Planning for our Trip--Countries to Visit

I've been asked by so many people, "Where exactly are you going on this big adventure?"

The answer is--we're not 'exactly' sure.
We have a list of places where we'd like to spend time and things we'd like to see, but we don't have the year planned out, nor do we want to.
There will be times we arrive in a place and find ourselves thinking "When can

Life Changing Blogs and Winter Adventures

Back in July when Whoop Whoop abruptly decided to wean himself, I spent a fair amount of time googling for 'toddlers/breastfeeding/weaning'.  Alas, I did not find any stories that paralleled my own.

However, what I did find ended up changing the direction of my life.  It certainly helped me come to some of the decisions discussed in my previous post.

I randomly stumbled upon Tripping Mom blog written by a Brazilian single mom--a surfer chic who is traveling and currently living with her young daughter in Costa Rica.  After reading her very well written post on breastfeeding her toddler, I was hooked.

You know how you find a blog and instantly you want to read the entire story--every single post?  Yeah.  That's what happened (I still haven't gotten through the entire blog).  I was so smitten with this woman and how she was living her life and raising her daughter (although we agree to disagree on some things....) that I reached out to her via email and we started communicating.  We clicked.  Sometimes it's just like that.

Her blog led me to other blogs.  Traveling families, single dads traveling with a toddler, single moms traveling with teens.  So many people out there seeing the world with their children.  I had already been following the adventures of a family with twin boys who biked from Alaska to Argentina.  Theirs was armchair travel as I have no interest in extreme bike riding.  But slow travel, educating my kids on the road....yes that was very appealing to me.

Moving to a place where we knew no one, strapped with mortgage and auto debt, surrounded by red necks and homophobes and relentless heat?  Was moving to Florida what we really wanted?  We could not continue to travel if we made this move.  Wouldn't we rather take the money and find a better use for it?

Many late night discussions with Chicken led us both to the realization that we were obsessed with finding a 'new and better' place to live when really what we should be concentrating on was how to survive the winter doldrums.

I love nothing more than a new project to obsess over!  Now, I just had to find a way to get through winter.

Something I never blogged about last winter--because it sounded so insane (and it was)--was when Chicken got it in her head that because she could work anywhere with an internet connection, we should try to sublet our apartment and go somewhere warm for the winter.  With 13 month old toddler twins.  You know, just a jaunt halfway around the world to say, Thailand or Malaysia or maybe somewhere closer like South or Central America.  But a place with enough western amenities to have comfort and a nice beach and safe and good medical care and WiFi and an airport close by and cheap and and and.  Oy Veh.  It was a tall order.  And the twins weren't even a year old.  We had no idea if they would be walking or what by 13 months old.  What about cribs and highchairs and play equipment and baby proofing?  In the end, I DID find a couple of places and we could have made it work, but I finally told her it was a crazy idea and it wouldn't be fun and I called the whole thing off.

This past Spring when they started walking we looked back at that idea and thought Oh My GOD.  What were we thinking?!

So, where am I going with this?  (a) We are a little bit crazy--but you already knew this.  (b) We are a lot travel obsessed.  (c)  I had a head start on my new project  (d)  Tripping Mom

In the end, we believe we have found a solution to the New York City winter doldrums.  

We have rented out a 3 bedroom beach front house in a small village in Costa Rica for March 2012. 

Chicken is taking 2 weeks vacation and working the other 2 weeks.

The boys will be 24 months old and we won't have the same worries as we had for them last winter.  There is a Waldorf bilingual preschool nearby and the owner has agreed to enroll the twins for the month.  They will attend 'school' from 8am-12pm, 2-3 times a week.

There are no paved roads, no TV in the house, no A/C.  We are in front of a gorgeous toddler-friendly beach.  We have a beautiful gated yard.  We are renting bikes with toddler seats for getting around (and bringing our own helmets).  We'll be visiting the farmer's market every Saturday morning with the locals.  There are howler monkeys in the jungle nearby and a two-toed sloth lives on our property.  

It's pretty perfect.

But even better--Chicken's mom and step dad are coming to stay the first week, her dad the third week and my parents are arriving for the fourth week.  They will all get to spend quality time with their grandsons and between preschool/family care Chicken and I will both get a true break.

Not a bad way to spend the last (and in my opinion, worst) month of winter.....

The money we saved this summer by NOT hiring a nanny and NOT going to Florida on a scouting trip (minus the extra money I spent on espresso to make it through those days!) made it possible to pay for the house--it was a great deal at $1500/month.  Plus, all of the parental units will be dividing the costs, so it's practically nothing.  We are paying for two of the plane tickets (about $1100 total) and getting two free with our frequent flier miles.

