Conrad’s first Christmas, first time on a plane and first time in another country… Ian and I were both excited and apprehensive about the whole thing but had decided that it had to be done.
Packing wasn’t perhaps quite as organised as it could have been, but with two little kids who need a lot of things up until the last minute it turned out to be necessary to save a lot to be chucked into our cases in the last minute on the morning of our outward journey. One thing we did though, was that Ian made sure to put a little bit of everyone’s clothes in each suitcase, so just in case one of our bags went missing, it wouldn’t be a disaster.
We arrived at Heathrow in good time but weren’t allowed to go through to airside until an hour before our flight was due. Not so great if you’ve got little children that you need to feed lunch and change nappies on before you board, and especially take though security. They really don’t want families with little children to travel, do they? Apart from taking off all our coats, emptying pockets and putting all our hand luggage on the belt, the kids needed to get out of the pushchair, which needed to be folded up and put through the scanner too. Shoes and belts had to come off (tricky when your holding a little baby who can’t stand on his own or trying to hold on to a little toddler who wants to run off and explore…).
I had to taste all of Conrad’s milk for the journey (we had only taken enough for the journey over, as any other packets of liquid, including baby formula, would have to be opened and tasted anyway, which would have spoilt any milk by the evening anyway) and Ian had to open (i.e. break the hygenic vacuum seal) and taste all the baby jars in his bag in front of a security officer too. But instead of being sensitive to the fact that we had two little children to tend to (and making the reasonable assumption that with two kids in tow, there probably actually was baby formula and baby food in respective bottles and jars), the officers made Ian wait by his bag before they searched it, even though they were clearly just standing there chatting. At which point they of course took absolutely everything out (which Ian had packed neatly and logically for quick and easy access during the journey), so Ian then had to pack it all over again. We made the flight in time, but having to rush it a bit at the end, wishing they’d allow families with small children longer for the whole process of getting from landside to gate.
On board the plane, we made ourselves comfortable in a row of three seats in the middle of the plane. We had paid for Conrad’s sister Jessica to have a seat of her own, even though she’s still under 2, as we just couldn’t imagine her sitting still on one of our laps for the duration of the flight. And probably because of her being so excited for most of the flight, Conrad didn’t sleep for much more than half an hour. He spent a lot of time standing up on my lap looking around with a big smile and wide-open eyes, and got a lot of smiles in return from fellow passengers and happy comments from the cabin crew. Across the aisle from Conrad and I sat a couple (he was English, she Swedish, and they lived in London but were flying over to spend Christmas with her family) with a little girl, not many months younger than Jessica, who got very interested in Conrad, who in turn giggled and smiled back at her, while bouncing up and down on my lap. That Conrad’s sunny disposition makes so many people smile and take an interest is absolutely lovely, and we’re so proud to have such a smiley and sociable little boy, even though he’s only 6 months old!
The flight went really well and both kids behaved themselves so well, although everything around them was new and strange, and they’d had to wait a long while in the terminal building and could have been both frustrated and fed up. We were especially impressed by Conrad, who didn’t get to walk about or play with any toys all day, but didn’t grumble about it one bit. When waiting for our luggage at the conveyor belt at Arlanda, it was obvious that they were both really tired, though, sitting very still and quiet in their pushchair. And that’s where our good luck ended. As we had flown from Terminal 5 – guess what…? They still hadn’t sorted out the new terminal’s teething problems with getting luggage on planes. ALL our three suitcases had gone missing…!
What could have been a fun adventure, with license to go shopping nice new clothes, toiletries, maybe a new shaver and new fragrance and make-up, etc., using insurance money, felt like a nightmare standing at Arlanda airport, with darkness and cold blustery snow outside, two little tired kids who were ready for dinner and bed, with the hire car still to go on a transfer bus to fetch and then the car journey to our destination, with no pyjamas for the kids, no formula for Conrad, etc. And when we, after filling in forms and trying to find out as much information as we could at the airport information desk, together with several other worried parents of small children (there had been nine children on that flight and seven infants…!), finally found ourselves with the hire car on a dark and freezing cold car park, trying to fit car seats that we had no idea how they were supposed to be fitted and no light to see properly by and no instructions, and Conrad crying and crying desperately (and he never normally cries like that, so it felt very bad…), because he was hungry and cold and confused now, and we had no formula to give him because that was all in those suitcases still sitting in some loading bay area at Heathrow, then I must admit Ian and I cursed and regretted making the journey at all.
Things obviously improved from then on!
(In progress.)
Gabriella