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Posted on May 25, 2012 by Kate | 6 Comments

While sitting on the train yesterday I had a flash of brilliance. Or utter stupidity… I’m not sure yet.

We are planning to take a family vacation this summer to go visit my family in the Philadelphia area. My brother and sister-in-law are having their second baby, which will bring the cousin count to 5, all within a few years of each other. So fun! We discussed a group vacation to a destination (like last year’s family trip to the Cape), but budgets and time and the fact that the littlest cousin will likely be born in July dictated that we would meet at the most convenient spot — my older sister’s house with a pool! We’ve finally nailed down dates and I quickly did a search to see how much flights were going to be.

BOS > PHL round trip for the whole fam = $1,100

What in the…

Why in the world is it so expensive? First of all, we have to buy Owen a ticket since he will be over 2 by then. So that’s a BIG part of the cost. But really, Boston and Philly are SO CLOSE, why in the world does it cost nearly $400 a person to get there? I can fly to Vegas for far less. Heck, I could probably even get to Europe for less than that. Southwest and JetBlue are usually my go-to budget airlines, but they don’t fly directly between these 2 airports for whatever reason. Other, slightly cheaper options include stopping along the way, but that just seems ridiculous since the entire flight time is probably an hour or less.

My first thought: Well, OBVIOUSLY we have to drive. But y’all know how Owen does in the car. Carsickness. Agitation. Crying. Pleading. He’s gotten SO much better recently, even on longer trips (like to the zoo last weekend, we pushed 40 minutes and he didn’t fuss at all), AND he will be over 2 so his carseat can face forwards. BUT! Sticking the most active toddler ever in a seat for 8 hours, plus bathroom and food stops along the way? Kill me now. Maybe I’m being a little too dramatic, but the thought of driving that many hours with Owen in his current stage makes me cringe.

Which brings me to the idea I just came up with. What about taking the train?

Advantages:

1. It’s cheap. Dirt cheap compared to flying.
2. We don’t have to go through security or pay through the nose for parking. That means we can bring all of the food and liquids and strollers we want, with little to no waiting in line.
3. Bathrooms and food are readily available.
4. No “Fasten your seatbelt” sign. In fact, no seatbelts at all.
5. Owen will be IN HEAVEN riding a choo choo. At least for the first 5 minutes. Train conductors stopping by every once in awhile? The kid will probably want their autographs.
6. Scenery. I always take the train to New York instead of flying because it’s just. so. darn. beautiful.

Disadvantages? It’s still long. 6+ hours. But that’s still less than driving! Owen’s motion sickness could still be an issue, I’m not really sure. He won’t be riding backwards, which is a huge plus, but I will likely bring a few changes of clothes. For everyone.

Why don’t I hear about others taking the train with kids, or see toddlers running down the aisles normally? Is there something I’m not thinking of? Anyone ever tried this before?

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Posted in She says...

Tagged friends & family, toddler, travel

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Kate | 5 Comments

Right now I am sitting on the train somewhere between Boston and New York. I’m going to New York to oversee a training event I’ve coordinated for my company. It was one of those everything-that-could-go-wrong-did situations. Instructors cancelled, times were switched at the last minute, attendees didn’t show up on time, files had typos, people are leaving early for the holiday weekend despite knowing about this event for months. And on and on. I organize these sessions all the time, and they almost always go off without a hitch. Not so, this time.

I feel frazzled. And unprepared. And worn down. And like all of the balls I’ve been juggling for the last few weeks (months, now?) while Benjamin has been traveling and working like crazy are about to come toppling down on my head.

Benjamin and I had our first “oh my goodness, we both have to travel and what are we going to do about OWEN?!” moments this week. It all got sorted out, thanks to a sweet friend who is going to hang out with Owen for the short period of time that Benjamin’s and my work plans overlapped, but oy. If that doesn’t make you feel the strain of being 2 working parents, I don’t know what does.

But back to me. And my vacay. Oh, it doesn’t sound like I’m on vacation? Well, this is what constitutes a vacation these days, folks. With Benjamin traveling so much recently and me holding down the fort, I’ve barely had a chance to leave the house between work and taking care of Owen. I haven’t had a chance to see friends or go to yoga or do something fun for me. So this morning I rushed around like a madwoman getting Owen to daycare and then booked it to the train station.

Sitting on a train with a coffee in my hand? Apparently that’s a vacay now. Despite the fact that I am clickety clacking away at my keyboard relentlessly for most of the ride, I’ll take it. I’m sitting. Quietly. Dressed in a cute skirt and heels. I’ve put out most of the fires and I’ll deal with the rest when I get to New York. I even got myself an Us Weekly to catch up on my celeb gossip between emails.

It’s the little things.

 

 

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Posted in She says...

Tagged travel, working parent

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Kate | 12 Comments

I took Owen on his first trip to the zoo on Sunday.

A few days prior I started prepping him for the trip, since he’s all about talking about when we’re going to do things these days (he’s been saying things like, “Birthday party tomorrow!” even if it happened yesterday, and ” Deedah Playground last weekend!” even though we go to the playground at least 6 or 7 times a week). He likes to list out the order of things. He takes a deep breath and winds up for a long sentence. “After… Trader Joe’s… playground… dinner… bathtime… bed!”. You can almost see the gears in his head turning while he tries to figure out what all of that really means.

I have no idea why he was so excited to see camels.

I asked him what letter he thinks the word “zoo” starts with, and he said, “Z Zebra”. Seriously?! How did he know that?!

When we saw pictures of animals in books I would ask him, “Do you think we will see a ____ at the zoo tomorrow?”. “OH YEAH!” he would reply. To be honest, even I wasn’t entirely sure what animals we were going to see, since I’ve never been to the zoo here in Boston. I grew up in Baltimore, which has an incredible zoo. Or at least I used to think so as a kid. There are a few different zoos around the Boston area, but my blog/Twitter friend (and now real life friend!) Mary Kate from Kitchenbelle invited me to join her and her daughter at the Franklin Park zoo. It’s in a very urban area, so I wasn’t really sure if they’d even have lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

In case you’re wondering, they had a lion, but no tigers or bears. And a jeep you could play in whose windshield looked right into the lion’s cage.

Side note: It’s kind of a shock to go from driving on packed city streets to seeing a sign for “Gorillas! Next left”. Or to be looking at a lion and hearing police car sirens going by. Don’t get me started on how wrong it seems to have wild animals living in the middle of the city, for a multitude of reasons… I’m trying to put that out of my mind and let Owen enjoy seeing these creatures up close.

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