off to see france again in 2009 ... this time we have two children on a plane! can we survive the 15 hours plane ride plus the 2 hours ride from frankfurt to strasbourg on a bus?
trip starts on September 14th and we will be back on October 5th
we also plan to stay a week in paris and we are still looking for an apartment for 4. we did find a perfect one but the owner do not accept children ... oh well. we will just keep looking.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Saturday, December 20, 2008
heating and cooling
I do not know why the rooms are so HOT! I guess it is just me? but Theo is getting heat rash. Every rooms were set at 24 degree C and that is HOT to me. We couldn't lower the temp to even 20 ... I am dried up.
Pawpaw wasn't feeling well cause of the airflow in the room. We had to open the main door to have some cool air from the hallway to come into the rooms.
I do not know if anyone understood even if we can explained in mandarin. One of the duty manager actually come up to explain to us about how the room thermostat works ... but it just does not make sense to me. Why would you want to heat up the room if you actually want a lower the temp?!?! She noticed that we set it to 10 degree C ... and she asked why you want it that cold ... the temp actually went up after we set to 10 ... so what the hell is wrong here?
And the a/c is blasting out in the hallway, but not in the room nor anything that works to cool it down to 20 degree C. This logic just baffles me.
So you are wondering were we are staying? Radisson Hotel Shanghai New World on 88 Nanjing Road ... it may cost less but that is what ya get even for a 5 star hotel overlooking People's Square. You wonder why the others charged USD 200 more.
Pawpaw wasn't feeling well cause of the airflow in the room. We had to open the main door to have some cool air from the hallway to come into the rooms.
I do not know if anyone understood even if we can explained in mandarin. One of the duty manager actually come up to explain to us about how the room thermostat works ... but it just does not make sense to me. Why would you want to heat up the room if you actually want a lower the temp?!?! She noticed that we set it to 10 degree C ... and she asked why you want it that cold ... the temp actually went up after we set to 10 ... so what the hell is wrong here?
And the a/c is blasting out in the hallway, but not in the room nor anything that works to cool it down to 20 degree C. This logic just baffles me.
So you are wondering were we are staying? Radisson Hotel Shanghai New World on 88 Nanjing Road ... it may cost less but that is what ya get even for a 5 star hotel overlooking People's Square. You wonder why the others charged USD 200 more.
December 21st, 2008 - a rainy day
Gloomy day outside but I still can find some amusement just outside the hotel room window over looking a busy intersection. JP and I were observing a police person giving out tickets yesterday to parked cars along the street. She will physically sit next to the car with her chair right on the street with cars driving pass her. She would wait till the person return to his car and write up the ticket and get paid. JP called it man power.
So today I noticed the parking attendant giving out permits and get paid. I am sure they can only parked for a certain amount of time and have to return to pay more or move or have the police write up a ticket.
And even with a yellow line on the street it means nothing to the drivers. I would see some cars driving right smack in the middle of the street.
So today I noticed the parking attendant giving out permits and get paid. I am sure they can only parked for a certain amount of time and have to return to pay more or move or have the police write up a ticket.
And even with a yellow line on the street it means nothing to the drivers. I would see some cars driving right smack in the middle of the street.
December 20th, 2008 - going to Shanghai
We had to be up at 630am to get ready for the airport. And I actually woke up around 3am thinking that it was already 7am since JP's parents were up drinking coffee. As I started to pack JP was awaken by the noise of the zippers opening and closing and asked me why I am still packing at 3am. LOL.
My Dad booked a van for us ... so yes we decided to take 4 lugs with us instead of 5. The driver was struggling to put everything in the van.
At the HK airport, Theo was in his tantrum mode again. Understandable cause he was tired from us waking him up at 630am and he refused to go on the plane ride and do the routine. And to make the event worst was that the check in procedure was the slowest. Dragonair is pretty much bad with check in ... and why even have an online check in if we had to go from ground zero again at the airport ... it was a waste of time to even have an online check in and even at the self check in you still have to have a lady help you and at the end we still ended up at the counter with two ladies ... with no idea whatsoever.
Theo was running around in the vast open space.
