Desmond in the UK

Traveling with a toddler who is just old enough to have a strong will of his own, but not old enough to reason with, is not for the faint of heart. We all rose to the occasion, including Desmond, and had a really good time.

Here are some thoughts on traveling with Des and fun things he did on our trip.

- Befriend your stewards/stewardesses - All the milk, extra help, etc. they provided was really, really handy. Not to mention the fact that they helped us find extra seats on the plane for Des.

- Buy a seat for a toddler - Des isn't two yet, so we thought we'd take advantage of his ability to fly free as a "lap-child." For the record, Des is now over 3 feet tall and weighs about 28 lbs. Thankfully we were able to get a seat for him on both flights, but I think it would have been challenging to fly with him in our laps the whole time. Toddlers may be able to fly free, but it's not always a wise idea.

- Consistent bedding - Since we did a road trip through Scotland we didn't stay anywhere more than two nights. I was impressed that he slept quite well for the most part. We brought a portable crib Larry and Stephanie borrowed with us through Scotland. While it took up space in the car, I think it helped having the same bed in all these different places. If we couldn't have spared the space, I think having the same bedding from place to place would have helped.

- All maps lead to Scotland - We looked at a lot of maps of Scotland before our trip. Des now thinks all maps are maps of Scotland. This made him look quite brilliant to a few people though.

- Accents - We had an English-accented GPS system and toys. Des started picking it up and saying, "destination" or "bear left" or "circle" all with a British accent. Thankfully he's kept the words but lost the accent. How would I ever say no to him with those eyelashes AND a British accent?!?!

- Too much of a good thing - Once Des got a taste of something fun - tunnels, buses, bagpipes, etc. - the next word out of his mouth was "more!" It's hard to explain to a 19 month old you can't make tunnels appear out of thin air.

- Backpack carrier - We bought a backpack carrier on Ebay for $70. It proved really handy for both city and country use. If you're a hard-core hiker, I can see buying a nice pack that has been fitted well, etc. But for our occasional use this one worked just fine.

- Trash trucks/Fire trucks - Stephanie said she was looking forward to seeing Scotland through Desmond's eyes. I think this must have fueled her willingness to tail a trash truck through Inverness and find various construction sites for him to watch the back-hoes. Des was in heaven.

One of many amazing playgrounds.

Castle in Edinburgh

My boys on a rock fence. How British.

Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, in the background.

The River Ness and the castle at Inverness. This was the view from one of our rooms.