Preparing for our Trip
July 2018 - April 2019Lesson Learned #1: You don’t need 10 months to plan for a big trip.
Research, Research, Research
When you’ve got 10 months to plan….
We…. ok, Diane…. read about every single piece of information on the internet that matched the search terms:
- traveling with kids
- traveling overseas with kids
- Europe with kids
- Amsterdam with kids
- London with kids
- long flights with kids
- jetlag and kids
- benadryl and kids
But in addition to the anxiety-driven searches, we also spent some time looking at things to do, figuring out where to stay that would work well with public transportation and decreased walking (with kids).
Diane created a survey and our amazing friends (and some people we didn’t even know) completed it, giving us great tips for our trip.
Here are the survey results in a cool layout….because the template Diane is using has a bar graph built in, and she happens to have data that could populate that bar graph…. so keeping it.
The results you see are the recommendations for London Sightseeing. For each attraction, the options were:
- Must See – Highly Recommend
- If you’ve got time
- Don’t waste your time
- Don’t know
Diane then converted the results to a weighted score (on a scale of 100) to fit the bar graph…. again, never planned to include this…. but it looked so cool in the template.
- Westminster Abbey 100%
- Buckingham Palace 90%
- Tower Bridge 80%
- Big Ben 80%
- Tower of London 60%
- 221 Bakers Street 40%
- Diana Memorial Playground 40%
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
-Abraham Lincoln
Been trying to keep this blog strictly in 3rd person – just tell the story – don’t leave the reader guessing who the author is (Diane or Daniel) but if the quote above didn’t give it away…..
Christmas
We’re not sorry.
The majority of the kid’s Christmas presents from us were specifically purchased for our Europe trip. A new backpack for Miah, new sticker books for Samuel, travel-sized puzzles, etc. In fact nearly their entire stockings were things to entertain them while traveling; and therefore was immediately confiscated after opening.
We pulled the same number again for Easter. But Diane buys and ‘hides’ gifts and travel supplies all in the same guest bedroom closet. So Saturday night as she prepared Easter baskets she had to stop and ask herself, “Did I already give them this for Christmas?” as everything had been lumped in one big pile.
Don’t feel sorry for them…. they are kids going to Europe. They’re fine.
Christmas also gave us a great opportunity to test out Daniel’s 360 camera. Demonstrated here. The camera is pretty amazing. It’s small, captures a 360 image and can be focused to anywhere while filming or afterwards in editing.
More Prep Work
1. Create detailed google spreadsheet
Surprise! Diane organized all of our plans in a detailed spreadsheet…. even though she has boasted of taking an easy-go-with-the-flow approach to this trip.
2. Read Rick Steve’s Guide cover-to-cover
Diane’s cousins, Kim and Andrew, recommended Rick Steve’s guides for helpful information on any particular city. So we bought a copy for Amsterdam. We had to wait, because a new addition was set to release around January. Diane sat down and read it cover-to-cover one Saturday. It was filled with lots of great information… like King’s Day. Read about Diane’s thoughts on King’s Day here.
3. Call and argue with the Airline
Two things have caused Diane an unnecessary amount of anxiety. King’s Day and the layover in Toronto. On our way to Europe, we fly out of Memphis, land in Toronto and then go to Amsterdam. We have 1 hour; 1 HOUR, between the scheduled landing in Toronto to take-off. One hour to deplane, go through customs, find our departing terminal and board the outgoing flight. And flights close their gates early! So… if there is no post from us on Thursday night, then we are on our way to Amsterdam. Otherwise you may read our laments written from a hotel room in Toronto.
4. Make children practice walking
“In Europe we won’t have our car, so we’ll have to do a lot of walking to get around. Let’s practice with a leisurely but long walk around the neighborhood.” -Famous Last Words
PASSPORTS
Got the kids’ passports, and a little drama to go with it.
We bought our plane tickets for Europe 10 months in advance. That’s a long time to prep. No need to rush and get the kids’ passports made. We’ll get it done by the end of 2018. Then, it’s 2019, still got plenty of time, but we will definitely get it done in January. But, the government is shut down…. And then the government is still shut down. Diane begins to mumble crazy derogatory phrases about the government under her breath – though she is the only one to blame for procrasting. Good news – it got done!
Amazing People
This is what it looks like to have amazing people in your life. Pat Cathey, who takes care of her people, went out of her way to make sure that we had what we needed for our trip. Including things like sani-wipes, Dramamine, travel toothbrushes and more!
And if we are calling out amazing people, let’s also talk about Janet G – aka The Good Janet. She is the real “Good Janet” – she’s smart, kind, generous and dresses cute. Diane gets to work with these amazing people every day. And can take extended breaks from the office because of people like Pat and Janet (and we won’t even get started on how great Diane’s boss is).
Practice with the Insta360 Camera.
Costs about the same as an InstaPot – but won’t burn your roast beef.
Tiny Planet
“Sometimes you need a whole lot of perspective to know where you are at.” – Daniel, throwing out cliches from the couch while Diane pressures him for content for the blog.
Bike Ride
Daniel uses the 360, attached to a special 360 selfie stick, and rides past his family in order to capture cool footage to post on Facebook later.
Head back to our home page
Navigating unorganized blogs are difficult. Thankfully, one of the owners of this blog is a webpage-making-pro. Unfortunately, he’s “just looking at Reddit” on his phone right now, while the newbie is working this out.