Little Rooms With Views

There was a funny article in the news yesterday about the toilets on the 18th floor of a hotel. The cubicles had a full pane of glass that looked out and supposedly, the people using the toilets thought that the glass was reflective on the other side. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case and some people found onlookers waving at them while they were in there. Here's the accompanying photo. I can't quite figure out why there are two people in that cubicle, second from the left.



I love toilet stories and while it wasn't amusing at the times I needed to use certain toilets, they are funny memories to have. Here is my list of most 'interesting' toilets.

The most difficult decision I've had to make about toilet cubicles was in Lijiang, China. It was a choice between the cubicle with no door, or the cubicle that had a big window one side, looking out onto a car park. I chose the window because there was nobody outside at that moment and I thought I could be quick enough. Plus, when I was seated, only my upper body was visible.

The cleanest outdoor toilet was one on the border of Cambodia and Vietnam. There were only four low walls and no roof so the sun dried up the inside of the cubicles and vaporised all smells. The only problem was that the walls were only as tall as a person so it was possible the peep over.

The most confronting toilet I've visited was another one somewhere en-route from Dali to Lijiang in China. This was an outdoor, public restroom that was very 'basic'. I walked in and there were two ladies, squatting side by side having a chat. I couldn't even make myself try to go so I just left and prayed there would be another toilet stop soon. There was another similar one in Chengdu except it was in a government building and fully tiled - I went there because there was nobody else around.

The scariest toilet was the one on my father's farm. I was seven or eight years old when he had his farm so my memory might have exaggerated things. It was a big hole dug in the ground, with two planks thrown over for a person to squat over. There were walls, a roof and a door but those planks were wobbly and it was a long fall down to you-know-what.

I think its time I did more travelling to get some new stories. I'll be going to Adelaide at the end of this week but I doubt there are any interesting loos there.

My Occupation And A Little More On Air Travel

Ever since I stopped working, I always have trouble filling in the "Occupation" field in forms. Why do people always need to know what you do anyway? Or if you do anything at all? I have a strong dislike for the word "housewife". I don't have an issue with the role but I just don't think its a nice word. So, I usually put down the marginally better "homemaker". Sometimes I'd put "unemployed" just to be different.

I was opening a new bank account today but instead of filling in a paper form, the bank guy was filling out my details on the computer. When it came to the "Occupation" question, I just mumbled off "homemaker" but he said it wasn't an option in his drop down selection. "Housewife" wasn't there either. After looking around, the guy found "Domestic Duties". So they've came up with an alternative to "housewife" and "homemaker" but it wasn't any better. That title could apply to maids and cleaners too. In this day of inflated titles, why did they DE-flate mine? Is it so far fetched to put down "Operations Manager - Home" in that drop down selection?

Anyway, such is life. Now, back to the topic of travel! Take a look at this! The latest addition to Singapore's Changi Airport is a humongous slide. It is supposedly the worlds tallest slide and is targeted at bored adult travelers! Standing four storeys tall, it shoots you down as fast as 6 meters per second.

So, most adults would prefer not to be seated with kids but would perhaps like to play like little kids to relieve their boredom during long transit times. Hmmmmm.....

It sounds like a lot of fun but the article says that it costs $25 for two rides. Thats a bit steep and I'm not sure I'd pay up for those few seconds of fun.

Anyway, I get plenty of entertainment people watching at airports. And back in the good old days where I didn't travel with a constantly chatting little boy, it was also the time I did all my day dreaming. I used to feel guilty sitting around day dreaming in my normal days at work or at home because that would be classified as a waste of time. But at an airport, what else is there to do?

Families Only

I came across an interesting article today about airline travel. It didn't surprise me to read that the majority (68%) of the people who were for this proposal were non parents. The article makes a good suggestion of having people who preferred to sit in the non-family section pay a little extra for that perk.

Personally, I'm undecided on whether I would like a family only section. On the one hand, a section like that would definitely reduce the pressure of traveling with young children. Kids are kids, and rather than saying they misbehave on planes (or other confined spaces), I like to think of them as behaving in a non-conforming way. They're kids and sometimes, its understandable that long, tiring journeys make it hard for them to control themselves. Even adults get grumpy but the difference is that they just know that its not socially acceptable for them to start a screaming tantrum. So, a separate section would have the benefit of having to deal with a child's tantrum without feeling the additional pressure of evil dagger stares from fellow passengers.

