We've made it Stateside in one piece...but it was a looooooong journey. Here's a run down of what we did over the last two days:
Sunday
3:30am: get up
4:50am: finally leave after packing car for 20 mins
5:15am:arrive at airport
9:30am: take off for Johannesburg an hour late
1:45pm: arrive in Joburg (adjust time +1 hour), rush to post office, mail boxes, check in for next flight, have lunch in food court, go through security, buy a couple things in duty free, go to gate (got to gate as boarding was already happening)
6:45pm: take off on time from Joburg headed to Frankfurt
Monday
5:00am arrive in Frankfurt to most boring terminal ever
5:00am-1:00pm: sit and be bored in airport
1:45pm: take off from Frankfurt for Denver
3:40pm: arrive in Denver (adjust time -7 hours)
So basically... those were some long days. On the first flight from Luanda to Joburg, of course we were all tired because it was so freaking early. We all slept on the plane a little. This plane was VERY empty- we had 4 seats to ourselves in the bulk head. Was wonderful!
On the second flight, which was 10 hours long, we were in the bulk head, had three seats to ourselves, and had a bassinet. It was also good. Beni slept in the bassinet for a few hours, and Joel and I also managed to sleep a bit. What helped is that this flight was during nighttime hours, so, they served us dinner, then they turned out all the lights, and only near the end, turned them back on and served us breakfast.
The layover at Frankfurt airport was torturous. We were in the most boring terminal EVER. It only had a couple of shops- one newsstand and one duty free, one random electronics/toys shop. And it had one cafe, and then a couple kiosks selling sausages and sandwiches. No proper restaurant even. So disappointing! Also, needless to say, after having gotten up at 3:30am the morning before and only sleeping a few hours on the plane we were so tired. We took turns napping at the gate, but, with Beni there, it never lasted more than 30-45 minutes. It really seemed impossible that we had ANOTHER 10 hour flight ahead of us. It was hard to fathom.
Well, the last flight, they stuck us in seats 34 G and H. Row 32 was the bulk head. We were not in it. G and H were the aisle and the middle seat. There was a young woman sitting in J, the window seat. Beni had no room to play, we didn't even have any room for her toys. There was no bassinet. Oh, also, there were no personal tv screens! Basically, this flight was off to a bad start. Then, because this flight took off mid-day, and arrived mid-day, they decided that economy class should suffer through an extended length day. Business class mind you went dark during the flight so they could comfortably watch movies on their personal screens. Economy stayed lit up and bright THE WHOLE TRIP. Do you know how easy it is to make some babies sleep when the room is as bright as day? Yeah, that sucked.
Then, Joel took Beni back to one of the galleys to play on the floor for a little while. It was ok for a while, but then, they were told they had to leave. Joel was pretty cranky by then with the combination of crappy seats, no personal tvs, etc, so he complained that if we had been given baby appropriate seats, he wouldn't have to be back there (there were 4 grown men sitting in the bulk head, no babies). So then a while after Joel came back, a stewardess came to us to hear him complain some more. Eventually, she got the guy sitting on the aisle in the bulk head to switch seats with me, so they were able to put a bassinet up for Beni. Thankfully that worked and she did sleep a little in it. But then toward the very end of the flight she kept stirring in her sleep just enough to start screaming at the top of her lungs and flailing her body around like she was possessed by a demon. The guy next to be assumed the brace position and covered his ears. I thought that was classy. I mean, I know my kid is screaming, but, really? Could you be any more rude? I kept forcing my boobs in her mouth and eventually she calmed down, and fell back asleep.
That plane couldn't land soon enough. Joel was sitting 2 rows behind me, in the middle seat, unable to help me and I was sitting there wanting to cry and scream myself. It's very frustrating to deal with her in that state where she isn't really awake but is also definitely not asleep. She won't be comforted, and only nursing calms her down, but it's hard to get the flailing, screaming body into position, not to mention getting the bra unhooked and shirt adjusted, etc, etc... so sometimes the screaming goes on for longer than you like. Ah, the whole thing just sucks. Needless to say, by the time we landed in Denver, we were SO ready to get off that plane.
We let everyone around us get off first- neither Joel nor I in the mood to push and shove with the rest of them- and then just moved at a slow mosey on through immigration and customs. We had bought a couple boxes of chocolates for our wonderful hosts here in Denver at the airport in Frankfurt, so of course, we declared those and ended up having to have all our bags x-rayedchai, and we met my sister-in-law and my nephew and we came home, and showered and had dinner and fell into a dead sleep by 9pm in my brother's kind sized bed (what a treat! We need one!).
Today we've walked for miles in the sunshine, exploring the little town my younger brother lives in. We had lunch a great little restaurant (Joel had a pepperoni pizza and I had a roasted beet salad- and we shared some fancy cheddar cheese + apple slices and fig jam and rosemary flatbread with Beni). Then we walked some more and more and more and Beni napped in the stroller. We walked all the way to a grocery store and I fell in love all over again, and we bought some baby snacks and baby food and...well, let's just say, this trip is now off to a good start. This evening we'll head to the mountains with my older brother, and tomorrow Joel should actually get to go snowboarding.
34 G and H finally seem behind us and we are happy people again. Also, we now know for sure that there is no question about which approach to traveling is better. We will always pick the longer layover/more days of traveling which includes a night in a hotel, over short layovers and pushing through less days of traveling.
Have you got a horror story of your own about traveling with or without a baby?
3 comments:
Sounds miserable. I feel for you - and I don't even have one yet! We have friends who live in Hawaii and they stay the night in LA every time they go anywhere - probably for the same reason you are talking about. Packing in the flights just isn't fun! Glad you made it in one piece though!
Sounds like a horror flight. I know HOW disappointing it can be when you think you are getting the bulk head (and have a small child), and don't get it. My horror story is also about a baby crying uncontrollably for ages during a flight. Can't remember why. I was sitting there trying desperately to feed the 6 weeks old Mikus (boob hanging out in the aisle seat) and he wouldn't latch on. And the morning line up for the toilets had started, right next to me. I swear 50 women in that line tried to give me well-meaning advice, and I could have strangled every one of them! I clearly remember an old Greek lady who told me in sign language I didn't have enough milk, and the baby was hungry, and I needed a bottle.... grrrrr!
Mook, that sounds horrible. The audacity of that woman!
OK, this is more of a flight horror story than a baby and flight horror. It was 4 and a half years ago. Sean was almost 9 months old. We made it through our US flights ok but got delayed in JFK because Heathrow wasn't accepting flights due to too much fog. Finally, they let us fly, we get to Heathrow (only for refueling and to pick up a few passengers--shouldn't have taken more that 45 minutes). Well, the fog wasn't clear enough to leave, so we stayed there, on the airline, for over 2 hours. We were headed to Kuwait, and when we finally got there our flight had left. Luckily, they put us up in a 4 star hotel, but we were essentially stranded for a day and a half. We finally got the news that we were able to leave, but they could only get us to Dubai, then we were stranded at that airport until they were able to put us on a plane. As luck would have it a huge double-decker Lufthansa plane landed for refueling and said we could join them. We finally made it to our destination, Oman, after a short 30 min flight. Through all that Sean was great. Now, he did refuse to sleep in the little bassinets, so I had to cradle him in my arms during all the flights, but I can't complain about that LOL. On the flights back, everything went well, except Sean threw up all over himself and me in JFK. Poor guy caught a bug.
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