Leaving On A Jet Plane

♫ 'Cause I'm, leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again ♫  (Actually I do know when we'll be back but the John Denver song sounded so nice!)  As I mentioned in a previous post me & my toddler are headed back to The States for a short visit.  You heard it right, me and my toddler, my husband's staying here in The Netherlands due to work and well the outrageous costs of travelling internationally.  In years passed I refused to take the trip alone, I'm not the best traveler... so it seems crazy that I'm doing this with my 3yr old in tow.  But sometimes opportunities arise that you don't want to miss out on, and this one is getting to visit my grandma and see what her life in a little Tennessee town is like.  Plus I want to help her get the house tidy and organized so she can consider selling it and moving into something more manageable.  See years ago she decided to move back home, she used to live in Florida like I did, but she had always dreamed of returning to the town she grew up in, and she followed that dream.  But life happens, and now she's 75yrs old, and that dream is changing.  At her age managing a large house and yard alone is almost impossible.  I always talked about wanting to see her dream but it seemed so far fetched, if we spent the money to go back to The States we always went somewhere central so everyone could visit us in one go.  Then things happened or didn't happen, decisions were made, and then my husband said, "why not, why not do it".  I couldn't help but cry - it means a lot to me... I cried when he suggested it, I cried when I told her.  And believe me, I don't cry easily.  Then after reigning in the emotions, reality started to sink in.  WTF, I'm about to fly internationally, on a connecting flight, then drive a rental car for an hour, with my 3 yr old, whoa!  Needless to say, I've been getting less sleep these days.  The nearing trip has actually taken over most of my thoughts.  I'm a planner you see, so I've been researching every last detail of the trip (maps, airports, you name it).  It took me 2 days to finally settle on a plane ticket, and another entire morning of research before choosing a rental car!  I've been stocking up on things I need to get through the trip from toiletries & luggage, to entertainment & documents.  I've been corresponding with the airline and malls, and anyone else that can give me any more insight on my trip.  Plus there are other things to arrange, like the dog and making sure my husband has food (just so you know, he is capable of taking care of himself).  The trip is consuming my head (I mentioned that right), you've probably even noticed a lot less blog entries the past couple weeks.  But no matter how overwhelmed I sound (and am), I am truly looking forward to the trip.  Mostly the part where I'm in Tennessee with my Grammy and not so much the travelling part.  I don't know if I'll be doing any blogging while there but I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories when I get back.  What people don't always realize is that when you become an expat you never really fit in anywhere anymore.  So I'll feel just as foreign in Tennessee as I do in The Netherlands.  And based on previous short road trips with my toddler, I'll be sure not to say things like, "we're lost" or yell "f*#k" when things don't run smoothly.  All she needs to know is, "we're almost there".  For any of you out there who happen to be pros at travelling internationally with toddlers, feel free to throw some advice my way, thanks!

Wordless Wednesday #42

 

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Despicable RyanAir

RyanAir, I grumble every time I see the advertisements or even hear the words... RyanAir is a horrible despicable airline.  I've never had any pleasure doing business with them and I would never recommend them to anyone.

Now, I'm only going to complain this post so prepare yourself.

My last post about RyanAir was me fighting with them to reimburse a cancelled trip.  I think the tone of my post tells you they did not reimburse our trip.  They basically stole €700 from our family.  A short recap... our toddler was exposed to two cases of chicken pox and was most likely going to contract them.  We contacted RyanAir, were told she would not be allowed to board the plane if she had them, and then they assisted us in cancelling our trip by referring us on to our travel insurance.  We followed all of their steps, filled out all of their paperwork and they still refused to reimburse our cancelled trip.  We then filed a claim with the travel insurance RyanAir recommended and they too refused to reimburse us.  We did what any good parents would do, we saw a high risk of getting stuck in a foreign country with a sick toddler, and it cost us €700!

This was not the only time RyanAir refused to reimburse us.  During one trip they damaged our luggage to the point we could no longer use it for future trips.  And because we didn't fill the paperwork out immediately before exiting the airport they would not even consider helping us.

And on my very first flight with RyanAir they misled us about costs.  We were told it would cost €100 to bring along our golf bag.  Pricey but hey we were going on a golf weekend.  They conveniently didn't mention this price was one way.  So at the airport on the return trip we had to dish out the money again.

RyanAir poses as a cheap airline, but they hit you with costs anywhere they can and they refuse to help you if anything goes wrong.  I'm not the only one unhappy with them, just look up their reputation online, it's absurd!

I refuse to fly RyanAir ever again.  I have even requested that my friends, family, and company also stop using RyanAir.  And if any one of you ever are faced with the choice of RyanAir versus any other airline, go with the other airline, please!!!

(The above pic is thanks to Liz at Young Adventuress)

You Trader!!!

