Slow Down You(r) Crazy Child

Our trip to Hawaii was our first big one with a child. It definitely changed a few things for us.

First of all, I was never one of those guys that hated seeing kids while traveling. In fact, one of my more enjoyable travel experiences was sharing some Beatles tunes with a three year old kid off my iPhone and hearing her half-whisper the words and tunes she knew. I would tell her the names of the songs she hadn’t heard.

So being on the other end of the traveling six hours nonstop with an 11 month old wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. People around us were gracious and kind. I feel like I’ve built up my travel karma enough for a trip like this.

Vacationing with me is basically planning out what we’re going to do the night before and going out and doing it (usually leaving early). In the evenings, we would relax with drinks and food. I get super bored just sitting around reading — I feel comfortable doing this at home.

Of course, with a baby, early is still in but we’re not going anywhere quickly. We found we had either a five hour gap for activities after her first nap or through the evening if we could manage to spend two of those hours in a car or stroller where our little Boo could sleep. It obviously also limits our other activities. I would have loved to kayak out to a sunken island but it would’ve been just me and Jen, leaving the kiddo with the grandparents.

Vacationing with grandparents is great but I’m glad we’re leaving them early for three days so they can relax on their own.

I don’t feel bad for saying it: I can’t wait for our trip away from Boo in July. We’re going to be hitting a lot of places and although we’d love for her to experience Europe, we want to do it when she is old enough.

This trip had a lot of fun memories for us and she traveled really well for her age. We can’t wait to take her on another adventure as well, probably with a different set of grandparents to a new location.