264 | Recapping Our Trip Around the World! (with 3 kids)
00:00What's up, everybody?Welcome back to a couple things.With Sean and Andrew.We are back.And we have so much to share about our circling the globe with three little ones.That's right.This episode is going to be a recap of our experience, taking our five-year-old, our three-year-old, and our one-year-old around the world in 14 days.And we went to three main locations.
00:23We went to Osaka, Japan.Yep.Singapore.Yep.And then Dubai, UAE.Yes.And we thought when we were planning this trip, that those were all kind of in the same area.We called it our Asia trip.
00:36And it's not.It wasn't until we bought the flights.It's not an Asia trip.Yeah, it's not.It's around the world trip.We took way more time on the plane than we expected to.So much time on the plane.But we'll get to that.
00:50We'll get to that.We're also doing a bunch of YouTube videos about this.So if you want to see the live experience, including everything we packed, all the activities we did,then you could check out our main channel, YouTube.But I hope that the takeaway from this episodeand any videos we publish about our adventures are twofold.One, I hope that people know that we do enjoy traveling.Oh, yes.
01:16I don't think it's like an idol in our lives.I don't think it's like the end all be all in life.I more view travel as a way to capture unique, intentional timewith our kids.in this phase of life.And for us, we're pretty routine oriented when we're at home.And so when we travel and we take these trips, it's really the only time, the whole yearthat we'll be off the routine.
01:43Well, and we work a lot, which is, I know a lot of you don't see that, but we do work a lot.And I feel like if we are home, our schedule is very crazy in the sense that people can, you know,grab our attention andrequire us to work moreat the drop of a hatand if we schedule travelit's a way for us to literallylike go black and go dark
02:09on the on the calendar to where nobodycan touch that. Yeah. And it's justone on one superlike amazingintentional, fun, adventurous timewith our kids. Yeah. And I want tosay that because we're not travelinfluencers. I don't, we don't
02:25want to make travel this aspirational dream to try to sell, but our motivations are just to getthis type of quality time with our kids. You can do that a bunch of different ways. This is justour way to do it. I will also say, and I by nature and just like how we're wired, we aren't routineor repeat vacationers. So we don't have like that one place that we like to go every single yearat the same time for the same holiday. We are very curious people and we like to go try and seenew things and because of us our kids are the same way they like trying new things and going newplaces and so it's just kind of been a family thing that we wanted to do together we do seem totravel a lot though it's not like you said an idol of ours we love it um we are getting ready to leave
03:14for another international trip tomorrow which is wild yeah we just got back last night uh and sowe wanted to record this podcast while everything was fresh top of mind umbut yeah we're kind of samplers and our goal in sharing and talking about this is that maybewe'll share experiences that weren't really well for us in this phase of life with the kids beingthe age they are and things that weren't worth doing but the second reason I want to talk aboutthis and our experience is traveling as a family is I do think there is a connotation andkind of this default setting when you have kids you're like my life's going to stop I'm notgoing to be able to travel. It's too overwhelming. Oh, my gosh, it's too much. And we definitely
03:58experienced that. I think there is, obviously, the newborn phase. You're not going to travelmuch. But hopefully us sharing this is inspiration that, like, you can still do all the wonderfulthings you like doing. If travel is one of those things, then travel included. But it actuallyenhances the experience or it has for us to bring our kids along. It's definitely changed itdrastically. It's made it more logistically challenging. Packing looks a lot different. You'relugging around, a bunch of stuff. You're playing more of a shirper role. But it's also not nearlyas difficult as people think. Right. And so that's my, yeah, that's my goal is like, hey,you can do this. If it is a bucket list dream of yours, then please try it out because you're
04:41going to love it. So that's a high level. I also want to start with this. Let me just aska question. Did you have fun on our trip?I had a blast.I think there was, as we dive into this, there were a lot of stressors, unforeseen stressors.Yeah.That caused me to be on edge quite a bit at the beginning.But I think by halfway through, I was able to settle in better.I think it was the last third, probably.
05:11The last third.There were a lot of stressors.Yeah, because, yeah.There were a lot of stressors.Oh, my gosh.Yeah.But I would say, I would say this.Let me just debunk this whole vacation.
05:23I think when you're single, vacation is this relaxing on the beach,reading a book by the sun, whatever, the pool.Fun when you have kids, to me, means we're making meaningful memories as a family.We're teaching our kids something.We're becoming more of a team together and learning this, like, reliability on each other.When I grew up, we took camping trips.We would take long road trips.and then camp and very rarely did we go on a vacation where we were all like excited as kids to get in
05:58the car for the road trip to start the vacation but inevitably by the end of it we were allcloser together better for it had incredible memories my perception of vacation is not like oh it wasthis giggly frolicing on the beach experience it wasn't that for us this experience either thistrip was more of a...But it was the last third of it.We had a blast if blast meansmeaningful times.There were also a lot of like
06:29throw-ups on the plane.That's not a blast, but like, would I change?Anything about it? No.What?Nothing. How would we just tell them the story?What's...Well, you want to do this chronologically?Because I do think it's sounding
06:43pretty doomsday-ish.I'm just repositioning.What is your idea of fun?I know.If it's like, oh, it was so relaxing.But positioning it, like, I see it as the way that I grew up,getting in the car and none of us want to be thereand none of us want to go.
06:59And, like, that doesn't sound good.Our kids were very excited about this trip.We were all ecstatic.I'm saying this was a meaningful experience together as a family.Yes.Our kids bonded.Yes.And really, it seemed like became teammates in a different way.