However, on the other hand, Aaron and Adrian have so far been very good on planes. Somebody even came up to me at the end of our recent flight from Malaysia to let me know how well behaved they were. So, if we were to be put in the family only section, we might have to put up with other kids that are having a hard time and sometimes, that sort of behavior is contagious amongst kids!

Costs aside, what I think I would like is an entire flight that was modified to be family friendly. I'm talking about a children's movie section, a baby/toddler exploration area, arts and crafts section for older kids, maybe a reading corner and then of course a quiet section for nap time. Oh, and lets not forget a naughty corner for time-outs! Some creativity will be needed to take care of all the safety issues with children not having their seat belts on and running about mid-flight. I don't have the solution yet but its worth pondering upon.

For now, until I have my own airline with the family friendly flights, I guess I'll be sticking to night flights where there is a higher chance of the children being asleep for most of the flight.

"Holidays" Tomorrow

We're all packed. In fact, we're more than packed. We're packed and re-packed. When Aaron came into the picture, he made packing a whole lot harder. And now, his little brother isn't even out yet and is already making things trickier. Anyway, things are settled now.

Tomorrow's journey is going to be a long one. We go from here to Singapore and then there are 12 hours of transit time before the not-so-long flight to Brisbane. I don't mind the wait since there are a couple of things I need to buy and there are play areas for Aaron.

Its going to take us awhile to get settled in Brisbane. Richard and my brother will be there for two weeks so I'm sure there will be lots of distractions. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get back to regular blogging in a few days or so. There will be 6 people fighting for limited computer access :D

Country's Tidbits At LCCT

Of all the airport shops I've been to, this is easily one of my favorites. It is at the Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal. Forget about duty free cosmetics or electronics, its always the food that will get me.

The place is called Country's Tidbits And Candies Cottage and it isn't your ordinary candy store. It still has the usual gummy bears, jelly beans and more 'western' style sweets but the rest of the store is Asian. By 'Asian' I mean that they have the widest assortment of dried and salted fruits and peels I have ever seen. There are lots of these types of places in Malaysia but none with a range like this. There were also some 'herbal' stuff there...I can't call them 'sweets' because they definitely aren't sweet.






And then, a special enclosed room for all the dried cuttlefish. Stinko but YUMMY!



I ended up getting just three items:

Dried mandarin skins. These taste sour and bitter at the same time.



Dried lemons. Sourish and salty too...



And something I forgot to identify. They're sort of sourish, salty AND sweet at the same time!


Anybody want to take a guess what that last one is?

I Promise To Travel

One of my single friends mentioned recently that she thinks she may be too selfish to have any children. She likes her lifestyle, her home and all its furnishings and has an addiction to travel. Yes, kids are costly and time consuming. And some fleeting moments, even though she has a work life that I wouldn't want, I do envy her Friday nights of hanging out with friends till the early hours of the morning.

So maybe her rewards for all the hard work she puts in are the nights out, trips abroad, meals at fancy restaurants and of course, professional status.

But, what about SAHMs? Like me, for example. Supposedly, the reward is that we watch these little miracles take their first steps, say their first words, go potty, etc etc etc. (I guess working people will say that I get to slack around all day long.)

I sincerely hope this isn't all there is. I mean, I once had that lifestyle. Y'know, the one that involved traveling? Its the traveling that I'm most "worried" about. I've got another one on the way! Anywhere I go, I'd like to go as a family but soon, its going to be a family of F.O.U.R. Hard to imagine...the money, the extra organisation involved, the extra tantrums perhaps, but surely there will be extra fun.

Since Aaron was born, we've "travelled" a lot but we haven't really been on any major trips to places we've never been to (except Bali, which was easy). Firstly, half our trips were back to Ipoh. I felt I had to do that because my grandparents are all around the 90 year mark and its important for Aaron to get to know them now. The other half of my trips were to Brisbane and that was always when Richard couldn't get away from work and I needed a break from Palembang.

Do I sound like I'm complaining? Well, I'm not. I know I'm lucky to get to change location as often as I do. But, I'm making a promise, here and now, to travel to those destinations on my "Must Visit" list. I've got to work out the money, and the time, and balance it with time (and money) spent going back to Ipoh.

I think my first target is Kyoto, Japan. That one is going to cost me extra because its the place I've been wanting to take my mother to. I'm planning!

Heading to Ipoh, Malaysia

Today is one of those days that just drag on and on. Aaron and I are going back to Malaysia this afternoon but the flight isn't until 4.30pm. It used to be at 1pm, which was good - wake up, breakfast, play awhile, nap and then we're off. Today, he knows that we're going sometime in the afternoon but what exactly is the "afternoon" to a nearly three year old excited about getting on a plane?? Anyway, its 1.30pm now so we'll leave in an hour or so. Nearly there.

