First Day in Nicosia

We stayed at the Cleopatra Hotel in Nicosia. It is rated as a four star hotel and has a nice pool area. Unfortunately we were not able to use the pool while we were there because after Rosemary’s baptism, she was not allowed to get bathed (or go in a pool) for three days. This is so the holy oil can soak in. After three days her godmothers had to bathe her and dump the water in a place where no one would step.

We were able to finally get some sleep. Rosemary even cooperated and fell asleep fairly quickly. Since we had a long day ahead of us though, we woke up around 8 and went for breakfast (which was included in the room rate). The Cleopatra hotel is not really a tourist hotel, it seemed to be mainly Cypriots staying there. The breakfast buffet was appropriately stocked with things like halloumi cheese, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, pastries, sausages etc.

After breakfast, we walked over to the main shopping area, Ledra St. The northern third of the island of Cyprus is illegally occupied by Turkey. In 1974, the Turks invaded in response to a brief coup in the Cypriot government and an attempt to annex with Greece. Many people, including Tony’s family, had to flee their homes. Nicosia was divided during the invasion and, since the fall of the Berlin Wall, is now the last divided capital in the world. Ledra street runs through the city and used to be divided by a wall but is now divided by a checkpoint. In recent years, people have been able to cross to and from the North to visit with proper identification. We walked up to the crossing but did not go over. The Turkish occupied area has not been maintained very well since 1974 and consequently the buildings are in bad shape. The Turks have carved a giant Turkish flag on a hill that faces Nicosia for the Greeks to see. At night they have it lit up like a Christmas tree. It was shocking to see this and I can only image how people who lost everything (including family members) in 1974 must feel as they drive down the highway and see this thing blinking away.

Ledra St. Crossing

On Ledra St, we bought a stroller for Rosemary and went to the family-favorite Heraclis ice cream shop. I tried the rose ice cream and Rosemary went for the chocolate. It was wonderful to have something cool after walking in the 37+ degrees heat.

Chocolate Ice Cream

We took a taxi over to Tony’s Aunt Maria’s house for lunch and to prepare for the baptism. She had prepared a typical Cypriot lunch of salad and chicken, carrots, and potatoes baked in olive oil. Rosemary was really excited to be in a new house to explore and I spent my time chasing her around making sure that nothing got broken. Then we headed over to the church.

From what I gathered, the church is over 500 years old. As with most churches here, it is amazingly beautiful and full of icons and gold. The priest at the church only spoke Greek and Tony’s Greek is quite limited, so we were not totally sure what was going on. We followed as best we could and when it was time for us to do something, there were lots of hand gestures and usually a quick translation by Maria. There was a bit of a dispute over what name to christen Rosemary. In the end, the priest was content with “Rose Mary” (in Greek, of course) as both names are saint names and even though it is not traditional for a child to have two names, it will be less confusing for her than christening her with another name. Also, she is named after both her grandmothers and that has significance.

Rosemary enjoyed everything that was going on and closed her eyes and had a huge contented smile on her face as the priest was anointing her with holy oil. It was very sweet and it made the priest grin. She did not even complain when part of her hair was cut.

Photos from the Baptism:

After the baptism, we went back to Maria’s for drinks and watermelon. Rosemary got really bored so I took her to a nearby park for a while and she made some friends. In the evening, we went to Plaka, the best restaurant in Nicosia, for meze. There must have been about thirty members of the family at the baptism and dinner. I tried my best to remember everyone’s name and relation to other family members. It was difficult. A Cypriot meze is incredible. Plate after plate of food is brought for everyone to share and everyone sits around drinking and talking. It is so much food that two people ordering a meze in Cyprus will probably get the equivalent to enough food for ten people. By the time the meal is over, everyone one is stuffed and it is time to go sleep it off.

