Happy holidays!

Sadie Ramm - 21 Feb 16

Ahh, holidays. Time for rest and relaxation, adventure and discovery of exciting new places. And then we had a baby, and I fear holidays will never be the same again! We’ve just been on our second trip since the baby arrived, and this time I was determined to at least try and have a relaxing time myself.

Packing

I used to travel with just hand luggage. This holiday, we had a grand total of 6 items of luggage to collect from the baggage carousel. 1 pushchair, 1 car seat, 2 suitcases, 1 ski bag and 1 boot bag. Yes, we’ve just been skiing with a 5 month old baby in tow.  I realise this might be considered to be quite mad, but as the family holiday of choice for my sister in law’s 30th birthday, we were up for the challenge.  Living in Norway, we are used to snowy conditions and our baby has an impressive collection of cold weather clothes, so we thought a visit to the French Alps wouldn’t be too far out of the comfort zone. Hence the many bags. And this was one trip that I definitely didn’t want to be without our giant-but-ace-in-snowy-conditions pushchair! It might be annoying during packing, but its infinitely better to just take all the things than to spend the first day of your holiday navigating local supermarkets for nappies/food/favourite toy/swim nappies/snowsuit…etc etc etc

Getting to your destination

Unfortunately, there’s no direct route from Stavanger to Geneva so never ones to do things by halves, step 2 of our holiday involved a whole day of travel to get to our destination. Two 1.5hr flights broken up by a 2hr stop in Amsterdam and a 1.5hr drive from Geneva to Les Gets. Yikes. I would advise against this, if at all possible, as nice as Amsterdam airport is, because you will end up knackered beyond belief before the holiday even starts. Happily, our little traveller was quite content for most of the day, apart from a few tears. But travelling with a baby is EXHAUSTING, emotionally and physically! Fitting in feeding and sleeping around planes, trains and automobiles was pretty hard work and I was most relieved when we arrived at our cosy chalet.

Activities

Forget the adventure sports. You’ll have enough of a workout from lugging several kilos of baby round 3 different airports in a day. I passed on the skiing this time round.  Being solely responsible for feeding a hungry little one and extreme sports with potential for injury just didn’t mix in my quest for any relaxation on this holiday. Instead, I ate a lot of cheese and crepes and drank my fair share of vin chaud. We did venture partway up the mountain. Lunch in the restaurant at the bottom of the slopes with the rest of the gang was a highlight of the trip. Although I can’t say I (or the baby) much enjoyed breastfeeding whilst sitting outside in -7 degrees whilst both wearing several layers of clothing…

Daily routine

Ah, the routine that you have so carefully been trying to get in place. Just slipping through your fingers at every opportunity…

The Bedtime Routine is well worth keeping during holiday time, in my opinion. Especially if you want to get any sleep. Sleep was a bit elusive on this holiday, if I’m honest. But hey, at least we could have a glass of wine after the baby went to bed. And that is what holidays are all about!

Getting home

In Norway there’s a saying – ‘borte bra, men hjemme best’, which literally translated means ‘away is good but home is best’ (Or, there’s no place like home!) and I have NEVER truly appreciated this until returning to my own bed after this holiday. Ahhh, the bliss of my amazingly comfy bed! The downside of the return, however, is the massive heap of washing which I still haven’t managed to get through. At least the suitcases have been unpacked. Well, almost all the suitcases.

Next time, maybe a staycation is on the cards.

Sadie Ramm

Hello, I'm Sadie. 5 years ago I left my job as a Brand Manager and moved to Norway. Since then, my CV became a bit more varied! I've been a freelance writer, volunteer, dog walker, school receptionist and for the last 3 years, working in Communications. Mum to Frieda, currently on maternity leave.

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