Traveling and Coming Home

Before I begin, let's be clear on a few things.

Overall, Elliot was a great traveler on the big trip.

He chilled in airports from Stavanger...

to Copenhagen...
to Sacramento...

(And all parts in between...)

And while, occasionally he'd rather play underneath the plane's bassinet than sleep in it, other than one minor incident*, he was calm and sweet during every single one of the nine plane trips.

And for the most part he played or slept in his car seat.**

(Though often it was because he had good company on the way.)

(Big D/Nee Nee may not have the chops or a full command of the lyrics, but she has the enthusiasm. You've gotta love it. We all did, especially Elliot.)

And, when necessary he chilled so we could have dinners.

As long as we made sure he had lots of wiggle time, he slept pretty much anywhere...

If there were no cribs, we made him soft beds on the floor beside us...

Or underneath tables out of the way...***
He chilled in various strollers...Awake...
And asleep.

He spent hours strapped to my chest.

And helped with the luggage...
And he loved it.****

Husband and I planned for weeks how we could make the travel easy on Elliot and manageable for us. We (probably over)packed toys and clothes for every climate. We brought his familiar blankets and did the math of the time zones. We thought of almost every single thing, except one...

Jet lag.

For Husband and me, jet lag is merely an inconvenience. We just add in a day or two for readjusting sleep when we get home, but the trip to/from California***** is particularly difficult due to the nine-hour time difference.

But for Elliot, it's been brutal. He's pretty confused about whether it's day or night. We can't keep him up for very long because if he wants to sleep, he'll just slump over and at a certain point, it just gets to feel like we are being mean.******

So during the night, he thinks it's time to hang out. We do not. This difference in opinion has made for some challenging overnights thus far.

Also, he has a cold. Not a big cold. And not the swine flu. Just a bit of traveling funk that has settled in his little nose. This does not help.

So to answer the question: Yep, Elliot is an awesome traveler.

Coming home'r?

Not so much.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*In retrospect, the incident was much more minor than it felt at the time.

On the last long haul flight, going from Chicago to Copenhagen, Elliot was cooked. It was 10pm--in that time zone--he had been dozing, the plane was hot and as we were loading up, he decided he had HAD it.

For about ten minutes (Husband says seven) he screamed. And when I say screamed, I mean a world class Elliot scream, with just enough breaks inbetween to catch his breath. Within close enough range, eardrum can bleed, dogs howl and small children cower. And if you didn't know him, you may think a life threatening aneurysm is imminent.

Also, we were sitting in Economy Extra, which for those unfamiliar with SAS, are the sweet seats, just a wee bit smaller than in Business (which is really First Class). So everyone around us, including us of course had shelled out extra dough (or kroner) for a nice comfy ride.

And let me tell you, a few of them were not so kind, which I can sort of understand.

But we (Husband and I) were apologetic and doing everything we could to calm him.

(Elliot could not have cared less. Rude baby.)

But then he calmed. The moment passed and he slept for most of rest of the nine hours.

And the one especially assy couple who glared at me for the entire ten/seven minutes spent the rest of the nine hours talking loudly, flipping their lights on and off and making snarky comments. Nine hours. Seriously.

I hate them.

________

**Once he cried for about two hours on a drive in Sonoma, but it was windy and cold when he got out of the car, he'd been in the car a LONG time and the view was not great from where he was sitting. Really, I felt almost the same way.

The second time he cried in the car seat was on a lightless stretch of road called 985 which is the highway leading from the north side of Atlanta on the way to Big D's house. He had been asleep and woke up in pitch black dark and he screamed.

Husband thinks it was because he was cooked from a day of traveling (Sacramento to Atlanta, then a drive to BigD's),

I think it was because he'd never been in the full darkness. His entire life, up until that point, had been in spring/summer Scandinavia, during the time of 23 hour sunlight. And even in California where we'd been for the first ten days of his American tour were much like home...he'd been sleeping in rooms with either a nightlight or sunshine creeping underneath the shades. Then one day he wakes up in pitch black full darkness.

Scary.

________

***This photo was taken from Andrea and Deena's apartment in San Francisco. There are earthquakes there. So sleeping under a table=comfort and safety.

________

****More strangers than I can count, commented, "Ohhhhhhh That's a happy baby." And he is.

________

*****To/from Georgia is not nearly as bad because it's only six time zones, which makes more difference than you would think.

________

******This is Stavanger, not Guantanamo Bay.

No Matter Where You Go, There They Are

This was on the front page of one of Norway's biggest papers yesterday.



As an American journalist, my first inclination is to say "Must have been a slow news day."

As a American expat, my first inclination is to say "Husband was totally right. Weather here, especially sunny weather, is a big deal."

Weather is such a big deal that pretty much the second thing Norwegians ask any newcomer is "How are you finding the weather." *

(Here's a tip: Always say something positive. Even if it has rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Even if you are wishing you lived in an ark and not a renovated sardine factory, say "It's great to get such use out of my galoshes." Or perhaps, "It's going to be so green and lovely come spring.")

Right after you answer whatever it is you'd like to say, (Keep it positive. See tip above), a Norwegian will usually laugh and say, "Have you heard our famous saying?"

(Here's a tip: Say no and let them tell you. It's fun for them. Seriously. If you just want to say it anyway, make a joke about it. Perhaps, say "Of course I have. It's practically part of the entry process. If you don't know it, you can't come.")

Then, if you wait and let them tell you, they will say "There is no bad weather, only bad clothes."

Next you laugh.

But it's true, the weather here lately is gorgeous.

And, according to Husband and other people who know, it's summer now.

Spring happened on about ten days last month. And for the curious, I do not mean ten consecutive days. Just ten days and they happened in April.

But now it's summer.

These are a few things that Lillie and I have seen over the past few days.

From the top of our hill on Sunday afternoon, the actual day the newspaper said Summer arrived:





But this morning, we walked Husband to work. And after we dropped him off pretty close to his office, we walked onto a pier that extends out into the middle of the harbor.

This is what we see to our left.



During the summer, loads of ships park in the harbor. Sometimes they are giant tour boats. Sometimes commercial fishing boats or oil boats. And other times just private boats filled with people hanging out.


This is what is happening behind us.



The morning activity is in full swing. Cafe workers are putting out the tables. People are heading to their offices and the flower vendors are setting up.


This is what we see to our right.




And a little closer up, there is Husband's office.


Look at the lowest row of windows. He is sitting on the other side of the wall next to the third window from the left. He is working. Lillie and I are still sitting on the pier in the middle of the harbor. We're just hanging out.


This is what we saw on the way back home. Next to the oil museum is the Geo Parken. It's a playground with all the necessary things, swings and bouncy places. School must be on holiday this week because it was packed.



But along with sure signs of summer---the boats and the blue skies and the temperatures--- guess what else I saw last night? Really, I saw about six, right on our back porch...


(Ignore the insanity you see on our neighbor's back porch. Concentrate on the flying object in the top center.)


Yep, it's a mosquito.

Dammit.






*
The first thing they say is "How are you finding Norway?"