Playground Daze

We’re finally adjusting to local time. Whew. The last few days have been a lil’ rough. Theo has been crabby and unusually defiant (although you couldn’t tell from these photos!) I can’t fault the kid–he has had to adjust to a 9 hour time difference and has been uprooted from his routine and environment. But as of yesterday, he turned a corner and seems more like himself.

We’ve been exploring a bit but not going too crazy. The other day we went to Rosenborg Castle in the middle of the city but the wait was over two hours to get in (it’s high tourist season here although the non-touristy parts of town are not crowded at all). Instead, we showed Theo the gift shop and he was so excited to even see that. The grounds and gardens were stunning. Who needs to see the inside? We’re terrible tourists. On the way home, we stopped by a wonderful food hall called Torvehallerne (reminds me of the Ferry Building) to pick up food for dinner, including the freshest salmon I’ve ever tasted. Salmon is perhaps the only reasonably priced item in Copenhagen! Food is amazing here but, like everything else in this city, can be insanely pricey. It’s great to be able to make meals where we’re staying, and not just because it’s cheaper than eating out. Schlepping to restaurants with a 3-year-old is often…less than enjoyable.

We’re getting into our rhythm and for us, that means not jam-packing our days with site-seeing. I’m glad Rafe and I are on the same page about this as non-stop site-seeing just for the sake of it, even if that was our bag, wouldn’t be sustainable considering we have a small child in tow and we’re only a week or so into a 6-month trip! So, as lame as this would sound to the pre-mom me, the last few days have revolved around visiting local playgrounds. Theo has been thrilled. The playgrounds are fabulous here, by the way: extremely well thought out and designed (naturally, given it’s Denmark) and they all seem to have coffee for the parents (I almost wept when I discovered this.)

That’s the thing about traveling with kids this age: they don’t really care where they are as long as they can play and have some semblance of a routine. That’s part of the reason we’re mostly staying in Airbnbs set up for families: we get to experience how local families live, we have a comfortable home base from which to work and explore, and–since we packed minimally– Theo has toys to play with and a kid-friendly set-up.

One tip that has come in handy for us: Airbnbs will often give you a discount for longer stays. Even if not advertised, it’s worth it to ask! We’ve been able to negotiate up to 20% off our stays this way.

To be honest, it always takes me some time to just “be” in a place. Traveling means constantly adjusting expectations and accepting the unfamiliar, and that can be either stress-inducing or totally enjoyable depending on who you are. Rafe and I both find traveling more enjoyable than stressful, otherwise I don’t think we would have been compelled to travel like this. But…one thing I’ve realized leading up to this big trip is that I’m way more Type A than I thought. I really do like to have a plan going into each day and it has felt slightly uncomfortable that we’re winging it as much as we are. We were so busy before we left home, though– we didn’t have much of a choice. I just didn’t have the time to plan every little thing. But given how long we’re lucky enough to travel like we are, I know this is a fantastic problem to have. It’s unfamiliar territory, but I’m leaning into it.