multiple times, but always had to cancel it for some reason. So, as soon as we decided to move to CA, we were sad that we never visited Canada. Now that our stuff has gone and we have a week to wrap up stuff, we have some time off. We decided to go to Victoria, BC, Canada as we can go on a whale watching tour and there are some other interesting stuff to see in Victoria.

We took a ferry from Seattle to Victoria. The journey was nice except for me getting motion sickness in the middle. There was about an hour of the journey when the waters a bit rough and I was very nauseous and I almost threw up. Luckily they had medicine on board and they gave me ginger candy which kind of helped. My tummy was so shaken that I felt nauseous even two hours after getting off the ferry. The view from the deck was beautiful. It was very windy and a bit cold on the deck. We didn’t stay for long on the deck.

View from the ferry deck. Seattle downtown and Mt. Rainier(faintly) in the background.

We reached Victoria in the evening at about 6 pm. We checked into our hotel which was just a few blocks from the harbor. We then started searching for a place to eat. We found a noodle place called noodlebox. It was a very nice place. When we were in Madison, we used to go to a place called Noodles n Company. We loved it. Noodlebox was very similar to that. The food we ordered was good, but the quantity was way too much. We couldn’t eat even half of the quantity we ordered. We felt very bad to throw away food, but we just couldn’t eat it all. But, the food was awesome though!

Even though it is the end of June, the weather was a bit chilly when we went out to dinner. We needed light jackets. It was a nice small walk from our hotel to Noodlebox and it felt nice to take a walk back after eating.

Feels Good to be back home

We just got back from a week long vacation to Orlando. We have been planning this trip for a while now and finally, we got good tickets using airline miles. We originally planned on leaving on Saturday and coming back on Saturday. But, the tickets were expensive due to Spring break. So, we left last Tuesday and came back this Tuesday. It was a really good vacation and I did not even remember which day it was most of the time. More than a couple of times, S had to remind me the day of the week 🙂 It was hot in Orlando, which was a nice change from all the rain we have been having here. The weather reminded me of Hyderabad and it felt nice to wear summer clothes, sandals and not having to worry about carrying jackets everywhere.

Now, it feels good to be back to the daily routine. The one main part of the trip that I did not like was food. The kids – especially Sanjay did not eat well on the entire trip. Given the fact that there was a 3 hour time difference and we ate at different times each day, he was not at all hungry most of the times. The kids refused to eat snacks as well. I let them eat how much they wanted and they did fine. So, I did not fret too much about it. On the other hand, I indulged in food and ate more than what I should have been eating at each meal. Although, sometimes I made some good healthy choices while eating at restaurants, most of the time I was eating junk food. I think I ate fries enough for a month or two in the past one week 😦 Anyway, it is time to go back to gym and healthy salads for a while I guess.

The best part of the trip was knowing that the kids would eat anything and also the fact that we did not have to worry about nap times or lunch/dinner times. These are the perks of the kids growing up. We also went prepared for hunger and melt down emergencies. We packed a couple of snacks and juices everyday with us and we ordered milk with kids meals most of the times. That kept them happy 🙂 We also made sure that the kids got enough rest at night. The only thing we missed were the fire works but, the kids were so tired by 6:00 in the evening that we did not dare stay longer at any of the parks.

I had lots of fun with the camera on this trip and I am really happy with some of the pictures 🙂 It was a really good trip and a much needed vacation. I will put up some more details about the trip soon.

India Trip 2014 – Flying to Hyderabad

This has been a long overdue post. But, better late than never right….

The flight to Hyderabad was the highlight of this trip and the most tiresome for me. We were supposed to leave Seattle on June 16th – myself, S, Sarath and Sanjay and my SIL’s kids P and K. We were planning everything and the kids were excited to go to India. But, nothing goes as planned right so, right before we were supposed to leave, we got a big disappointment – S’s passport (which we had sent for UK visa) did not come back. We sent both of our passports at the same time. I got mine back well ahead of time but unfortunately, S’s passport got held up. So, the  week before the trip was spent in total frustration and tension. So, at that point we had two options – one was to cancel all the tickets and re book them and the second was that I will go ahead as planned with 4 kids and S will come after he gets his passport. The very thought of travelling internationally alone with 4 kids was terrifying to me. I just couldn’t imagine myself doing it. So, I called the travel agent and he told me that it would cost around $3000.00 to rebook the tickets for everybody. So, after a long discussion, I decided to go ahead with our original plan and travel with the kids. I was just so scared. Two years back, I had to travel with Sarath and Sanjay and that was in itself very tiring. S told me clearly that if I did not want to go alone with the kids, we will re book the tickets even if it is expensive. But, I really did not want to spend so much money when it is not entirely necessary.

