Toddler Travels

I have been traveling with my little bear since he was 4 months old. We've been to Japan and Thailand before he turned one. Taiwan before he turned two and Hong Kong, Cambodia and Vietnam before he turned three. Aside from international trips we have also been bringing him around to our local travels. May it be travel to Tagaytay, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Baguio and he has even travelled with just his Titas and my Mom to Palawan.

It was never the same trip with him. They say that the more you travel with your child you would know how they would most likely behave or react to the situation they are in. But travelling with my little bear has been a wonderful learning experience. There is always something that I learn each time we travel. I cannot always expect that our last smooth airplane ride with him will be the same smooth airplane ride with him the next time.

Toddlers are different from adults. They are always developing and I must say that my little bear is the eager to learn type of toddler. He gets curious with his surroundings thus being the active child he is.

Now that he is in his terrible two and almost nearing his terrifying three here are some of the things that I have been doing during our flights that I want to share with you:

Know your Child

• Knowing your child is the most important thing for me. You have to know your child in order to understand him/her on why he/she is acting that way. When you know your child you would know which approach would work well for him/her. Knowing your child would also be in handy to know what is that he/she needs. Simple body actions or crankiness on my little boy's part would signal me that he is sleepy or hungry. Knowing your child well enough would also give you the knowledge of his sleeping patterns. Knowing his sleeping patterns would help booking flights. If you can book flights during the time that he sleeps so that he can sleep throughout the flight.

Manage EXPECTATIONS

• When you know our child you can very well know how to manage your expectations and know what to expect when traveling with him/her and how the flight might go. When I also say manage expectations this not only means managing your own expectations and your companions expectation but also your child's expectations. I know its a bit too much to manage a child's expectation. You might think that I'm out of my mind and that children don't have expectations. Well, for my I tell André in advance that we are going to ride the plane, where we are going, what we are going to do, what he needs to do inside the plane and so on. But know that no matter how behaved your child might be he/she at one point might not do what you say. Always be open to unexpected things. This brings me to my next tip.

Have a longer PATIENCE and UNDERSTANDING

• Things will not always go your way. Unexpected things may or may not happen but longer patience and understanding to your toddler is all that they need. Sometimes they can be sleepy on a flight but is feeling discomfort which makes them act grumpy and irritated. Moments like this he needs you to be more understanding and patient with him. Shouting or reprimanding him might just make things worst. Try to understand what is it that they are feeling, why are they acting as such and what is it that they need.

Be READY and CREATIVE

• Being on a plane makes you restricted of the things you can do with your toddler. You can't just let him loose and run inside the plane during the whole flight just so he can enjoy himself. You cannot also bring all of his toys with you. What I do during flights is that I entertain André with the in flight magazines, with the shawl that I have or whatever I see that can entertain him. I also make sure that I pack small snacks for him that he can eat during the flight. I also bring small cars (matchbox) with me since he loves cars and he always want to have a car with him wherever he goes. But if all else fails, I mean all else we would let him borrow the iPad wherein there are saved videos and games which will entertain him and as much as possible I would limit his screen time.

Have enough REST before your flight

• I find this tip very helpful and important coming from our most recent trip to Cambodia wherein I  came straight to work with no sleep. I have zero energy and couldn't function well. Always make sure to have enough rest before a flight with a toddler because you never know when you will be needing that extra energy to run after your toddler. Plus you would need a lot of energy during your flight if your toddler doesn't sleep throughout your flight wherein you have to entertain and watch over him/her.

Have a Travel Buddy or a Companion

• This I have always believed to be important even during our first flight with André. Having a companion with you makes the load lesser. You can share responsibilities with that person. In my case, most of the time my travel companion would be my husband. He would watch over André while I sleep and then I will watch over André while he sleeps. That way we both get to rest and share the load. Traveling alone with a toddler would be very hard. Unless you really have to.

In summary, traveling with a toddler is a fun learning experience because you get to know your child better and get to spend quality time with him/her. Plus you get to enjoy and share the experience with them in visiting new places. It can be tough but as long as you know your child, you manage yours and their expectation, have longer patience and understanding, be ready and creative, have enough rest before the flight and above all have someone with you then everything would work out fine. If not then it can be a learning experience for you and try new tips next time. Above all enjoy and have fun with your child.

xoxo!

KL trip with Bie

Hello rainy KL! and I though commuting from the airport going to the hotel was easy. I forgot that we have bags with us. From the budget terminal we had to take a bus going to central station which was 2 or 3 hours long drive and to the central station we have to take a train going to KLCC which was jam packed! When we got of the train I got confused which way to go, we walked a mile or two of the opposite direction and went back to where we started. So much for lost tourist. Then after our walkaton, we approached a car driver and offered us a ride going to the hotel for 20 ringgit which was around Php280.00. Considering that we didn't know where the hotel was and how far it was we took the bait. The cab driver took a few turns and whala! we were there and I just felt that we got tricked. *sigh* I was just thankful that I made this trip with him since he was too protective of me.