We're going back to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday. It is also going to be a celebration of my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. Can you imagine 60 years?? I'd like to say that they still walk hand in hand and whisper sweet nothings to each other but the truth is my grandmother is usually hanging on to her walking stick and my grandfather is quite deaf. They still make a very good looking couple though.

In a way, I'm glad the news articles on the swine flu have dropped significantly from a week ago. I know its still out there but I don't need to be reminded of it by five new articles each time I go to read the news.

I don't really want to think about the 1hr 30 mins I will be in an enclosed area with recycled air. I have two masks with me but can't decide if we will use it. I'm sure it will just make Aaron fiddle with his face more. Still thinking. Do I need to wipe down the trolley with my alcohol wipes? If I do that, I might as well do it for the seat, the windows, the tray table etc. And when we get to Kuala Lumpur, the Low Cost Carrier Terminal is so incredibly crowded. They have very few chairs so people are just standing, walking, sneezing and coughing around everywhere. Its like a crowded market. Alright then, I'm not going to get carried away....

So, I'm off now. Look out for posts from Ipoh, Malaysia over the next few days.

Part 2 of Life in Cairns - Touristy Things

Cairns is basically a tourist town. The main attractions are the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforests. On a previous trip to Cairns, we took one of the Reef tours but I remember being a little disappointed and didn't want to spend the money again. I guess they don't take you to the truly beautiful parts of the reef otherwise they'd be ruined with all of the visitors. And, lack of research (i.e. laziness) left us too little time on a day trip north to fully explore the Daintree Rainforest. So we didn't do either of the main touristy things.

This doesn't mean we didn't have any fun. My mother offered to look after Aaron for the only weekend that Richard was in Cairns so that we could do the semi-touristy stuff with my brother and sister-in-law.

On the Saturday, we went to Crystal Cascades. It is one of the local swimming holes that my brother's workmate told us about. Nestled in the middle of the rainforest, it took us about 15 mins to walk to the actual "cascades". We didn't want to be swimming downstream of whoever was upstream, ifykwm.

Here's the highest spot we could reach. There were several people there when we got there but they left soon after we arrived and we had the area all to ourselves.



On Sunday, we drove to Port Douglas. Several years ago, I watched a travel program on Port Douglas and have since added it to my wish list of places I want to live. This is the place that I will move to once my little family can survive without either Richard or I having an actual job. Yes, when we're filthy rich!

It did not disappoint. It is also a touristy place but the views there were awesome. The ocean was such a magical blue and beaches pristine.





Here's where I'll be blogging from someday...



A huge disappointment about these northern beaches were all the warnings they came with. On this particular day we couldn't even go swimming within the flags because of the stingers.



So, we headed to the Mossmon Gorge to cool off instead. This was a little like Crystal Cascades but on a larger scale with cooler and clearer waters.



I enjoyed the time with my brother and sister-in-law immensely. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it but I was glad Aaron wasn't around that weekend. When he's around, I can never carry on a full conversation with anybody. So, two whole days of being the non-mother me was very refreshing.

We're enjoying Cairns

After 1700km, 2 McDonald's meals, 1 picnic, 1 buffet dinner in Rockhampton, 1 night in a motel, the same 2 CDs repeated fifty times at Aaron's request, we arrived in Cairns on Saturday night. The drive up here was a huge success. We did have one major crying session in the car but overall, Aaron was great in the car and we made it here in much less time than expected. We made a tray table for him in the car and that allowed him to do his drawings, eat, move his trains around or convert into a "keyboard". I'll post a photo of that when I can.

It turns out that my brother has not subscribed to internet here and will not until he moves to a more permanent place. Bummer! I'll just have to spend more time in the lagoon. So, I guess daily blogging will only resume when we're back in Palembang in a couple of weeks.

We're staying at a city apartment that is a short walk from the ocean. I mentioned lagoon in the previous paragraph because Cairns doesn't have a nice sandy beach. And, because of the stingers in the water, you can't swim in the sea here. Instead, they've build a huge lagoon and put some sand onto the sides so there is a "beach". It sounds fake but its actually an easier place for me to play around with Aaron because of the shallow edges. My plan is to go to the lagoon each morning, come back for his nap and then maybe head to the shops in the afternoons when its hot. Night time is reserved for all the movies that my brother has lined up for me to watch. My sister in law has also put aside 3 books that she recommends highly so I'll have to get to those too. Just as well there isn't the internet to distract me.

