It took just a little more than a month after Maia’s birth for me to take off for my first trip – 4 days to Rome for the annual Green Accord environmental media forum. We had a lot of talk with Emese about this trip – even before Maia was born. We were bravely planning back than to get her passport issued quickly and go together the three of us to Rome.

Indeed Emese would have deserved a short stay in the mild and sunny early October climate of Rome. I knew the place where the forum would take place is a most appropriate location for a mother and a new-born baby. The conference venue, Villa Mandragora, is an astoundingly beautiful mansion built and decorated by a cardinal some time back in the fifteenth century. The villa is situated on the top of hill, surrounded by neat grass meadows and patches of mixed continental and Mediterranean forest. A narrow lane surrounded by seemingly ancient oak trees takes the visitor up from the outskirts of Frascati - one of Rome’s satellite towns. A breath taking panorama of Rome and its surroundings opens up from the terraces around the main building, where the conference hall is.

We were convinced by various book sources that a trip by airplane would not be harmful for Maia at this age. Green Accord’s organizing duo, namely the charming assiduous Milena and Alessia, were extremely supportive and offered to book a double room for us, should we decide to come together. Unfortunately or fortunately, we had underestimated the sluggishness of Hungarian bureaucracy – or rather overestimated our own ability to speed things up with the birth certificate. Anyway, a week before the forum I informed the two that I will be traveling alone.

It was obvious that Emese would be having hard time left alone with Maia at home for the first time. This is why I asked to be booked for the latest possible arrival and the earliest possible departure. My words were taken quite seriously by Milena, who graciously allowed me to miss the first and last day of the conference. Even with this, Emese had to spend three full days alone.

Her troubles started already on the way from the airport, where the three of us drove on Wednesday. Maia has cultivated a strong affection for speed, and gets unhappy very quickly whenever the car stops or decreases speed. Spending almost an hour in the traffic jam on the way home, Emese had a really trying experience with the crying baby on the back seat.