After checking in our hotel we went to KLCC to have our dinner and a few tourist shot with the famous Twin Tower. We went back to the hotel since he had to call his office and check his emails (workaholic much).

KL was just our stopover if I may call it, it was a two day trip from our Singapore Trip. For the tour we don't have any planned activity. We're here to relax and enjoy the heat KL have. We just rode the hop in hop off bus which nearly had us miss our train. I was not able to go to the Pavilion to do some shopping for myself and my family because it was sooooo traffic. If we get off the bus to go to the shopping malls it will take us two hours of riding the next bus. Their traffic was worst that EDSA traffic that day wherein I was able to take a nap and when I woke up were still there.

But over all it was fun. I just hope that when we come back together in KL we went hurry and panic this much.

xoxo!

Loving Changi Airport

Staying inside the airport for several hours is sooo boring! For me it's a waste of time but not when you're in Changi Airport. I was able to shop, watch a movie, have a foot massage and more.

Unable to join the Singapore City tour that we have planned out we decided to just stay inside the airport to wait for our flight. Since we have at least 3-5 hours to kill we decided to check in early and roam around the airport. First stop Sunflower garden. For some reason it is hotter in Singapore compared to Manila so when we went outside the garden we could feel the heat of the sun. Due to lack of sleep we felt relieved that we did not go on the Singapore City tour that we planned prior to us arriving in Singapore. After that we went to the movie section of the airport to watch half of the movie since we already watched it "The Tooth Fairy" I think that was the title. After having enough rest we went to the internet section, checked some mails and went on our way to continue touring the airport. Our next stop the perfume and cosmetics department. Of course he bought himself a perfume and I bought myself a lipstick and lip gloss and something to give to my mom.

There's really a lot of things to do in Changi airport. You can swim, sleep, shower, stroll and hang out at the butterfly garden or simply shop or do a window shopping. You just have to be ready to walk for hours and transfer from one terminal to another via their very own train.

But if your feet gets too tired from too much walking you can always stop by any vacant foot massager found scattered in the airport (specifically near gates and walkalators).

Singapore-lah!

It was our first family trip to Singapore. Unfortunately, my eldest sister did not go with us because she went there a month before we did.

Our flight was the first flight out of Manila via Philippine Airlines. The flight was at 6:15 am and we arrived in Singapore after a 3 hour flight at around 9:15 am. Our flight landed at Changi Airport Terminal 2. After picking up our luggage we then went to the taxi/cab lane. Please note that the maximum passenger that a cab can accommodate is only 4 persons, one person seating in front along-side with the driver and 3 at the back. They also have limousine taxis which charges double compared to the normal cabs.

We stayed at Melville Park condominium which is a bit near to Simei MRT station with my Mom's friend.

There are four ways to tour Singapore. First, riding the MRT. If you will ride the MRT most of the time then I would advise you to buy a MRT card, but if you will not use it often then you can just buy when your going to use it and get the $1 refund after use. Second is riding the bus. Tourists, like us did not have a hard time riding their buses. All we had to do was to take note of the bus number going to our destination and the bus number so that we'll get home. If in anyway that you have missed your supposedly dropped off, you can just stay on the bus and it will stop on the bus terminal where all other buses will stop. From there you can just ride another bus. Third, is riding a cab. Of course this option will put a whole in your pockets or at least it depends on your budget. The only advantage in picking this option is that you will not get tired of walking and getting lost :) but then again you also won't be sure if the route taken is the short cut or the long cut. But always take note that when riding the cab just choose the normal kind of cabs since limousine cab has a different charge and if you will ask your cab driver to use the toll gates to avoid traffic, the toll fee will be added to your total cab fare rate. The last option is joining a tour. The only advantage for this option is that you'll never get lost and you'll be sure that whatever happens, the tour will end the time they say it will end on the itinerary. The only disadvantage is you don't control your time. Since it is a controlled tour the tour guide would always insist that you have to move on to the next stop.


For our first day, we toured the city by ourselves. We only needed our map and walking shoes/sandals and of course some cash.


Our first and only stop that day was the Singapore Botanical Garden. The park was open for everybody. It is open from 5:00 am up 12:00 mn and the good thing is that the admission is free. I saw a lot of Singaporeans both young and old exercising and doing yoga and a like.

I know I've mentioned that the entrance fee for the Botanical Garden is for free. However, there is a part of the Garden that has an entrance fee and that is the National Orchid Garden. The entrance fee for adults is $5.00 and $1.00 for students but you have to present your ID.

I would say that the entrance fee was worth it since the plants were really taken cared of and they regularly change the orchids displayed.