I know so many of you – moms, grandmas, aunties and friends are wondering just what it’s been like to travel with 4 kids abroad – okay, not just abroad, but to an impoverished place, like Ethiopia. Not too shabby, actually.
Some of you have done the same or are thinking of doing the same and want the scoop. I’m happy to share our journey…that being said, there are so many variables… I don’t expect everyone to have the same kind of trip we’ve had but I’ll tell you a little about it, so you can get an idea.
Our trip was just about three weeks long.
THE TICKETS:
After weeks of researching the cheapest flight options and being discouraged at the prospect of 25+ hrs of travel with 3 stops with 4 kids, yada, yada, yada, I decided instead to research “best airlines to travel with children.” The first name on the list sounded wonderful, as they have something called, ‘Sky Nannies’ – wow!, but unfortunately Gulf Air doesn’t fly into Addis. The second on the list was Emirates Air, so I dug a little deeper, and got really excited about their ‘kid meals’, ‘activity packs’ and most of all, their in-seat entertainment system that allows each person to choose his/her own shows, movies and games whenever they want. Turns out they have a direct flight from Houston, TX (our airport) to Dubai (only 14 hrs), and then a 4 hour ‘hop’ over to Addis – 18 hrs total flying time. Marvelous!!! I thought, and then the snag…9 hr layover in Dubai. Turns out the snag is a blessing because if you have a layover greater than X hours (I think 6 or 8), with Emirates, they will put you up in a hotel complimentary with meals until your departure. The BEST part was that Emirates.com prices were cheaper than all the search engines and because kid tickets are discounted on their site, we ended up averaging only $1100 per person/per ticket – woohoo!
THE FLIGHT:
We boarded the flight around dinner time, the kids played on their entertainment systems and ate (2hrs), then we transitioned them into jammies and gave them blankets and special ‘mints’ that induce sleep (melatonin), and they slept for about 10 hrs, and then 2 hrs more with breakfast and entertainment and we’d arrived in Dubai. Through the airport off to the hotel and dinner/snack, a 3 hour nap, then a 3am cab tour of the city, breakfast at 5am, then off to the airport again for the 4hr flight to Addis – the kids slept the whole way. We arrived in Addis in the afternoon and all stayed awake until 7pm, and tada! everyone was on schedule. Down at 7-8pm, up at 6-7am – a huge relief!
THE STUFF / PACKING:
We started months before saving things to bring: medical supplies, snacks and food supplies, donation items, and appropriate clothing and shoes. We packed 13 pieces of luggage at 50lbs each, with the intent to give away or consume the contents of about 11 of them before returning home. In retrospect…it’s never enough! I don’t know what the cost would have been to add additional luggage, (I think Emirates has a lower cost than some others) but I would have brought more – NOT FOR US, we had plenty and then some – but to leave…so many needs…
We LOVED giving all the clothing and shoe donations to the children of Korah Leper Colony for Christmas! The ball point pens (about $200 US for 3,000 pens) were a huge hit and not just at the Leper Handicraft Shop, but everywhere we gave them, people said, “Amazing!” “Thank You!” “Really, this helps so much!” Apparently, pens are expensive and sparse there. All the extra medicines, prescriptions, vitamins and supplies we brought went to an American couple, the Baers, doing great work in a small village close to town (SHAMELESS PLUG: You must visit their BEAUTIFUL village when you come to Addis! and see what they do! Bring them some supplies! You won’t regret it!). There is a HUGE need for Bibles – both adult and child versions – English and Ahmaric, and we only had 2 of those! I brought PLENTY of wipes but just a little short on Diapers – and word to the wise: If you’re visiting any place that cares for babies while you’re here, bring the diapers with you! (They’re bulky, but you can balance it out with packing heavier things like Bibles :). You can buy diapers pretty much anywhere here – even Pampers, but it is so much cheaper to buy them in bulk and bring them – especially for better quality, like Pampers.
THE EXPERIENCE
The kids were resilient and flexible. They learned to try all kinds of new things and wait until the next meal time. I learned that kids that young (6 and under) don’t notice nearly the number of differences we do as adults. Only my six year old noticed some things that stood out to her as ‘unique’ to poverty in Ethiopia. The other three kids thought, “Wow, there sure are a lot of animals around here!” Overall, we all stayed exceptionally well for being in country three weeks. We were in a lot of very unsanitary places and ate out at least once a day. Five out of six of us used our antibiotics (for fever/loose bowel combo) once and Sam twice. My daughter brought home some ringworm on her arm, which is apparently very common when you play with sheep and cattle, which she did. We ingested a lot of vitamins while we were there, a lot of water, and ate most of our snacks. Two of the 50lb bags we brought were full of just food and medical supplies, which turned out to be such a bonus with the kids’ gluten allergy and our plans to visit so many places.
For fun, we took a trip up into the mountains/cliffs of the Ethiopian Highlands to visit the Orthodox monastery, see baboons, and meet a very special man; took the kids to swim at the Sheraton which was nothing but luxury, and eat a Christmas morning breakfast buffet. I wouldn’t trade our family experiences there for anything. The short is, if you have an opportunity to take your family to a place like Addis, do it! I’m happy to share any other information you might want or need – just message me! And by all means, if you decide to visit Addis, stay at Ethiopia Guest Home and find Sammy – world class service and guide extraordinaire!