We'll do all the touristy things when Richard gets here next week. So, maybe I'll just save all the photos and commentary for when I get unlimited time in front of a PC. I'm doing this post from the local library but they don't allow any uploading or downloading from their computers. AND, its only a 1 hr booking so I'd better stop now if I want to have a peek at what all of you have been up to.

We're off to Cairns tomorrow!

Just a short post tonight. I haven't been organized enough to prepare a proper post for today and its been a long day. We've spent a tiring day packing and cleaning. And, I had a fantastic visit with my piano teacher.

Tomorrow, my parents, Aaron and I will start driving up to Cairns. It is about 1700km from Brisbane and we've estimated that it will take us about three days to get there. Of course, it can be done in less time but I'm going to need to let Aaron out for lots of breaks. I have no idea how he's going to handle the trip. This is a little guy that just two months ago couldn't last more than thirty minutes in the car. I've packed Wiggles magazine, 6 new pocket sized Thomas books, 1 Harvey the crane engine and all sorts of healthy new snacks for the journey.

My brother recently moved there and we're going to stay until Christmas. Richard will be heading straight up there too as soon as he arrives in mid December. I've only been to Cairns one other time, about 15 years ago, and I remember it to be a very touristy but fun place. My dad has already announced that he will be going fishing twice a day. Supposedly, he's going to teach his 2 yr old grandson how to fish!

Anyway, I'm off to bed. My patience needs to be fully charged for the trip. I'm sure I'll get some blogging time up there but its my brother's computer so, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get daily posts in. Take care everybody!

We're off again

It feels like we've only just returned from Malaysia and now we're off again. Its time for the annual trip to Australia. People wonder why I 'holiday' at the same place every year but I don't really see it as a holiday. Its just somewhere I live for a couple of months each year.

I'm grateful that Richard is so understanding about these trips. I'm also thankful that we are able to afford it. I know I'm lucky to have the life that I have and I don't take it for granted.

So tomorrow, Aaron and I will first fly to Singapore, wait around Changi Airport for about 5 hours, then get on the 7 hr flight to Brisbane. It will be my first time traveling so far with Aaron alone. I've stuffed my hand luggage with snacks, toys, books, extra clothes, a sling, extra diapers.....I think I'd better find a 'surprise' and stuff it in there too.

This is also the first time that I feel I haven't spent enough time in Palembang before leaving again. Like I said before, I finally feel at home here. The trip was booked long ago so, nothing I can do now except look forward to all the things that I can't get in Palembang.

He's old enough now for the story telling and sing-a-longs in the libraries. And of course, there will be all the wonderful parks we can visit. This time I think I'll take him for a walk through the museum too. I'm getting excited!

See you all in a few days!

Holiday Recovery

The past week has been a blur. I didn't even have time to sleep let alone blog! After last Monday's post, we made a snap decision to drive to Penang on Tuesday, just for the day. Then, there was only Wednesday and Thursday left for all the last minute shopping, spending time with the grandparents and trying to stuff everything into the one bag I had. And of course, there was all the last minute eating to be done. On Friday, my parents, brother and I drove down to KL. My brother was leaving on Friday night and we had a Saturday morning flight.

All the last minute eating left me with an upset stomach. Thankfully, things settled down by the time I had to enter the departure hall alone with Aaron. I don't know how I would have managed running to the restrooms while pulling him AND my hand luggage along.

Once again, he surprised me by being a very peaceful and still toddler as we waited in the departure area. Maybe he was tired too. All he did was stand around me and talk about the planes. The final feat of physical exertion came when it was time to board.

I've mentioned before that walking across the tarmac from the gates to the plane is like dealing with a stampede. I paid extra to board before the herd but still, its a looooong walk when you have 8kgs on your back and 12 kgs of Aaron in your arms. He would have walked but I didn't want to risk the herd catching up with me. After the climb up the steep stairs to the plane, I flopped down, nursed Aaron for a little while and he went straight to sleep until we landed in Palembang.

Today, we're staying at home and sleeping off the effects of our too tiring final week of holidays.

Old Kuala Lumpur

During my December trip to Kuala Lumpur, I intended to take some photographs that would show the various aspects of the city. Unfortunately, much to Bilbo's disappointment, I only managed to show some of the bustling yet boring scenes of the shopping malls.

