Travel tip #2: Frequent Flyer Numbers Are Only Handy When You Have Them

Keep a list of your frequent flyer numbers in your wallet.  Always.

I was just on the phone with United for an hour trying to get my family's miles posted to my account. If I had only had the numbers at the check-in counter, I could have been, I don't know, eating chocolate cake and dancing in my living room to the Black Eyed Peas this last hour.


Some helpful links, just in case you aren't signed-up:
United Frequent Flyer sign-up
Delta Frequent Flyer sign-up
American Airlines sign-up
US Airways sign-up

Spouses, any frequent flyer tips?  Come on, don't hog those upgrades!  Leave 'em here.

Travel tip #1: Passport renewals

Tape a list of each of your family members' passport expiration dates and the date you need to start renewing them on the outside of your passport file.  Just so you don't have to worry (am I the only one who does that?), begin renewing them at least 3-6 months before the expiration.  I hesitate to write this because I am a recovering procrastinator and this would just give me license to wait, but for a US passport, if you live in the US it can take as little as 5 days to 6 weeks depending on if you want expedited service and how long it takes the US postal system to get it to you.   If you live in Asia? Africa? The Stans? Eastern Europe? You're gonna need a bit more time.  Check with your embassy; they'll know.  Here are a few links for passport renewals.  

US renewals
Canada renewals
Australian renewals
UK renewals
New Zealand renewals

Okay, funny story (now I can say that). This last summer my family was moving to Belgrade, Serbia, our next post. We had sold our car and rented our house. We were outta there! We arrived at Dulles Airport feeling quite pleased with ourselves that we were 3 1/2 hours early for our flight. We lugged all eight 50 pound pieces of luggage and 8 carry-ons to the ticket counter and handed the agent our passports. She looked up and asked, "I need your daughter's current passport. This one is expired." Yes, after more than 10 years of doing this, we let our daughter's passport expire. Our excuse? Her's was on a different schedule than the rest of us. Whatever. My husband and son flew to Belgrade that day while my daughter and I lugged our four 50 pound pieces of luggage and 4 carry-ons back to the curb and hailed a cab. Luckily, we had the cell number for our friends in Chantilly who hosted us until we had a valid passport in hand. Good grief.  This is how I learn the hard way.


Spouses, any other passport advice?  Or would you rather just leave us behind?  Please, share your wisdom.
Or do you have a travel story that tops mine?  Please, give us a chuckle!

Have kids, will fly. 5 travel tips for traveling with a baby.

Here are the 5 things that maybe you wouldn't think of before traveling long distances with a baby.  They are mostly for airplane travel, but some may come in handy for shorter on the ground trips.  Most of these I learned the hard way.  I'm hoping to save you some extra trials and tribulations of traveling with a baby.  Like there aren't enough already.


1.  Let the airlines know that you would like the baby bassinet with your seat.  This is a bassinet connected in front of your seat where the baby can sleep and your hands are free.  The only downside to this is that you are in the very front seats (of coach, that is) and you don't have storage under the seats in front of you (since there are no seats).  That can be a pain, but worth it if you know your babe will snooze.


2.  Don't wear overalls and wear slip-on shoes.  Okay, I know I'm dating myself.  Again.  Who wears overalls anymore?  (What a shame, right?  They were so comfy).  What I'm saying, though, is check your attire or any extra metal buttons or zippers.  Metal detectors don't like metal buttons.  You'll get the pat down every time.   Juggling a baby and your carry-ons during your 3rd pat down, now that's fun.  If you haven't figured out yet to wear slip-on shoes while traveling in an airplane, here's the time to simplify your security checkpoint life.  If you are traveling overseas, you can have two of these checkpoints at every layover, when you enter the new airport and when you enter the plane.  Oh, and now in Atlanta, when you arrive from overseas, you have to go through security before you can LEAVE the airport.  I've gone through security on one single trip up to seven times.  (I challenge you:  who can beat that?)

3.  While on the clothes note, try to wear clothes that won't show wetness (spandex? ooo, the 80's rock).  I'll never forget wearing tan cotton pants with my nursing son on a trip, thinking that they wouldn't show dirt (dirt?  the kid can't even roll over yet) and would be comfy.  First layover, the kid barfs all over my lap.  Okay, it's inevitable that you'll be wearing milk stains for a year or so, I could live with that.  But I had to walk through the airport and down the aisle of the airplane with what appeared to be an "accident" caused by post-pregnancy incontinence.  Lovely.