07:15Yeah, I agree.Yeah, we grew.We got better.Go ahead.You can convince.Okay.So traveling logistics for this trip were definitely different than any other trip we've donebecause there were so many different flights and different hotels and different
07:33transportations, planes, trains, automobiles.We flew from Nashville to Atlanta.We jumped on a plane from Atlanta and we went Atlanta to Japan.So we went west.It was a 14-hour flight.We have done first class before with our kids.we went first class to Israel with them a couple years ago and my two cents was it's not worth the money especially for like toddlers because especially when we went first class it was a fortune and we agreed to do it but the kids spent all the time just in like my seat or your seat yeah so we paid for like six place six seats and we used maybe too so for thistrip I had planned on at least we'll get to the other parts but from our flight from
08:27Atlanta to Japan since it was 14 hours I bought two extra seats I bought a seat for bear and then Ibought an extra seat we were on Delta and they were very accommodating for that you have to pay thesame fare that you paid for all your other seats but we paid we had two extra so we had twothree person rows and it was actually great it was a very long flightbut the kids did wonderfully we played with toys we used to like the little airplane slings they sleptwe ate we did laps around the plane we watched movies we did all these different things butoverall on that flight it was a solid like a minus I only give a minus because it was so freaking longour five and three year old are fantastic they get pretty much just we let the kids binge screen time
09:17on the planes we just do that with no guilt it's like hey let's get through this yeah they're champsabout it and they were they were they've also traveled since they were young since they were bornand they've gotten the hang of it they understand like they can get up and go to the bathroom by themselvesthey know how to ask you know the flight attendants for juice they are very familiar if they bringover a tray of food they know how to do that they know how to work the like the screens they'revery familiar with planes and they like flying i feel like if you're of themindset oh my gosh is too stressful to fly with kids i'm going to wait till some ambiguous age downthe road it's still going to feel overwhelming at that age so our experience has been it's super
09:58stressful to do a 14 hour fight with a 16 month old that is it was super stressful that's itbut if you're able to deal with that stress for a little amount of time in their early age it doesi think mold them into people jet our three-year-old was phenomenalHe was up asking the waitress for water, going to the bathroom by himself.It was no maintenance on our part.We do buy the extra seat because our one and a half year old is very active as our other two kids.More courtesy for any person who's going to sit next to us.Yes.
10:33And we kind of bounce back and forth holding him.He took intermittent one hour naps every now and then.He did great.And I also just want to say this.I have never been a fan of spending a lot of money on flights.I'm like, yo, this is such a small fraction percentage of our time on this trip.Let's spend more on our hotel room instead of the exponential increase from coach to first class on this.Do you feel that way after the last three flights that we had?
11:06I would rather have bought the middle seat.I will say that.I don't think it's worth it in the phase we're in right now for first class with toddlers.It's exponentially more.exponentially more but paying for extra seats in economy or coach and making sure you have like a rowor have an extra seat for space was definitely worth it and still drastically cheaper yeah so they didgreat we landed in Tokyo late at night late at night and then we had to uh mid mid afternoonoh that's right it was still it was like it was 2 p.m in Tokyo it was 2 p.m in Tokyo it was 2 p.m.
11:45I'm all messed up.So, and then we had to get on a cab to go to the bullet train that was a two-hour ride down to Osaka.Yes, which was comical because by the time we got to the train station, first off, we had our first Tokyo meal at the train station before we got on the bullet train.We had a ramen and it was some of the best ramen I've ever had, just at the train station.We all, the kids got ice cream.We kind of like got ourselves back together and then got on the train.And that was our first introduction to Japanese culture, which is so quiet.It was incredibly quiet.
12:22Nobody talked.Yeah, it's very clean.People are respectful.Very.And our kids probably were challenged most in that situation because they're pretty rambunctious.They're 5, 3, and 1.Honestly, I don't know if we give them too much slack or room to play.In Japan, we do.
12:42Yeah, yeah, it did feel like that.It was funny though on the plane or on the train by the time we got on it was a two-hour train ride down to Osaka and we were exhausted at one point and this is I I'm shameful to even admit this at one point I woke up and Andrew was asleep with Bear in his arms and Bear was asleep Marsha Andrew's mom went with us she was asleep and Drew and Jet were still awake just like kind of running around they had stayed very close they were like right next to us but I wasI was like, oh my gosh.Just a five and three-year-old unschaphroned.We were so tired.So tired.We couldn't stay awake.We made it to Osaka.
13:23We stayed at the intercontinental in Osaka, which was incredible.Osaka was amazing.Imagine a version of Chicago that's very quiet, not busy, very green.And that's what Osaka felt like.There was this beautiful river with the bridges like you get in Chicago.the area we were stayingwas so walkable and wonderfulwe were right by the train station
13:48so when we went to Kyotoor Narait was just like an easy nodeto transport fromI would also say the hotelwas a perfect place to takebecause it was attached to a malland it was also walking distance
14:02to the train stationsI think it was attached to the train stationso you could accessanything by walkingthe Intercontinental's foodand the restaurants and the gymThe service was amazing.We stayed in a two-bedroom residence there, which was great.
14:19So instead of like a hotel room, it was like a residence that they were renting.And it had a master and a guest bedroom and a living room.The way we usually set it up is Andrew sleeps in the master with Bear, who is still in a crib when we travel.I will say this is nothing against our kids.It's just how it is.Traveling with a kid under two is the hardest.That is the hardest phase because you still need cribsand you need sleep sacks and diapers and like it's just the hard.
