Planet Wilder

I’ve always worked. Well, at least since college. I guess I’ve been very lucky. Even though my early childhood was a bit tough for my parents I always remember our lives as being comfortable, especially for Indonesian standards. That’s why there was no need for me to work. My job was to go to school and earn good (great) grades. So that I did (though I have to admit I had too fun of a high school year and my grades reflected it).

But even though I was comfortable one thing that my parents and grandpa always asked me to do was to save my money. Every week I’d get an allowance and out of the total amount, I had to save 25% of it. So that childhood habit continues on to this day. I always save and even though it wasn’t possible to save much when you’re just starting out or when there’s a major life event, I always try to save.
Continue reading

We are going to travel to Indonesia, Singapore, and Germany this fall. For a few months now I have been researching different ways to travel safely and without lugging too many heavy equipment for our toddler. I’ve travel with Emma since she was 3-months-old alone and it was really tough. I had to travel super light and find clever ways to haul everything. If you are traveling parents you know what I’m talking about. Between holding the child, your luggage, and gears, you literally have your hands full.

So, in the last few months I’ve been doing some research. First the airline seat belt. Up to two years of age, your child can sit on your lap, but if you want your child to sit on her own seat, she needs to sit on a car seat that is airline approved until she reaches the weight of 40 lbs or 4 years of age. Initially we were going to just bring one of our old car seats and then leave it in Indonesia since we were too lazy to haul it all over Singapore and Germany after. Then we found the AmSafe CARES airline child restraint system. It weighs less than 1 lbs and suppose to take less than 1 minute to hook your child up to it. After some searching, trying to find the best place to buy, we found a person on Ebay who is renting this system out. Awesome! For $15 + shipping, it’s a great and safe deal. If you’re interested, just type in: CARES Kids Fly Safe in the Ebay search and you’ll find this person with the username of m_and_d_in_fl.
Continue reading