Travel with Me; A trip Down Under with the 21st Century Mama

This week's adventure is taking us from Dubai, where funnily enough we emigrated to in last weeks post, Down Under with the lovely Lora from the 21st Century Mama.  Now some of you may know that I have mentioned Lora before, she blogs out expat life out here in the desert like myself and is my go to on all things to do with essential oils as she is a +doTERRA International representative.  You can find some fantastic posts on these essential oils over on her blog, like the one here on Lora's five favourite oils to aid digestion.  As well as that she also tackles some of the stay at home mum issues which can be a little contraversial such as TV time and whether to send the kids to nursery.

Today Lora is travelling back in time 2 years to when she was only a mother of one and that one wasn't the boisterous toddler she is today but a dainty 6 month old.  Over to Lora...

Where are you taking us to today?

I am taking you from Dubai to Sydney. We travelled to Sydney from our home in Dubai when our daughter was six months old.

What sort of trip was it, adventure, beach, relax, sightseeing? 

We actually went mainly because my husband had to travel to Sydney for work, so we decided we’d make the most of the opportunity and travel with him. I had never been to Australia before, and because of the time difference between Dubai – Sydney, we realised if we kept our daughter on Dubai time, she would sleep in late, and we could all go out as a family to eat at night, without disrupting her bedtime.

We also managed to travel business class out, during the day, and the economy home, during the night, so we really changed it up for our travel arrangements.

Living it up in the business class lounge

Tell me all about it; where you stayed, food you ate, how the little person took it all!

We stayed at the Marriott Hotel, Circular Quay. It was an amazing hotel to stay at because of it’s location. We were about a ten minute walk down to the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It was so easy for me to wander about with the pram, by myself and see quite a bit of Sydney.

Unfortunately we hit some inclement weather, and after spending the first sunny morning in Hyde Park, the clouds rolled in and it rained for the rest of the week we were there. So we didn’t end up taking a trip out to the Manly Beach or Taronga Zoo, but it would have been easily accessible from where we were staying as there were regular boats from Sydney Harbour.

We found a couple of fabulous restaurants, recommended by the hotel. There was a little Italian down the side of the hotel (but not part of the hotel), which we never would have found and a two great Australian restaurants, on directly opposite the Opera House so we have an amazing view.

Unfortunately our daughter didn’t deal too well with the change in water for her formula (this happens quite a bit), so we had a trip down to the children’s hospital for a check up and some dehydration ice pops. So when my husband had to stay on for another week, I gladly boarded the flight home by myself!

Other than that, our daughter did amazingly in Sydney. She slept in until 11am and then was happily awake when we went out for dinner at night. She continued to sleep her 12 hours in the travel cot, even though we were in the room with her.

She also did really well on both of the flights. In business she sat on her playmat in the bar and played happily. All the stewardesses were playing with her and carrying her round the plane, so she wasn’t bothered at all. 

On the way home, she slept most of the way, a good 10 hours, but I didn’t. The captain forgot to switch off the seatbelt signs, so I had to take her out of the bassinet and hold her for the entire flight. Really frustrating at the time, especially when I had a wide awake baby when we landed, and all I wanted to do was sleep.

Why did you choose to tell us about this holiday?

It’s the only really long haul flight we’ve done with our daughter, besides trips back to the UK to visit family. Plus travelling with a six month old is so easy when you compare it with travelling with a toddler, so if you have a young baby, get travelling!

What is your favourite memory from this trip?

Sitting in the restaurant overlooking the Opera House with a very happy baby, who was happy to crawl around or be carried by the waiting staff, giving Mummy and Daddy time to really enjoy a gorgeous meal as a family.

What did you learn about travelling with babies/toddlers/children from this experience?

Learn where the children’s hospitals are, just in case, even if you are actually overreacting. 

Always fly east! If the time changes work in your favour you can get a lie in, and go out to eat at night, without the baby or toddler getting incredibly grumpy.

What is your top tip for travelling with little people?

Do it with more than one adult. It’s so much easier when there is more than one of you, because you can trade off. Even with more than one child, it’s great to be able to swap out and start afresh with a new child.

Travelling on your own is tough work, so enlist anyone, family, friends, or even the lovely friendly neighbour on the flight who held my daughter so I could repack our overflowing bag of tricks before we landed. 

And if you want to read more of Lora's thoughts you can do so at the21stcenturymama, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+

As always if you want to take part in my "Travel with me..." series please get in touch with me by email on lifewithbabykicks@gmail.com.