Bambino Vino

So the other day I did some first-aid travel research and came to the conclusion that people should not travel.  Actually, I made a list of possible medicines we might need and ventured out the the local drug store to pick up the supplies.

Well I came home with a stack of medications we hope to never use and $225 less in my bank account, and a list of more things we might not need, but really should buy.  $225 for all the crap in the picture that we are hoping goes completely unused and the most depressing part is that delicious chocolate in the photo will never reach my mouth.  It's part of the "gifts" to be given to relatives.  $225 dollars for basically nothing!  Well, at least my teeth will be clean.

I of course blame the short dictator that lives in our house.  Being completely responsible for a relatively helpless person makes you prepare for such a journey more thoroughly, in essence, it makes you paranoid.  Every bottle in the store that said child on it is now in my possession.  I am prepared to hold off death for a few days should our typhoid treatments not work.

In this large stack of drugs, er medications, was one we had never used on Poohpers, Motion Sickness Liquid.  Now Poohpers so far hasn't had any problems with motion sickness, but I have heard from my friend well versed in motion sickness that it has the bonus side effect of drowsiness.  I know this sounds bad to purposely drug your kid to sleep, but I figure it's a good tool to have in your back pocket if you are crazy enough to take a two year old on a seven hour flight followed by a nine hour flight, that is followed by a short sleep before an eight hour car ride.

I have heard that some kids get hyper instead of drowsy from motion sickness meds, and I am always cautious of side-effects with new medications so I figured half way across the Atlantic ocean stuck in a metal pod in the sky was probably not the best time to find out what kind of reaction Poohpers would have.  Today we gave the medicine a test ride.  Obviously nothing happened right away, but within the hour she was running around and shrieking like a mad woman.  We were beginning to think it was making her hyper so Hubs decided to take her to the park.  While getting her outside coat on, Poohpers started to randomly fall over and as they went to walk out the door Poohpers was a little slower and less excited as usual, but kept a good pace as Daddy held open the door for her and she walked right into the wall beside the door.  Her poor little legs and arms kept going in her effort to reach the park.  Once we composed ourselves (hey, Poohpers was finding it quite entertaining too!  Well, she was smiling like she was finding it entertaining) we concluded the medication was working!  The nap time revolt was also very brief today and the nap itself lasted almost twice as long.  Yeah back up plan for flight number two! 

Hmm, maybe I should give myself a test run...

What to wear...

One of my greatest passions is packing.  Hubs and I always laugh that I "get to" pack for him when we travel.  So obviously what to wear has been on my mind since we bought the tickets over six months ago.

Hubs is from a small "town" (a mere 900,000 people) and so the people and customs are more conservative there.  For the last six months Hubs and I have been having a reoccurring disscussion on what I should wear.  Now Hubs HATES these conversations that go around and around and so he kind of mostly doesn't participate in them, which leaves me confused and without an answer and so it comes up again...... and again.... and again....  Lets just say we were lucky we had a girl or Poohpers might still not have a name.

I will summarize the last 6 months of conversation for you.

Me - What should I wear in India?
Hubs - Wear whatever you want.
Me- Really, cause I emailed your sister and she said I should dress Indian.
Hubs - Well, you really should dress Indian.
Me - So what would that be?
Hubs - You know, what Indians wear.
Me - Like a Sari?
Hubs - No, young Indian women don't really wear Sari's anymore.
Me - Okay, so I should buy those tops/dresses things?
Hubs - Yes.
Me - I can buy them in Salem right?
Hubs - No, you should buy them in the city, they will be more stylish.
Me - So, we are going to disembark from the flight and go shopping right away?
Hubs - No, there won't be any time to shop before we go to Salem.
Me - So I should buy outfits in Salem.
Hubs - No, they won't be stylish, you don't want to buy them there.
Me - So should I buy them before we go?
Hubs - No, that doesn't make sense.
Me - So I should wear western clothes for the first week and buy those shirt thingies when we drop my parents off at the airport in the city?
Hubs - Yes.
Me - So for the first week, what should I wear?
Hubs - Wear whatever you want.
Me - Okay, I'm going to wear something I already have until we can buy something in the city.  What about shorts?
Hubs - No, shorts aren't appropriate.
Me - Okay, what about this skirt? (models skirt)
Hubs - No, that's too high school.
Me - Too high school?  What do you mean.
Hubs - That it's too high school.
Me - Okay, what about this skirt? (models another skirt)
Hubs - Yeah, it'd be okay, I guess.
Me - So it's not too high school?
Hubs - No.
Me - Okay, so what's the difference?
Hubs - This one is longer, I can't see your knees.
Me - Okay...so I should wear pants?
Hubs - Wear whatever you want.
Me - Can I wear this?
Hubs - No.
Me - Should I buy some khakis or cargos? Is that too casual, seems casual to me.
Hubs - I don't think people will have an opinion on what you wear.
Me - Maybe I'll go naked.....