So, I started planning for the trip. The kids were sad that S was not coming with us but, they were excited about the trip. I was doing fine until the day before the trip. On Sunday, I was very scared about me going alone with 4 kids and S not being able to come as planned and I just started crying. S sat with me and let me cry for a while and then comforted me. On the day of the trip, I did fine. I sat all the kids and talked with them about the luggage we will have on the plane and what they need to do once we are in the ariport. We went early to the ariport to make sure that we get seats together. Even then, it was a tight call. Because I was travelling alone with 4 kids, they did some re-arrangement and gave me the seats as I requested. I was really thankful for that.

The kids did really good on the flight. I had the 3 older kids sit together in the seats next to the window. I just had to keep an eye on them. Since everybody gets their own personal TV’s. handling them was easy. They each saw what ever they wanted to including Sanjay. He being the little one had to sit next to me. When the food was served, I told them to eat what ever they could and they listened to me. I was surprised and relieved. Once, I got them settled, they watched TV for a while and then I had to force them to sleep. The kids hardly slept on the flight to London though. I think they were very excited. None of the kids slept and neither did I.

Once in London airport, the kids were following the signs for the transit passengers and walked all the way without any complaints. I had checked Sanjay’s stroller at the gate and specifically told them that I need it in London. That helped me a lot. With Sanjay in the stroller, I only had to keep an eye on 3 kids 🙂

The flight from London to Hyderabad is 10 hours long and I was worried about this flight. I thought the kids will be really bored. But because they did not sleep on the first flight, all four kids slept for about 5 – 6 hours on the second flight. I got some sleep too. When they were awake, they just watched TV, played video games and just had fun. The air hostesses helped me a lot on the second flight. One thing I should mention is the attitude of a couple of people on the flight. Because the flight was full, and they could not accommodate the seating request I had, we got the last two rows of seats on the plane. I was not very happy because it would be very difficult to keep an eye on the kids. So, I asked another couple sitting in the next row if they would be willing to exchange the seats since I have to keep an eye on 4 kids. The couple were not very old or young. But, the man said he has some knee problems and needed an aisle seat. I told him there were 2 aisle seats available but he was just not even ready to consider the idea. I got frustrated and told him it was okay. So, I had the 3 older kids sit in the back row together and Sanjay and myself in the row in front. There was another person sitting in my row. He was 14 years old and was travelling alone. He heard my conversation about switching seats and offered to help me with the kids. I did not even ask him. He helped Sanjay with the seat belt while I was helping the other kids. He kept an eye on the kids all the time and even entertained Sanjay while I slept for a little while. I am so thankful to him. He even told me that he is used to little kids and is happy to help me. When the kids woke up, they were hungry and this guy went and got them chips and cookies from the galley. It was so nice to see that kid wanting to be helpful.

When we landed in Hyderabad, I was so relieved but, we were the last ones to get off the plane. Also, they did not have the immigration cards for us on the plane. So, we had to take them after coming out of the plane in Hyderabad. It took me so much time to actually get these kids in control, fill the form and everything that we were literally the last people to come out of immigration. By the time we were in baggage claim, our luggage had arrived.

My parents and in-laws were supposed to come to the airport and they were late. While we were waiting for them outside the airport, I was just so happy to be back in Hyderabad, taking in the cool morning breeze and couldn’t believe that I actually successfully traveled from Seattle to Hyderabad with 4 kids! I was just so proud of myself at that moment. I was extremely tired and as soon as I saw my parents, I was so relieved and felt like a huge weight was off my shoulders. and guess what the first thing my mom told me – “You have lost weight and look very good”. That really made my day and I was just happy to be there with my mom and dad in the city I love the most 🙂

 

Wordless Wednesday

Our trip to Orlando!

