Typically speaking, I don’t think Wednesdays are a random day around the internet. But, what do I know?
I’ve been busy hanging out with my little ones and planning upcoming trips. During this process I’ve found some interesting things I want to share. Things that are too little in themselves to post separately and too much to want to post on twitter or facebook or google plus. (By the way, are you following me on any of those three? If not, now’s a good time. If yes, stop by and say hi!)
On to the random.
Starting top right, clockwise: 1. The famous Rhein Promenade is filled with outdoor restaurants during the summer. Across the river they’re sitting up for the big kirmes fair. 2. An art piece near the city’s history museum depicts important events and people. 3. My son off-roading near the history museum (with a glimpse of the apartment we almost moved into in the background.) 4. Düsseldorf city hall as seen from the Irish pub. On this day a band was behind the statue pictured playing theme songs. Someone walked by and said, “Ah, Star Wars.” They were wrong, it was Indiana Jones. A few minutes later, we heard the theme to Star Wars.
- Part of my travel planning included booking flights for an upcoming trip to the US. Even though I live in Germany, this will be the first time I’ve flown on Lufthansa. I spent a lot of time on their website yesterday and I love how welcoming they are to families. They have things like: family check-in counters at their two major airports, family services to help at the airport, tips and pre-departure check-lists specifically for families, a logbook for young fliers to log their miles with Lufthansa, a 25% discount for kids for some routes, fun children’s meals, and activity sheets that can be downloaded pre-flight, as well activities for kids on the flight. For one mom’s experience on Lufthansa, check out my friend’s post at Thrifty Travel Mama. If you’ve flown on Lufthansa, tell me your GOOD experiences in the comments.
- The seating configuration on our flight is 2-4-2. Since there are four of us, I wanted to get other family travel blogger’s thoughts on the best configuration.
- A: One parent and one kid in a row, the other parent and kid in the row behind them. Parent gets the aisle, kid gets the window.
- B: All four in the middle of the row.
- C: Keep one parent with both kids and let the other parent sit separately.
For configuration A: the pros were that the kids could look out of the window and if the toddler kicks anyone’s seat, it will just be his baby sister. Plus, no one gets jealous of the toys or food the other is eating.
For configuration B: the pros were that everyone can sit next to each other and just kind of lay all over each other and sleep.
For configuration C: the pros were that one parent can rest while the other deals with both kids at a time and they can switch as needed.
For our family and this particular trip, we went with configuration A. We will see how well that goes and adjust on the return if we need to. If you have a preference, I’d love to hear it in the comments. Keep in mind, at the time of this flight I will have an almost three-year old and a just-turned one-year old.
- During the discussion on seat configuration, I asked for flying with kids tips. Fact: I’ve flown with my kids many times, but I still get nervous doing so. I will read blog post after blog post repeatedly up until the day we leave. I really liked Knocked Up Abroad’s flying with baby and toddler tips. Other than being great tips, her return to the topic several times reassures me that I’m not alone in my obsession of thinking about this. If you have any tips for flying with babies and toddlers, or a favorite resource, let me know in the comments.
- A few weeks ago I downloaded the TripIt app. It came highly recommended by friends and I understand why. It’s so nice to get the travel confirmations automatically organized in an app. Give it a try.
- My friend, Selena, over at Oh, the Places actually wrote a random post on Monday. I just read it about an hour ago. While there, I clicked around and ended up on her blog designer’s website (more on that in a second). Afterwards I thought it would be nice to write a random post and when I sat at my computer and started writing, I remembered that Oh, the Places just did this. And I just read it. So thank you, Selena, for the inspiration.
- Selena’s site was designed by Ready to Blog. Other than making some fantastic sites (check it out), she also offers a variety of free downloads. I downloaded her Photoshop collages. They are the perfect way to make nice collages in Photoshop. The one I made from a recent trip to Düsseldorf is at the top of this post.
- I don’t have a blog designer, but I did recently update my buttons on the right sidebar. What do you think?
What random things are going on in your life right now?