Typhoid Poohpers

So one of the needles we need to get before going on our trip is a typhoid shot.  Because this is me, going to an exotic country, all typhoid vaccines are either recalled or back ordered till January (after the trip is over).  My mother expressed concern over this and I said I was seeing the doctor on Wednesday, I would ask her about her opinion on the situation and what our options were.

Well the time between when I talked to my mom and talked to the doctor my parents decided that if we go to India without the shots, all of us ARE going to get typhoid and we are ALL going to DIE!

So after double checking their cancellation policy my mom called one morning as I was busy at work and told me if I didn't get a typhoid needle into my daughter's arm by sundown they were cancelling their trip.  After the brief daydream of the ease of leaving three white bread people behind, I was forced to abandon work and phone every pharmacy in Ontario...

I phoned every travel clinic in the area (these people hoard needles like this from regular pharmacies) only to discover that if I want to own that million dollar condo across from the ROM one day I just need to open a travel clinic.  I particularly enjoyed the lovely conversation with the dingbat at the one clinic.

Dingbat: I can book you on the computer, so we can vaccinate you against typhoid.
Me: Well we need to get the dead virus needle because it's for a two year old.  This is very hard to find, can you check that you have it?
Dingbat: No, I don't know that, but I can book you on the computer, so we have Typhoid vaccine and that will be $85.
Me:  I don't want to take the entire day off work to drive to another city to pay $85 to see a doctor if I can't get the specific vaccine I need.  Will I get my money back if you don't have it?
Dingbat:  (in offended voice) No! You will already have seen the doctor by that time and have used up his time, so of course you can't have your money back!
Me:  So can you check that you have the vaccine I'm looking for?
Dingbat:  The computer says I can book an appointment for a typhoid vaccine, so we had typhoid vaccines, what day would you like to come?  It will be $85 each to talk to the doctor.
Me: click.

Another stellar business was the doctor that personally talked to that told me to get the typhoid/Hep A combo shot, it was perfectly safe.  This seemed weird as we had just got our Twinrix shots, so I phoned and asked my doctor and apparently that stellar doctor was trying to kill us.

The best though was when I discovered the Little Britain "Computer Says No" character works at a pharmacy here in the city where I live!  I wasn't sure if I should be laughing or crying.

Finally an hour into the search I found a pharmacy that had the vaccine!  I rushed over after work with my prescription only to discover that my prescription was for the wrong brand of typhoid shot.  You'd think if there is more than one company making these things someone would at least get it right?  Luckily I had explained everything to the pharmacist and she processed the vaccine for me, called my doctor's office and had the prescription changed for me.  Within the week Poohpers had dead typhoid swimming in her veins, and my parents calmed down long enough to get that dead virus into her and we are all still going on the trip!

Shhh, don't tell my parents, but as of today I'm still on the death list (note to self, phone doctor to change prescription to typhoid pills), but I figure that's okay, Hubs is going to die too, as he's skipping all the needles.  He figures he's had all the diseases already and then MUST be immune right?  Which reminds me, I sill have to phone about a will.....

a thousand bucks

So I thought it might be exciting to give Sally 1000 rupees instead of $20 Canadian for her birthday.  Little did I know that my sister had been schooling her on the worthlessness of 1 rupee compared to $1 Canadian.

I excitedly watched her open her card and go "yeah." like I had gifted her a pair of dirty underwear.  Me: It's a 1000 dollars!
Sally: meh
Me: Aren't you excited, you can spend it in India, it's got Gandhi's picture on it!
Sally: (gives me that who is Gandhi and why would I care look)
My Dad:  Let me see, that's cool!
Sally: Wait, how much is this worth?
Me: $20
Sally: (face lights up like a Christmas tree) I got $20!

So much for impressing her with all those zeros....