14:53It's the hardest phase.After two, it gets exponentially easier for sure.So bear is still in the rough phase.But it's still worth doing under two.Thousand percent.So Andrew will sleep with bear and like,because I don't travel with monitors when we go overseasbecause we don't like leave them um and then i sleep in the guest bedroom with the big two we
15:17usually just like i share a twin bed with one of them and we usually alternate nights they fight overthey fight over it um and then marcia slept on a roll away in like the living room we like make thather room so a couple things that you just touched on one logistically um the hotel rooms and theaccommodations and our travel style we've done a better job at pre-setting a budget yes that thenwe're both communicating on I kind of feel like set that threshold and then you run wild withit Sean loves planning I do not use travel agents Sean loves finding the hotels and finding theexperiences booking all the travel she loves it so she just does all that because she likes itAnd the way that I do that for anyone that's curious is we basically throw darts and we figure out where we're going.
16:12We set our budget and I work from there.I usually book the flights and the hotels.That's like where I start.And I usually don't book flights until I find hotels that feel really good.So like if I can't find a hotel in a city that feels like it fits for us, then for me I'm kind of like.So, for example, we were either going to stay in Kyoto or Osaka in Japan, which are both south of Tokyo, and we stayed in Osaka because of the hotel.Yes.We were going to stay in Abu Dhabi or Dubai.
16:47We stayed in Dubai because of the hotel.Yes, we were going to stay, Tokyo was also an option, but Osaka had the best, you know, accommodations.I always do that because I do feel like especially if you're traveling with toddlers and kids, your home base is really important, especially if you're in a country that doesn't speak your language.Just being able to have a good home base is huge.If we were traveling in Europe, we 99% of the time will do Airbnbs,but because we are going to Japan and Singapore and places that don't really speak English,and they were culturally a lot different and new, we went with hotels.The intricate thing about Japan, Singapore, and Dubai was they had capacity issues,
17:33especially in Japan and Singaporefinding places that would accommodate three kidswas very, very difficult.Very difficult.Some required that we had three hotel rooms.Some required that you couldn't have more than one kid per room per adult.It was really interesting.So trying to find something that accommodated that was hard.
17:54Intercontinental was perfectbecause they had the residence optionsand they were very accommodating to many children.Yeah.So the first logistical thing wasWe've done a way better job at presetting a budget that then we'll plan everything around, flights, hotels, everything included.Second, our packing has drastically changed.You can see the whole video on main channel YouTube, but we had two carry-on rollers, two check rollers, and then two backpacks, which felt perfect.
18:24It felt perfect.One person could pretty much carry all the bags while the other person was corraling the children.I will say we were one carry-on over.We didn't need a second carry-on because I packed one carry-on filled with toysand one carry-on filled with like blankets and like sound machines.Our kids never touched the toys the entire time we were gone.They just played, which I thought was incredible.I think at five and three they're playing more with each other,
18:51kind of telling stories.Maybe they'll have a hot wheel or something.Yeah.Yeah.And then the days back to the hotel, like having a shared space like we did.was really good because our days are structured pretty much in two activity windows we have likepre noon 12 o'clock window where we'll go out and do something for three or four hours we do come backand we'll still let the kids nap because we try to mimic their normal routine we don't want to
19:18throw all this new stuff at them so we try to like mirror their home routine a little bit we even didpasta night on Saturday night on our trip just like we do here in Nashville every week and thenthere'll be the afternoon post-napp window too,which is usually more relaxed than the morning window.And then I will say logistically speaking,as far as like the travel agent side,we put together an itineraryafter I book the hotels and after we book flights.
19:46And something that we do,which people are kind of torn about,is we never book experiences or activitiesuntil we're there.I will do a deep dive on researchbefore we ever leave and I'll have like our top five to ten things that I want to try toaccomplish while we're there like for example we were there in each place for five days so Ipicked out at least five activities and I would rank them one to five and then below that
20:18I'll have like an extra five to ten and then each day depending upon how the kids are doingif they're needing to stay in for a day if they're too tired if they're ready to go thenwe'll say, okay, let's do this one today.And we'll go on Viator and book it last minute or, you know, do something like that.Yeah.Lastly, we did bring my mom.Yeah.Because that's been a really fun tradition we've kind of started is bringing her along.
20:43And yeah, we're spoiled.We get to have intergenerational vacations.But if we can do it, we will.And so it was a blast to have her with us.We did not bring her for child care, but it is nice to have a third set of eyes to watch a one-year-old.when you're in a foreign country.Yeah, and we didn't use her for child care at all.No.
21:07It was truly just having mom with us to experience it.And like I said, a third set of eyes with our kids who are running.Yeah.Okay, so now interjecting story time.Yeah.We make it to the hotel.As far as like time zone changes, by the way, people have asked how we do that.we like Andrew said we try to mimic the same schedule here no matter where we are so when it gets dark
21:34we do bath and bedtime and but we're also very attuned to like if our kids wake up at 3 a.m.and they're just ready to go we're up at 3 a.m. and we're ready to party yeah you walked on thebeach with them you would play in the pool with them I went to the gym with them yeah yeah um and we donaps during the day we don't cut off their naps like if if they need to nap and they end up napping for sixhours, they're napping for six hours.Yeah. But I do feel like the more you can sleep, especially when it's like a drastic timechange, the better off you are because you're not just like dying of exhaustion.Okay. So we go to bed. We wake up. I think we woke up at 3am the first day, which was great.
