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On the flight home the HH and I made a list of "bests and worsts" of the trip. I had planned to share with you the first on the list tonight, but instead I'd like to share the biggest lesson we learnt. I've been spurred onto this because I just received an email from a friend that went like this...
"I would love to travel with bub but it seems like such a daunting experience. Is it something you would recommend doing?"
As I am writing this post another email has come through from another girlfriend with a small child also asking about our trip.
I am SO excited about this because the biggest lesson we learnt was DO travel with children**. In fact, I feel so strongly about this I am considering changing the name of my blog to reflect my passion and commitment to living with children.
As we travelled we met a lovely Irish couple along that way, people whom we really hope to keep in touch with. One of the first things Colin said to the HH was "You give me hope for travel after children."
We reconnected with Colin and Mary later on and they told us they'd met some other Australians who had seen us!! As they talked about this couple with the red headed child being carried around on her dad's back, Colin & Mary said "we know them!!" It was funny to think that people were noticing us because we had our kid with us, but then I suppose it's not the most common site and while I am sure some witnessed us in the more stressful moments (no more stressful that life with a toddler at home however!) we really do hope that there were those who saw us during the many, many wonderful moments and thought "hey, that's really cool! Maybe we could do that one day..." because really, it was a wonderful and FUN way to travel.Sure, we had our moments. No more than we have at home however and they were all the easier to deal with when there were two relaxed and available parents on hand. The little one had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the attention of the two aforementioned parents!!
I hope to share some more highlights of the trip in future posts as well as what we learnt about travelling with a toddler. In the lead up to our trip I tried to find stories and info from those who had gone before us and I couldn't come up with much! We were only gone for 3 weeks but I hope that some of what we learnt might be helpful for others who are thinking of adventure for their own families!
*So much happened while writing this post. The third, and most exciting, was I called up the talk back radio program I was listening to and asked a question we'd pondered a lot while away What impact is this having on the girl and her brain development. The answer: ALL GOOD! It's a great age to expose your child to new places, sounds and people. They CAN tell the difference between Vietnam and being 2 suburbs away and so long as they are immunised and in a loving and safe environment then travel is a great thing to do! Quote "Get your kid away from the TV and take them to Vietnam instead !" VERY reassuring...esp. as we asked the question AFTER the fact!
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