Traveling sans baby

So one thing I learned today was that the only thing more difficult than traveling with a baby is traveling without your baby. Zoe and I had spent the night with my best friend who is to look after Zoe for 3 days until my parents are back from the US (where my dad has been at an arctic research convention) and can take over looking after her. We had a relaxing morning with breakfast, gourmet coffee (because my friend is like that) and my friend's 9 year old daughter had bonded with Zoe, chasing her around the house and letting her draw with her best coloring pencils. I went down on her level and explained to Zoe that I was going, that she had to say bye bye to me but that I would be back in a week. She started crying and hugging me and tears ran down my cheeks too. I handed her over and left hurriedly. I cried all the way to the station. My friend called when I was on the train and said she had stopped after one minute and was now jumping on the couch with her daughter.

It is strange traveling without Zoe now that I am so used to it. I was seated next to an extended family with a 2 year old girl, her parents and the mother's parents. I made sure to tell the mother that her daughter was adorable and she did really well on the plane. I got a lot of work done on the trip, slept for a couple of hours and got reminded just how bad airplane food actually is. I could not even finish it and when I got to Houston for my last connection I was starving, yet not wanting to eat any of the American airport snack food that is so disgusting I rather go hungry.

I was excited to see one of my close colleague friends on the last plane ride and she switched seats so we could catch up. We babbled the whole 30 minute connecting flight to the conference city where we shared a taxi to our close but separate hotels. When I was finally in my hotel room past midnight I called my friend to hear how Zoe was. "She is such an easy kid", she said and apparently they had had a wonderful day, she had only been sad when she had to sleep, but now they were all ready to bake chocolate muffins and celebrate Zoe's second birthday. As I hung up I finally felt ready to enjoy myself here, knowing that Zoe is not only in good hands but also happy being where she is, surrounded by nice people.