Baba goes China!

After our first very cautious and very local experiences traveling with a toddler, which were a major thrill both for us and the Baba, we felt ready for a bigger family adventure. Much bigger, and much more challenging logistically - since our last trip there was a very small but very heavy addition to our family - Ninok, our not so little baby girl.

We figured out the best time to travel would be before Ninok is 6 months old to save us the hassle of figuring out how you look for healthy, safe and easy baby food in a foreign country. And where else could we possibly go other than where COVID didn't allow us to go back in 2020 - China!

Many people instantly rolled they eyes when we told them where we were taking our 2 small kids, but I don't really understand why - China is a very safe country with the best high speed train network in the world, making it very accessible for traveling longer distances fast. And I don't think we would have gotten the same reaction if we were traveling to Thailand, so I think it is mostly due to a bias many people have against China.

Traveling with two children poses many challenges - main one being how will we carry the kids, but also what and how to pack so that we are able to move easily powered by our own muscles. We opted for no pram as we didn't know exactly what terrain to expect - we opted for one backpack style carrier for Baba (aka Babacopter) and a front carrier for Ninok, who is still too small for anything else. We knew that the way we travel will be responsive to their needs - we want to give Ninok plenty of time to wiggle on her tummy and back so that she is happy and grows strong.

We also didn't plan anything that requires long bus journeys as this would surely turn into a screaming session. Our biggest concern remained the plane journey which now after landing safely we can count as a great success - we didn't even need any toys except for the notepad to draw on. Baba is now able to come up with new games that involve only imagination and no physical toys, so the journey went smoothly. She was also very excited so was happy the whole way there. Ninok slept most of the time, chilled as usual.

As for us, we finished the journey exhausted but happy and ready to start exploring!