The first holiday.
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| On-board and ready to go |
It’s so exciting but then you think, how am I going to cope
with a baby on a plane, taxi, bus with the heat, sleeping in a new place,
feeding and changing and activity time. You start to feel that perhaps it’s
just not worth it but you deserve a break or will it just be more work. Here’s
how we planned and executed our first holiday.
We took a trip to the North-East of Brazil to visit our boy’s
uncle. It is a long trip including 2 flights one lasting just over an hour the
second over 2 hours. To fly out I was on my own as hubby was already there on a
business trip which is why we decided to use the opportunity to visit. I must
admit it was quite daunting thinking I would have to do the first flights
alone. I've heard how babies scream through a whole flight or start getting
travel sick and dread started to seep in. However I decided I needed to be
super organised so that I could evict any mishaps and have the smoothest trip I
possibly could.
First I had to work out the logistics of getting the boy up
at 4.30am to get to the airport and decided the best thing was to pack his
clothes in my hand luggage and take him in his pyjamas and sleepy bag. It’s
good to remember that planes can be cold but airports hot so I had vests and
long sleeved t-shirts and trousers and socks and then if he was very cold I
still had his sleepy bag which meant I could avoid taking a blanket on-board as
they can be very bulky and take up precious hand-luggage space. The next thing
was his food. I wouldn't arrive at my destination until after 2pm so I would
need a morning milk, breakfast, snack milk, lunch and water to hand. That’s a
lot of food and liquid and I was concerned about the weight of my hand luggage
as my guy is a bit of a gannet when it comes to food. I made up two bottles (I
suggest having bottles ready even if you are breast feeding as it is really
tricky to feed while taking off in the plane and often this is when baby needs
his milk!) then decided that instead of his regular breakfast of porridge with stewed
apple and toast he would have to make do with bread and butter and a banana. I
made him a fresh lunch of vegetables and tinned tuna as I was concerned that it
may be difficult to heat the food and if it was frozen or meat it would need to
be piping hot. My concerns were correct so I was really glad I had something
that he could eat cold. I also packed a bottle of water but wasn't sure if I
would be allowed to take this on-board (I was but not sure if every airline
allows this). I packed milk powder too in case I was really delayed and needed
his next milk feed (I didn't but you can bet if I hadn't packed it I’d have
needed it!). I also packed a couple of small books and some plastic light toys
the wipes and nappies and some alcohol gel. I also brought a t-shirt for myself
as I imagined that if he did get travel sick it would probably be all over me
so at least I could change my t-shirt if this happened (again I was in luck and didn't need it).
So, I woke him at 4.30 after I had everything ready by the
door so that I could lift him straight into the taxi and not have to wake him
too much. I had hoped he might drift off to sleep again on the way but he was
far too interested in being up in the middle of the night. With a baby in arms you have full priority and
if travelling alone get plenty of help from airport staff and I actually began
to feel quite important! We boarded and I let my boy stand up a bit and play on
the floor in front of my seat to use a bit of his energy. He was very interested in everything that was happening and was shooting smiles at every person who
got on the plane. For take-off I gave him his milk which I had put off giving
him before as I was concerned he would need to suck to help him to unblock his
ears. He fell asleep drinking and woke up just before we landed and didn’t seem
affected by the pressure on the way down.
What a star! So into the airport and 3 hours to kill... I had already
decided that today was not the day to worry about him being dirty so I let him
crawl around on the floor in a space where he wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. The
gel came in very handy to clean him after as his hands were pretty grubby.
People were very kind and he made lots of friends! The second flight began as
the first and he slept for half of it. Once he was up I let him play by my feet
and fed him by putting the seat-belt around him and sitting on the floor in
front of him. He was very excited by his new surroundings and we were fortunate
to have the full front 3 seats to ourselves so plenty of space to play and look
out the window. All in all I was very impressed that it had gone so smoothly.
When it comes to sleep outside the house it can be very
tricky setting the same scene and getting the baby to sleep and to stay asleep.
A few months ago we decided we would need to have a bed to travel with as we
will be doing plenty of travelling in the next few years and with this in mind we purchased a travel tent. It has been one of the best baby items we have
bought and he is happy to sleep and play there and as we use it at home often
it is very familiar and smells like home. We were also able to put it up in the
airport when we had a 3 hour stop -over so he could play and sleep in comfort. As
soon as we got to the place we were staying I set up the tent (which is so fast
and very mummy friendly) and let him play inside. When it was time for a nap I
kept the simple routine of a cuddle, quick story and into bed and he went off to
sleep fine. At night the same thing but he did wake more often than he would
have at home but I did expect that as the climate was very different and there
were different sounds to those he was used to.
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| Touching the fish at the aquarium |
We managed to borrow a pushchair which was fantastic and we
took off in the morning to explore the city. We found an aquarium and as the
temperature was rising we decided it would be the perfect place to visit to
keep cool and entertain our little guy. He really enjoyed seeing all the fish
and they even had an interactive pool where he could touch some sea creatures.
It was a fantastic holiday and all my apprehensions have
lessened as it was such a success.
Buy the tent on amazon at
Aquarium in Aracaju http://www.tamar.org.br/interna.php?cod=185
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