Even with the added cost of food, restaurants, entertainment, transport, preschool and bike rentals it's much less than what most families of four spend on a two week vacation.

I have averaged that we will spend $20/day (each).

Why am I telling you the costs?  Because, I think most people falsely assume that travel has to be expensive and that they cannot afford it.  Also, because we are not rich and we manage to make it work.  We cut costs in other areas of our lives to add money to the travel fund.  It's important to us and as long as we stay within our means we will continue to travel with our kids.

We both believe this is one of the best educational opportunities we can give them--the chance to see the world, learn another language (or two or three), appreciate how others live and value the differences.

Thank you Tripping Mom.  You changed my life.

All Aboard

We are going to try a new adventure with the twins tomorrow--train travel!

They have been on subways and we were on 3 different types of trains in Argentina, but this is a whole new territory.

Normally when we go to visit family upstate it requires renting a car. In Manhattan, the average price of a rental car is $100/DAY. Over a 3-day weekend, you'll easily shell out close to $400. This is not part of our financial picture.

Before babies, we would sometimes take the commuter train to the last stop and talk Chicken's mom into picking us up. She didn't like this as it was a long drive for her, so we didn't do it very often, even though it's only about $30 round trip.

Now, we are getting creative.

Chicken's dad--the big gay dad who lost his life partner to cancer in April--has a new BF who lives in a town much closer to the train station. We always had to rent a car to see BGD, because he lives closer to Canada than NYC.

Big Gay Dad (BGD) wants us to meet the new man in his life so we are going to go spend the weekend with them at the BF's house.

Since we talked about this trip before ordering the car seats, I came up with a good 'trial' plan. I shipped the car seats to BGD. He will install them and drive his car to pick us up at the train station. We have packed one carry on suitcase (that will fit in the luggage rack overhead) and a diaper bag. The boys will ride in the Ergo, no need for a stroller this weekend. Basically, we are trying to keep it as light as possible.

BGD is driving to Florida next week and will drive us down to Manhattan on the way, unload the car seats, us, etc.

This is a good trial to see if we could handle taking the car seats on the train with us backpack style. I ordered the travel bags and now I'm anxious to see if I could actually wear the car seat on my back, the baby on my front and pull a suitcase at the same time.

I think I'm going to need to start lifting some weights!

It seems like if this trip is successful, surely we can do it with the backpacks. I hope so, because it will save us a ton of money.

The only part of the plan we don't like, but we can live with, is getting to the train station. The subway is too much of a hassle and slightly dangerous trying to get a suitcase down the stairs while wearing a baby.

BUT, the alternative is a taxi and we would have to wear the baby in the taxi as we have no car seats (this is legal). Many parents in NYC do hold/wear their children in taxis because sometimes you just need to get places and you can't be lugging your 25 lb car seat with you. So, we are going to taxi it.

We took some taxis in Argentina while wearing the babies, so we're going to do it again. We're only a 15-20 minute ride, so at least it's not too long.

I'm really looking forward to getting away and being out in nature. I love the city, but I love getting out of it as well and I really want my boys to grow up in the best of both worlds.

Wish us luck!

Clarification of the Diaper Bag and More Useful Packing Items

First, to answer Jen. My diaper bag is indeed huge.

As most readers of this blog know, we bought just about everything for the twins used/second hand. To this day, I can count the number of clothing items we have bought ourselves as we get so many hand-me-downs from friends/cousins. I think it's great! More money to spend on other things.

However, the diaper bag was one of the items that I splurged on. I love it, love it, love it and it's perfect for traveling.

The brand is called Ju Ju Be and my bag is the Be Prepared.

The name fits me well as I pride myself on being organized and prepared!

Also, my list was a bit misleading as I didn't quite fit all of that into the diaper bag and had to shove some items in the suitcase (for instance, the 40 pack of diapers). But yeah, I can get ALOT (most of it) in that bag.

I also always carry a supply of large and small ziploc bags when traveling. I can't even count the number of times those have come in handy.

My last item I forgot to include was a travel pack of duct tape. I know, it's so lesbionic, but trust me--it has a million uses. It's always in my bathroom bag, but I think I'm going to switch it to my diaper bag now so it's always with me.

For instance, when we got to the condo we discovered how bright the bedroom was even with the blinds closed. What to do? Baby needs to nap...

I grabbed a dark sarong that I had packed specifically anticipating this problem, climbed up on a chair and duct taped the fabric over the window. Viola! Darkened room perfect for napping!

I never travel without a sarong. It's a blanket for a picnic, a towel at the beach, a dress, a skirt, a cover when you're cold and so many other things. I could probably sling a baby in one if I tried.