My Dad almost got into fight LOL ... well mainland chinese are the rudest people ... this man and his wife and child just stood in front of my dad and said probaby something like "let's just stand here" ... and my Dad got pissed off and told them to go to the back of the line. First of all there were two lines for check ins and the three of them were standing in the middle of the two very long line. I am sure there are more to come in this rudeness to us and it is the fact of life for them and not rude manners for mainland chinese. So the man was giving the evil eyes to my Dad and I was sure he was about to jump for a punch. But he headed with his family to the back of the line! Pretty much a close call.
Theo refused to go to the security. So we all waited for him to calm down and he gave JP a hug so we can at least go thru the security without any more episode. It is just a matter of time and we finally went thru security. And I can tell you it was a joke. Cause I had like bottled waters, juice boxes and all sort of liquid, the security did not open up the bags and start throwing things out in the trash.
Theo was fine on the plane ride, Clemmie had a tantrum cause she was sleepy.
We all get to eat something on the plane with the kiddos behaving for once.
Landing was okay.
One thing positive I have to say, the staffs on the plane were very friendly and helpful. One of the guys actually helped me with my bags. And another gave me two bags of baby food and helped me buckle up the seat belts.
Okay another episode of Theo ... during custom ... they were so slow and amused by the whole situation with Theo throwing a tantrum cause now he is super tired. I was pushing him in the stroller and I am sure he wanted to sleep, but we had to stop at the custom. And he threw a fit and all hell break loose.
So a good idea is to go in doubles instead of having go thru as a group during the custom.
Theo was crying and crying until we got on the bus ride to the hotel ... he finally calm down and fell asleep.
We experienced some scary driving ... yea ... so if you been thru Nigerian driving ... this is pretty much tame. Going on the freeway a car wanted to cut off a bus?! ... yea ... again the rudeness that is everyday normal manners.
We arrived after a very very long bus ride at 3PM.
Theo sleep a bit longer in the hotel room. And we ordered some food at around 5PM.
Our basic time schedule:
630AM wake up time
730AM all packed and ready
745AM we are off to the HK airport
830AM we arrived
10AM we checked in, went thru security
1015AM we sat and had a break of starbucks
11AM we boarded the plane
1PM we landed in Shanghai
130PM we took the bus
3PM we arrived at the hotel
330PM we check in at the hotel and go to our rooms ... big rooms for the price of USD 300 a night.
7PM we had to get ready for dinner
9PM we couldn't even have dinner and came back to the hotel cause the kids were tired and didn't want to hang out with a bunch of people they do not know
Pawpaw and Kungkung came by and they were staying above us in room 6025. They both looked the same to me ... looking great.
My Dad booked a van for us ... so yes we decided to take 4 lugs with us instead of 5. The driver was struggling to put everything in the van.
At the HK airport, Theo was in his tantrum mode again. Understandable cause he was tired from us waking him up at 630am and he refused to go on the plane ride and do the routine. And to make the event worst was that the check in procedure was the slowest. Dragonair is pretty much bad with check in ... and why even have an online check in if we had to go from ground zero again at the airport ... it was a waste of time to even have an online check in and even at the self check in you still have to have a lady help you and at the end we still ended up at the counter with two ladies ... with no idea whatsoever.
Theo was running around in the vast open space.
My Dad almost got into fight LOL ... well mainland chinese are the rudest people ... this man and his wife and child just stood in front of my dad and said probaby something like "let's just stand here" ... and my Dad got pissed off and told them to go to the back of the line. First of all there were two lines for check ins and the three of them were standing in the middle of the two very long line. I am sure there are more to come in this rudeness to us and it is the fact of life for them and not rude manners for mainland chinese. So the man was giving the evil eyes to my Dad and I was sure he was about to jump for a punch. But he headed with his family to the back of the line! Pretty much a close call.
Theo refused to go to the security. So we all waited for him to calm down and he gave JP a hug so we can at least go thru the security without any more episode. It is just a matter of time and we finally went thru security. And I can tell you it was a joke. Cause I had like bottled waters, juice boxes and all sort of liquid, the security did not open up the bags and start throwing things out in the trash.
Theo was fine on the plane ride, Clemmie had a tantrum cause she was sleepy.
