We went back to Poland for 2 weeks to celebrate Christmas, and it was our first time traveling with our baby. Our son was 8.5 months old at that time. I felt really stressed before the trip, worrying that he would cry all the time like other kids I had seen on airplanes.
Our journey took more than a day. We left for the airport six hours before our flight (my husband's idea), which turned out to be too early. We ended up waiting for four hours, and our baby became bored and started to get annoyed.
When traveling with a baby, everything can be done faster, except in countries that don't have special counters for families. We had a 13-hour flight to the Netherlands. The time spent on the airplane wasn't bad because we flew at night, and our son slept for half of the time. My husband also slept, but I didn't because I needed to hold the baby the whole time. When he was awake, he played peacefully on the airplane and didn't cry too much. I used to be afraid to walk around the airplane (I don't really know why), but with the baby, it became a necessity. Changing diapers on the airplane wasn't very comfortable, though...
The real challenge for my husband came when we had to drive from the Netherlands to Poland. At first, we had a problem with the car we rented. It was from a Chinese company, and when we arrived, they told us that the car didn't have winter tires. They didn't have another car available, and other places were either closed or too expensive. My husband contacted the rental company, and they said they would refund us if we found another car. We wasted over an hour because of this issue. Eventually, the rental company found us another car, but the price was more than twice as much. We had to pay and wait for the Chinese company to return our money (hopefully they will).
We didn't take a flight because the tickets were quite expensive during the Christmas season. The journey from the airport to my home is usually 10.5 hours, but due to traffic, it took us about 13 hours. We arrived at 11 pm. It's good that I could use the internet to let my family know when we would arrive.
The time in the car wasn't very pleasant. Our son doesn't like sitting still, so it was quite challenging for him. I tried to play with him, but it didn't help much. Sometimes he fell asleep, but most of the time he cried. We only made two stops along the way. In Germany, we tried to buy McDonald's, but it was difficult to communicate in English (I used to think they spoke English). I didn't expect it to be such a big problem. Another challenge was the rainy weather. From the moment we arrived in the Netherlands until we reached my home in Poland, it was always raining... My husband is amazing for being able to drive such a long distance without even resting!
In Poland, everything became easier... Or maybe not that easy. We stayed at my father's home, which I would describe as pretty poor and messy since my mother passed away. I needed to clean up everything to make the place more livable. It's sad to see how my father doesn't care much about anything anymore, which is completely different from before. Because of the conditions of the house, my husband doesn't like staying there... I know it's not the best place in the world, but family is family. I don't feel like his parents' home is much different. They clean only once a month and keep a lot of stuff everywhere. Besides, the design of Polish houses is much better. Also, the house is over 100 years old, so I can't expect too much from it.
We had a nice Christmas time, as I mentioned in my latest post. I was thrilled that we had a few hours of snow on two days. The last day in Poland was the best, with snow and sunshine. We decided to go out, and I took plenty of pictures of the beautiful countryside views. I truly miss the real winter weather. In Taiwan, I only feel cold, but it's not easy to find snow. We also visited a lot of family members, including some I'm not very close with, but it was great to see them. Unfortunately, some of our family members don't live very near, but maybe next time (who knows when). We visited a different family almost every day. I think my husband got bored since not many of them speak English. I was much happier in Poland. Here, I don't have anyone to talk to.
Everyone was happy to see our son, and he received a lot of gifts. I'm lucky that my family still has baby clothing and a few toys, so I was able to take them. It's always helpful to have these items instead of buying everything for the baby. Finally, I could see my cat, who has become quite chubby! My father takes really good care of him. Our son loves my cat (Puszek) and always wants to touch him. Puszek doesn't mind, and they often sleep together.
I think the best part for my husband was the food. There was a lot of food, especially meat. Towards the end, he said he started to miss vegetables since we usually eat potatoes and some pickles, haha. My family knows how to cook and bake, and during Christmas time, no matter where we go, we are always served tons of food. And I gained weight during Christmas too...
Returning to the Netherlands was more difficult. We had to drive at night, which was better for the baby because he would sleep more in the car, but worse for my husband, who had to drive over 1000 km. The weather was occasionally snowy and rainy, and the road was sometimes a bit slippery. We stopped in Germany for three hours due to fog, and my husband was able to take a nap. I didn't want the baby to bother him, so I had to sit and hold him while he slept... There wasn't much traffic this time, so everything went quickly. On the airplane, the baby didn't sleep much, but he wasn't too annoying. He enjoys being around people and always tries to touch the women sitting next to us, haha.
He doesn't like lying down, and it was challenging to put him in the baby bassinet that the airlines provide. On the way back, they prepared baby food and diapers, which was nice. Finally, after 13 hours, we arrived in Taiwan. From the airport to our home, we needed to take the MRT, HSR, and a taxi, which took an additional three hours.
It was good that we didn't have many problems with the time difference in Poland. Even our baby slept quite well overnight. The time difference is 7 hours earlier than Taiwan time.
The bigger problem is after returning to Taiwan. Now the baby doesn't want to sleep until morning and often cries and needs to be held more than before. I'm still tired because I didn't sleep well in the past few weeks, so this situation irritates me. I hope it doesn't last long...
