6 posts tagged “travel”

We had a fab time in Canada introducing Petra to friends and family, shopping, eating and just hanging out. 

The first couple of days had their moments.  We discovered the hard way that the front tray on our pram is detachable when it disappeared in transit somewhere between Dallas and Vancouver.  And Westjet cancelled our flight from Vancouver to Saskatoon, stranding us in Vancouver for an extra night.  The change worked out though.  Petra got to catch up on her sleep and we were rerouted through Regina which is much closer to Travis's hometown than Saskatoon.  So we didn't really lose any time there. 

We were nervous about travelling with Petra, but she was a star - she didn't seem fazed by the flying and she loved all the attention.  She's in that lovely outgoing, social stage that babies have before the stranger anxiety kicks in.  She flirted with the other passengers and they flirted right back. 

Breastfeeding on the plane was an interesting undertaking.  I expected people to sneak peeks then look away, I didn't expect that they'd turn around in their seats to watch, but a couple of people did.  Just as well that any shreds of modesty I might once have had were lost in my Ob/Gyn's office.

Petra's lucky enough to have two great grandmothers and a great grandfather still living in Travis's hometown.  We stayed with grandma Izzie and her bouncy blind dog Tango.  Petra proved very adaptable, settling in to a new house very comfortably and enjoying the new people.  We even left her on her own with grandma for a while.  Travis and I haven't both been away from Petra since we left her with my mother for an hour or so in the first couple of weeks of her life.  (We don't have babysitters here in San Jose - Travis and I are it.)  I was quite antsy about leaving her with someone she doesn't know well and imagined tears and stress.  However, the reality was anti-climatic.  Petra played happily in our absence and greeted me with a smile and a "please pick me up" gesture.  No fuss at all.

Here are some pictures of Petra with her various Saskatchewan rellies.

Grandma Izzie.

Effie, Charlie and Petra

Deb and Petra

We're off to Canada tomorrow for three weeks.  It's my first time travelling with Petra.  I'm nervous about the whole airport/airplane thing, although Petra's usually pretty mellow when we're out.  She's very curious and spends her time looking and looking at everything and everyone.

We have an appalling amount of luggage.  I'm used to travelling pretty light, but this time we look like we're planning an assault on Everest or some such epic endeavour.  We have two big suitcases, a laptop (Travis has to work while we're away), assorted other carry-on bits and pieces, as well as the pram and carseat.  Scary.

I am very much looking forward to being in Vancouver though.

What won't you miss about 2007? 
Submitted by uncagedbird.

I won't miss being stuck at home.  I spent three months under house arrest in the middle of my pregnancy, resting so that my placenta could reattach and only leaving home when I had to see the doctor.  The world went on but I took a break from it.  When I was allowed out again everything was exciting - the progress at the construction sites on the way to the Multiplaza Mall, a new Bagelman's location, the locals going about their business, bookshops, the new Automercado in Escazu - all fascinating.

And I spent the whole year in San Jose.  I haven't left the country since our trip to San Andres Island in January.  And I haven't left town since we drove to Sarchi in February just before I found out I was pregnant.

I've done a lot of travelling in the past few years and am not used to being grounded for so long.  I had to get my fix vicariously, through Travis's trips to South Africa and Vancouver, and through Roewan's road trip across Canada.

This year I want to go to Vancouver and Saskatchewan and maybe even to New Zealand if we get really confident about travelling with the baby.

12 weeks and 5 days pregnant to be exact. 

I've had a difficult three months.  Along with the usual pregnancy issues - "holy crap look at the size of my boobs", and "just how huge am I going to get? I've been showing since the second week of my pregnancy and now I look about five months pregnant, not three", and "why did nobody tell me that even a mild (so called) case of morning sickness leaves you feeling like you're dying?" - I've had concerns about miscarrying.  I had a miscarriage late last year, so I was paranoid about losing another one anyway.  And I've had spotting and bleeding all the way through this second pregnancy.  My doctor has given me two internal examinations and I bled after each one (he's stopped doing them now).  The first time I phoned him in a panic  and he had me go to the clinic for an ultrasound.  I expected to see an empty sac like we did at the ultrasounds for the first pregnancy, but instead we saw a recognisable fetus shape with a heart beat like a humming bird - about 160 beats a minute.  We've had three ultrasounds now (most people only have a couple throughout their entire pregnancy) and each time the fetus has looked healthy and has had a strong heartbeat.