4.  Bring masking tape and Post-its.  If you have older babies who like to play.  Bring these items along with you.  You cannot imagine the myriad of things you can do with this stuff:  make sticky balls, tape highways, post-it peek-a-boos, tape faces on the back of chairs.  These things won't hurt the cushions at all and your baby will be entertained for quite a while.  It really is amazing.

5.  Buy a Sit 'n Stroll.  When my son was born, I was over-the-top anti-baby gear.  I tend to get that way.  I was traveling by myself with my 3 month old from Mexico to the US and then a month later to Guatemala.  There was no way I was lugging around a car seat, a stroller, and the over-stuffed baby bag, plus 3 stuffed 70 lbs suitcases and a pack 'n play.  And a cat.  Oh, and let's not forget the baby.  When I was pregnant I flew a few times (imagine that!) and was thumbing through the Sky Mall Magazine.  I always get a good chuckle out of the canopy dog beds and water flowing drinking fountains for cats.  This time, though,  I saw the solution to my too much baby gear problem, the Sit 'n Stroll.  It's a car seat that transforms into a stroller in seconds AND it's a FAA certified flight seat.  We used that thing for 6 years, for 2 kids, through 4 countries and hundreds of airports.  It's now available in online stores (and maybe real stores too).  Don't forget to ask for the seatbelt extension when you board the plane.

P.S. I also want to mention a really cool website from which I swear I did not steal my article title.   This site has it all when traveling by plane, train, and automobile with little ones.   http://havebabywilltravel.com/

Bon Voyage!  Srecan Put!  Buen Viaje!

Spouses, got traveling with baby tips?  Please, please share in the comments below!

my head is full of glue

I just got home from Serbian class.  My head feels like it's full of glue.  You know the feeling? As if your eyebrows are pierced with 1/4 lbs. weights.  Don't get me wrong.  I highly recommend learning the language of the country in which you live.  It is hard, though.  Here you are, this grown-up, accomplished person, but when you are learning a language you feel, well, absolutely stupid.  You can say hardly anything and then when you do you sound like Pebbles on the Flintstones (I just dated myself).  Oh, how many times did I come home from Spanish class bawling like the baby I sounded like in class?  It gets easier.  With every language you learn, it gets easier.  Maybe you get over feeling like an imbecile more quickly.  Maybe you realize that it's worth it because you see how people light up when they realize you want to communicate on their terms.

The amusing thing about the "glue" comment is that it reminds me of a poem I wrote when I was just becoming proficient in Spanish.  Even at the roughest point in learning, Spanish felt like honey in my ears.  Think of flamenco.  Smooth and melodic.  Macedonian, Serbian?   These languages mirror the traditional Serbian dance, the Kolo, complex, amazingly strong, yet incredibly beautiful.  You've got to watch this video to understand why my head, like my feet are oozing glue.  It's a little intimidating.

 Okay, now here's honey.

Learning Spanish

by Stephanie Rowlands

Her words flow over me like honey,

liquid and sticky.

Some of it sticks;

Some of it simply and quietly flows to the ground

and gathers in a puddle of goo.

But the part that sticks,

those golden pieces of sun

coat my mouth

sine my lips.

I roll my tongue through them,

around them,

pushing and massaging them like

the gap from a lost tooth,

supple and pink,

foreign and strange.

But after a while,

after enough sticking and prodding

my tongue gets used to it

until

the sharp edges of the cloudy white tooth

prick my tongue

and until

enough honey sticks

and my mouth is full

full of teeth

of cloud

of honey

and once open,

the gold will flow from my sticky teeth

into her ears

and some of it will stick

and some of it will simply and quietly flow to the ground

but enough to it will stick

and she will understand.

Tell us your language trials, tribulations and triumphs!

Dear Christine Barnes Crocker,

Dear Mrs. Crocker,

I was trying to find a creative new name for my blog and googled famous diplomats in the hopes of finding out about their spouses when I, of course, came across your husband.  As you know, he is quite famous in the world, but especially the Foreign Service.  His name is spoken in the FS community with reverence and awe.

