I am writing this blog whilst still a little shell shocked and in need of a stiff drink and/or a lot more sleep! We have just returned from a week’s holiday in Malta where we took Roxy on her first ever flights!
Now I know that it could have been a LOT worse but I have to admit that I found the whole thing pretty stressful!
Firstly, the packing! For those of you who read my previous blog post: ‘everything including the kitchen sink’ will know that packing for a holiday with a baby is no mean feat but now I had the added difficulties of trying to fit everything into suitcases that don’t exceed the weight allowance and also clearing out my changing bag to cabin baggage friendly items only!
Then there is the waiting at the airport and the fine balancing act of when do I try and get Roxy to sleep to ensure that she’s not overtired by the time we get on the plane and therefore a crying, grizzling nightmare but not had too much sleep so will then not sleep on the plane and again become a crying, grizzling nightmare!
We finally board the plane and get ourselves nicely positioned with the seatbelts round us only to discover that there is a delay at Heathrow and we are going to sit on the tarmac for the next hour! I had therefore run out of ways to keep Roxy entertained before the flight had even begun!
How you can keep a 5 month old very active baby sitting calmly on your lap for ling periods of time was complpletely beyond me!
Finally the seatbelt sign is turned off and we are free to find other ways of entertaining Roxy which included passing her down the line from Daddy to Grandma to Grandad like some kind of relay and standing in the aisle playing peekaboo with other random passengers who indulged us by playing along! I did feel a little bit like the cabaret show as I looked down the plane to see about 50 pairs of eyes watching and waiting for Roxy’s next act! Then the crying started and I’m sure she didn’t actually cry for very long but being very aware that Roxy was the only baby on the plane and the only person making such a loud noise it felt like forever! I was trying to work out what was most annoying for the other passengers – listening to Roxy cry or having to listen to me singing dingle dangle scarecrow on a continuous loop as this seemed to be the only thing to stop the crying!
These entertainments/diversions worked for a while until I could deny it no longer that I was going to have to get Roxy to sleep! Now, my lovely daughter fights her sleep at the best of times but trying to rock her in my arms in a cramped airoplane seat whilst simultaneously trying to stop her from spitting her dummy out on the floor and banging her head on the armrest was possibly the most challenging thing I’ve had to do in a while! Then when I finally did get her to sleep they brought the dinner out so I had the interesting job of trying to eat one handed whilst not dropping any food on Roxy and dealing with one dead arm and not being able to get up to go to the toilet!
All in all I would say I was very grateful to reach the terminal building!
wheredidthatdaygo 