[Personal] Seoul Good 2015 - Our little family trip summary and "debrief"

Visit my website @ http://shirleylye12.wix.com/princessmic


Yes we are finally back from our little family trip.

I am very glad that we made it! I think we can present ourselves with a big round of applause! Seriously. Cos while we are in Singapore, we always rely on our helper to take care of Zach. But while we are there, we are much hands on and we really spend quality bonding time together. Going out with a baby seriously is no joke. We learn many things along the way and also together with our friends and their baby, we learn parenting tips too.

This trip makes me realize how little i know about Zach, his feeding behaviour, his needs,..etc. But i am glad that at the end of the trip, i get to know him better and we are closer too. We also learn that with a baby on the trip, it will mean no time for "us" time cos priority is always given to the little one. We spend most of our time attending to him but of cos we also get to visit places we have not been to so far.

For example :
Meal times.
We do not sit down together to have a meal now. we will take turns as one will need to look after Zach when he fuss in the restaurant. Despite is cool weather now, the restaurants do not have air con on, instead it becomes warm and Zach hates it...so one will need to attend to him while the other eat and then take turns. We also attempt to feed him with porridge from restaurants and is a success.

Itineraries
As very much we would squeeze the many must do into our itineraries, but we never seems to be able to complete them haha. we would often give up the itineraries due to weather ( raining, cannot go with babies) or time attending to them ( more important to feed them and let them rest along the way). despite all these, we still get to travel to places that we yet been to. in short, we take everything slow - rest and relax trip.

Daily barangs
I am thankful that i have a baby carrier with me as it really helps me alot for my trip. i could easily make him sleep in it while walking, taking a train or subway or even shopping.  It also help to keep him warm while he cuddle himself onto my body. We also bought a stroller along as too long in the carrier also not good for him and my back muahaha. so he gets to sit in the stroller at times and then rest of the time our barangs will be placed on the stroller. we also learn to pack our daily barangs as days goes by. those we need we bring, those we dont need we leave it in the hotel room.

Country itself
Korea is really a very baby friendly place. Alot of their large departmental store has big nursing area that even have cots. feeding chairs, changing station. They even provide you with sterilizer, diaper creams and wet tissue too! The elderly also love babies alot. they will talk to Zach in the train and play with him too. He really attracts many ahjumas and pretty young gals too. Baby stuff like snacks, diapers, clothes, creams..etc are easily available in major departmental stores.I am glad that we choose Korea as our first country for him.

Weather
Although while we were in Seoul, it rain for 3 days but still, the weather remains cool for Zach and he adores the temperature there. He kinda miss it when he is back. Barely 5 mins, he is all sweaty already.

Flights
We took two different timing of flights this time. We took a night flight to Seoul and everything is a bliss, we get to sleep, he get to sleep cos we flew off at midnight. he only wake up for his feed. But we took a afternoon flight back to Singapore while he is awake, although he did not make any noise during take off due to air pressure, he did fuss while wanting to nap. -_-". We travel vis Koreair and their customer service is superb. They gave us bassinet and they also give us activities books for our kids (although they dont really understand what is it..lol). the food is really superb too and the air steward n stewardess are very friendly with our babies.

Things we bought very useful
Inflatable bathtub - Thanks to my friend's recommendation, we brought along a inflatable bathtub so he gets to bathe in a bathtub lol. we just need to deflat it when we no longer need it and is pretty easy.

Cap covering his ears - I bought a knitted newspaper boy cap for him but it doesnt help to cover his ears so we got one in korea and is really good. keeps his head warm.

Jackets - i bought various thickness. super thick one - if he sits in stroller, thin one if i baby wear him ( if he wear heat tech, i give the jacket a miss).

Stroller - Mclaren yellow submarine. it comes with a winter cover which is extremely useful to keep him warm while in the stroller


Baby carrier jacket - very useful for super cold weather if we are strolling the streets but if we go into restaurants, we will need to take it out as it is extremely hot. but this is very useful when we go for street food. keeping each other warm

Food jar - i bought my tiger food jar along but one of the korean staff spoilt it. i got a replacement and is really good when we purchase porridge for him

Pigeon feeding bowl with grinder - the spoon is super good to use and the grinder helps me to grind big chinks of vegetables and meat for him

Muslin cover - comes in handy as a "pillow" for him or even a "wind breaker" for him

Nursing cover - for me to breast feed

Snacks - i bought pigeon rice cracker to keep him entertain while he is bored. i also bought more snacks at their departmental stores

Washing detergent - i bought a small bottle of pigeon washing detergent while i go out with him to wash his stuff (especially his food jar)

good baby carrier - this time round i bought madame Googoo. cos it is bigger and if zach wears his winter jacket, i can easily fit him in. usually i just put on my jacket and i will try to cover his feet as much as possible. so now i think getting a cover is also one of the things i missed.

Backpack from http://www.13thirteen.com.sg.-
Sworn by it. This bag is extremely useful for me during my Korea trip. My boy gets explosive poo, the wet tissue compartment allows me to easily retrieve tissues for cleaning up his butt. Not to mention about the changing mat that comes in handy when I couldn't find a nursing room at the streets of Seoul. Also I placed the tissue for hand and foot in the tissue compartment is easily available for me to clean his hands for his snack time. The diaper compartment allow easy retrieval too. Not to mention that this bag also allow me to put my food jar, a semi dslr, thermal flask, milk container, Muslin cloth, his jacket, soft toy, ipad, snack box, our passports and belongings.


Things we need to prepare next time
Portable baby chair - Some of the restaurants do not have baby chairs, so it would be very useful for us to get one. but you can make do without still if you have someone to become "baby chair" for you. aka carry him

Stroller cover - this one very useful if you place baby in the stroller and is raining. extremely useful for us when it rain for many days.

neck pillow - very useful for them if they sleep in the bassinets or stroller

baby carrier coverclick here to view one . very useful for cold weather. helps to keep baby warm close to you. this one is good cos it allows you to detach the thicker one from the main one so if you just want it as a wind breaker, it can also do its job

thats about all. personally i think we are over prepared for this trip haha. we bought formulas (never use as i breast feed), bottles (never use as i use spoon to feed him with water), rice cereal (only use once), kettle ( never use before),

More updates on the trip itself will come soon.

Comments