Even before we left for Germany, I was already apprehensive about traveling with the Munchkin. Especially after the arduous trip here from India. Reading these posts here , here and here sort of mentally prepared me and gave me a few ideas and lots of strength.
The journey from here to Berlin was fun. A Russian lady was travelling with her 18 month old and was having some trouble with her excess baggage which got magnified because she wasnt too fluent in English. The Husband helped her sort the whole thing out after which we went our separate ways. We met again at the boarding gate where she was thrilled to see familiar faces and latched onto us. She had become so stressed out with the whole baggage issue that after she dished out the requisite amount, she apparently made a beeline to the bar and got sloshed. I’m telling you, to use the colloquial term, she was “full tight”! She was reeking so much of alcohol that I was holding my breath when she was speaking to me. Of course the alcohol had had the desired effect and she was happier than Santa Claus on Prozac. I wondered how she was going to manage her li’l one. Her daughter was a really affectionate child who took an instant liking to the Munchkin and proceeded to show her affection by hugging and kissing him. The Munchkin appreciated it for the first two times after which he gently tried to extricate himself from her grip. She was having none of it and chased him all over the airport determined to hug him. We as parents instead of protecting him were clutching our sides and laughing along with all the other passengers.
So far so good.
Hug 1
Hug 2
Hug 3. Not so thrilled anymore.
Leave me alone, woman!
The frustrated Munchkin strikes, much to my horror.
The lil girl gets some of her own back. Hmppf,here's a kiss too!
Mommy...HELP!
I give up. Whatever. Tell me when you're done.
The giggly Russian woman watched all this unfold and turned to me and said ,”I am now scared of what this girl will be like when she is a teenager!”
Anyway, here’s what we did:-
1. We carried three bags one for each of us. The Munchkins bag was carried as cabin luggage and the rest was checked in. So the only thing we had was the cabin luggage, the stroller and my handbag. That way, we werent saddled with too much stuff to carry.
2. Elmo saved the trip. The Husband and I joke that he is The Third Parent. We carried an “Emmo” DVD along and every time he got antsy on the plane or otherwise , we played it. This ensured that kid stayed out of our hair for the next 30 minutes atleast and so we could actually enjoy our meals in peace.
Watching the Sesame Street DVD on the flight. FYI, I know this DVD by heart now.
3. The Munchkin did harass us on the plane but not by crying, mostly by wanting to be all over the place. As far as he wasnt harming or seriously annoying anyone I just let him be. The only time I was seriously mortified was when he was grabbing at all the apparatus the hostesses use while giving safety instructions. He threw a fit because he wanted the oxygen masks. The air hostess just laughed and left it with him to play with. That was quite sweet of them I thought.
4. We went by the Munchkin’s comfort for the first few days. Everytime we thought he got tired we would go back to her hotel for a few hours of rest. This worked out this time, because our hotel in Berlin was centrally located so we didnt waste too much time commuting.
5. Strangely he didnt have any trouble adjusting to the new six hour difference there. At ten in the night we would do the bed-bath-milk routine and switch off the lights and he would fall asleep. Even throughout the day whenever he was tired he would go to sleep wherever we were.
I have inherited my Mom's genes. I can sleep whenever ,wherever.
6. I didnt fuss over his food because usually he isnt a very fussy eater(Touch wood). He ate whatever we ate- meat/veggies/bread and butter and munched on the cereal bars during the day. We bought cartons of whole milk for him everyday from neighbouring supermarkets and used Formula for the plane journeys. Initially, I bought some bananas, orange juice and cheese slices for him, unsure of whether he would eat regular food. But since he took to our food, I stopped buying those after the first 2 days. In fact he loved the weinwursts(veal sausages) so much that I worried that he would overeat and get a tummy upset. Other than that I had carried snacks like fruity bars, biscuits etc.
7. We made two small kits of his meds- Tylenol, nasal decongester, baby vicks, his multivitamin drops, teething gel and some neosporin for babies. One we carried in our luggage and the other I always carried around in my purse.
8. His stroller has a lot of storing capacity and so we stored his milk bottles,diapers, wipes , a blanket and a stuffed elmo always. This also held my handbag, shopping bags etc so our hands were always free to manage the Munchkin. Initially we were planning on taking one of those small lightweight traveling strollers but decided against it at the last minute as they have zero storage capacity. The stroller wasnt a problem at all as all western countries have easy stroller access everywhere.
