Of Co-Travelers and other such things :)

I'm back :). That means - back from my travels, and on this blog space after aeons.

After a few relaxed weeks in Singapore, I moved on to my first ever all-girl holiday in London. I had a whale of a time, meeting friends and roaming around the city to my heart's content. Before I put out my usual travelogues though, there were a few other thoughts on my mind.

On Traveling Alone: This was an experience I had looked forward to for many reasons. I was most curious about needing to handle logistics just for myself, versus for a family as is usual on my usual holidays. There were some funny discoveries along the way though. For example, while it was much easier to check-in and select the right seat just for one, this also meant I had no control over who would be sitting next to me ;). And on my journey back I also realized that my little fella S takes up very little arm space compared to pretty much any co-traveler. For the record, on a long flight, a seat close to the toilets pretty much trumps all others :P.

On Not passing judgment: One of the first things you learn as a parent is to not turn up your nose at the parent struggling with that toddler meltdown at the supermarket. While I try consciously to give the benefit of doubt always, I am afraid I need reminders at times. And this was a strong one. On my flight out to London, I was a bit taken aback to find a slightly fidgety child coming to occupy the seat next to me. Just as I was bracing myself for a not-so-pleasant journey and remembering some jokes about disturbances from bratty kids on flights, I took a closer look. The child's mother was sitting in the seat next to her, and immediately reached out to let me know that she was a child with special needs. She apologized to me in advance for any discomfort :(. I figuratively kicked myself, and told her that it would be no problem at all. And it really wasn't - all I could think of was how much I tell my kids to behave on flights and what an easy time I really have of it. How much more of a battle these parents must be facing, to need to be patient and to deal with their child with understanding. I was in awe of the mother throughout the trip, as she tried to be firm yet was so very loving to her child as well. She even offered to have her husband switch seats with me after a few hours (it was a 10 hour flight), but I was emphatic that it was fine. The husband was sitting across the aisle from her and taking care of a younger sibling. It was also lovely to note, that the cabin staff (I was on BA) were very understanding and helpful - one of them even remarked that she had met them on their flight out as well.

On taking photos: I have been researching and reading reviews of DSLRs for a few years now, but the logistics of carrying one around always scare me a bit. I worry that on journeys like this one, I would find it tough to carry an additional piece of baggage all the time, not to mention a not-too-light one. So this was the first ever time I completely depended on my phone for all photos, not even taking along my point-and-shoot which has a lovely 21X zoom and has always been great for outdoor photos. Did I miss it? A little bit for sure, at places where I would have loved to zoom in and get some extra detail. But the final result was a tidy collection of pics between 3 phone-cameras (iPhone6, Oneplus and my own iPhone5). I even got some lovely scenic shots on my phone, which made me realize that the subject of the photo is really the most important contributor to a good shot. The natural lighting of course, comes a close second. Here are 2 shots of the same scene - one when cloudy and one after it cleared up.

From a Cocktail bar on the Shard, London

So much more breathtaking just an hour or so later :)

On meeting old friends: I stayed with a friend who is based in London, and another who joined us from Seattle. Though we have met a few times over the years, it is just amazing how it always feels the same and we can just pick up from where we left off the previous time. I also met a couple of others whom I haven't seen (or in some cases even not chatted with on FB ;)) in the 17 years or so since college, but even then it was so very natural to just get talking with no warm-up time required. It was also great to just relax and be oneself, without having to worry about what anyone would think. To be fair though, I have it pretty easy on this front in my normal life as well :D.

Err.. that seems like quite enough gyaan until I get to my actual travelogue post ;). Bye for now and thanks for reading this far!

How Do You Recharge? #together

Enough of the snuggly memories. I'm just going to put it out there - Being a Stay-at-Home-Mom can get tough for your intellect. The main reason is that when "Mom" is tagged on to your identity, it means that you spend a lot of your time with little beings who for the first few years speak in sentences of 5 words or less ;). The toughest question that you need to answer might be "Why was that poo green today?". And the answer to that is close at hand what with Google and Babycenter being literally at finger's reach.

When D was young, I think I hardly stepped out of home until she was a year old. During that time, it was just a whole lot of all the things that babies are known for, including an endless loop of feeding-burping-putting to sleep. It was close to when I was at the end of my tether, when we tried our first family vacation to a place called Poovar. The holiday had a whole lot of other complications thanks to first-time travel with a baby, not knowing a lot of the logistics that we should have checked earlier, and what not. But to a mom who had been interacting solely in baby language, it was a breath of fresh air nonetheless.

A couple of years passed and S came along. I was more adventurous now, after all we had done it once before ;). Our first vacation was when he was about 7-8 months old. I was a lot better prepared, from figuring out how to sterilize baby bottles to bringing along any baby food that we needed. We also had both sets of grandparents along this time, so it was a really nice opportunity for everyone to unwind and relax.

At least one vacation a year #together as a family- that has become a norm now. Though it's partly to do with us having bought into a timeshare, it has evolved into much more than that. Regular readers of my blog would have come across my elaborate travelogues every time we go on holiday ;), the last one was really long and spread over many posts as we were away for a month - I tried an A-Z though I wasn't completely successful! Here's one of the posts from our last vacation.

In between vacations, if I feel like I need a change of scene, it's great that I have friends to reach out to - for a coffee, a lunch or even just a FB chat #together. Any of these can cheer me up and set me back on track, ready to tackle the next parenting challenge that might come along :).

I am also thrilled that I am planning my first ever all-girls trip #together- I am really looking forward to that and I'm sure it's going to be a rejuvenating and memorable experience. I love being a mom, but thinking only about myself for a week - I could use that once in a while ;).

This post has been written for #together for Housing.com.