1
00:00:07,133 --> 00:00:10,453
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast

2
00:00:10,573 --> 00:00:14,013
Speaker 1: from news Talks at be Jack Tame.

3
00:00:15,213 --> 00:00:18,173
Speaker 2: And everyone says the best time to travel with a

4
00:00:18,253 --> 00:00:22,053
Speaker 2: baby is before it can walk, And the theory kind

5
00:00:22,093 --> 00:00:24,773
Speaker 2: of makes sense right when you think about it. Most toddlers,

6
00:00:25,213 --> 00:00:28,773
Speaker 2: once they've learnt to trot around the place, live for

7
00:00:28,933 --> 00:00:31,533
Speaker 2: nothing more. All they want to do is walk. In fact,

8
00:00:31,613 --> 00:00:33,213
Speaker 2: if you think about it, you really don't want to

9
00:00:33,213 --> 00:00:36,573
Speaker 2: get close to even blurring the line between rolling and

10
00:00:36,893 --> 00:00:41,613
Speaker 2: crawling and waddling away. The moment your child is old

11
00:00:41,733 --> 00:00:45,213
Speaker 2: enough and independently spirited enough to drag themselves around, you're

12
00:00:45,253 --> 00:00:48,173
Speaker 2: done for. There is no reasoning with an exhausted one

13
00:00:48,253 --> 00:00:51,133
Speaker 2: year old on a packed triple seven. You can't calmly

14
00:00:51,173 --> 00:00:53,573
Speaker 2: explain that actually the pilot has just put on the

15
00:00:53,613 --> 00:00:56,093
Speaker 2: fastened seat belt sign, so if you wouldn't mind taking

16
00:00:56,093 --> 00:00:58,933
Speaker 2: your seat. You can't even vegetate them with a screen.

17
00:00:59,493 --> 00:01:01,693
Speaker 2: As the old advice goes, if you're going to travel

18
00:01:01,693 --> 00:01:03,493
Speaker 2: with a young one, you are best to do it

19
00:01:03,533 --> 00:01:07,093
Speaker 2: when they're really young. Hold them tight and they'll mistake

20
00:01:07,213 --> 00:01:10,373
Speaker 2: turbulence for rocking. Chuck them on the boob or the

21
00:01:10,413 --> 00:01:13,013
Speaker 2: bottle if their ears are popping, and hey, you'll be

22
00:01:13,053 --> 00:01:18,453
Speaker 2: at your destination in no time or not. As someone

23
00:01:18,453 --> 00:01:24,053
Speaker 2: who usually prides themselves on embracing new experiences, even I

24
00:01:24,133 --> 00:01:26,893
Speaker 2: will con see that. As our departure date approached, I

25
00:01:26,973 --> 00:01:31,893
Speaker 2: felt an unmistakably growing sense of anxiety about our journey

26
00:01:32,413 --> 00:01:35,613
Speaker 2: twenty four hours to Toronto with a four month old

27
00:01:35,653 --> 00:01:38,533
Speaker 2: little boy and his eight year old brother. It all

28
00:01:38,573 --> 00:01:41,613
Speaker 2: seemed so easy when we booked the tickets, but the

29
00:01:41,653 --> 00:01:45,133
Speaker 2: stress really kicked in the moment the taxi arrived to

30
00:01:45,213 --> 00:01:48,853
Speaker 2: take us to the airport. Having purchased a special travel

31
00:01:49,013 --> 00:01:52,173
Speaker 2: car seat secondhand, it was a rude shock to discover

32
00:01:52,253 --> 00:01:55,653
Speaker 2: that it didn't fit our cab like it fitted all

33
00:01:55,693 --> 00:01:59,693
Speaker 2: the cars and the instructional YouTube videos Q ten minutes

34
00:01:59,733 --> 00:02:03,333
Speaker 2: of wrestling and cursing at a T shirt neckline already

35
00:02:03,453 --> 00:02:08,893
Speaker 2: drenched in sweat. Timing an eight pm flight with a

36
00:02:08,893 --> 00:02:12,173
Speaker 2: baby means being at the airport at six pm, which

37
00:02:12,213 --> 00:02:15,773
Speaker 2: of course means getting a cab at five to fifteen pm.