9. We learnt that the Munchin doesnt like being in the stroller too much so after the first day of trying to keep him strapped in we let him walk. This would do two things- one stop his whining and two, tire him out so that he would sleep throughout the night. Only glitch we had to keep an eagle eye on him and take turns sightseeing.
The lil explorer
10. We also learned a few things. He didnt take too well to the car journeys. The last 3-4 days of our vacay we took a road trip and when he wasnt sleeping through these journeys he would get really unhappy and whine to get out of the car seat. This led us to a change of plans on the third day and we cancelled our day trip to Zurich which was 2 hrs away and instead spent the day Bregenz which involved a boat cruse and a cable car trip which turned out to be more fun. Hence, the most important learning was to keep plans flexible with a baby.
11. Relax rules about behavior in public. In retsaurants the Munchkin would inevitably throw the cutlery and the napkins down and lunge for the shakers and the decorations on the table. We let him do whatever the hell he was doing (as far as he wasnt breaking anything) and cleared up before we left. We realized it was no use disciplining a child about hotel ettiquette at that time. At our hosts place we immediately picked up anything within his reaching distance and kept it at a higher level.
Getting D-looks from Dad
12. On airports these days , you will definitely have some child play area. Make full use of them. Let them tire themselves out so that once you board they will immediately fall asleep.
The Munchkin refused to leave the ball pit.
13. As luck would have it, towrads the end of our trip the Munchkin started teething again and hence got quite cranky. This was something which couldnt have been foreseen or any diffrent if we were back home so we just used the teething meds and tried distracting him as much as possible. At this point our hosts were also incredibly patient and helpful. I never once saw them show any signs of annoyance at his crying and usually helped us take turns amusing him. For this part, I think we lucked out.
Our journey back home was also eventful. Our planned route was Munich- Washington-Atlanta. Unfortunately due to a staff crunch in Immigration at Washington, we took forever to clear immigration and hence missed our connecting flight. A lot of other people were in the same boat as us and the airport looked like Dadar station at rush hour, with people and baggage everywhere. They put us on last minute waiting for the 10 p.m. flight; this meant that we would get seats only if there were no-shows. I found this way too much of a chance and wasnt ready to loaf around in this place for the next five hours. On requesting a confirmed ticket, the only one we got was for the next morning and that too with a flight change at Chicago(!)(Yeah, we did complete America darshan on our way back home). We accepted that, since we were going crazy with jetlag at the time. Although I was initially ragged I softened after the airline did apologize for the inconvenience and put us up in a five star hotel for the night, gave us hotel food vouchers for dinner and breakfast and arranged for our pickup and drop too.
We went back to the hotel, had a hot bath, ate dinner and crashed fort he night. The next day we were quite refreshed and set forward again for our journey back home. Another glitch we ran into was when we tried hiring a taxi back home. Most taxis dont carry car seats and hence are jittery about taking babies without one. We verified with the police and were then informed that taxis can carry babies without car seats since they are commercial vehicles. You are supposed to hold the baby in your lap and then fasten your seat belt. So anyone who is staying here and is worried about lugging a car seat wherever you go for this reason can relax.
My overall experience was that the Munchkin was annoying and cranky at times (Probably because he grew 2 molars and 1 canine on the trip) but for most of the part between the two of us we could manage him. We got angry with him and ran out of patience too, but one at a time 
.On the plane we actually ate our meals and even watched some movies and took turns following him all over the plane. But I shudder to think how I will travel with the Munchkin alone. Forget me, my husband himself is convinced that there is no way this child should be left alone with only one adult. So much so that for our India trip this winter, I was initially supposed to leave before the Munchkin’s Dad, but now we shall all be leaving together.
My overall impression is whatever trip you take now wont be like your honeymoon but it wont be a disaster either. You’ll end up doing more kid friendly things. Like the Husband and I would have loved to bike in the countryside and maybe go to the theater but that wasn’t too practical with a kid. Also in my experience, the Munchkin troubled us mostly in the parts where his movement was restricted like cars and planes. Next time, I plan to leave with one of these. Initially I thought it was inhuman but there is a reason why they are so popular with parents of kids under 4 here in America. Especially if you have an extremely headstrong and energetic child like mine.
I had been steeling myself for a lot of dirty looks and preparing the Munchkin’s Dad also for it(He quickly takes offense to anything related to his precious son) but was surprised to see that noone really made any faces. Max they tried to put as much distance as possible between us and themselves and some actually tried to entertain my son. I guess all those years of trying to appease other peoples cranky kids while traveling came back as good karma for me!
So in short, it can be done. A little patience and a lot of sense of humor go a long way