I knew, though, that there was most likely a spouse in the shadow of this great man.  So, I found out your name and started googling.  I was/am amazed.  I can find so little.  Maybe you have kept your life private, since what I mostly find is that you are a former member of the Foreign Service, and that you won the State Department's Award for Heroism in 2002.  My goodness!  The Award for Heroism!  I should say so!  But there are no specifics on that.  I can only assume it is regarding the bombing of the Embassy in Syria, or maybe it was for Beirut, Lebanon, or Baghdad, but I could be wrong.  I mean, good grief, you also served in Pakistan and Kuwait where bombs flying are as common as birds.  After a lot of searching I discovered that you survived the attack on the US embassy in Beirut in 1983 with a nasty head injury, the bombing of the Syrian ambassador's residence and embassy in 1998, and the March 2008 attack on the Green Zone in Baghdad where the upstairs windows of the your residence were blown out while you were inside, and still you stayed.

goodbyes have begun

moving trucks start filling our neighborhood tomorrow.  goodbyes have begun.  i'm the mushy one, swallowing my tears even though the actual words won't be said for 10 more days.  and i'm staying.  staying, though, has its disadvantages too.  the constant reminders of old friends that have moved on continually pop-up.  i'm saying goodbye to my balkan confidant, my prijatelica.  who will i moan and groan with over a shot of rakija when she leaves?  who will walk with me arm and arm in the open market?  i've known her now for 5 years and 4 of them we lived in the same country, the same city even!  it's like a bit of your heart gets chipped away with every goodbye.  luckily a little bit is added when we say hello.  oh, i will miss you, mi amiga.  okay.  now i'm crying.

Spouses, do you have a special goodbye to someone?  Leave it here.

Click here to go to Jennifer's Language page to learn how to say many phrases in every language!

moving sucks.

oh my gosh.  i just ran into a friend who is leaving post in a month.  i feel bad, but all that keeps running through my mind is, "thank god, that's not me."  i get the shivers just thinking about it.  thank god thank god thank god.  i love what we do and all, but i hate, hate, hate moving.  i like arriving at new places.  i like exploring new countries.  i love the adventures. but moving just plan sucks.

i was thumbing through my journal from last year and found the page where i started the countdown (1 month and 4 days to be exact) until moving day.  and then the to-do list.  okay, see if this doesn't make you want to throw-up (not that i want to make you throw-up, just saying): "find TB test results, scan school docs, schedule painter, get info from dry cleaners about time for rugs and down comforter, schedule mammogram, schedule cleaning service, clean out drawers, goodwill run, change address, make father's day presents, mail, buy june and july b-day presents, buy consumables, take pics of car for sale, clean car first, . . ."  And that's not even half of it.  the list swarms inside your head.  and there is nothing to stop it.  nothing to make it easier.  no matter how many times you do it, moving sucks.

after the swarm has diminished and the moving truck drives away and i walk back inside to a house that once buzzed with activity and energy and now is empty with used up packing tape rolls strewn around the room, muddy boot prints on the hardwood floors,  and chia pet puffs of dog fur huddling in the corners, i am too exhausted and empty to cry.  my footsteps echo through the house, bounce off the blank walls.  it's not my house anymore.

crap.  what the hell am i doing?  i can't go there and i don't have to for another 3 years!  3 years!  i can't believe i'm going to live in the same house for 4 years.  i haven't done that since i left my childhood home to go off to college.  what will it feel like?  you know, i hate to say it, but one of the first things to cross my mind when we got the okay to extend our 3-year tour one more year was, "damn, it's going to be even harder to move."  i couldn't help it.  what does this inevitable instability do to a person?  especially a person who lived in the same house from the time she was born until she was 18.  i used to say good-bye to hotel rooms.  that's how attached i used to get to places where i slept (no, i no longer do that.  can you imagine?  i'd constantly be homesick if i hadn't gotten over that neurosis).  I've been moving every year to 3 years for the last 23 years.  my god.

okay, we can ponder that one for a while.

Spouses, do you have some moving advice?  Why are you keeping it to yourself?  Leave it here.