38
00:02:16,173 --> 00:02:18,813
Speaker 2: Our boy is usually fine in a car seat, just

39
00:02:18,893 --> 00:02:20,973
Speaker 2: so long as he's moving, but of course, when it's

40
00:02:21,013 --> 00:02:23,333
Speaker 2: the beginning of a long weekend and everyone is leaving

41
00:02:23,373 --> 00:02:27,853
Speaker 2: Auckland at once, nobody's moving, You're lucky to get more

42
00:02:27,893 --> 00:02:30,373
Speaker 2: than a couple of car lengths without coming to a

43
00:02:30,413 --> 00:02:34,293
Speaker 2: standstill once again. By the time we arrived at the airport,

44
00:02:34,373 --> 00:02:37,973
Speaker 2: he had already screened his lungs out, and my blood

45
00:02:38,013 --> 00:02:42,053
Speaker 2: pressure was sitting somewhere between concerning and see a medical

46
00:02:42,053 --> 00:02:48,773
Speaker 2: professional immediately, just twenty three hours to go. I've traveled

47
00:02:48,853 --> 00:02:52,693
Speaker 2: enough and been sat next door near enough to babies

48
00:02:53,173 --> 00:02:56,093
Speaker 2: to know a lot of the theory around flying with

49
00:02:56,173 --> 00:02:59,093
Speaker 2: little ones. But the thing you only fully appreciate once

50
00:02:59,173 --> 00:03:03,613
Speaker 2: you're in charge is just how precarious any moment of

51
00:03:03,733 --> 00:03:08,173
Speaker 2: peace always seems. Might be fast asleep in their mother's

52
00:03:08,293 --> 00:03:11,253
Speaker 2: arms as the playing taxis to the runway, but he's

53
00:03:11,333 --> 00:03:14,813
Speaker 2: never more than a little jolt away from potentially stirring

54
00:03:14,853 --> 00:03:19,333
Speaker 2: and screaming. It's kind of like you're craveling like a pink,

55
00:03:19,613 --> 00:03:23,973
Speaker 2: chubby little grenade who's missing a pin. He might go off.

56
00:03:24,013 --> 00:03:26,853
Speaker 2: It might be catastrophic. He might scream and scream until

57
00:03:26,893 --> 00:03:29,533
Speaker 2: all the babies on the flight slowly tip each other

58
00:03:29,613 --> 00:03:33,453
Speaker 2: off like a cadre of car alarms at thirty thousand feet.

59
00:03:34,053 --> 00:03:38,973
Speaker 2: Or he might just sleep. The potential for either option

60
00:03:39,253 --> 00:03:42,733
Speaker 2: is never more than a few seconds away. Of course,

61
00:03:42,933 --> 00:03:46,933
Speaker 2: some things are just destined to go wrong. The moment

62
00:03:46,973 --> 00:03:48,813
Speaker 2: you put your baby in the bassinet and he goes

63
00:03:48,853 --> 00:03:51,813
Speaker 2: to sleep, there will be turbulence, and you'll be forced

64
00:03:51,893 --> 00:03:54,133
Speaker 2: to take him out, bright and alert as a little

65
00:03:54,213 --> 00:03:58,293
Speaker 2: mere cat. The moment you successfully navigate the row forty

66
00:03:58,333 --> 00:04:01,413
Speaker 2: eight bathrooms and their slippery changing table and make it

67
00:04:01,493 --> 00:04:05,733
Speaker 2: back triumphant to your seat, you will recognize a familiar

68
00:04:06,013 --> 00:04:11,213
Speaker 2: strain expression on your baby's face. The moment you're sure

69
00:04:11,293 --> 00:04:14,213
Speaker 2: that your son couldn't possibly have any more burps and

