travel tips

If you are intend to bring your child(ren) for a trip, do read from Christie.
Childhood101 given a very thorough list of tips and tricks about traveling with kids, which helped very much on my initial planning. Especially the one reminded me to call SQ for requesting a set of baby food for little bomber. After all, my experience was 3 years ago, my memory is fading...

Christie also given a very comprehensive list on things to pack and go. Skipped the "Sleeping" part, the rest of my list were similar to hers:

Essential:
- passport, valid visa and Re-entry Permit for our case
- family travel insurance [I got ours from Tenet]
- brief trip itinerary, include booked accommodation and car rental detail
- baby stroller and car seat
- pacifier for baby!

Feeding:
- a nursing cover for breastfeeding
- a small bag of cereal plus baby biscuit for baby
- few package of HY's favourite Oreo cookies
Out and About:
- a small bag with: sunblock, body lotion & lip gloss
- sunglasses & hat
- water bottle(s)
- nappies and nappy change kit
- extra clothing & socks for kids
- baby blanket
- sling/baby carrier
- entertainment: soft toy for baby and notepad+colour pencil for HY
Basic First Aid Kit:
- paracetamol
- thermometer
- Johnson and Johnson anti mosquito lotion (just in case...)
- Mopiko, anti itching cream
Electrical and Devices:
covered by SC, mainly camera, phone charger, powerpoint adaptor, even included his laptop! He loaned the Garmin GPS from office to read the map that we downloaded from our friend who stay in Perth now.

We brought the bulky car seat for little Bomber. Mainly to save the money from renting it from the car rental agency. We went to Australia 2 times, and car seat has been in a box and on the plane 2 times. Talking about it, I can't believe that we did and we are going to do it again. I guess it is all SC's effort. His credit, absolutely. He usually weight all our luggage (and the car seat in a box as well) before leaving the house to airport. Just to make sure we are not exceeding the limit of luggage weight to check-in. 

On top of that, I also included a thermal flask and small slow cooker for the purpose to cook & keep baby's porridge. What I have missed was an immersion hand mixer. Instead, I brought my regular steel sieve to make puree.

Another personal advice for travelling with kiddos is that, travel with others. Friends or family who can help to share the burden on handle travel hiccups (if any) or help to divert kid's anxious or meltdown. Afterall, this is first trip for baby Bomber, I thought, with addition members to join us for travelling, firstly, HY will have companions. Secondly, SC and I would not be octopus parents who juggling among baby's whines, HY's curiosity, navigating and sightseeing or meal time. We were considering Perth because SC's aunt and uncle are staying there. SC's aunt is a very thoughtful elderly who cares for kids. She bought extra clothing to keep them warm and she has the right food and tidbits to keep HY munches most of the time; she also borrow snakes and ladders from her friends to keep HY entertained. By the way, she cooked while we were in Busselton/Margaret River and she brought us the nice Chinese restaurants for food (being old Chinese, they prefer rice) in Perth. I basically just need to attend to the anxious baby Bomber, sticky business though.

Seeing the world with the little ones was priceless. Honestly, HY enjoyed the trip tremendously! I enjoyed seeing her beaming from one place to another:). I will dig time to continue writing like i previously did.