22:15We went to the gym. We played around. And this was when the first dresser started. We had noticedJett had a bug bite on his arm. Oh my gosh. Before we left, probably like a date before we left. But itlooked like a mosquito bite. We have a lot of mosquitoes here in Nashville. Um, he has like a prettygood histamine response too. I have that as well where like if he gets a bug bite, he swells up a lot.Um, and so we didn't think anything of it. It was like on his wrist and literally I'm going throughmy text messages. The next morning, it had blown up and it did no, it like no longer looked likea mosquito bite. It looked like a bad bite. It was swollen. It was hot. His like full fullforearm was swollen it looked weird and I was like holy crap like what is this so now we're in
23:05Japan on a completely opposite timetable than Nashville it's literally 12 hours ahead I'm trying toget in touch with our pediatrician um an ER doctor here just trying to figure out what to do like is thisnothing is this just another response and come to find out it is a brown recluse biteA very poisonous spider bite.This is a fun thing about parenting.A spider bite like that from,what you say,Black Widow,
23:36or I would even put brown recluse up there with that.Yeah.Those are the top two.Was one of the thingsthat I was most terrified about.But then it happens to your sonand he handles it like a champ.That dude didn't even say a word about it.
23:49No.I don't remember him even telling methat he got a bite,which is wild.Anyway, it makes a whole situation less daunting.But ground recluse bites, though, can kind of go one or two ways.It's either, like, it's fine.And we ended up treating it with, like, a really strong steroid cream and just covering it with band-aids and making sure it was clean.
24:11Or it can turn very bad, very fast.Like, your skin can die.You can get systemic issues.It can, like, get into your bloodstream.Like, bad.Oh, man.So you either have a three-year-old situation.in Japan where it's like okay we either have to go find a pediatric hospital here where you're
24:29going to be admitted and it's going to be bad or it's nothing you just kind of have to wait tofind out but then it gets even more interesting so I'm texting our pediatrician we have allthese opinions we've all deemed like just watch it it's fine next day we'll get to the activitythat we did that day next day though in the back of my mind as a worried momI'm stressed.I'm like, okay, we just have to make sureit doesn't go systemic.Like, get into his bloodstream.
25:00He wakes up with a rashso incredibly badall over his arms,all over his legs,all over his butt,and he's like so miserably uncomfortablebecause they're itchy.Imagine, imagine like a poison ivy rash
25:17that was all over your lower body.That's pretty much what it looked like.But not on his torso at all.Yeah.At all.Now, when you become,come a parent to toddlers you get very used to rashes there are so many viral rashes but theyusually all start on your torso and they might go to your arms and legs but they like it's very
25:37common it's like private parts and torso that's where it starts and this wasn't there i was likewhat the frick is this so now we're calling more people getting in touch with the pediatrician againhe's probably literally going to like say you can no longer be a patient of oursand we're trying to hustle around these Japanese pharmaciesand like communicate with the local workers therethrough Google Translateand honestly that worked pretty wellThe Japanese pharmacies were incredible
26:09We were also using ChatGPT to upload pictures ofTo ask what this rash wasWhich was clutchAnd we ended up finding out it was Giannati-Crosti syndromeVery rareIt's a viral thingultimately he had to take Zyrtec twice a dayand it has since gone away
26:31you can still see it like it is still all over his bodyit can take a very long time to go away but it's like a viralthing and honestlythe way we came across exactly what it wasour pediatrician was a saint he just kept saying it's viralit's okay like just take the Zyrtec twice a dayhe wasn't concerned but the way in my mindI was able to come to that conclusion and figure it out
26:53and stuff was from you guys.Dude, social media is really cool in a lot of ways.I,and this is one of them.I desperate mama desperate times,trying not to harass a pediatrician even more,making sure he didn't need to go to the emergency room.I, like, asked you guys,
27:10and I was sorting through DMs.And I told Andrew,it's so funny as a mom,you're introduced to so many thingsthat I had this, like, roller decks of like,I know what things are and I know what things aren't.And I'm going through DMs.I'm like, nope, not that, not that, not that, not that.
27:23that who what's this hold on let me google it nope not that and there is one mom who is likemy son had this exact same thing at three years old it's called this and i googled it and isent it to our pediatrician and they were like yep which i guess this is a whole issue with likewebmding yeah self-diagnosing but sometimes it's really helpful because there are so manynuanced fringe medical issues that like you know it the best yes sohaving a doctor be the first filter is really important but also using the internet as a tooland social media as a tool is really helpful and before you start critiquing and saying likewhy don't you just take him to the emergency room or the hospital or a doctor in japan i have done
28:09that jet has always been the kid where if we go overseas we have to find a doctor and we took himto a hospital in paris france yes and i'm not like absolutely i would definitely go to the hospitalThey had wonderful hospitals there.We actually ended up going to the hospital.With bear.With bear in a different country.But we are so fortunate and so lucky to have so many phenomenal doctors back in the Stateswho have given us resources to call them, Zoom, FaceTime, I'll do all these things.
28:43And under the guidance of them, they kept saying, it's not time to go yet.It's not time to go yet.It's not time to go yet.and we were able to, like, take care of it for himand not have to take him to the hospital.Well, all in all, we ended up having seven or eight medical issues,which is ridiculous.It was ridiculous.
