Traveling with a Wee One

While we consider whether or not it’s financially and logistically feasible for us to travel up to Scotland next week when AC has holiday time for American Thanksgiving, a few words about little traveler Sam.

For the most part, she’s a really good traveler.

But, as the old nursery rhyme goes:

“When she was good she was very very good.
But when she was bad, she was horrid.”

Most if not all of the horrid comes from being overtired. And being overtired comes from not napping on travel days. We often think that Sammy will fall asleep from the gentle rocking of the train. So much nicer than in a car or an airplane.

But no, our daughter holds out for as long as possible. Then she falls asleep during the last few minutes of the last leg of a journey, as she did here in Cambridge:

Then, as I noted earlier, instead of sleeping from London to Paris, Sam played with a fellow traveler. When we alighted at the Gare du Nord, she was impossible. She made a scene. This continued in the metro. By the time we got to the entrance to the Passage de la Trinité, she had calmed down. Then, abruptly, she fell asleep.

On the return trip from France she fell asleep in MY arms while we were waiting at the platform in London St. Pancras for our delayed train to Brighton. No picture to offer here. I managed to board the train without waking her up, then settled down expecting her to sleep while we chugged off into the countryside. But no. After about 10 minutes, she woke up and wanted to know why she wasn’t sitting in her own seat.

The little traveler never sleeps when we want or expect her to.

A friend of ours saw the above Paris picture and suggested that it would make a great book cover on fatherhood. He then supplied a mock-up with text:

Will the next chapter of Fatherhood on the Road be titled, “High Times in the Highlands?” or “The Low Road to Scotland?” Wait and see!