We all get to eat something on the plane with the kiddos behaving for once.
Landing was okay.
One thing positive I have to say, the staffs on the plane were very friendly and helpful. One of the guys actually helped me with my bags. And another gave me two bags of baby food and helped me buckle up the seat belts.
Okay another episode of Theo ... during custom ... they were so slow and amused by the whole situation with Theo throwing a tantrum cause now he is super tired. I was pushing him in the stroller and I am sure he wanted to sleep, but we had to stop at the custom. And he threw a fit and all hell break loose.
So a good idea is to go in doubles instead of having go thru as a group during the custom.
Theo was crying and crying until we got on the bus ride to the hotel ... he finally calm down and fell asleep.
We experienced some scary driving ... yea ... so if you been thru Nigerian driving ... this is pretty much tame. Going on the freeway a car wanted to cut off a bus?! ... yea ... again the rudeness that is everyday normal manners.
We arrived after a very very long bus ride at 3PM.
Theo sleep a bit longer in the hotel room. And we ordered some food at around 5PM.
Our basic time schedule:
630AM wake up time
730AM all packed and ready
745AM we are off to the HK airport
830AM we arrived
10AM we checked in, went thru security
1015AM we sat and had a break of starbucks
11AM we boarded the plane
1PM we landed in Shanghai
130PM we took the bus
3PM we arrived at the hotel
330PM we check in at the hotel and go to our rooms ... big rooms for the price of USD 300 a night.
7PM we had to get ready for dinner
9PM we couldn't even have dinner and came back to the hotel cause the kids were tired and didn't want to hang out with a bunch of people they do not know
Pawpaw and Kungkung came by and they were staying above us in room 6025. They both looked the same to me ... looking great.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
December 16th, 2008 - flight to HK
Clemmie finally slept before we board at around 11:30PM (Monday, December 15th, 2008). We took Singapore Airline SQ 001. And she woke up when the plane took off at 0:05 (Tuesday, December 16th, 2008) and the ride lasted about 15 hours.
What happened on the plane?
Good that it was a red eye flight! ... the two children slept for most of the part let say for the 10 hours. JP and I actually ate! a very late dinner. I had the chicken and he had the beef ... my chicken dinner was okay, but JP had over cooked beef and under cooked rice. We even ate Theo's chicken nuggets since he was fast asleep. Over all I thought the kids meal was better than what we had for the adults meal. And the kids meal came with a bar of hershey. Not that I like hershey, but chocolate is good after any meal.
The 5 hours was dreading when they both were wide awake and refreshed. Awhile JP and I were not at all in the same mode. I held Clemmie for most part when she was asleep and JP held Theo after he was placed in his seat and after our less than one hour meal time. Theo need to be held thru the sleep time and JP had no breather in between to use the bathroom.
And for the rest of the hours before landing
What happened on the plane?
Good that it was a red eye flight! ... the two children slept for most of the part let say for the 10 hours. JP and I actually ate! a very late dinner. I had the chicken and he had the beef ... my chicken dinner was okay, but JP had over cooked beef and under cooked rice. We even ate Theo's chicken nuggets since he was fast asleep. Over all I thought the kids meal was better than what we had for the adults meal. And the kids meal came with a bar of hershey. Not that I like hershey, but chocolate is good after any meal.
The 5 hours was dreading when they both were wide awake and refreshed. Awhile JP and I were not at all in the same mode. I held Clemmie for most part when she was asleep and JP held Theo after he was placed in his seat and after our less than one hour meal time. Theo need to be held thru the sleep time and JP had no breather in between to use the bathroom.
And for the rest of the hours before landing
December 15th, 2008 - LAX to SFO
The super shuttle arrived on time and the driver took some weird short cuts, but nonetheless we arrived.
During the moment, the tough part of the process was getting 5 pieces of luggage to the check in area. So what do we have: 2 big ones, 2 mid ones, 1 suit bag and for carry on we have 2 backpacks, a diaper bag, a camera bag and a food / drink bag and we also got 2 ergo carriers (these were great investments for cross country trips when you have sleepy children. And I actually got one of them with a $30 off at the Right Start).
