Well Worn Soul

Despite being nervous about flying a few weeks after the Sept. 11th attacks, our family’s 3+ week vacation to Australia turned out to be a huge success.

First Day in Sydney

My mother-in-law, however, was dead-set against our going, convinced that we were unnecessarily putting her three-year old grandchildren in harm’s way. But, Allan and I did not make our decision lightly.

Taronga Zoo

Besides the few thousand dollars we had spent on non-refundable airline tickets, we:

• Figured airports and airspace would be heavily monitored for at least the near future;

• Were traveling to a country where we would look fairly similar to the natives;

• Had weathered a similar situation a few years earlier in Israel, which had began suffering a series of suicide bombings a few weeks before our departure. We went anyway, found Israel to be fascinating (although understandably tense), and met plenty of other travelers there.

Kids with Echidna

In addition, it was Australia’s spring, a lovely time of year to visit, Our kids were also the perfect age for this kind of trip — young enough that they wouldn’t miss school, light enough that we could do substantial hikes with them in backpacks, and wild enough about animals that seeing unusual ones in the wild would be a big thrill.

Hiking with Wombats

Our flight from San Francisco to Sydney on October 1, 2001 was eerie but uneventful. The plane was so empty that we felt like we were in First Class and each of us had a whole 5-seat row to ourselves that enabled us all to get a decent night’s sleep. It was a great start to a great trip.

We had a terrific time. We visited Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns, Kangaroo Island and Tasmania. Besides getting to see amazing animals (such as wombats, kangaroos, koalas, and echidnas) up close in the wild, we also did some hiking in the mountains,snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, and plenty of sightseeing in the major cities.

We also met many Australians who, upon learning we were American, expressed their condolences for the attacks upon our country. (“You are American? I hope they get those bastards!” exclaimed one woman we met our first day in Sydney.)  A week or so after we arrived, we happened to be in the airport waiting for an internal flight when we caught a bunch of Australians and other travelers watching Tony Blair on TV giving a memorable speech about Britain joining the War on Terror. It certainly added an interesting dimension to being an American traveling abroad that we would have missed had we traveled during a more innocuous time.

Out with Kangaroos

And, ironically, my mother-in-law felt much less safe at home in Florida, having to carefully check her mail for signs of the deadly anthrax virus!

“Turkish people love children!” I was told by the numerous guidebooks we consulted to plan our family vacation. Little did I know what this really meant until we landed in Turkey with our two-and-a-half year old twins.

Unhappy Passengers

Many times people stopped us in the street to tell us how happy they were that we brought our kids to their country. A few times, people threw candy for the kids from car windows. But the most amazing evidence was in some of the places we ate.

Churchyard in Cappadocia

While visiting the Anatolian town of Urgup, we had just finished a hike and stopped for lunch at the restaurant suggested by the owner of the tour company who had just shown us the magnificent rock formations of Cappadocia. It was a bit fancier than the kind of places we usually dared dine with children, with linen tablecloths and crystal goblets turned over at each place setting.

Nevertheless, we were early enough to be the only patrons in the restaurant and were thus able to enjoy a delicious meal relatively peacefully — that is, until my son jumped up from the table, grabbed the soccer ball we kept in the stroller, and began kicking it around the restaurant before we could intervene! Expecting a reprimand, my husband and I were shocked when the pin-stripe-suited waiter calmly kicked the ball back to him saying “No problem–he’s just a boy playing soccer!” Something similar happened at a dining hall when my son threw his spoon in the air so it landed with a noisy “clank.” The amused waiter kept picking up the spoon and handing it back to him, so my son kept doing it over and over.

Exploring Ephesus

Given our experience thus far, it should not have surprised us one bit to find the most child-friendly restaurant in the world in Selcuk near Ephesus. We discovered it by accident after crossing the street to get a closer look at a huge water fountain. It turned out to be the entrance to a restaurant so we decided to go in for lunch. We selected an outdoor table in a terraced area that looked down upon a children’s play structure. We went down to inspect closer while our order was being prepared and saw that they also had a small zoo on the premises, with animals such as monkeys and a camel.

Needless to say, my husband and I were able to have the most relaxed lunch we’d ever had while watching our children.

A Hiking We Will Go

Our first hikes were to some of the fabulous local parks we are blessed with in the San Francisco Bay Area. Allan and I each carried a baby in the front and a pack on the back: one held baby supplies (diapers, wipes, bottles with pre-measured formula, and water) and the other held adult supplies (water and snacks).

Mom Taking a Break

One hike we did in Marin had scenery so exquisite I felt like we were in Switzerland. All was well with our world: the babies were happy, Allan was feeling like being a dad was manageable if he could still do his outdoor activities, and I was pleased to learn I was strong enough to do a longer hike than usual. Just then, one and then the other baby started emitting blood curdling screams indicating hunger and we realized — to our horror –that we were out of the water we needed to prepare the baby formula! We hiked as fast as we could to reach the end of the trail, all the time feeling we had damaged our precious babies irreparably. We finally reached water and made and delivered their bottles. Much to our surprise, both children calmed down instantly, drank happily, and forgave us our sin. We learned that our children were much more resilient than we thought.

We knew when we decided to take our young twins on a trip to Eastern Europe that we weren’t going to be able to see many museums or eat in fancy restaurants. Our eighteen plus months of being parents had taught us there were limitations to what could be accomplished when traveling with children. But we desperately needed a change of location so we chose Prague and Budapest, fascinating “first-world” cities with the added allure of a communist past, for our two-week trip.

At the Park in Prague

Our first full day in Prague, we joined a paid walking tour of the Jewish area of the city. Unfortunately, both kids were rather restless so we left the tour early and headed to a playground we had noticed near our hotel. We found it pretty interesting to watch Czech parents interact with their kids, noticing similarities and differences to American parenting customs.

Swinging in Prague

The next day, we decided to get the playground out of the way first thing. This was a very wise move — after playing for an hour on the bare, communist-issued equipment (swings, see saw, and slides), the kids were happy but tired, so we were able to successfully see some sights while they napped in their stroller.

We followed a similar routine for the rest of the vacation–visit the playground right after breakfast and enjoy a couple of stress-free hours seeing adult-oriented sights.

Budapest’s Statue Park

After lunch, we usually chose family-oriented attractions such as the Budapest Zoo. We made sure to let the kids run around the many pedestrian plazas we encountered and we welcomed opportunities for spontaneous fun. One of our happiest times was when we let the kids splash in their diapers on the banks of the Danube River. They got filthy, but both had a terrific time and we got some great memories.

We had no illusions that our children would remember the haunting beauty of Prague’s Charles Street Bridge at twilight or the impact of visiting communist era relics in Budapest’s Statue Park, but our kids definitely benefited from 10 happy days with mom and dad, uninterrupted by the distractions of home.