Well, it's official, I'm a trader... I've switched from a Windows Phone to an iPhone!!!  I fought it for 2 months, so obviously I'm quite stubborn.  When I wrote the original post about my situation in December, I really didn't know what decision I would make.  And to be honest the only thing that forced me to switch is an upcoming trip to The States.  Since my husband uses an iPhone, it'll be easy for us to stay in contact through FaceTime or Skype apps, functions I didn't have on my HTC phone.  (Yeah, you heard it right, me & my toddler are travelling internationally without my husband, but that'll be a separate post!)  Standing in the store waiting to be helped with the switch (you trader!), all I could do was admire the Windows phones on display... I love the tiles and colors and the way they work.  I love that it's the same applications as on my home computer.  I love supporting Microsoft, great company!  But sometimes you just have to make logical decisions, and this time it was to use the iPhone 4S laying around our house rather than investing the money in another 2 year phone contract inclusive phone.  It'll actually save us around €30 a month... that's until I break the phone (I'm clumsy) and then we'll have to pay out of pocket unlike when you have a phone issued from the phone company.  This was one of my debate points, but my husband wasn't going for it.  Sure, in the end he won (just like with the expensive trash can I didn't want), but I gave him hell and held out for as long as I could, ha-ha!  (I actually refused to use a new trash can in our kitchen for a month in protest of the costs, again, I'm stubborn.)  You'll probably never hear me say that I like the iPhone, whether I do or don't, it's a pride thing.  But since I do have one, I might as well sign up for all of the apps that I hear everyone going on about all of the time, Instagram here I come.  Turns out it's also available on the HTC, arg!

Wordless Wednesday #41

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Decent Weather

All of my plans for today fell through, but at least it's decent weather!  Today I was supposed to be in Amsterdam at a women's conference, called Women's Inc.  My husband was going to take the day off work so he could shuffle our tot to preschool in the morning and take care of her in the afternoon.  But things changed.  My daughter managed to get chicken pox again.  This meant, there was no way I was going to ask anyone to babysit, when she's sick she needs her parents.  But luckily my husband had put in his request for time off and she was going to be with daddy if she wasn't fit for school.  Then my husband found out an important customer requested a meeting.  For a lot of people a day-off is a day-off, the customer can reschedule.  But when you work for a family business and it's one of the larger customers you go to work.  And just like that my plans changed.  The decent weather helped to make up for it though.  I loaded my toddler into the stroller, bundled her up, hooked the dog to the leash, and we were all off for an hour walk.  It was nice to get them out of the house, no one likes being cooped up when sick.  And the weather, well, as you can see above, it was in the 40's, this is great!  (Remind me of this during the summer!)  After a cold winter and snow on the ground for weeks, blue skies and a temp above freezing was more than welcome.  I can't wait to get back to our outside activities... walking, the play grounds, visits to the parks.  The feeling started sinking in yesterday, I'm done with the winter and ready for spring!  What about you all?

Chicken Pox Again

Like father - like daughter, my toddler has managed to get chicken pox twice!  What happened to her father is common, light case as a child, heavy case as an adult.  But my tot didn't wait for her adult years to get the 2nd round, it's been less than 6 months!  At first I thought the spot was a bug bite, and when I found two more I thought maybe a rash... in my mind there was no way she could have them again.  Then when the one on her forehead popped up there was no denying what it was.  I took her to the doctor who confirmed she had chicken pox again.  I asked how this could happen and she said possibly last time she didn't build up enough antibodies.  I figured the doctor would send off for blood work, but she just sent us home.  Now my poor 3 yr old is covered, and it's way worse than last time!  Last time she had a lot of little itchy bumps and fever which lasted around 10 days or so.  This time she has the large ones full of fluid and she keeps getting more and more, they're even all over her scalp.  This was one way to ruin her vacation, she had a week off school and lots of fun activities planned, of course they were all cancelled after our doctor appointment mid-week.  I'm crossing my fingers this round will be enough to build up the proper antibodies so she doesn't have to suffer through it again.  Anyone else know of a toddler that had chicken pox twice?

February 14th

A couple weeks ago it actually took me a minute to remember when Valentine's actually was, I ran a couple dates through my head before it came to me.  Hard to believe I could forget the date!  Commercial holidays aren't very important around our house, and Valentine's isn't as big of a holiday here in The Netherlands as it is in The States.  I do tend to get my hubby a nice card and make him something yummy for the occasion and this year was no different.  Well, this year I did involve our toddler a bit more.  Since she loves arts & crafts I decided her & I would make my hubby Valentine's Day cards instead of buying them at the store.  We had a fun time gluing & cutting, and she even managed to keep the cards a surprise until this morning.  Unlike our idea to make a cake!  I was going to surprise my husband with a heart-shaped V-Day cake, but she blew the surprise last night, ha-ha!  My toddler loves baking so I should have known she'd tell him.  Oh well, the cake will still be a yummy desert after dinner this evening.  We're both happy to have our Valentine's back home, considering last week he was away on business in Rome.  For those of you celebrating today, I hope you have a loving V-Day, and for those of you not, I hope you have an enjoyable Thursday!

My husband decided to email me a pic he considered thoughtful and sort-of romantic... morbid but sweet in its own way!