Traveling to Hong Kong with Myles - FAQ

1) How old was he when you flew?

We flew to Hong Kong on November 11th (also known in China as Bachelor's day [11/11]). This put Myles at a whopping 3 1/2 weeks or 25 days old.

2) What did you do about his Passport?

We applied at a local post office, albeit not without any resistance. They wouldn't accept a passport picture because the head was too big and told us we had to fill in the social security number and couldn't just use 0's. After arguing with them and winning on the second point (Direct from the horse's mouth) I returned home to re-crop the image in an act of digital head shrinking (although it didn't make much difference when I followed the requirements as the portion they used for the passport is pretty much all head). Finally, we sent off the application on the his 6th day birthday with expedited service and hoped for the best. Luckily we got it only about 8 days later with plenty of time to spare. I hope it is because someone made an intelligent decision after reasoning "Hmmm...this applicant is not even two weeks old and they are expediting service before they even have a social security number. I guess they must have to travel internationally soon so I'll push this one right through." However, I wager that was not the case but likely we just simply got lucky.

The real question should be - how did you take his passport picture?

Considering you need a white background with a clear full-face shot and based on numerous parents' comments online [which I admit may be paranoid] that the eyes must be open, the newborn cannot be crying, no hats, no pacifiers and nothing can be shown in the picture besides their head (i.e. no parent's hands holding them up), this proved to be a monumental task. A white pillowcase, Myles lying on top of it, two cameras, a pacifier (quickly removed for pictures) and about an hour later we finally had something we thought would work. In this case I do suggest "trying this at home" because the post office didn't seem to have a clue about how to take an infant photo for a passport when we tried there.

The final result:

(Technically, paranoid parents online said they aren't supposed to be touching their face...but I guess he made it through still...mostly daddy is just worried about that receding hairline he has.)

3) How long was the flight again?

The flight itself was about 16 hours. But then you have to factor the time to JFK from northern New Jersey, the time to check luggage, go through security, wait to board, board, wait in line at JFK to take off, go through immigration, get your bags, go through customs, travel to the apartment in Hong Kong...I'd say door to door more like 21 hours.

4) How was the baby on the flight?

Better than we expected. We were worried (as were the neighboring passengers I'm sure) that he would be fussy and cry a lot. Fortunately, he is the kind of baby who likes riding in cars so that was a good sign. We have some friends with a baby who pretty much cries non-stop anytime he's in a car.

So between the "white noise" and vibrations of the whirring engines, he pretty much slept the majority of the time on the plane. Of course he would wake up to eat or when he had a messy diaper but once dry and full pretty much right back to sleep...thankfully.

Oh and it probably helped that we put him in his bear suit on the plane. The "cute factor" also helped calm worried neighbors...a tactic I highly suggest unless one's baby is hopelessly non-cute regardless of the chosen apparel.

5) How is the jet lag?

Interesting question. What do you get when you wake up every four hours with a newborn and then travel half way around the world? You still wake up every four hours with a newborn. I'd say that for me, the jet lag was pretty much dissipated by the schedule of being a new parent. Either that or any new parent that is always tired during the day and wakes up in the middle of the night has long-term jet lag (even without flying).

6) Is he used to Hong Kong?

I think he could be in Greenland (as long as it was indoors and heated) and not know the difference. When's one life is eat, burp, sleep, mess diapers and cry the geographic location has little impact on the schedule.

Photos at Picasa Album - Myles goes to Hong Kong