29:01But we, before we left, I had this little infection that was going on my hand.I had, like, red streaks going on my arm.The night before we were supposed to leave.We ended up buying travel health insurance because of that,and I was like, oh, what happened?So there's a couple good travel health insurance companies.If you've never done it, I would actually recommend it.We used Fay, F-A-Y-E, and it was like a couple hundred bucks.
29:23And it gives you a peace of mind where you're like,if I do end up in a hospital for whatever reason with kids.You're covered.Yeah, it's nice.So I had this infection.I end up having a sty as well.And then I also had a bug bite myself.Yeah.
29:37None of them were like serious.The kid's stuff was way more serious.But then Jett had the spider bite and the rash.Yep.And then Bayer had a reoccurring double ear infection that we could notget to go away. He was on two antibiotics and then we had to take him to an emergency E&T pediatricdoctor in Singapore. How was that experience, Sean? We'll get there. It was horrible. Horrible.Yeah. Sean and I are dialing in our nutrition for the summer and our first priority is getting
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31:07We pretty much spent all our time on vacation.Not actually.Curating different health.Not actually.it was very interesting though because this was the trip where I was like I'm going to be prepared as a mom and I talked to our pediatrician we talked through each location I even traveled with like an antibiotic and I traveled with plastic surgery glue because I've learned from our plastic surgeons with Jet how to like stitch things up and I thought I was prepared I traveled with a steroid because Jet.is very jet and they are very prone to like the croup cough and they their airways closeeasily oh my gosh this just sounds ridiculous we haven't even talking about what we did noanyways I was prepared and then I had nothing that we needed so so Japan was amazing
32:04it was crazy because you go to a city in the U.S there's loud cars people are honking it feelsoverwhelming busy people like honks and talking and whatever there's noise but in OsakaIt was so quiet.No noise.And it was not busy.People don't talk.And it was very green and beautiful.So that was just beautiful.
32:22They had these parks that we really enjoyed.They had the most extreme playground I've ever seen in my life.It was so much fun.I think we'll make a whole YouTube video out of that because these slides were crazy.I'm talking like, you're going 20-some miles an hour down these slides.Our kids were in heaven.But let's just rip through some of the things we did.So the first day, once we slept in, we went to the Osaka Castle, which was incredible.
32:45beautiful you walk around it was not busy for us it's this like a couple thousand year oldstructure yep that's just beautiful you feel beautiful park you like walk around it we took a doublestroller and it was very accessible we almost didn't take a stroller very glad we took a strollerI'm very glad we took a stroller I was the crazy person that said we're not going to take a strollerwe probably I think we averaged 13 to 15000 steps a day the kids could not keep up with thatso glad we brought the stroller yet never got in the stroller um at oscara cast we also took a boat ride which is delightful um i will say as a parent if you guys are thinking abouttraveling with your kids uh we don't have super picky kids when it comes to eating but i'd say they're
33:27moderately picky like they like their macaroni their butter noodles their chicken nuggets they'reyou know very normal um we had zero issue in every location yeah we could find plain ricewe could find plain chicken we like then the kids dealt with it great yeah um wewent to the children's museum what was that called it's in it's in Japan Osaka that was a blastand we were in there with all these Japanese locals and the kids were just having a hoot of a timeso that was a highlight kids Plaza kids Plaza that's also where the playground was if you're inthe area or interested I would definitely recommend doing that we went to dottenbury yeah which iskind of like the Santa Monica Pier area.
34:16How would you describe it?It's like Nashville's Broadway or...It's like the main strip of like walking malls or street vendors.We did Turkish ice cream.This guy was clowning on the kid.That was...Street vendors were incredible.Yeah.
34:29Think like you could go to any street vendor like five feet apart and they had A5Wagyu beef on a stick and you would buy it and they would sear it and put salt on it.I think we went through 15 of those.they had Gioza and they had, oh my gosh, what was the thing you ate?It was like Gioza, but it had the mayonnaise on top and the onions.Oh, I love.That was my favorite.You were like a kid and a candy store.
34:57I could eat Gioza all day every day.I can eat A5 YUB.Are you kidding?That was a good day.Oh, I also forgot.On our way to Tokyo on the plane, Drew lost our first tooth.This one was talking about, like, for us, it's fun.I feel like the travel.
35:12and the destination enhances the experience.So it would have been just as fun and memorableif she lost it at home,but that's a pretty epic.I lost my first tooth.We did this thing called the Team Lab Botanical Gardens.It's at night.If you are in Nashville, it's kind of like a cheekwood.
35:31It's just like beautiful botanical gardens,but it was all lit up with like neon lights.Yeah.And the kids loved it.Yeah.That was really special.It was a little bit chilly.and then we went to Nara Park,
35:44which was by far one of my favorite things we did in Osaka.It was in Kyoto.It's hard to describe this place.You show up and it's a bunch of Buddhist temples,which are beautiful.And then it's like this state park,which has so much greenery.There's green grass, green moss, these beautiful trees.
36:03And then thousands of deer.Thousands.Just walking around.But they like humans.So they like come up to you.it was insane and you can feed them and oh my gosh like our kids were petting natural like deeryeah all-time memory for sure uh i actually one point got so close to deer it was scary for meyou and jet were loving it for me i was like i'm not scared of animals but they were you had this
36:35food in your hand and they would come bite your shirt yeah nip your hand and i was like these are wildThey were like nipping Jets butt, and he was belly laughing so hard.He was living for it.So Nara is about an hour east of Osaka.We also went to Kyoto and Arraish – I'm going to say this wrong.Ariasima?Yeah.I don't know how to say it.