We DO always carry a back up set of clothes for the twins--just 2 extra onsies--and also these bags for anything dirty. They are great!

We've been very fortunate in diaper blow outs in that I can count on one hand the number of times we've needed back up clothing items for the twins.

As for extra clothing for ourselves, we have been super lucky and have never the joyful experience of being pooped or peed on. Not once! So, we've never packed that in the bag, but now that I've typed this, surely one of us will get shat on promptly.

Questions?

Tips for Traveling with Twins/a Baby; Packing Tips for Twins/a Baby, Packing List

I meant to post the packing list for the trips we took to Florida at 3 months (flying) and Argentina at 4 months (flying), but I never got around to it.

This list is more or less a variation on those lists. Of course the needs change as the babies get older (for instance, we have to worry about solid food items now) and the list changes depending on the season.

BUT, no matter where you are, clothing items can be hand washed and air dried overnight and dishes can be washed in a condo sink or hotel sink.

If you pack for a week, you can pack for a month. It's the same amount of stuff!

We have rented condos in Florida, Argentina and North Carolina and find this arrangement works best for babies. Hotels are tough as you are all in one room and what do you do when the baby goes to bed at 6pm?? You either sit quietly in the dark or sit on the balcony and get eaten alive by mossies! This way you have a real living arrangement and a real kitchen.

We have never bothered with a 2 bedroom as we have found one bedrooms still fit 2 cribs or pack n plays. However, we are already used to the twins sleeping in the same room with us.

We are also big believers in renting cribs or pack n plays for the condo OR making sure the hotel/guest houses we stay in have these available for our use.

You can use a site like BabiesAway for rentals all across the USA.

Also, if you are traveling within the USA, consider shipping items like diapers, wipes and even baby food to your location from a site such as Amazon or Diapers.com.

This will save you a lot of packing space!

When we fly we keep it to (2) overhead size suitcases, one (big) diaper bag and one backpack PLUS the car seats, snap n go stroller bases (we have 2 singles which we find much easier than the double which we hated) and 2 baby carriers (Ergos, etc).

Obviously since we were driving we had the luxury of packing a few more items, but overall, I find less is more.

I like to be able to make one trip: Wearing the baby/Strolling the baby with a diaper bag on my shoulder (or backpack on my back) and pulling the suitcase. We did this for all air travel and it worked great.

Now that the twins are outgrowing their snap and go car seats, it's going to be a wee bit more complicated for awhile, but we will figure that out as we go and I'll let you know how we do it!

For now, the list. I hope this helps someone on their travels! It's more work with twins for sure, but it can be done and it can be FUN!

In Diaper Bag

Breast Feeding supplies:

2 collection bottles, 2 caps, 2 phalanges

lanisoh ointment

tube bra for pumping

breast pump and cord

4 Dr. Brown's bottles

1 can formula

Bottle brush

dishwashing detergent

baby zantac

medical syringe

2 baby medicators

children's tylenol

saline drops

thermometer

clippers

nail file

pack of (40) 7th Generation diapers

packet of wipes

California baby wash and lotion

laundry detergent

2 Boon travel feeding spoons

8 packages Plum organics squeezable baby food

1 box of Earth's Best multi grain baby cereal

4 baby spoons

collapsable steamer insert

immersion handheld blender

8 empty storage containers to make baby food

6 cloth bibs plus a handful of disposable bibs for the car

***we did not bring any baby bowls to feed them out of as we figured we could use the ones in the condo***

In twins overhead size suitcase:

6 burp clothes

2 blankets (probably won't use/need)

2 crib sheets (probably won't use/need as the cribs we rented come with sheets, but just in case of a night time leak)

2 hooded towels

4 baby washcloths

2 turtle dresses (Anais and Aden wearable muslin blankets printed with turtles)

6 footed pj's

2 pairs pants (probably won't need)

8 short sleeved onsies

2 sun hats

2 swim diapers (eco friendly and reusable from One Step Ahead)

2 pairs baby sunglasses

2 baby wetsuits

Chemical Free baby suncream

2 baby robes to wear after getting out of the water

2 pairs baby sandals (ridiculous gift, probably won't use!)

Misc Items:

sun tent (from One Step Ahead)

foldable blanket mat (from Pottery Barn Kids)

2 Ergo baby carriers

jumperoo (could've left this at home as there is NO where to secure it to a door frame here. lesson learned!)

car seats and padded body/head inserts

clip on toys to go on car seats

beach sarongs to cover car seats to keep out bright lights at night and sun during day (this was my best idea yet getting multiple use out of a sarong!)