On the Way to Cyprus

We took the Air Link coach back to Dublin airport. Our first flight of the day was on Aer Lingus (yes, it sounds a wee bit rude!) from Dublin to London. It was a pleasant flight and they offered drinks and food for purchase. A lot of passengers purchased the “Full Irish” breakfast which seem to consist of mostly meat - sausages, black and white pudding, etc. I was surprised that we didn’t have to go through passport control in London. Since Lufthansa also operates out of Terminal 1 in Heathrow, we were didn’t have to change terminals and were able to enjoy breakfast and a few hours of sitting around waiting for our Munich flight.

The flight from London to Munich was about an hour and a half. We were served a small, but very good, cheese sandwich, a mini Mars chocolate bar, and a choice of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

We had a 5.5 hour layover in Munich. Originally, I had planned for us to take a bus into Freising which is a small historic town about 15 minutes from the airport. However, it was rainy and cold when we arrived and we were so exhausted we really did not have the energy to do anything. We tried to get a room for a few hours to sleep in at the Kempinsky hotel in the Airport Center, but they wanted 174 Euros. Apparently there are sleep booths that you can rent by the hour in the terminal, but I didn’t not see the sign until it was too late. Our layover was not fun because we were all so tired (we had been up almost 24 hours with very little sleep the night before we left). We went to the Airbraü in the airport center which is an outdoor beer garden with 2.30 Euro 0.5L beers. The beer was amazing but I was trying too hard to stay awake to really enjoy it.

Having a Beer at the Airbraü

Any ideas what this carving at the Airbraü is?

Finally at 9:30 p.m. we boarded our flight to Cyprus. Rosemary slept for the first two hours then woke up very cranky. I tried to feed her the lovely kids meal provided, but she refused. It was a shame because Lufthansa really goes all-out on the kids’ meals. The meals were created by a famous chef with the input of a group of children. The meals are made from healthy, natural ingredients but are designed to be fun. Rosemary was given a very colorful salad, chicken strips and rice, and a green frog dessert. There was also a set of colouring pencils and a colouring book on the tray. I had an amazing marinara pasta, salad, and roll. This was the best airline meal I have ever had. The dessert was alright, another fruit salad, but at least it was fresh (unlike Air Canada). The drink cart came around several times and I had a few glasses of decent sparkling wine. I was way to tired to take photos.

We arrived in Larnaca at 2 a.m. and took a taxi to Nicosia. It is about a 45 minutes’ drive and it cost 50 Euros which was reasonable.

Dublin

We arrived in Dublin at about 8 a.m. We had to disembark the plane via stairs and walk about 50m to the terminal. It was surprisingly cold and windy and there was a slight smell of the sea in the air. It felt like Victoria in early March. The line up for Passport Control for non-EU citizens took a bit of time but we were so exhausted that it was a bit of a blur.

After collecting our luggage, we took the Air Link Bus to O’Connell St. and walked to our hotel. I had found a really good rate for the Belvedere Hotel on Orbitz a few months back and booked us for 2 nights at about $100 (total). This was really cheap for Dublin. Unfortunately this was a non-refundable reservation so when our flight was moved to a day later, we lost a day of the reservation. This was actually a good thing because I thought the hotel was rather run down. The people working there were very friendly, but the building was extremely smoky and not very clean. My mom is convinced her room had “visitors” (ghosts). We thought we saw a zombie outside of our window in the middle of the night, but it turned out to be a really drunk guy trying to make his way to the next pub. He took about 15 minutes to go five feet, fell over, then took another 15 minutes to get back up. He eventually fell into the bouncer outside the lap dancing club across the street and then passed out on the sidewalk for a bit.

The View From Our Room

Once we had checked in, we decided to wander around Dublin. We walked down O’Connell St. and crossed the River Liffey. We walked by Dublin Castle and through the courtyard. Eventually we came to Christ Church Cathedral and decided to go inside. Even though it is a working church, it is also museum during the day when no services are taking place. The church was founded in the 1100’s.