36:58But that's where the bamboo forest is, which is beautiful.It's also where some more street vendors were.We also went to Fushimi, which is where the Tori Gates are, like the orange.The Tori Gates were incredible.Yeah.That was cool.and I thinkthat was most of our time in Japan
37:16It felt like a short timeIt did feel like a short timejust because we were adjustingto a lot of the time changesandyeah it felt like a short timebut we did a lotWe were on the train a lot
37:26The train was pretty easyto navigate there which was greatWe did the micro pig cafeWhich was a little oddI would not recommend itSean and Drew seemed to like itIt was a little anticlimaticIt was kind of like you go into this cafe, but it's not really a cafe.
37:43Like a dirty room.And you just sit with little baby pigs.It was all right.It was cute.Then we loaded up and flew out of Osaka Airport on Scoot Airlines to Singapore, which was a seven-hour flight.Scoot Airlines is the equivalent to spirit.But it was great.The kids slept the whole time.
38:01It was great.They had a snack pack that was nothing right at home about, but it is what it is.The snack pack was, it was like a blueberry muffin.a brownie, a nest quick packet, Prangles,and that was like their dinner.Yeah.Did not feel great about that, but whatever.So we landed in Singapore.
38:19It was about a 15-minute ride to Marina Bay Sands Hotel where we stayed.Probably the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in my life.It was incredible.We thought this was going to be a place that we would live in.We were like, let's move to Singapore because this place is so awesome.It was epic.It was epic.But what we realized is a hotel for us was one of the best.
38:39Yeah.Yeah, it was one of the best parts,which is not why we travel.We don't travel to stay in the hotel.I didn't feel like there was as much to do in Singapore as Japan or Dubai.I felt like in Singapore, the service,like the services and the hotels and the accommodations were drop dead,just stunning.
39:02Incredible.The, like, 15 out of 10, the nicest we've ever been given.Like, we walked into our room and the kids had like a little bunk bed.room and they had custom robesmade. For the kids.And we weren't by any meansstaying in like the penthouses or like thiswas just truly how they handled
39:19it at the hotel.The food was incredible. They had a pantryfor families where you go in thereand you have this option to get a stroller ordiapers or an assortmentof different things. It was they stockedthe fridge, the mini fridgewith like fruit
39:35pouches and milk andit was incredible. It was incredible.It was awesome.I will say, though, it didn't feel like there was a lot to do in Singapore that was kid-friendly or just outdoors because it was so humid and hot.It seemed like a lot of the attractions there had to do with the malls, which was like very high-end luxury shopping, which is just not our style.So in the Malaysia area where Singapore is and also in the desert area countries, what I didn't realize functionally, it's so hot or hot and humid.there that pretty much all peopledo there is spend time at the mall.
40:13Yeah. So that alsois just not any interest of mine necessarily.I'll likedo it if it's the Mall of Americaand it is a sitebut that's not why I want to travel.And this was a site. It's just you can onlylike your activity
40:28can only be the mall likeonce or twice. Not everyday for five days.Yeah. So we got a littleantsy there just wanting to have more activityoptions. But I will say I almost shed tears twice on the trip. One of them was in Singapore.They have these cloud gardens. Is that right? Cloud forest. Cloud forest and cloud gardens.It's kind of two different greenhouses. And the flowers in this place and the trees and the
40:56greenery and the other bubble greenhouse were overwhelmingly beautiful. And I would go to Singaporejust for those. That was amazing.something else we were we really wanted to go to the aquarium but it was under renovationbecause it's ranked as one of the top aquariums in the world they also have centosa that weweren't able to get to think of like a Disneyland or a universal but a different variationthey had Lego land they had a lot of like those same theme parks that you could get but if youcould do it anywhere I don't do it there I agree I agree and this the hotel we stayed at is iconicIt has this pool on top of these three columns, and it's an infinity pool.
41:42We swam in that a couple of times, which was honestly incredible.But it was a little hard because Bear had an ear infection, so Bear couldn't swim,and Bear is, like, the biggest water kid in our family.It was also not fully kid-friendly in the sense of, like...A lot of breakables.A lot of breakables, and it was a very calm pool.It wasn't like a go-play splash pool.Yeah, yeah, yeah.
42:04But it was stunning.the food in Singapore though that buffet at the hotel was it was on a different levelunbelievable it was unbelievable the most food I've ever seen in my entire life yeah and it's likecrab legs also the first night that we got there we got the kids to sleep and I think it was aroundmidnight yeah and I ended up going out Andrew's mom went to sleep too and we went to the food courtin the mall and got a hot pot dish for the first time and it was probablyMy favorite meal, we had the entire trip.Yeah, that was delicious.
42:38It was the most delicious thing I've ever had.That's also in Singapore where I passed at 11 p.m. local time, my oral defense of my dissertation proposal.Which caused the stress stye.Yeah, that's where I got my stye.But that was a highlight.I feel like we hung out most in the hotel there.We worked out quite a lot there.And early in the morning, we were still on the time change differential.
43:03Sean and I are training for something.So being able to work out was great.We also did Chinatown and Little India.Oh, yeah.Which was beautiful.It just was so, so incredibly hot that it was, which is interesting.It wasn't as hot as Dubai, but because of the humidity, it was unbearable for our kids.Yeah.