Since December, I've been to K.L. twice more and each time, I've had my camera out and ready to capture some of the local spirit. This was much harder than I thought it would be. Both were short trips, the first to meet Richard and the second was a stopover on our way home to Palembang. This meant that we stayed in the most convenient place: a city hotel by the malls. While we zoomed past the historical train station, high court, state mosque and Pudu jail on our way there, I couldn't get any good pictures and didn't have time to return to those locations.

I walked around the hotel area looking for something that looked distinctly Kuala Lumpur but the scene was always the same: mega buildings, foreign hotel chains, malls and restaurants. Well, these days THAT is what K.L. is about. This must be what tourists would see of the city. I guess they would have some sort of handbook that would lead them to each of the historic sites and another handbook detailing the best shopping in town.

Don't get me wrong, there are still many old parts to K.L. but it does take some looking around for them. Especially if you're a tourist and don't have friends in the city.

So, back to my photos, I've decided to share some from my delicious breakfast at an old style coffee shop. This place is within the city but not within the Golden Triangle mall area so most tourists would probably miss it. This place is typical of many coffee shops in Malaysia with the 'anchor store' being the drinks vendor and the tenants being the main attractions with their different foods.


I had the Low Shu Fun with the meatballs. Low Shu Fun is a type of short, round and pointy noodle and the meatballs aren't really balls but a roundish rectangular shape. This meal is delicious and anybody visiting K.L. needs to find this store to try it. I ordered a second round and ate at this place both times that we were in K.L. In fact, I had this three out of the four breakfasts I had in K.L. (over the two trips).

Here, the man is cooking the noodles and meat-rectangles in his boiling cauldren of tasty soup.


And here it is. The bowl of dark noodles is mine because I couldn't wait to mix it up and have a bite...even before I took the photo. The other, untouched bowl, is Richard's and is what it looks like when served. The meat-rectangles are in the soup.

Paradise at USD56 per night

As a child, I spent many weekends by the beach. My parents were avid divers and we would often tag along. Sometimes we stayed on the boat and other times we were dropped off at some beach to play (with supervision of course). Sometimes we camped on the beach while other times it was just a day trip.

Ipoh is about 90 mins from Lumut. This is where we used to get on the hired fishing boats that took us out. I can still remember jumping off the roof of the boat into the water, swimming under the boat and then climbing back to the roof again. My brother and I would do this repeatedly!

These were perfect weekends but as I grew older and started earning my own money, I forgot about those simple days and have spent countless hours browsing the internet for exotic seaside destination and luxury hotels. Last April, we went to Bali and had a wonderful pampering style holiday. I enjoyed it and don't regret spending the money there. However, these past two days, my parents and I went back to the place of the fishing boats. We didn't go out to sea and only took the ferry to Pangkor Island (where the fishing village is) but that was enough for me to realize that the expensive hotels and destinations are not any more enjoyable than a simple beach front hotel at a nearby island. The place we stayed only cost USD56 per night and we had rooms just meters from the beach.

For once, Aaron's early morning wake up calls came in useful. This was taken at dawn, a few minutes before I jumped into that irresistibly calm water.


Here are some scenes from the local fishing village.

A Journey of Surprises

After spending weeks dreading the journey back to Palembang, we had a wonderful trip back.

Aaron only slept the first and last hours of the 7 hr flight from Brisbane to Singapore but for the 5 hrs in between, he was GOOD. I was so surprised that there was no whining or climbing or any other difficult times. He sat with us and ate, read or played around with his car. Sometimes, he got down and played around our feet for awhile. To prevent any boredom of the two economy seats we were confined to, Richard took him for regular walks up and down the plane. It always makes me wonder if Aaron just knows when we need him to be good and when he 'can' play up.

The transit time at Changi Airport this time was 16 hrs so we checked into the hotel there. Once again, no problems with Aaron. He just went straight to bed. The surprise came when he slept till about 7.30am (Brisbane time) as opposed to his usual of 5am. I was so worried that we would have to be walking Aaron around the airport at 3am!

We had to check out by 8am so there was no place to put Aaron down for his morning nap. No problems! He slept right next to me in the sling. Richard and I had some peaceful time walking through all the shops.



So, thats it for the travelling (for now). Tomorrow will be exciting. It will be Aaron's first day as a toddler in this house.

Is Malaysia Airlines serious about these deals?

