St. Lucia Part 1 - Travel Notes
It’s taken me forever and a day to get around to writing about this! This trip was quite a few months back but I think I left a piece of my heart somewhere between the sand and the palm trees. It really is love at first sight.
I decided to take a break as the wintery weather took hold over Calgary and the -30+ cold lingered with only a few short breaks. I decided that maternity leave was the perfect time to head down south to visit my husband’s family. Thankfully, in Canada we are eligible to take 12-18 months of job protected maternity leave so taking off for a month was really a no-brainer. Leaving my poor hubby behind, me and the two boys, one three years and the younger just shy of four months, escaped the cold to visit my husband’s family in the gorgeous island paradise of St. Lucia.
It was an incredible trip and really such a wonderful experience to be with my two youngest boys and to spend time with extended family on my husband’s side. We were there for a full month which was so lovely, especially as it was so cold in Calgary when we left. I think that’s part of the reason it has taken me so long to get to writing it down because there is so much to get to so I will probably do another post about the activities we did while we were there.
Where is it?
St. Lucia is a small island in the Caribbean and before meeting my husband, I hate to admit but, I don’t think I quite knew where it was… I have been fortunate now to have been there a couple of times and if you ever get a chance to visit you won’t regret it! It’s located in the Eastern Caribbean and is a very distinctly lush and mountainous island with two notable Pitons.
I’ve had a lot of questions about this trip, especially the logistics of getting there on my own with a small baby and a rowdy toddler — we made it there AND back and remarkably, there weren’t that many tears from any of us.
Getting there
View from Tete Paul Nature Trail
Travelling has been something I have always enjoyed and I have been fortunate enough to have been able to do but more is always good! What I’ve found so far is that travelling with children is totally manageable, even by yourself! Travelling with children definitely adds to the cost of the travel but the pay off is 1000 percent worth it and I love getting to share those experiences with them.
In a nutshell, the travel days to and from were not THAT bad. For the distance and logistics we had to go through to get there, overall, everything went quite smooth! You know what they say, attitude is everything and I think that was how I went into this trip. Thankfully, there were no delays on the way there or back. I found I had more difficulty with my 3-year-olds listening skills when we got there as that was more of an adjustment than the excitement of riding the airplane. The travel time is temporary and a strong mindset helps! No delays also helps too. Oh, and snacks, lots of snacks and the case of my 4 months old, breastfeeding was of great help as well.
The flights there
You read that right, it says flight(s) plural. To get to St. Lucia from Calgary, you MUST fly through Toronto or sometimes Montreal or Ottawa depending on the time of year if travelling through Canada. You can also make a connection in the US. We always choose to fly through Toronto however, that means there is generally only one option for a flight to St. Lucia per day which is 9am each morning most of the year, if you’re flying with Air Canada. I am not sure about other airlines. We ended up getting a pretty amazing deal on the flights in a peak time as well - March break… I kept tabs on the various flight dates and prices with the all of the apps. There are soo many tips I found out when researching booking flights. This blog post by the Thrifty Nomads was really helpful! This makes it a tad difficult to connect from Calgary. The first time we went for our wedding, we flew out on the red eye and due to weather we ended up missing the connection so, this time I opted to stay at the Sheraton Gateway at the airport over night. I am still undecided on which I prefer... while it was really nice to have an overnight stay to freshen up and get some sleep for all of us, part of me thought it would be nice to just get there! Although with a 4 month old and a 3 year old, using a non-airplane potty and changing a diaper not on an airplane or in an airport bathroom was welcomed. The trek from the terminal to the hotel was a bit of a task. I did it while pushing a double stroller and pulling two suitcases no less. Again, totally manageable and well, eyes on the prize! Also, going through security twice wasn’t really ideal but, manageable. I definitely resorted to bribery and empty threats many times so not the best parenting moves but whatever gets you through in these situations, eh?
The first flight from Calgary to Toronto was great, both children did not sleep much, especially my 3 year old, but I had a ton of activities for him and we did use a tablet as well, although that became more trouble than it was worth...more on that later.