43:21We did a Viator city tour, which was fantastic.I'm super glad we did that because I feel like we actually got to experience a little bit of Singapore.I did love being able to go to one of the food markets.the oh a hawker center yeah like the OGhawker center in Singapore which is super cooland we got to try a bunch of foodfound out jet loves curryyeah loves curry and then we got to try
43:48a bunch of really interesting things that were deliciousyeah so Singapore is greatanother highlight was a Singapore airportthey have this incredible waterfall that peopletravel just to the airport for as well as thispark where there's like a ropes courseand all these activities that I didwith the kids, so much fun.
44:06We loaded up on Singapore Airlinesto go to Dubai.This was where the flight got real spicy,seven hours again.Should I tell them the hospital visit real quick?Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.Backing up, our last day in Singapore,so Bear has now putting you in the place that we are,
44:26Bear has now gone through two full antibiotics,which sucks.The worst.And even after two full antibiotics,his ear is still oozing like pus which sounds disgusting to say he does have ear tubes like we'revery familiar with what to do with ear infections and like everything and he just needed to be seenagain and so we went to ratville's hospital i went to especially in different countries it's veryhard with pediatrics you can't just go in anywhere you have to find like someone who will see a pediatric
44:55patient so we found this en t the en t would see him and it was just it made me really reallythankful for the pediatricspecialist that wehave in the United Statesbecause it just was a differentfeel. I don't think they were usedto handlinga pediatric patient
45:17and Mama Bearcame out because they were manhandlingbear so much that it made mewant to punch someone in the face.Squeezing his cheeks, that what they did?Oh, like turning his face purple and he wasscreaming bloody murder because they were trying tolike, yeah.
45:34just see in his ear and do stuff,but different than how you would handle a pediatric patient.At one point,they told me that they needed to do surgery on himand like all this stuff.So I was just like, get me the freak out of here.No.We ended up getting ear drops for him though,
45:52which were worked wonders.I was able to get a hold of an E&T doctorhere in the States who was such a blessingwho walked me through a bunch of things to doand reassure me that we were doing the right thing.But yeah, so we had the hospital visit in Singapore.Raffles Hospital was incredible.It was very easy to get in and easy to get an appointment.
46:16I don't have anything against them.I don't have anything against the doctor.It was a language barrier.It was so many different things like going on.But I meant it was just a cultural difference too.So you can't.And the lady's just trying to take care of the year.They were trying to take year of bear.
46:30But there was no like, let.Let's cater to an infants or like a baby's emotional needs.It was like a, let me lay on top of him and just like get this over with.Yeah.So Singapore's great.We also got to meet up with someone who we've worked with for nine.Kim.No, not nine years.
46:55Seven years.Kim, who flew over from the Philippines, first time meeting her in person.And she has.She's like our best friend.Yeah.It was great.The kids loved her.We've known her for seven years and worked with her for seven years, but never met her in person.
47:09So this was a fun excuse to be able to do that.And that was a blast.Then we got on an airplane to Dubai.Singapore Airlines.Was fantastic.One of the nicest airlines I've ever been on.The flight attendants uniforms were amazing, like ornate design dresses, the whole thing.We owe all of them flowers for a century.
47:29So we get on this plane, Bear has a poopy diaper.We did not bring diapers.So we're trying to figure that situation out.We're about to ask people for spare diapers, other parents on the plane.In the middle of that, bear throws up, like projectile vomiting.He's not a good situation.And it's not because he's sick.It probably has to do with his ear.
47:49And also, he's always kind of done this.He's just always kind of done this.He's been a puker.Yeah.So now he has throw up all over him.The seat has to throw up all over him.Andrew is covered.I'm holding him.
48:00I always covered and throw up.So the flag.light attendants were amazing. They cleaned it up. We got them changed. We got a diaper. They had diapers on the plane. They had diapers on the plane. But I didn't have a change of clothes. We had one for Barrett, not for me. So we got off the plane in Dubai, and I'm wearing Sean sweatshirt. It doesn't even color my belly button. We're in a country where you need head coverings, and I did not have a belly. I did not have a belly button covering. Very modest, Muslim country. So felt a little ridiculous, but Ksara, sirrah, what will be.be will be and then Dubai was amazing we loved it we would live there if we could loved it we didthe aquarium in the mall another big mall country by the way but there's an aquarium therewe stayed at imagine a world-class city that's miles away from world-class beaches there's noplace in my mind that matches it I mean maybe Miami but on a whole different scale not evenclose the whole like Dubai was started in 1971 and
49:03And they found oil and they had all this money.So they said, let's make the best city.And honestly, they did a good job.Yeah.So it's beautiful.And the structures, the buildings you see there are incredible.We did.We stayed at the Jamera Beach Hotel, which I highly recommend.
49:21Any hotel owned by Jamera Beach on the same strip could not say better things about.Central located.There's a ton of restaurants, very family friends.was great.There were kids everywhere.The service was incredible.They were very welcoming to children in every possible way.The accommodations, the food.
49:45We stayed in a same setup, like a two-bedroom residence.That's what we did in every city, even at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.It was a two-bedroom residence.It was the greatest experience for my life.So this is one of those things.We just got off the plane seven hours ago.Yeah.To end this trip.
50:05I'll feel like this is one of those things where in the moment there's so much going on withhustle on the kids and trying to get everything, you know, organized and make it all happenthat I have not reflected on this at all.Yeah.Usually I feel like vacation when you're single, you're reflecting on the vacation.This will take months to digest.That place was nuts.Dubai made up for every stress I personally felt the first two-thirds of the trip.