Our trip was a long one so, I am going to split it into 2 or 3 posts. Let me start with our flight trip and our hotel. Although we traveled on the same dates, me and DH had to take separate flights to get there. DH’s company booked his ticket and when we tried to book on the same airline for me and Sarath, it was going to to cost $1200.00. So, we booked ours on an another airline with our accumulated miles for no cost at all. Both flights were supposed to start at the same time and DH was supposed to get there 30 min before us. We thought it was perfect. But, DH’s flight got delayed and I ended up waiting for an hour at Orlando airport 😦

We were given a room in Disney’s Beach Club resort. So, we took the Disney’s Magical Express – a free bus service from the airport. I was very excited to stay in the resort. The resort was good but I do have a few complaints. We got to the hotel at 12:00 midnight and they took an hour to give us a room. It was awful. The room was very nice but the service – not so good. Since we were in the Disney resort, we were able to take their buses to the theme parks and back. So, we did not rent a car. It was very convenient to visit the parks but, we were not able to go outside the Disney World. The only problem with that was food. As you can imagine, food inside Disney is way too expensive. The only food available for vegetarians was pizza and burgers. No other cuisine!!! We got bored but, had no choice.

The room service was not that good either. One night I was very hungry and ordered one bowl of cut fruit, 2 bananas and a lemonade for room service at 12:00 in the night. It took them one hour to bring it to the room. I even fell asleep by the time they came. They charge around $200.00 or more per night for a room in that particular Disney resort. All I am saying is that they need to provide excellent service for that amount. I definitely decided I am never going back to any of the resorts in the future. If DH’s company had given a hotel outside Disney and gave rental car, it would have been cheaper and we would have been happier.

After DH’s conference was done, we changed to another hotel that we could afford and also rented a car. We then went straight to an Indian restaurant – Woodlands – a pure vegetarian restaurant. Food there was amazing. The avial there was so good that the taste still lingers on my tongue. We also ordered a mixed platter for appetizers and they also had mirchi bajji in that! That made my day 🙂

So, now for the fun part – the resort had a cafe which had a breakfast buffet with the Disney characters. That was amazing. It was expensive but, extremely fun – especially for Sarath. He was excited to see Minnie mouse, Donald duck and Goofy walking around and taking pictures while we were eating. The buffet had a lot of items for breakfast – Mickey shaped waffles, bread, bagels, croissants, potatoes and lot of other stuff and best of all – fresh fruit. We could also have any amount of juice or milk. That was great. Sarath had so much fun that we ended up going to that place twice.

Sarath and Minnie Mouse

BTW, Minnie mouse is Sarath’s favorite – not Mickey….

Sarath and Donald Duck

Here are the Mickey shaped waffles. They were the right size for kids and tasted so good.

Mickey shaped waffles

We went to all the four Disney theme parks and also visited the Kennedy Space Center. Will write about those in the next few posts. Until then, have a great weekend!

My trip to India

I am currently enjoying my vacation in India. Me and my son traveled for more than 30 hours before we finally reached my parents home in Hyderabad. It was a long journey and both of us are tired. Managing a toddler for 30 hours without much sleep is very painful I went through that last year but decided to do it again so that he can spend some time with his grand parents. My in-laws live right next door here. So, my son has fun with both the grand parents.

It has been two days since I reached here and I am still very very tired. So, tired that I do not even want to look at a computer or a TV. My eyes are always sleepy. My son is experiencing the jet lag and he doesn’t even know what it is. He is over tired, over stimulated and very sleepy day and night. He slept all day yesterday and woke up in the middle of the night at 2:30. He slept for a long time during the day today and all our efforts to wake him up went down the drain. He became so cranky that he did not want to have dinner.He loves to be on a schedule everyday. He is usually never fussy about anything. I hate to see him like this. This almost makes me want to go back to our own sweet home.

My son is missing his dad. Last year, he did not miss his dad so much. This time, he started missing him half way through our trip. We had a layover in London, and my son started asking for his dad. It took a whole lot of effort from me to get him to think about something else.

