Travel Babies

I just got copies of my Dad's and Nanu's Bicol pictures so I'm buried beneath a MOUNTAIN of vacation photos. Will slog through them soon for full upload, promise, Ninang Michelle! But for now, here's one version of the story (as seen on LJ):


"Comparisons are odious." I know and I couldn't agree more. To pit one sibling against another never results in anything productive. However, our recent trip to Bicol has highlighted differences in Lia and Desi which I feel compelled to preserve for posterity. To keep in mind for future travel, and for them to read when they are older. Maybe they will grow up to change. Or maybe not.

As I had outlined in a previous post, this trip was complicated to say the least, in that we travelled by air, land, and water. Yes. Kulang na lang, space. Anyway, it has given us the opportunity to see how the girls fare in different transportation modes and travel activities.

PLANE

On the plane to Legaspi, I let Yaya Fe sit at the window because it's her first time to fly on a plane. She held Desi, Lia sat between us and I sat at the aisle. Lia and Desi's marked difference was apparent the instant the plane geared up for take off. Desi promptly fell asleep (without the aide of kiddie bonamine) and Lia curled up in her chair in fetal position and covered her ears with her fingers while clinging to my arm for dear life. She didn't cry or anything, but she was clearly afraid. And through out the trip, whenever she is reminded she has to ride the plane to go back home to Lia's house, she says "No! Not ride the airplane! Ride the car! Ride the car to Lia's house." Oh really? You will take the 12 hour drive back to Manila with your father? Honey you don't know what you're aksing for.

On the flight back from Legaspi, Desi looked like this:

Too excited to fall asleep, she was chipper through out the hour-long flight. I had to buy Lia a Cebu Pacific toy to calm her down.

On the plane, Desi is definitely like Mike and Lia is like me. When Mike and I travel on the plane together, he's either happily looking out the window or sleeping while I'm fighting down the urge to retch and/or tear my eardrums out.

BOAT

As soon as we landed in Legaspi, we loaded up the Everest (Mike and Manong Jun were there already waiting for us) and the Lapids + Nana and Nanu rode a van) and headed straight for Donsol. There we immediately signed up for Whale Shark Interaction, left our stuff at our resort and got on two boats. The experience is incredible enough for a whole other post. But through the entire boat ride, Lia looked like this:

Poor miserable Lia hated the loud sound of the boat's engine. She kept her fingers in her ears for over two hours until she fell asleep in her Daddy's arms. Desi on the other hand, started the boat ride with a nap, and when she woke up she calmly finished off a bag of Coco Crunch and a bottle of water. Desi is definitely like me. I LOVE boats! Boats don't bother Mike but we don't know how he was as a kid. And he doesn't particularly like the ocean so, let's just say when it comes to boats, Lia is like him.

CAR

We learned on our trip to Baguio that Lia gets carsick. So I always have her drugged with kiddie bonamine on long car rides. In Bicol, we drove at least two hours every single day except the day we left. And sometimes, even if she's already had bonamine, she still say she "feels sick" and needs "medicine to make me feel better." Desi started every single road trip like this:

And when she wakes up halfway to our destination, she just blabs and eats. Just like her Daddy. Road trip expert.

In the car, Lia is like me. When I was a kid, it was Dramamine, and it wasn't the sweet chewable candy-like bonamine we have today. I have memories of that bitter yellow pill being forced down my throat every single year on our way to Baguio or Caliraya. Boo! Sorry, Lia you are my child after all.

THE SEA

This is Lia with her legs wrapped around my hips as I try to put her down in the inch-deep water. She absolutely, vehemently REFUSED to get into the water, even if it was warm and felt like a giant jacuzzi. She spent her entire time at the beach digging in the sand. With her but firmly planted on my sarong. She didn't want to actually sit in the sand. She just wanted to dig.

And this is Desi pulling me TOWARDS the water. She spent a lot of time swimming, floating around, being passed on from tito to tito in the waves. She is definitely like me when it comes to the sea. Mike has this habit of going to the beach and NOT SWIMMING. Now we know it's genetic.

IDEA OF FUN

When it wasn't time to swim, or eat, or ride the car, that time when we travel that is spent reading or sleeping (if you're not travelling with children), Desi was always restless, wants to play, to walk, to explore. Was happiest when she wasn't trapped in the room.

Lia, on the other hand,

Was happiest in an aircon room watching Dora the Explorer on her Daddy's laptop. Nothing else calmed her down as well. I think it's pretty clear by now. Desi and I have the same idea of fun. Lia is her father's daughter.

***

Now I know it seems that Desi got all the best travel genes and Lia got the worst. To be fair, Lia did not have her yaya during this entire trip, which made it doubly stressful for her. She being used to always having Yaya Felma around, catering to her every need, knowing how things are done, how to get her to do things, and generally giving her 100% attention which she doesn't have to share with anyone else. She's been missing her yaya for two weeks already by the time we went on this trip. It is actually to her credit that she only had one major breakdown in the whole five-day trip.

Mike and I keep joking that when we all go to Singapore, or wherever, together, he and Lia will stay in the hotel and watch TV or surf the net while Desi and hit the amusement parks. For all that this trip wasn't the most restful of all vacations, I still can't wait for the next one. :-)