50:33like all the medical issues by this time jet's arm is great his rash is great bears ears clearing upandrew stye is clearing up you know the medical issues i've stopped but it's also just like themost beautiful place we have ever been we started out with a bang and did this night safari soanother viator experience yeah by the way if you've never heard of viator it's an easy place for usto just go and start to find experiences you kind of understand like dubai family you cansearch whatever and this was through 57 heritage it was like a five-hour long excursionwe rode camels we saw falcon show we did uh off-roading in the sand dunes belly dancers afire dancer had a delicious barbecue meal authentic meal with like babo ganouche and hummus and um
51:23it was just saw an incredible sunset it was arabic uh no arabic coffee yeah stuffed dayIt was literally my...Oh, those donuts were nuts, too.It was my dream meal.That was a...The kids called it the circus, and they just had...We had dinner barefoot, and they were run around the sand.It was ideal for kids, so if you're in the area,
51:48would highly recommend trying that out.I will say, shockingly, that was something that I didn't put on my list,because the way that it was marketed on Viator and everywhere that I found,it does not look kid friendly it looks very like party raveish but it was the most family friendly thingwe did our entire trip oh my gosh it was so fun it was so cool um we then went to likewild wadi wild wadi water park in the jamara area there's a uh water park right therekids had a blast they had a wave pool they had little slides little slides and big slidesSean and I actually got an hour to ourselves to go do water slides, which I didn't know this, but I'm into water slides.
52:38I love water slides while the kids were napping.We're going to get to high him.We went to Abu Dhabi and we got to see the Grand Mosque.We got to go to the suks.We got to go to the date market.The palace.The presidential palace.Again, the structures you see there are amazing.
52:55You just don't get that type of, I don't know, grand.Joie in the U.S.We went to the Dubai Mall, and we went to the aquarium, which was incredible.Did you say that already?Yeah.So the biggest alligator I've ever seen in my life there, it was nuts.It was nuts.We went to a random cafe in the mall, and it was some of the greatest food we'd ever had.
53:17We went to Air Maniacs, which was this indoor bounce house, which was nuts.It was, I don't know, 20,000 square feet of bounce house, slides, and whatever games, obstacle courses.We went to this wild paintOr wild paint houseYeah where they put kids in ponchosAnd they just get to throw paint and create artThat was a blastWe played at the beach
53:39We went to the Burj KhalifaTallest building in the worldWent to the top of itThat was an experienceYou could probably do in 20 minutes round tripThe elevator takes one minuteTo get to the topIt goes 10 meters a second
53:52Which is wildWhat else do we do there?I will say when we were in Singaporewe are already talking about cutting our trip shorterbecause we were getting a little antsy.By the time we were in Dubai,we were like, can we stay here an extra of week?Yeah.
54:09We went date shopping.So Sean's favorite dessert is dates.And Dubai is like ground zero of that.Oh my gosh.B-A-T-E-E-E-L.The greatest dates I've ever had in my entire life.I'm going to get on today and I'm going to order a package.Please do.
54:24Delicious.And then we ate at some pretty good restaurants.And then we jumped on the plane, went from Dubai to London, which was seven hours, London to Nashville, which was nine hours.It was seven and a half, nine and a half.And what a time that was.And the kids crushed those flights.They were, I will say by the end of this trip, it felt like our kids had settled in so much.They were so comfortable on the planes.
54:52I even asked you, I said, do you like plane rides or car rides better?And she's like, plane rides.And I said, why?Because on car rides, you can't do anything?And I said, do you like long plane rides or are these too long?And she goes, no, I like them a lot.And I said, okay.Drew, I was so impressed with the kids.
55:11I learned about the kids.I think the kids learned something new about themselves,each other, and the world.Sean and I had incredible memories.This is a phase of life with these kids that is so fleeting.Druid age five is already transitioning out of therapidly developing everything's new,everyday phase.
55:33And so, yeah, we wanted to capture this phasethrough this trip.I'm glad we did.Are we incredibly privileged?Yes.But I don't know.I feel like this is somethingthat we will have emotional withdrawals from.
55:53Am I saying that right?It was an emotional depositthat we will reap the benefits of,the rest of our lives.Yes.So thank you for planning it.Thank you for all the hard work,packing, doing all the stuff.
56:04Sorry for being so stressedthe front half of the trip.There was a lot going on.A lot going on.And again, if you don't know,Sean and I,every year for Christmas,gift each other experiences.
56:16And so it's transitionedfrom just experiencesfor Sean and I to do.Like, we'll take two or three nightsjust her and I to do a tripand expand it into experiencesfor the family.So it's our intention to do one big family trip like this a year.
56:33And this was this year's.I can't leave it's over.I know.I know.We're going to have to reflect on this.But what a time it was.Thank you.Thank you.
56:44And thank you to buy a tour.Thank you to Faye.Thank you to all the doctors.Thank you to the hotels.The wonderful waitstaff.The freaking flight attendants for all the patients.It's really fun.Every country we went to, Sean got really.
56:57recognize, which still blows my mind, but you steward that so well. Thank you, baby. So thank youto all of you who said hello to us. That's a blast. Always is fun to say hello. Um, and thanks forlistening. So if you have any questions, concerns, thoughts of where we should go next time,please comment. You made it as far. Please subscribe to the channel. Hit the like button or give ita rating. That's all we have. Do you have anything else? No. Sweet. Well, welcome home to Nashville fora quick 48 hourswhere we turn aroundand do something else
57:31that's wildthat we cannot yet disclosebut we will.Anyway, that's how we have.I'm Andrew.Until next time.
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