Miley's first overseas trip

Some discouraged us, that it will be very troublesome, that we won’t enjoy ourselves as much and Miley wouldn’t know anything anyway. Definitely not those who had spent the week with us in Kyoto and Osaka from 24 to 30 April.

No doubt more preparation work had to be done prior the trip. Miley was one week to six months old during the trip. Warm clothings, thermal wear, stroller, baby carrier, medicine and a portable bathtub was part of our luggage. The weather turned out warmer then expected, average 23 degrees, which wasn’t too bad just that the jackets never left the luggage.

We departed on a night flight and Miley slept almost throughout, not affected by the change in air pressure. We did try to feed her during take off and descending as advised but I think she was more annoyed that we disrupted her from her sleep. Return flight was during the day, she was wide awake and demanded us to tour the plane! Cathay Pacific’s service was good. Besides the ‘goodie bag’ we received on each flight, the leading stewardess made sure we had everything we needed and served one of us meal in advance so that one party can take care of Miley while the other was eating.

Daddy and mummy took turns to carry Miley. Daddy carries her in a Bjorn most of the time and mummy takes care of the backpack with all her necessities. 

Travel mates - Mike, Yan Yan, Charlene and Eekean. Celebrated Yan Yan’s birthday at Monsieur PePe ムッシュ・ペペ at Nara. A quaint little cafe that we discovered during our honeymoon two years ago.

My advice to parents who intent to bring their kids on travel is to go somewhere that you are familiar with unless you are with a tour. It’s our second time to Osaka so we knew what to expect and wasn’t pressured to cover many areas. It was quite a leisure trip with mornings sightseeing and afternoons shopping. It helps to have easy going travel mates who loves kids and always enthusiastic when Miley was offered to carry!

One thing we never expected was the non existence of soy milk in the city! When our soy milk powder ran out, never did we expect not to find it at a huge departmental store like Takashimaya! No baby products were found at the grocery section at the basement. Was directed to the baby’s department on level 6, but they only had one brand, no soy. Went to Baby-R-Us, had more brands but still no soy! Unbelievable! Someone later told me that cos breast feeding is widely adopted in Japan and most mothers leave their job after delivery hence the low demand for powder. Anyway, no stress cos soy was for supplement and Miley’s primarily on mum’s milk.

In general, the experience was enjoyable. Still ate a lot, shop a lot and spend all the Yen we brought. No regrets but I’ll still love a trip with just us. Depends where we are going next. :)