I seem to be lucky in that my children seem to be reliable and relaxed travellers. No mega issues. On one flight a woman had two children SCREAMING for over an hour and people were not pleased but I just assumed they had been on a few flights that day. I felt so awful for her and it made me worried how people would react if mine started up. Compassion and empathy are two really helpful things while traveling and I know many parents appreciate both of them as most of the times the parents are the most mortified and annoyed about the situation. The majority of people seem to be truly understanding and there are always a select few who aren’t. The biggest issue on both flights was managing his seat kicking (I know, so awful) however, we really lucked out because on the first flight there was a child about his age sitting in front of him - we weren't so lucky on the second flight though… that was quite stressful as the passenger was not at all happy but he clearly heard me doing my best to keep the legs under control - I felt so bad but there wasn’t much more I could do so I just had to grin and bear it. We had the iPad loaded up with movies and shows for the way down and while helpful, in our case, I think it made my 3 year old a bit more restless, more on that later.
Another question I received was about how to change the baby's diaper on the airplane while having a three year old... well, helpful strangers and nice flight attendants. Most times I brought both of them to the washroom and a couple times a kind flight attendant helped hold the baby. The altitude seems to create diaper blow outs which I knew (I do not know if there is science behind that but it definitely happened and I had been warned) so I was sure to bring changes of clothes for all of us! When I needed to change baby my toddler was just in the bathroom and vice versa. I got over the germ nerves pretty quick because, what can you do…
The first flight is only four hours or so so it really isn't that bad. When we got to Toronto I ended up traversing the airport to get to the hotel with my double stroller - THANK JESUS for the City Select as I could not have done this trip solo without it as well as my Tula baby carrier.
The second fight is longer, about 6 hours. Unfortunately the second flight was the one with the previously mentioned disgruntled passenger. Ah well, we survived and so did he.
We made it!
On landing on both flights, my 3 year olds ears hurt him. I had pain relief available which helped some and the flight attendant gave him candy he had never had before to chew on which also helped. He did not sleep at all on either flight but did however fall asleep on landing in St. Lucia which was less than ideal because when he sleeps he’s practically comatose. I had to somehow get his shoes on while holding a baby and gather up all our stuff. Normally, this wouldn’t be a huge deal, however, they turn these airplanes around extremely quickly so we were the last people on the plane with NO help from anyone and the cleaning crew had already come on board. I still had to make it down a large flight of airplane steps and across a tarmac to get into the terminal. Oh, and I still had to assemble the stroller to push into the airport. Thankfully the pilot came out to help me as somehow all the flight attendants had vanished. Anyway, we made it.
After basically two days of travel with two small children, two cross airport treks pushing luggage and a double stroller, an exciting hotel experience, two flights, we finally arrived. Now, customs…
When you arrive in St. Lucia you have to have a customs form filled out for ever family member. Of course I couldn’t find a pen, I am a sweaty mess and trying to keep my 3 year old in check while going through customs after a super long travel day is of course a challenge.
Finally, finally, finally, we arrive!
My takeaways from air travel alone with two small children:
Have options: stroller, baby carrier, change of clothes ready. Pack more than you think you’ll need in terms of snacks, diapers, clothes in your carry on. Having my city select really helped because it provided lots of storage and options to carry things.
There are lots of helpful people in airports. Travelling can make you easily frazzled but focus on the positives. I have to say I felt pretty awesome and accomplished. All in all there were more helpful people than annoyed people.
Bring hand sanitizer and wipes for peace of mind. Okay, so my child crawled all over two airport floors, touched absolutely everything he could on the airplane and of course had to touch his face and mouth immediately after all that. I am a bit of a germaphobe but getting over that fear quickly was helpful. Having some hand sanitizer ready was a saving grace, if not just for my own peace of mind. I also made sure we didn’t eat too too much sugar (minus the candy for the ears) and had all my good for you immune boosters and illness fighters along for the ride as well (vitamin c, cod liver oil, elderberry, probiotics, colloidal silver, etc).
Don’t bank on your children sleeping on the flights…. yeah this sucks. I want to say right now that I think a red eye flight might be better for us but who knows. Because I assumed my 3 year old would sleep part of the way I didn’t have enough activities to keep him busy and the ipad turned out to not be helpful at all - he was much more relaxed without using it on the way back so something to take into consideration… I know that sounds crazy but i found it made him more irritable and restless. When he didn’t have it he was more calm and chatty with me.
Eye on the prize. I was definitely super stressed out before leaving. But once we got going I got the groove and the mindset of surviving to get there, I didn’t feel so anxious. It also helped that the baby was so young that he travelled really well - hardly made a peep. It would be a totally different story travelling with him at this age so I am glad we went when we did.
You can do it too!!
More on the rest of the trip coming in a later post!
