Should I Be Relieved or Concerned?

While undigging from the vacation backlog, I peaked into a BaseCamp account I’m using for a handful of projects and received this message:

Uh. Um. Well. Guess I’ll just toss that To Do list into the trash and head for the beach.

On a related note – while going for my daily walk last Thursday (just happened to be around residential Brussels) I listened to Tim Coyne’s UNKEMPT #12 – Plans.

In it, he digs into a fear I’ve faced head-on more than a couple of times: being responsible for another person’s well-being. Doesn’t matter if this is a partner or a child. The stakes get higher when there’s someone else “riding on your scooter” as Tim puts it.

From my perspective – the good stuff happens on the other side of the fear. There’s something motivating about that obligation.

Hey Tim, metaphorically speaking – maybe it’s time to ditch the scooter. 😉

As always, Tim talks about this fear honestly and openly, if you haven’t given these a listen yet – you should.

5 Tips on International Travel with Toddlers

Here are a few things I thought I’d share with you on traveling internationally with toddlers.

  • Backpacks are better than strollers.
    It’s far easier to get through airports, old European cities, and tour castles with Little C strapped to my back than in a terrain-sensitive stroller. As ill-fitting as our current Kelty is, I couldn’t imagine making the same trip with a stroller. That said, I was skeptical of the backpack when we left. Plus, he loves the view – you can see it in the eyes of the people we pass on the street.
  • Regular schedules aren’t.
    It shouldn’t go without saying that after traveling across 7 time zones our regular like-clockwork schedule wasn’t. Little C required quite a bit more cuddling and personal contact during the 3-4 days he took to adjust. We picked up a couple new board books for him and a few old toys he could rediscover. He slept on our shoulders and spent a lot more time in our arms. I’m good with that.
  • They have babies there to.
    Diapers, baby food, clothes, and all the stuff a toddler needs exists elsewhere – even in foreign countries. Only pack what you need for the travel itself. Our hosts’ car even had the LATCH system for Little C’s car seat. Just cause a place isn’t home don’t mean it isn’t civilized.
  • Walk whenever you can.
    Jen and I would take turns walking Little C around the gates at the airport and Jen walked him up and down the aisle on the trans-Atlantic flights. Sure kept him happier.
  • Have them try the new foods.
    Little C likes spicy interesting foods. On this trip, we discovered he loves pesto, taai-taai, calamari, and still doesn’t like cheese.

Smells Like Home

We’re back in Minneapolis. Probably the least eventful trans-Atlantic journey I’ve ever taken. A couple minor hiccups leaving BRU, but nothing that slowed us down. In fact, despite sitting on the tarmac in the rain for 45 minutes on departure and 20 minutes on arrival while the jet-way wouldn’t connect, then going through customs and security in ORD, we nearly made our original flight to MSP. But, we decided not to stress it and take the next one. Half our luggage went on the first flight and half on the second.

Little C held up like a champ. After 15 hours of travel, he still had a ‘vrooom, vroom’ left in him for each and every truck at the airport.

This time, it wasn’t the car seat with the TSA sticker, it was our mid-sized checked bag, with a sticker saying only: ‘Suspicious’Suspect on slapped to the outside – and a TSA pamphlet on the inside.

Stepping outside of MSP, I got my first whiff of the winter. Cold. Pure, clean, unapologetic cold – like an ice cube to the lungs. Refreshing.

Mussels in Brussels: Friture René

Visiting Belgium and not enjoying a big pot of mussels just isn’t worth the jet lag. So, last night, Jen and I walked down the street from our hosts’ house for dinner at Friture René a small, traditional, steak, mussels, and fries place.

Yes, that’s all they serve: steak and mussels. Maybe 5 or 6 variations of each. Both come with fries and a side of mayo.

Each of the tables in the 3 main dining areas were draped with comfortable, white & red checked table clothes. We shared the back room with a wonderful, elderly French couple still enjoying their time together.