70
00:04:14,333 --> 00:04:16,773
Speaker 2: you just happen to lower that spill cloth for a

71
00:04:16,773 --> 00:04:19,693
Speaker 2: couple of seconds, he will make sure to exploit that

72
00:04:19,773 --> 00:04:24,373
Speaker 2: sartorial weakness, so before long his dried milk can mix

73
00:04:24,413 --> 00:04:27,373
Speaker 2: in with that dried sweat from the taxi earlier. On

74
00:04:28,093 --> 00:04:30,333
Speaker 2: the moment you land, you will discover there's been a

75
00:04:30,373 --> 00:04:32,453
Speaker 2: mix up with your luggage and the car seat, and

76
00:04:32,773 --> 00:04:35,413
Speaker 2: that's going to take longer to fix and jepinize your connection.

77
00:04:36,213 --> 00:04:38,613
Speaker 2: It will be lord of the flies and the customs queue.

78
00:04:38,693 --> 00:04:41,453
Speaker 2: You will miss your connecting flight, and the replacement will

79
00:04:41,493 --> 00:04:45,133
Speaker 2: somehow fail to have transferred the infant's booking, So what

80
00:04:45,333 --> 00:04:48,053
Speaker 2: you asked, do you suggest we just leave him here?

81
00:04:49,733 --> 00:04:52,213
Speaker 2: Most of this, of course, isn't any one person's fault,

82
00:04:52,213 --> 00:04:56,493
Speaker 2: but rather just the inevitable hiccups when navigating the crazy

83
00:04:56,533 --> 00:05:01,333
Speaker 2: logistics of internal travel. In fairness, Marni did about as

84
00:05:01,373 --> 00:05:04,133
Speaker 2: well as anyone could expect a four month old to do.

85
00:05:04,813 --> 00:05:08,213
Speaker 2: But traveling long hall with a bay bob has tested

86
00:05:08,493 --> 00:05:13,453
Speaker 2: my enthusiasm for the whole new experiences philosophy. Sure, he

87
00:05:13,533 --> 00:05:15,653
Speaker 2: might have spewed in the middle of an aisle while

88
00:05:15,733 --> 00:05:18,253
Speaker 2: half the plane was watching him. He might have gone

89
00:05:18,293 --> 00:05:21,413
Speaker 2: through a dozen nappies, three rompers, a cardigan, and no

90
00:05:21,533 --> 00:05:24,333
Speaker 2: fewer than five bibs. But next time I'll remember that

91
00:05:24,533 --> 00:05:27,693
Speaker 2: I'm the one who needs to pack extra clothes in

92
00:05:27,733 --> 00:05:32,053
Speaker 2: his carry on and after it all, after it all there,

93
00:05:32,093 --> 00:05:36,133
Speaker 2: we were more than twenty four hours since we left home.

94
00:05:36,533 --> 00:05:39,453
Speaker 2: Pulling into a quiet street and a little town on

95
00:05:39,533 --> 00:05:43,053
Speaker 2: Lake Ontario, it was almost help us. Three in the

96
00:05:43,093 --> 00:05:47,013
Speaker 2: morning local time, the dead of night. Marney's grandparents were

97
00:05:47,013 --> 00:05:50,493
Speaker 2: waiting to meet their grandson for the first time. Marnie's

98
00:05:50,493 --> 00:05:53,653
Speaker 2: great grandparents were waiting to meet him for the first time.

99
00:05:54,533 --> 00:05:58,933
Speaker 2: Bleary eyed and teary eyed. We hugged and cried in

100
00:05:58,973 --> 00:06:05,453
Speaker 2: the warm summer air. Sons, daughters, aunties, grandparents and great grandparents,

101
00:06:05,813 --> 00:06:09,533
Speaker 2: four rations together and it was all worth it.

102
00:06:10,493 --> 00:06:13,573
Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live

103
00:06:13,653 --> 00:06:16,493
Speaker 1: to News Talks at B from nine am Saturday, or

104
00:06:16,573 --> 00:06:18,453
Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio