One month ago...

This post was written a while a go on our laptop, which then ran out of batteries, yadda, yadda, so I'm finally posting it now. Enjoy.

Hey everyone,

Reynolds we hope you’re getting into your new routine and that the transition hasn’t been made a lot tougher by the move to Penn State and your having to find an interim place to live. Ringgers, we hope you’re firmly entrenched in the great Pacific Northwest.

You may have noticed based on the rather unintelligible title of Rob's last post, that it was a little bit hurried—that’s because we didn’t actually get the internet here at our house until Friday, so to check our email we’ve been sneaking up the road and sitting in the parking lot of the Marriott to take advantage of their wireless. It works fine, but there are always employees walking by giving you crusties…..

Things are going pretty well. Other than Rob taking the mirror off of a semi-truck with the back of our moving van at 2:30 in the morning in heavy traffic in Chicago, the move went pretty smoothly and we’re now elbow deep in old wallpaper and new paint. (Good news, the wall can officially come down) Anyway, we’re back on line here so we can now post at our leisure, which means we can finally present to you:

Roving Redheads Top Ten Tips for European Travel with Toddlers (also known as A Tale of Three Sickies—they were the best of loos, they were the worst of loos…)

1. Bring lots of Benedryl—philosophical reservations about drugging your toddler tend to fade at 2:30 in the morning when she is still insisting on either screaming at the top of her lungs or kicking the chair of the nice British man in front of you.
2. If your toddler refuses to eat anything--even string cheese--without throwing a fit, consider the possibility that she is getting her first molars.
3. If your toddler is going to throw up in her stroller tilt her to the side so she doesn’t throw up into the stroller itself.
4. Tip 2 isn’t well received on the London Subway, even if you brought along plenty of plastic bags.
5. Stomach flu can put a real damper on sight-seeing, so in addition to Benedryl bring lots of Phenergen and Lomotil.
6. No matter how fascinating your find museums, your toddler will either a) think they are really boring or b) try and do something that may get you all arrested like trying to swing from the ropes that surround very expensive pieces of art. If she is going to throw up in the museum cafeteria, try not to gross out the other patrons too much.
7. If your toddler is going to pass her case of stomach flu on to other members of the traveling party, try not to be the one that gets it the day you are going to be doing a lot of air travel.
8. If tip 6 doesn’t work remember 2 things, First, European flight attendants have keys to open the bathrooms on the plane from the outside and no matter what you are doing in there, they will open the door and insist you return to your seat if the fasten seatbelt sign is lit. Second, enjoy the time you do get to spend in the bathroom by reminding yourself that at least there is more leg room in there than in your assigned seat.
9. If you are going to go sightseeing on a Saturday in Austria and your toddler is on her second to last diaper remember that all stores in Austria close early on Saturday and don’t reopen again until Monday, so make sure you buy diapers before you head out the see the sights. This is especially important if you are going to be getting on a plane Sunday morning and could end up flying with a diaper less toddler. This is of supreme importance if one of you is making the same flight with a second round of stomach flu.


10. If you forget tip 8, keep in mind that while a swim diaper lined with a large maxi-pad sounds like it should keep your toddler dry overnight, it won’t.
11. If you find yourself in the situation described by tips 8 and 9, do two things: pray that the nice couple in front of you in line at the airport will also be traveling with a toddler and will have a couple spare “nappies” to give you and look for a German GI medication called NormalGut. (there may not be any active ingredients on the box that your recognize, but the stuff is magic—you’ll be eating fish and chips and strolling through Hyde Park in London in no time).
12. Bonus tip: There’s lots of amusing stuff in Europe to take your mind off things like diarrhea, vomiting and torrential rains so note things like the following: Austrian men love man capris, There is a German Iron Maiden cover band who is currently touring with an opening act call Sepsis. One of the major Austrian grocery store chains is named Schenker (say it out loud).
    
    So we did spend about half the trip in our hotel room with one of the three of us sick and terrible weather also kind of put a damper on the Austrian portion of things. However, the days we did get out were great and just felt lucky to be in such cool places and to have time to spend with family.