As part of their 'World Online Celebration', Malaysia Airlines is offering some incredible airfares at up to 75% discounts. Included in the promotion are fares to other ASEAN countries at USD8 and trips all the way to Europe for just USD201. Immediately, I thought of visiting my aunt in Holland but upon further investigation, I am not sure if Malaysia Airlines is even serious about this celebration because:

1) The fares are only valid for bookings made between 1-15 August for travel between Jan-May 2008. However, the earliest news article I can find on this promotion is dated 8 August. Even today, 13 August, none of the Malaysians I've asked know about it. If they were serious about this celebration, wouldn't they have publicised it BEFORE 1 August so that the public will be ready to make their bookings?

2) The DEALS mentioned (USD 201 to Europe etc) are only one way. A round trip ticket is almost the same price as the normal fares. Now, which country is going to grant you a visa to visit if you only have a one way ticket?

3) The published fares exclude all the surcharges and taxes. Once you add that in and pay for the round trip ticket. There is really NO CELEBRATION to be had at all.

Football Crazy

My husband, Richard, is absolutely football crazy. However, he's been somewhat 'deprived' of both playing and watching the game since Aaron was born. He's probably sitting at home every night now watching the English Premier League highlights, goals and games. ALL that is available on the EPL since we're not around. Its weird that the EPL has such a large following of people who don't live in the UK.

I KNOW he reads this blog so thats why I'm saying it right here that one day, when I've made enough spare change from trading....I'll take us on a family holiday which will include a Manchester United game. It looks like the 3 largest cities for football are London, Manchester and Liverpool. A London Hotel would probably be more convenient to do other things but I'll need to research this first. I don't think he would want a Liverpool Hotel since thats the club he doesn't like. I suppose his ideal would be a Manchester Hotel. Wherever we stay, it will definitely be pricey for us. It takes a whopping 7 Malaysian Ringgits to buy 1 British Pound!

The perfect travelling companion

It took us a total of about 19 hours to get from our house in Palembang, Indonesia to my mother's house in Brisbane, Australia. Aaron was a little difficult at the Palembang Airport but once we got on the plane, he was an angel.

Changi Airport was everything I expected. The singaporeans really know how to make transit time zoom by. 6 whole hours there wasn't enough! There were even more shops there than my last trip in 2005. We spent quite a bit of time at the Family Zone where Aaron could 'stretch his legs'. We couldn't tear him away from there!


Here he is again having fun with some older boys in the departure lounge. It was his first time really interacting with other children and was amazing to watch. The two boys were wonderful and included Aaron in their game of chasing after a toy tiger. The game completely wore him out and he fell asleep as soon as we boarded. He stayed in 'sleep mode' for the entire journey but kept waking up because of the cramped conditions. It was easy to put him back to sleep each time.

I'm so excited about.....

Changi Airport! I love it there. 6 hours transit time...NO PROBLEM. Just yesterday I was asked if I was excited about my trip to Brisbane. And I had answered 'Not really'. I've definitely been looking forward to it but there hasn't been any sort of excitement. Until today. Now I can't wait to be in the airports, on the planes, checking-in, scanning my hand luggage, checking that my passport is still with me, waiting for my baggage. I love the actual travel in travelling.

Changi Airport is definitely my favorite. Its a like a mall. Its always bustling (35 MILLION people through there last year!) therefore excellent for people watching. 'Street' Entertainment. Big TVs in cute little sections. Napping oasis! Plenty of restrooms and water fountains. Free internet. Movies. Koi Ponds. Orchid gardens. Plenty to keep me occupied.

Back the the solo days, I could do whatever I liked with my 6 hours. Now with Aaron in two, I'll be checking out if they are baby friendly. Will the airport meet his expectations?

Toddler escourted off Continental Express ??

There was a preview of this story while I was at the gym but I left too early to hear what was going on. Now that I have read it.....I'm starting to worry a little about our first long haul flight to Australia at the end of this month.

Supposedly, the toddler was just very excited about being on the plane and would not stop staying 'Bye Bye, Plane'. And for this, the flight attendant asked the mother to give him some Benadryl! After refusing, they were both escorted off the plane. Thats discrimination against..............chatterboxes!

Aaron is a chatterbox. And, he learnt to recognize the word plane this week...he also looks for them in the sky whenever he hears them flying over.

While I'm a little worried about him being noisy on the flight, I'm more concerned with him getting himself overtired rather than worried about what other people will think of me. A baby is a baby....its nobody's fault that they are sometimes noisy or cry. Just as there will always be some people on planes who snore loudly, laugh out loud at funny movies or have smelly feet yet insist on taking their shoes off....there will be noisy babies on planes.

I've always accepted the babies that I've sat next to and I hope that other people will be as kind to me. After all, I will be the one sharing an economy class seat with a wriggly toddler for close to 7 hours.