Our order was easy; 2 pots of mussels in white wine, 2 Duvals (in hindsight, 1 pot would have been enough).

A few moments later the shellfish arrived covered in onion, thyme and garlic, too hot to touch. Smelling and tasting fantastic – if just a hint fishy.

If you go, I highly recommend brushing up on the ways to signal you’d like to pay. Sitting quietly at an empty table and making eye contact with the wait staff doesn’t work.

I finally approached our server and asked in English how I should pay. She lifted her hand and rubbed her thumb against her index and middle fingers and said, “Receipt”.

The old French couple giggled all the way through this exchange.

Friture René
Place de la Résistance 14
1070 Brussels (Anderlecht)

Cash only – no credit cards. Says right on the door.

Castelling

Our amazing and wonderful hosts took us on a roadtrip on Saturday to a couple castles just outside of Brussels

Beersel – a Brusselian defensive castle from 1310. Visitors can fully explore it and on this day, the place was all ours. From the ground floor through the tight, steep, worn stone stairwell to the top of the tower. There were some tight spots with Little C on my back, I had a great time all the same.

The 700 year-old bricks making up the floor have sunken in leaving only the spider-web of mortor to walk on and if there ever was glass in any of the windows – it’s long gone. This doesn’t change the amazing views of the castle ruins and landscape from any angle.

Next, Kasteel van Gaasbeek – originating in 1240, Gaasbeek is comparatively larger and in better condition. Alas, it was closed for the day so we simply enjoyed a walked around the immaculate grounds.

From there, a quick drive to a tiny rural, Belgian cafe in an old brewery serving with only regional beers – like, my current favorite, Affligem. After a round of the Affligem Christmas and a flight of the house Gueze we were on our way.

Little C kept telling us how remarkable his emerging teeth were, so he wasn’t he bestest traveling companion.

Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet

Yesterday, we celebrated St. Nicolas Day. Five kids (15 months to 7 yrs) loaded up on chocolate, gingerbread, and taai-taai while awaiting the odd, rumbling noises (well-time washing machine) indicating Sinterklaas and his mischievous helpers, the Zwarte Piet, left presents somewhere in the house. Instead of chocolate, Cooper finished off the carrot we left for the Sint’s horse, Amerigo, the night before.

The festivities – like all things here – were refreshingly civilized. Youngest-to-oldest gifts were unwrapped, one-by-one. Then an adult returned to the basement for another round.

After lunch, I played a round of Candy Land with two Dutch boys (3 and 5 yrs old). Humbling and enjoyable at the same time.

While in general, the story of Sinterklaas and Santa Claus are the same – the specifics are far more interesting (I highly recommend David Sedaris’ retelling (“6-8 Black Men”). Also, the separation of this children-oriented gift-giving day with the more family-oriented Christmas feels much more comfortable than overloading everything into a single day.

Initial Thoughts on the Rojas-Winer-Calacanis Podcast Device

I’ve been pondering the dedicated podcast devices tossed around by Rojas-Winer-Calacanis. The power and simplicity of it are quite attractive.

I’m on board with the following:

  • Data Input/Output: Wifi. No need for anything else.
  • Supported Media Formats: MP3, Ogg Vorbis, anything else open & cheap.
  • Pre-selling a small initial run as financing.

As an interface designer and podcaster, the biggest challenge I see in this device is the interaction to discover and subscribe to podcasts.

Even today, this process is fairly complex . The attempts I’ve seen to simplify it only add to the problem (TiVo, iTunes, etc) by creating a proprietary, artificially restricted silo.

Some initial thoughts:

  • A default link to the podcast.opml.org directory and Share Your OPML on some
  • A custom keypad specialized for RSS subscription. Maybe keys for ‘org/com/net’, etc. I’d be unfortunate to see a full-size keypad or a constrained phone keypad – neither of those work great for mobile devices.
  • Since we’re using WiFi, this device could have a web server baked-in and subscriptions managed through a web browser accessed from another computer. Even remotely – so others could recommend podcasts to their friends (via OPML?).