Globetrotting... Baby Steps

After I posted about getting out of my bubble, I had a fantastic idea.

Why not take D to Pike Place Market for some good, clean Seattle fun? Brody and I could grab lunch, I could test my comfort boundaries and we could learn a thing or two, even if it all went haywire. As soon as I suggested it, I wanted to recant, but Brody was already halfway out the door.

Since the afternoon playtime window is so brief between naps, we had to multi-task. I readied Dahlia and packed the diaper bag, we all jumped in the car and Brody fed D her lunch on the way. I took the carpool lane and we didn't hit any traffic.

It was easy to park downtown. I changed D's diaper in the car as always, I packed an even smaller bag for the stroller and we hit the street. Tourist season is in! We went straight to the pig, took a photo and got out of the way (so polite, we are!)

Then, just for the fun of it, we went straight into the mayhem that is Pike Place. Thousands of people walking in one two block, 12 foot wide lane, between stalls of vendors. I clipped the heels of a few folks with the stroller, be there were no words; no blood.

Dahlia did great despite seeing butts for two blocks. I wanted to buy her something, but it's all so terribly touristy. My kid isn't wearing tye-dye until she makes it herself one day in Girl Scouts.

We went to the awesomest park in Seattle, Victor Steinbrueck’s. The views are incredible. Ferry Boats, SafeCo, Pike Place, the water, West Seattle, Magnolia's Bluff... We didn't see any drug use, but we saw an eclectic mix of people. We let D out and she found fun in chasing pigeons while we took pictures. She fussed when she had to go back in the stroller, but I plied her with the promise of a drink of water. Then it happened.

I had forgotten the water.

We distracted her by picking up the pace. We breezed by the original Starbucks and the super awesome acapella singers outside and found the holy grail. Come to think of it, I'm not even firm on the name. Could it be Jack's Fish Spot? It's right by Three Girls Bakery. Forget throwing and catching fish, just go sit at jack's Fish Spot and enjoy the clam chowder, crab cocktail and Alaskan King Crab legs. Delicious!

It was there that Brody and I slurped chowder while Dahlia proceeded to freak out. She was tired. It was all so overwhelming. I had to give her water with a water bottle cap while I had two bottles and one sippy cup in the car! Unhappy child = departure.

We hightailed it back to the car, but on the way we passed another stroller baby having a tantrum of her own. It made me feel so much better.

I dropped Brody off in Pioneer Square so he could enjoy "real" coffee (Starbucks is referred to as "Corporate Coffee" between us) at one of many local shops.

I got on I-90 and made it back to Redmond in 24 minutes flat, which is awesome. Then, of course, I was in traffic the remaining 3 miles home. Dahlia fussed a little and I thought she might sleep, but she was content pulling the Velcro shoulder pad off her car seat and singing.

I felt successful. I had made it! It was a limited trip, but we went and we conquered!

The NEW Grand Plan- Globetrotting

I'm kicking around a NEW grand plan.

Fueled by caffeine, exercise, another solid chat with my brother of invention (ha, that's a good one) and a cold shower, I have come up with a plan to travel with my kid, write about it and maybe even get paid.

I haven't had a vacation in a couple years and I'm feeling landlocked. B goes all over the world and some of my friends are now starting their own world tours. It's like round two after studying abroad in college.

My childhood best friend, Stina has decided to move in with her parents for a couple months, save up, quit her steady, well-insured job at Amgen and travel over 4 continents until next year.

My amiga JMKpants is a frequent traveler to Europe.

I just started my concierge business and it's doing really well. I am hitting my sales goals and my clients seem to be very happy with the level of service I'm providing. I have joined a networking group with people I respect and can learn from. In only seven months, I have been able to surround myself with people who will help me achieve my goals for the business. I feel very lucky.

But I'm itching to travel. My reasons for not traveling are:
I don't have any money. (Yeah, that's going to be a problem.)
I don't want to put Dahlia on an airplane. (But I will if I have a good plan.)
I get stressed out just thinking about how to plan a trip for myself and my 15-month-old

If I were to distance myself from this situation and approach international travel like I would for a client, I would take small steps. I would start by asking:
What are the bare necessities for you and your toddler?
What are your goals?
What are your limits?
List your best case scenario of travelling with your child.

When I break it down, the barriers don't seem so high and by not getting out into the world, I'm just wasting opportunities.

My new, grand plan involves turning AlyssainWonderland into a full website with a travel blog. I would have a side for private posts that you guys (my current readers) could access by logging in, but the main blog would be about travelling with my kid.

I could archive all my past, private posts and categorize posts along a certain subject line: pregnancy, finding a job, weather in Seattle since that always seems to be a topic, and whatever else I write about.

I think B and I would have to move in order to afford a transient lifestyle. So, we'd move, pay off any debt and hit the road... Dang. I love this house. But it's a lot of work and I'd rather give our kids experiences than an awesome back yard and a nice big house in suburbia... but I digress.

Here goes my brain dump.

If one of my goals is for Dahlia to learn languages, I would want to set up camp in the middle of France. Enroll her in school or daycare while I took French lessons. I think a year of that would be fabulous. Then we could travel around Europe easily.

Then, we could hightail it over to Kyoto and learn some Japanese. I would put D in an international school for expats so she could speak English and learn Japanese, her third language. We would stay there as long as she wanted.

From Japan, we could travel all over Asia; finally hit Thailand (we've tried and failed twice already- Tsunami in December 2004 then Military Coup in September 2006), the Philipeans where B has friends we could wakeboard with. We would definitely have to go to India.

Australia is an easy place to live. We spent a couple weeks there a few years ago and visited Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast. I'm sure I detailed it in my blog. We could live near B's friend's for a couple years.

I would want D to attend high school in the US. She would have an awesome college application.

I think B could work from anywhere and just travel whenever he needs to.

We could take "vacations" from our vacations. Ahh, St. Tropez, Capri... I don't even know where I'd go, but I would be a travel guide by the time we returned.

Interesting musing...

And by the way, my coffee is an iced, grande, no-whip, white chocolate mocha.

Summertime Fun

Last year Dahlia was learning to crawl and this year she's running all over the place!

She spent a good hour in her little inflatable pool this afternoon. Of course she was covered in SPF50 and, we finally bought a patio umbrella for a little shade.