But I didn't feel right.  My stomach hurt, any activity made me tired, sore, and queasy, and little smears of blood kept trickling out of me.  I felt only fit for sitting on the sofa.  It was almost a relief therefore when the last ultrasound showed that the placenta had detached a little bit.  That isn't good news, but at least now I have an explanation for why I felt bad and didn't want to do anything.

Bed rest or house arrest is the prescription.  I've been sitting on the sofa reading and watching TV for the past couple of weeks.  And I'm beginning to feel better.  My stomach doesn't feel so hot and sore, I'm not so tired, and best of all, there's been no blood, no spotting since the last ultrasound.  All of which makes me hopeful that the placenta is reattaching.  They usually do apparently if you rest and give them a chance to heal.

We've drastically revised our plans for the year.  No travelling for me at all.  No trip to Vancouver, no move to South Africa.  Travis will go to Vancouver for a few days and may trip backwards and forwards to South Africa for work.  We'll stay here until after the baby's born and Travis will work from here, at least for a few months.  Travis is disappointed about the lost opportunity.  But me, I'm very relieved.  I get to keep my nice doctor and I can stay safely nestled in my home.

1)  Have you ever been out of your country?
Yes. 

I'm a New Zealander and a Canadian, so I have two countries to choose from here, but when I think of "my country" I think of New Zealand.  I spent my first 29 years living in and around Dunedin, which is in the South Island of New Zealand.  My only travel outside the country during those years was a couple of visits to Australia.  In 1999, I moved to Vancouver so that I could see some of the big wide world and began travelling as hard as I could.  I went to the US a few times, to Morocco, and all over Western Europe (Holland, England, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Andorra, Liechtenstein, and Greece).  Now, I'm living in Costa Rica and have been to the Dominican Republic and Columbia from here.

2)  What is your mode of transportation?
The work van when we can get it; red Costa Rican taxis when we can’t.

3)  Have you ever eaten anything straight from nature? (caught a fish, had a garden, or picked an apple off a tree).
Yes, Dad always had a garden when I was a kid and I used to pull up carrots and pick peas.  We also caught and cooked fish as a family - something I didn't enjoy because I was squeamish about killing the fish. 

Some friends and I once raided the garden of a neighbouring farmer – we sat in the rows of vegetables and ate small, sweet, slightly dirt-tasting carrots until we couldn’t eat any more.  Then we surveyed the mess we’d made and slunk off expecting to be caught and told off at any second.

4)  Tell us about some of the places you have lived.
I’ve lived in Costa Rica for the last six months.  Travis came down first and his descriptions weren’t inspiring.  He talked about the abrupt tropical sunset – it’s dark here by 6 every evening – and about guards with semi-automatic weapons, and bars across the houses.  He had me imagining a hot, dark, armed camp.  His repeated, “but it’s really nice here,” comments didn’t convince me. But he was right – when I arrived, I found out what he meant.  There’s something very appealing about San Jose, something that I can’t quite explain.  Maybe it’s the ever-present possibility of adventures, maybe it’s the openness of Latin American culture, maybe it’s the cheap beer, and maybe it’s just the fabulous weather.
 
5)  Show us a photo from a place...Any place!

Oh the pressure of coming up with five vaguely interesting things that people may not know about me.  But here goes....

1) I grew up in Waipori Falls, which is a tiny hydro village (about 100 people lived there when I was small) in New Zealand.  It was a fantastic place to be a kid.  We had lots of freedom to roam around in the bush, play in the river, slide down banks, and swim in the lake. 

2)  I couldn't decide what to write for number two - this is my second attempt.  I hate Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes, have hated them since I was little,never eat them now that I don't have to.  I love cherries and blueberries and ate them by the pound when they were in season in Vancouver.

3)  I moved to Canada in 1999 because I wanted to see what was out there in the big wide world.  I chose Canada because they run a temporary work visa exchange with New Zealand and I was eligible for a visa.  I chose Vancouver because I knew I was going to arrive in January and didn't want to freeze to death.  And because the X-Files was filmed there.  They made the city and surrounds look so cool - all dark, gloomy, and menacing.

4)  What else?  I left NZ with a grand plan - earn lots of money in Vancouver (this despite knowing no one and having no job to go to), travel all over Western Europe for a few months, just me and my backpack against the world, and finish up in Australia to live in one of the bigger cities, Sydney or Melbourne, probably Melbourne, for a while.  And the plan mostly worked out - except the moving to Australia part.  I earned some money, made friends, met my husband, and took my trip to Europe with Travis.  Bonus!

5)  I spend far too much time these days reading Vox blogs - they're addictive!