Second tough part was going thru security and we need to go thru it twice once at LAX and for international at SFO and it was code ORANGE at SFO so we had to take of our ergo carriers and that means running children) Theodore was running round even thou he was super tired.
On the ride to SFO, Theo was having a tantrum and started rolling under the seats crying. He refused to get up. And finally papa was able to grab him up and he slept on his shoulder for the rest of the plane ride.
Theo was awake when we finally landed and got off so another challenge was to get those two babies to the gate awhile going thru the security again. Good that we had a red eye flight and not many people were at the airports. Waiting and waiting and the babies want to run around instead of strapped in the ergos. Clemmie was running around. Theo was playing with his car by the walking lator which landing on the walk way. And ran to get the car back at the end of the walk way.
During the moment, the tough part of the process was getting 5 pieces of luggage to the check in area. So what do we have: 2 big ones, 2 mid ones, 1 suit bag and for carry on we have 2 backpacks, a diaper bag, a camera bag and a food / drink bag and we also got 2 ergo carriers (these were great investments for cross country trips when you have sleepy children. And I actually got one of them with a $30 off at the Right Start).
Second tough part was going thru security and we need to go thru it twice once at LAX and for international at SFO and it was code ORANGE at SFO so we had to take of our ergo carriers and that means running children) Theodore was running round even thou he was super tired.
On the ride to SFO, Theo was having a tantrum and started rolling under the seats crying. He refused to get up. And finally papa was able to grab him up and he slept on his shoulder for the rest of the plane ride.
Theo was awake when we finally landed and got off so another challenge was to get those two babies to the gate awhile going thru the security again. Good that we had a red eye flight and not many people were at the airports. Waiting and waiting and the babies want to run around instead of strapped in the ergos. Clemmie was running around. Theo was playing with his car by the walking lator which landing on the walk way. And ran to get the car back at the end of the walk way.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
10 ... counting down ... our trip to hong kong and shanghai
we are leaving on december 15th, 2008 on a red eye flight from lax to hong kong via sf. at least we had an extending period of 2 hours transit time in sf knowing united airline will always be delayed. we hope not to miss the flight.
this time we are traveling with two babies. almost 3 years old theo and 15 months old clemmie. traveling with theo was okay, but let see how we do with 2 babies. theo may listen to instructions, but not the discovery mode clemmie.
what to pack?
the lighter the better. for carry ons ... just a backpack with all the needs like diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream and also change of clothes. and snacks and milks.
toys? probably not ... cause the trip it self and going on the plane exciting enough and no toys will keep those two busy.
since it is a red eye ... we should be sleeping ... i do hope so.
luggages ... keeping down to 3 for the duration of 3 weeks. adults with a week of clothing change and kids probably 10 clothing change ... they get so dirty fast. yes, we are going to bring 100 diapers per baby (average of 4-5 a day per baby), a pack of wipe, meds from headache to earache to fever. we are going to bring their favorite snacks and milk packs and apple juice boxes.
already sounds heavy duty.
we finally got our passports back with visas to china ... yea! this time with two entries to china ... not like we needed two, but for the same price why not since we already spent $700.00 just for 4 visas!!!
this time we are traveling with two babies. almost 3 years old theo and 15 months old clemmie. traveling with theo was okay, but let see how we do with 2 babies. theo may listen to instructions, but not the discovery mode clemmie.
what to pack?
the lighter the better. for carry ons ... just a backpack with all the needs like diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream and also change of clothes. and snacks and milks.
toys? probably not ... cause the trip it self and going on the plane exciting enough and no toys will keep those two busy.
since it is a red eye ... we should be sleeping ... i do hope so.
luggages ... keeping down to 3 for the duration of 3 weeks. adults with a week of clothing change and kids probably 10 clothing change ... they get so dirty fast. yes, we are going to bring 100 diapers per baby (average of 4-5 a day per baby), a pack of wipe, meds from headache to earache to fever. we are going to bring their favorite snacks and milk packs and apple juice boxes.
already sounds heavy duty.
we finally got our passports back with visas to china ... yea! this time with two entries to china ... not like we needed two, but for the same price why not since we already spent $700.00 just for 4 visas!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)