The River Liffey

Christ Church Cathedral

Inside Christ Church Cathedral

We were getting hungry, so we did would any good tourist would do and headed to the Temple Bar area. The actual Temple Bar was not open, but we found another place, the Quays, that was open and were able to bring Rosemary in. We had out first pints o’ the black stuff in Dublin and afterwards were ready for a nap.

Pubs

We slept until about 9 p.m. and then wandered around the O’Connell St. area. Pubs do not allow children after 9, so we bought some Guinness at an off-license and got some take-out Chinese at a scary looking place beside the hotel. The food was really quite good and was only 6 Euros an entrée.

We had to leave for our flight to London at 4:30 a.m. and I really wanted to get a few hours sleep. This did not work out though since Rosemary was wide awake. At least we didn’t over-sleep this way.

Dinner in Dublin

Airport Art

Before we left, I bought Rosemary a little book of stickers that can be arranged on a cardboard picture of an airport. I told her she could design her own airport scene. This is what she came up with. Apparently she has a rather chaotic view of what an airport is like.

Day 1

Just after security in the Victoria Airport there is a little café. Apparently they serve hot dogs. The poster advertising this is rather frightening. It seems that if you are an awkward pre-teen the hot dogs will make you very, very happy. It should not be this way.

We left Victoria on the first flight of the day to Toronto. The flight was uneventful, thankfully. We had a 6 hour layover in Toronto which allowed us to leave the airport and visit Tony’s aunt , uncle, cousins, and his cousins’ children. Rosemary had a great time playing with her second cousins and managed to get covered in strawberry juice and chalk (no, she was not eating the chalk). We had a wonderful dinner and the family had the opportunity to reminisce about years gone by.

We breezed through security back at the Toronto Airport and had far to much time sitting around waiting for our next flight.

The flight from Toronto to Dublin was 6.5 hours. Thankfully Rosemary slept for the first 4 hours of the flight and I was able actually enjoy Air Canada’s great AVOD in-flight entertainment and have a couple of glasses of wine (they actually brought the drink cart around twice!). The meal was not quite what I was expecting. I had requested a vegetarian meal and I was given an “Asian vegetarian” meal. The entrée was an Indian dish served with rice. As it was airline food, I was a little scared of it at first (I was referring to it as “Splaat Galoo”), but it was edible. The bean salad on the other hand was a little frightening. It reminded me of something I was served in a hospital meal once, but much, much worse. Unfortunately vegetarians do not like normal desserts because instead of the chocolate mousse everyone else was served, this meal contained a nasty little kid’s lunch fruit salad.

Gear!

Here it is, the day before the trip and I haven't even mentioned the all-important gear that I am bringing along. As much as I would love to pretend that I am doing to classic backpacking trip through Europe with nothing but a change of clothes, a passport, and a great sense of adventure, I cannot kid myself. Come on, this is 2009, and a trip with a 2 year old. All aboard the Consumerism Express!!!...

Item Number 1: The Folding Carseat


Carseats are for keeping kids safe while riding in cars, right? Well, yes. But, once you have kids you realize just how useful they truly are. Imagine you're on a long flight. There is a 2 year-old sitting next to you. The child enjoys exploring the world around her. She has just discovered a shiny buckle that has a latch and... freedom! Suddenly the child is climbing out of the chair, onto your tray table and OOPS! There goes the class of red "Chateau Thames Embankment" that you paid $7 for during the only drink service in economy. You decide the child should sit in her chair. She decides to run down the aisle to the back of the plane to "wash the hands" in the airline bathroom sink. You chase after the child, pick her up, return her to her seat and buckle her in. A tantrum begins. Then she unbuckles herself again. This happens for the next 6 hours.
Now, image you have brought a carseat along. The child cannot unbuckle herself and instead must be content with watching "Finding Nemo" a few times and eating mass quantities of goldfish crackers. That's great, right? Well, sort of. The carseat is HUGE which means lots of fun dragging it through the airport. Not so great.
There is a harness type device called the CARES harness which is fantastic but unfortunately not allowed by many European carries so it isn't really an option if intra-Europe flights are on the itinerary (I will discuss the CARES harness at some point in the future because it really is an awesome product).
Enter the middle ground... the folding Sunshine Kids Radian carseat. Yeah, it's pretty darn heavy (about 23 pounds). But it folds and you can wear it on your back like a backpack by attaching 2 carrying straps. Also, it's prefect if you have an unusually tall 2 year old who isn't heavy enough or old enough for a booster seat, but is too tall for a typical 5-point harness seat. This thing is good for a child up to 65 pounds and approximately 49"!!! It also has a steel frame as opposed to most carseats that are just molded plastic. As well, it is quite narrow which means it fits nicely in small cars and EconoAir seats.

