Hi everyone - I'm in a state of confusion and was hoping some kind folks would indulge me sharing my predicament and give their input.
I am an Australian expat living here in the UK and i have a little girl who's about to turn 1. We took her to Australia to visit family with a stay in Singapore enroute back in April/May for a month, and it was very challenging. The travel itself was ok, but we didn't have the best luck in terms of timing and she was teething terribly (her first 3 teeth at once), so the humidty/jetlag/general interruption combined with that made for an unhappy baby and unhappy parents. We also managed to catch an australian strain of covid that included conjuncitivites and it was an all-round not-so-fun time.
Anyway we had put that behind us but it obviously has left a few mental scars, and in the meantime here my partner's parents who haven't been at all involved in my daughters life so far have separated and it's very messy, raising the issue of what we do for xmas.
If we stay here we can spend perhaps xmas even and half of xmas day with my brother in law and his little girl, but it won't be the most family-orientated of days, and after a row of bad xmasses (covid and then suffered some personal losses which meant isolated xmasses) I really wanted to be with a family unit.
My parents have offered to pay for flights for us to come back to Aus, and while many people think we are crazy for not instantly going for that it seems a big mental leap to gear ourselves up for a second round-the-world flight with a baby in a year. She's currently teething again (molars are coming through and we are not sleeping!) so that doesn't help, but she's definitely more mobile and will be walking by the time we fly, whereas before at least she slept easily in the basinet. There's also the fact that el nino has now been declared in aus and it's likely to be very hot, so potentially a big shock for her. Additionally the xmas in australia isn't at my parents house this year but at my sisters, which is fine, but isn't that classis nostalic xmas feel. We'd be staying at my parents where it may not be fully decorated and xmassy, and then going to my sister's in another city for a few days.
I'd love to hear what others would do in this situation. For my little girl she would get to see my grandparents (who she loves 'talking' with on facetime) and my nieces and nephews, but it's a lot of disruption for her (we'd likely stay somewhere on the way again such as dubai/sungapore/seoul etc).
If we stayed here she doesn't get to see them but does get to see my other little niece here.
My family are coming to visit in May, so it won't be long till they come again but I'm also conscious they aren't getting any younger and I don't want this to be something I regret when they are no longer with us (she is changing so fast!). I can face the flight and travel stress, my partner is less keen but is willing to do what I think is best.
Thanks to anyone that made it this far - I'd love to know what others would do in this situation - it may not seem a big deal but is to me and i would appreciate any feedback.