I need some advice... I found a job in Canada, a party chief position with a mix of short and long term trips out of Edmonton, AB, and we are going to move there for 1.5 years or so. The job is starting sometime in January 2014.
What is bugging me every morning now is how our baby is going to take a long flight from Kyiv (or Warsaw) to Toronto, this is about 9 hours long flight. I was wondering if anyone had to go trough something like that. May be you could share some advices? some of you experience. I am afraid baby will get bored to stay for so long in one place and also I am afraid of the pressure changes...
Actually it takes tree flights one 1-hour long from my home town to Kyiv or Warsaw, then the second one to Toronto - 9 hours long or so and after that 4-hours long (if I remember correctly) from Toronto to Edmonton. We would stay in a hotel in Toronto for one or two days to have some rest before moving further. The other thing is food for baby - it will take like one week or so before we get to our own kitchen in a rented apartment in Edmonton. Will stay in a hotel for a few days before I find an apartment for rent(will do online search before we move...).
May be I should have waited for one more year before moving I do not know. It is not late to cancel the the job offer and wait for one more year. The only thing is that we spent 500$ for visa for my wife, but that is ok to forget it if we it is better for baby to stay here.
I would really appreciate some input.
Thank you.
Best thing we did flying Sydney- Honolulu-Seattle and back with an 11 month old was to get her her own seat and a FAA approved car seat. She was very snug and could sleep easily in the seat rather than being on one of our laps.
Seemed expensive when we were planning it but worth every cent once on the plane.
We got a Combi Coccoro seat. It is marked as suitable for aircraft use and it is one of the narrowest seats you can get so it will fit in the plane seat. A standard car seat is too wide.
I've travelled with my own children when they were young. While I never felt their well-being was being compromised, they sure could get fussy and fitful.
I really think in the "big picture" the effects of a week or so of travel will be relatively minor. I'm sure a small child could get fussy and have a tummy ache, but I don't think the child would be any worse-for-wear.
FWIW: In the late forties and early fifties my father toted my brother, sister and me around the deserts of New Mexico in a 1939 Studebaker. Air conditioning was only a fantasy back then. He was a surveyor and we lived in some sparce environs.
I remember a two room 16' trailer house with no running water at an AFB in Roswell, N.M. The 'bath house' was an outside shower and sink that the whole neighborhood shared. We lived.:-)
I think all of you will do fine. Good luck and congratulations.
Thank you very much !! thank you for the seat recommendation !
few minutes ago I had an idea of finding an airplane which flies to Toronto overnight(night time our time), so she would probably sleep most of the time, will see if I find it....
I remember a two room 16' trailer house with no running water at an AFB in Roswell, N.M. The 'bath house' was an outside shower and sink that the whole neighborhood shared. We lived. - See more at: http://beerleg.com/index.php?mode=thread&id=224708#sthash.0GZqTjHy.dpuf :good:
Yes, we did.
Randy
Bring many things for distractions for baby.... Books, toys, videos, walking the aisles of the plane etc.
In my experience flying with infants is about stamina. As long as you and your wife take turns distracting, comforting and playing with baby all should be fine. I would think in the long run it is better to grind out the tough traveling days and be together as a family.
Good luck!
This is no help to you ....
but the longest flight I was ever on was a 12 hour non-stop from Auckland NZ to LosAngeles US. It was a 747 packed full, left at mid-night, etc etc. But what really helped make it very long was there was a baby in the row right behind me that cried the entire 12 hours. And I don't know what the mother could have done differently. Ugh!
Welcome to Canada Yuriy.
Food for your family should not be a problem. Just pick a hotel that's farther from the airport and near to a shopping center and you'll be fine. Google Earth is an excellent tool for this - check out the Quality Inn Airport East as an option.
Edmonton and most of Alberta has a long history of Ukranian immigration, so you'll likely find lots of people who can help you settle in. Check out the Canadian Ukranian Immigrant Aid Society as a place to start.
Which company will you be working for?
I expect it will be much harder on mom and dad than it is on the baby.
Hi Steve,
Thanks a lot for the links !. This is Precision Geomatics from Edmonton that offered me a job.
I have been in Canada before, I moved to Edmonton back in 2003 and stayed there straight for two years working for McElhanney Land Surveys. I spend enough time in Canada that I even got Canadian citizenship. Later on I decided to spend summers in Ukraine and winters in Canada surveying (with the same company). It was working fine for many years. Few years ago I got married and I stopped my working trips to Alberta. Now we all want to move, but it will not be a permanent move, we plan to stay for 1.5 years or so and go back, (I hope my gps hobby will eventually turn into a really small business by then, but this is a dream :))
This is no help to you ....
.. this might have been pressure related problem I suspect (in ear-nose system), the pressure had no way to escape and was probably causing constant pain... just guessing.
I close my nose and blow air in until I hear some sort of "clicks" in my ears, and it helps me, I can hear normally again after that, but how one could have done this to a baby I do not know. This happens only during descent or accent.
I work for MCSL in Prince George, so we probably have mutual acquaintances in the Edmonton MLSL office. You will definitely get a lot of GPS time in the patch - some of the field crews almost never use instruments for surveying now.
Yuriy-
Welcome to Canada to you and your wife and baby !
We are about 2 hours from Toronto so it likely will not work for you to stay with us.
But, in a pinch we are here for you if needed.
Cheers,
Derek
A bottle or pacifier will help with getting the pressure pops out of the ears. The sucking motion of the mouth is like chewing gum for older kids/adults.
My partner and I just traveled with two 16 month olds from Ontario (California!) to San Antonio via Houston. We did buy a seat, and kept swapping them from the car seat to laps. They were old enough that they wanted to be on lap/walking more than in the seat. Infant car seats should fit with no problem.
On the international flight, you might see if you can get bulkhead seats. While most airlines won't have storage, there will be more space for the kid to be on the floor in front of you (although it's not very safe in case of turbulence).
I didn't do this, but many people suggest bringing toys and games that the child hasn't seen before, so you get the novelty factor.
We had several bags of snacks like cheerios, other crunchies that don't spoil.
Be ready for flight delays! We almost had to stay an extra day in San Antonio or Houston when our original flight was delayed and we would have missed the connection. I was scrambling to get more diapers out of the suitcase and into the carry-on just in case. We ended up arriving home about 4 hours later than originally planned.
In the US, you can gate-check a stroller so that you can use it for the connections and to/from check-in and baggage claim.
You might check out http://parenting.stackexchange.com and http://travel.stackexchange.com to see if someone asked a similar question.
Edited: We've been lucky and the kids haven't been sick so the pressure changes weren't a problem. Get them to drink as the swallowing will help equalize the pressure.
Melita
Thank you very much ! I really appreciate your offer !
I guess we will be looking for a hotel a few bus stops away from airport and close to a grocery store, hopefully we will find a room with kichenet. It will be good to get to a motel room quick after all those adventures 🙂
Thank you very much to all of you !!!
This is a great board, it is always helpful - does not matter what kind of question is 🙂
sound like you're all set, Yuriy
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Yuriy-
It is very expensive around the Toronto International airport for what you are wanting.
It's not that we don't want you but can you fly on to your final destination ?
It will be a damp cold in Toronto and you know what it is like in Alberta.
Cheers,
Derek
sound like you're all set, Yuriy
:good:
.. my bag full of winter work gear has been sitting for 2+ yeaars without use, so it will be time to unwind it finally 🙂 (it still smells black spruce or pine tar)
