travelling with a baby II

small correction... when i said we took 'ratty' toys for percy i meant rattly.

my main tip now would be to know as much about your destination as possible before going. we were sadly remiss in this research. if you are travelling within australia to visit close friends or family there's probably not a lot you need to know before hand. if you are travelling to a country to visit family and you speak the language, again you're probably going to be fine. in fact anywhere with family hosting you is probably going to be pretty okay as they can be recruited to help you find your way without much hassle or guilt- even at 2am. if you're going to a country without friends or family but you do speak the language a little research would probably come in handy. things you might like to know are shop open hours, the currency exchange, tipping etiquette, smoking laws, baby seat/capsule availability, baby product availability- particularly if you must have/prefer a particular product, flight bookings and confirmations, emergency services telephone numbers and the like.
if you're off to the bum-end of the world like us you would like to know all this stuff and more before hand but you're not going to. you're just going to have to wing it. that said, would i have not come had i known the atrocious road habits? the difficulty in doing grocery shopping? the near complete absence of english? the hideousness of the tap water? nope. i'm a fool sometimes and they rush in. would you be amusing yourself with this witty and erudite blog had i not come? nope.

the one thing we lugged all the way over here and have not used is our lovely cloth nappies. the reasons for not using them are these: i have simply been unable to find a suitable receptacle to use as a nappy bucket. you wouldn't think it would be so hard to find a plastic container of suitable size with a secure lid! think again. hasn't happened. also the water here is incredibly harsh. i'm not convinced that the nappies would be cleaned sufficiently for re-use. for the first time in my life i am using fabric softener, not soley to soften the clothes but to soften the water. i'm convinced the water is so hard that the soap or detergent is washed off before it can actually clean either clothes or persons. i'm also going thru a lot of moisturiser! even using a moisturiser on percy after her baths. which makes for a nice massage time but i didn't figure on a baby's skin getting dry from the water!
we are investigating sending the nappies home by post or freight as we're in disposables for the duration of the stay. of course shipping things into and out of ukraine is an exercise in bribery and extortion so we may be carrying them again come november.
for those of you unfamiliar with cloth nappies and why this is an issue; they are expensive to purchase initially, tho cheaper than 2-3 years of disposables, and heavy when you've got 20 of them.

there, i hope that hasn't put you off travelling with your bundle of joy. different types of travel would also dictate different ways of doing things. honestly, i think you should hang up your backpacking boots for a few years- sorry. travelling to a destination and staying put seems more sensible. but i'm a known wuss on many things and perhaps my preferences should be only mine.