We have been wanting to travel with the little one for the longest time. If you know me, you would also know that it involved a long process of conflict between me and myself.
"Nah.. Baby is too young to appreciate. Let's not waste the money. Save up for a longer trip to a further destination next time."
"Who says babies don't remember? They do! See, she remembers this, this, this, this.. I'm sure she would remember the experience. Just go."
Repeat.
I like to torment myself mentally.
The tickets were finally booked this time when we casually asked J if she would want to go to a trip to see the animals in real life, after we saw how in love she was in the guidebook on Australian mammals gifted by a dear friend. She got really excited about the trip and after some evaluation and late night discussions, we book the air tickets for one month later, which, to me, was a crazy timeline to work with since it was our first trip with our toddler.
Intensive research followed but just a week before we were set to depart, J got hospitalized.
By a stroke of luck, we managed to postpone the trip at a minimal cost. I probably should not say that it was a blessing in disguise but we also managed to make some changes to our travel plans and cut down our expenses for the trip. We had been deciding between March and May before we booked our tickets. We decided on March because we wanted the trip to happen sooner. But March turned out to have more wetter days and I was regretting that choice. The postponement allowed us to travel in May and the two weeks we were there, we were blessed with wonderful weather. Perfect weather, in our hosts' words.
The trip turned out amazing. No matter how enthusiastic I was for my past trips, I will usually feel like heading home after a week or so. This time with J, two weeks went past so quickly we wished we had a couple more days in Gold Coast. It was more enjoyable than I imagined it to be, and it turned out to a trip to discover more about ourselves and grow as a family.
Because of our barely-existent itinerary, we did not manage to visit as many places most tourists would. But each day was well-spent, bonding with one another and just enjoying each other's company. I understand now, why some people strongly recommend traveling with your young child because those moments, are priceless. No matter how good or how bad, and trust me, there will be good and bad moments, they are those parents would want to cherish.
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