Back Pack with:

toys

books

ABC taggie blanket for floor

One small overhead size suitcase with: (if Chicken and I can't fit all our stuff into ONE overhead suitcase, we've overpacked. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't go.)

our clothes, shoes, swim suits, etc.

bathroom bag

sun hats

suncream

In my (large) handbag:

wallet

makeup bag

sunglasses

snacks for the car

iPhone

iPod and charger

Crackberry

car adapter chargers

camera, batteries, charger and cords

travel pillow and neck pillow for car

ear plugs and eye mask for car

Laptop Bag:

2 laptops and related power cords

We shipped to the condo from Amazon (or Diapers.com)

One box of diapers

One box of wipes

3 new toys for the car ride back home

Painful Passport Photos

This has been on my to-do list for quite some time. With the name change, we have gotten most of the change overs done, but not this one. However, this one is a terribly time-consuming project and we just haven't been able to get to it. Now, we have to act.

The problem is that it require such a significant amount of time just for the photos.

First of all, Chicken and I both have to do hair and make up. If I'm going to be showing a photo for the next 10 years, I'd better look as good as possible. My last passport photo was crap and I have been waiting 10 years to make a better one. Since the twins have been born, I can count the number of times in the past 3 months I've done hair and makeup. Once. That was for a trip to the DMV. ONCE. (But it was a good photo!)

Because it's damn hard to just take a shower, let alone do anything with my hair besides pull it up. Oh and about my hair. You blogger ladies were not kidding about the shedding. Holy sheddsville. It it coming out by the handful. I don't even bother to wash it more than once or twice a week because it's so disgusting. I have to pull it out of the drain at least 3 times while I'm showering because otherwise it's like I'm wading in the River Ganges.

And the showering part....well, since the twins have been born I don't shower daily anyway. Or even every other day. There are some days I can fit it in, but mostly other things take priority. Like sleep. And eating.

So Saturday a very nice friend came over and she and Chicken took the twins out so I could have a nice shower, do my hair and makeup and in general, relax for an hour.

Chicken was able to get ready while I fed the boys and after that we all went out to do the photos.

Since Sept. 11, the process for baby passport photos has changed. Because you know, there are SO many baby terrorists.

The baby--regardless of age--needs to be looking straight ahead, not smiling, mouth not open, eyes open, hands out of face/mouth, and--this is the really hard part--there cannot be any other hands showing. As in, holding up your baby's neck. Yeah. That's hard people.

We kept waiting every week thinking...maybe this week their little necks will be strong enough. And they are stronger, oh yes, every week. But strong enough to hold up by themselves? Nope.

The photo guy at the drugstore was a complete A-hole and did not want to be working at all, let alone helping us. Chicken and I got ours taken first and then proceeded to get the boys in order. It was hard and by the end, Whoop Whoop was. not. pleased.

Then, photo guy prints them out and Whoop Whoop has part of a hand showing behind his neck.

Photo Guy: I'm sure it's OK

Me: It's not OK, the passport agency will reject this.

Photo Guy: I don't think so.

Me: Have you ever gone down to a government office with twins and waste your entire day because they rejected a photo?

Whoop Whoop: Crying.

So, Whoop Whoop did not leave with a photo.

The photo he had for Chicken was good. Mine was blurry and AGAIN he tried to tell me it would be just fine (it would not be, they would've rejected it) and gave me extreme attitude to have it done over. I think he adjusted the color just to piss me off because it came out looking like I have huge bags under my eyes. I mean, come on, I know I'm sleep deprived, but I don't *think* I look that bad. Or maybe I do. Meh.

Grunter's looked OK, but I was a little concerned that it wasn't a straightened photo. It's pretty easy to make a lopsided photo straight, but I let it go.

We all had this slight shadow in the back of us, but it was so slight I wasn't sure.

We decided to come back for Whoop Whoop figuring 3 out of 4 was pretty good all things considered.

Until I got home. And realized that he had cut Grunter's photos 2 different ways, so they in fact were NOT identical and yes--would be rejected.

Then, I got on the site and double checked about the shadows. You guessed it. No go.

Yesterday, I took the photos back in to complain about the employee and the photos. Turns out there have been MANY people complain about this guy and we were told to come back and another woman would do them and they only charge us for 3 (so refunding one of the them). The photos were, in fact, done incorrectly.

Fair enough. BUT the TIME involved. Oy.

So today, one more time, hair and makeup for the 2nd time in 48 hours. It's a record. I haven't been this clean or looked this good since I don't know when.

Later this week or next, we all get to go downtown to the passport agency and wait and wait and wait and wait. And probably wait some more.

But then the next day we get to go pick up all 4 passports (And I think--hope--only one of us has to do that).

Yippee!

Then, we're off to see the world.

Well, eventually. One country at a time.