Today I am typing with a sick Chicken on my lap, so no photos sorry, my laptop got too full and now all the photos are on the external hard drive which is too hard to hook up, excuses I know!
Anyway, in late April Chicken and I travelled to New Zealand for a three week visit. That's four, eleven/twelve hour flights on large planes and two short (one hour) flights on much smaller planes. Also, two days after we got back, we went on a family holiday to Italy which involved two short flights and one airport delay. These eight flights, (six of which Chicken and I did by ourselves) have given me quite a lot of experience, and so here are my five tips for flying with a baby.
1. Try and fly in super quiet times. Chicken and I left London on Easter Sunday and our flight was very empty. This meant I got three spare seats (yes, very spoilt I know) on the way to NZ and one on the way back. This was a godsend! It meant that I could leave our bag of tricks (nappies, toys, spare clothes etc) out to get at whenever I needed it, which was lots!
2. Make friends with the flight attendants. As soon as I got on the plane Chicken and I said hello to all the flight attendants, thankfully she is a smiley baby, which made them smile back at her! This meant that they were all very obliging, helping out whenever I needed them. One lady, Ngaire was amazing, she held Chicken when I needed to go to the loo, came and checked on us regularly and even directed us to domestic check-in when I saw her in the terminal. Without these lovely people our flights would have been much much harder!
3. Pre-order food for collection. Because I was only breastfeeding Chicken when we flew meant that this didn't apply but now since she is eating food (or if I was feeding her formula) I would definitely make an on-line order at Boots (UK Chemist) and arrange a pick-up at one of the air-side stores. This means you don't have to open all the food and formula when going through security. It also means that you don't have to pack as much, and have more space for other stuff, nappies, clothes etc.
4. Take a variety of new toys. Even though Chicken was only four months old I still took two new toys for her to play with. I chose ones that were fun but didn't make any noise, because a) I didn't want to make other passengers cross, and b) I don't like toys that make noise (grinchy mum huh?)
5. Make sure you have all your documents in one easy access place. I have a travel wallet and in it were our passports, tickets, my marriage license, our visa letters for the US, and a letter from Andrew approving our travel. The reason I had a letter from Andrew was that Eilidh and I travel on different passports. I am a New Zealander and while Eilidh will one day be one too, she currently is classed as a British Citizen. We also have different surnames, which could have aroused suspicion. Thankfully it didn't but having that letter made me feel much better. I carried my travel wallet in the front of my rucksack, where I could pull it out quickly whenever it was needed.
6. Oh I'm cheating I know, but my final tip is, have fun and go with the flow. Babies are incredibly resilient and can cope with almost anything, its just us adults that have trouble!