Item Number 2: The Potette Plus


It seems that someone finally came up with something less eco-friendly than disposable diapers. It is a kids' potty that is lined with a shopping bag that contains an absorbable diaper-like pad. It is great if you are stuck somewhere without a bathroom and your potty-training 2 year-old really has "to go". It also converts into a typical kids' seat to put on a real potty. I think the photo explains it fairly well. It is great for toddlers and people who are frightened of public toilets (and who can fit a size 3T jean).
I am still waiting for some Greenpeace protesters to show up at my door with photos of tortured baby seals for purchasing this thing. Does it help if I mention I also bought some reusable "training pants" at the same time? I also drank some soy milk later on that day...

Item 3: The Netbook

I followed the crowd on this one... RedFlagDeals style. A few weeks ago I managed to get an Acer Aspire One for $199. It is the one with the 8 GB SSD (so it is somewhat slow) but it is portable and has a card reader. For some reason Firefox grinds it to a hault but Internet Exploder 8 works great. This is the opposite of what one would expect. Oh well. Someday I may even try to "Hackintosh" it. I think it would also serve well as a portable heater in the winter time.

Item 4: The DVD Player with 6 Hours of Battery Life and "Finding Nemo"

... See item 1 for the use case.

Hyatt Regency Vancouver Good Deal

TravelZoo has a great rate at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver. Book with Hyatt directly and use the code TVL257 to get a room for $107/night (Cdn). Or, spend $25 more and get a free breakfast and upgraded room. It's only good for stays until the end of July and there are a couple of blackout dates.

The "Oh Crap I'm Turning 30" Trip

Up until this point, all of my trips have been to the USA and Mexico. Most of these trips have been to hot places with great beaches and I really can't complain. However, about four months ago, I acknowledged that I am quickly approaching 30 without having traveled to Europe. As far as I am concerned, this is rather lame even with the meager excuses I can conjure up (baby, job, step-parent to a teenager starting at the age of 22, blah, blah, blah). Around the same time as this epiphany, I happened to see a price of $500 all-in return from Victoria to Dublin on aircanada.com. With hardly any hesitation, I had booked myself, husband, 2 year-old, and (gasp!) my mom on a 2 week trip to Dublin. Now, that sounds like a wonderful trip in itself. However, it quickly turned into plans to go from Dublin to Cyprus (and a Greek orthodox baptism and banquet afterwards for my daughter) to London with a quick 5 hours in Munich. Can we do it? What will it be like with a potty-training TODDLER???!!!!! Will the airlines remember my vegetarian meals? Will the flight map work on the Air Canada flights? Can we manage the London Underground with all our luggage, a carseat, and a TODDLER???!!! Just what kind of deals will I find...?

Stay tuned.

Buongiorno!

Welcome to the blog of a travel geek. Over the years I have found some rather incredible travel deals and have managed to book many trips for next to nothing.  I have been nicknamed the "Travel Computer" for my borderline obsessive abilities to find the best travel plans and prices. So, stay tuned for trip reports and "crazy deals"...