The reason we are here is for my brother-in-law’s wedding. While I am here, I am also attending some other house warming ceremonies. I rarely get a chance to get dressed and go to a function in the US. So, I am loving it. I will be kind of busy for a couple of weeks and then will be away from my computer and email world for a week during the wedding.

My plan is to take lots of pictures while I am in India and enjoy the food made by my mom (and also hope not to gain any more pounds).

Our Vacation to LA

Kids playing with their swords at Disneyland

Vacations are supposed to make you feel refreshed and let you escape the everyday routines. So, we decided to take a vacation to LA to visit my sister-in-law’s family. She has two kids.

We left on Wednesday night (the day before Thanksgiving). We drove to Milwaukee to take the flight. We had heavy traffic on the roads and we got to the airport just in time for the flight. When we got to LA, the local time was 10:30 PM. My sister-in-law came to the airport to pick us up and there was so much traffic at the airport. When we finally got home, the kids got so excited to see each other and started playing. So, we finally slept at 1:30. The next three days we made so many plans and did not sleep well at all. We went to Sea world in San Diego and then to Disneyland. The kids were so excited to see all the animals in Sea world and of course they we excited to see Mickey and Minnie in Disneyland. We were exhausted.

We came back yesterday and were so tired. We are now refreshed but very tired. We just wish we had a couple of more days to relax in LA. We had good Indian food. Now, I am all ready to start my work but I can see that my son is missing his cousins. He is bored at home now and I feel sorry. Wish we lived closer to our family so we can meet more often.

But, my son is excited about all his new toys we bought him in LA and all the toys his aunt bought him. Hopefully that should keep him engaged and help him come back to his routine in a couple of days.

30 hour trip with a 20 month old

Me and my husband planned a travel to India this summer. Both of our parents and relatives live in India. I decided to come ahead so that my son-Sarath would be able to spend some time with his grandparents. It is a very long flight and I was really tensed about the journey with a toddler.

I went and bought a few baby toys which do not make noise but will keep him busy for a while. I packed a couple of his favorite books and a few new books . I took a couple of his favourite toys and a travel doodle pro. I packed a lot of his snacks like fruit puffs, animal crackers, fruit strips etc…

Our fight was from Chicago to London(7.5 hrs), a 3 hour layover at London and another flight from London to Hyderabad, India (9.5 hours).When I was checking in at Chicago, I got an upgrade to world traveler plus which was good and bad. The seats were wider and the leg space was good. But, the arm rest was immovable making it difficult for Sarath to sleep with his legs stretched. The flight to London was an overnight flight. So, I got Sarath into his pajamas. He slept all through the flight and for the most part on my lap. I did not have enough sleep and was very tired by the time we landed in London.

In London airport, it was horrible. We had to go through security check again and the London security is really bad. They said I cannot carry any liquids over 100 ml even for an infant. I told them that I had a 10 hour flight ahead but they wouldn’t listen. The day before my flight I called British Airways and asked them about carrying liquids and they said I can carry it for my son even if they are over 100ml. But, at the London airport, they took all the milk and juice. It was horrible. They told me that I can buy similar stuff near the gate but I couldn’t find any.

They let me carry the apple sauce. So, I fed him that in the airport while waiting for my next flight. Once on the other plane, he was very hungry and sleepy. Good thing that I had packed some home made chapati’s for Sarath and also ordered the food on the flight. He eat that and slept for a while. When he woke up, it was 4 PM Chicago time. He was hungry. So, I asked the crew for some milk and they said they do not have enough milk. I asked them for apple juice and they said they are out of that. So, I gave him orange juice and some snacks. He then played with his doodle pro and some other toys and books. I did not even have to take out half of his toys. He was very good. I was tired and slept for a while and he played. He did not give me any trouble.

Once we landed in Hyderabad, our immigration was done very quickly but we had to wait 45 minutes for our bags to arrive. That was the most horrible part. I was very tired due to lack of sleep. Sarath did not want to sit in his stroller and there was no other way I could handle him there. After collecting the bags, we slowly came out and my parents were there waiting for us. I was so relieved seeing them.

Overall the journey was better than I thought but very tiring. My baby was the best. He did not complain at all. It has been a week since we came here and we are still jet lagged, tired and sleepy all day. But the good part is that I get take some rest while he is playing with his grandparents.