The Travelling Baby

When I made a passport for my two month old, many of my mothers friends and my own thought I was mad. However I knew I still wanted to see the world and that having my daughter would not hold me back.

Our first trip outside of the UK was in August 2017. Ruwayda was going on four months. We took the Eurostar to Paris for our first family vacation, the journey was only two and half hours and we got to Paris by 10am. She was extremely well behaved and did not cry once, she did however know she was in a different environment. The transport system in Paris is fairly easy to understand, especially being a Londoner. We saw all the famous landmarks in the two days and loved our experience.

That trip went very smoothly but the next was not as simple. For starters, my husband would not be with us and it was her first international flight. Ruru is for the most part a very calm and laid back baby, the type of baby anyone who loves to binge-watch seasons would love to have around. The mystery was in how she would react to such a change in atmosphere. I was also overthinking the practical side of travelling alone with a infant for example going to the toilet before departure and during the flight.

I have never been a great traveller, I do not sleep before my flight and do not seem to sleep during it. I was up the night before my flight packing, a infant can never really be fully packed until the last minute. For some reason I could not sleep until 4:30 am and only 30 minutes later was woken up by my alarm to get ready. The taxi was right on time and outside the house at 6am, travelling in the early hours is nice because there isn't any traffic and we got to the airport with plenty of time.

My mother pushed our luggage to the baggage drop off desk, where a nice young lady greeted us. I am a anxious traveller and one of the most important thing for me is making sure my bags are not overweight. I tweeted the airline to make sure what I was allowed and what I’d be charged for weeks before. In total I had a large bag and a hand luggage for myself, Ruru had a medium size bag and a duffle bag. She also had a pushchair and a travel cot that needed to be checked in. The lady checked my large bag and Ruru's. Then told me that the cot is 9 kg and a infant is only entitled to 10 kg which I already used for her suitcase. This was one of the key questions I asked on Twitter so I quickly got out my phone to show her the conversation. She reassured me and said all my things will go in with no extra cost, she was very nice she even took my hand luggage as checked in. I briefly asked if I was allowed baby milk onboard and she told me that was fine but was not allowed to take any liquids. Once I passed security, I filled up my flask at costa.

Side note: Especially if it is your first time travelling with an infant, they will ask you for the birth certificate of the child. I had mine scanned and in my email just incase I was asked in any situation I would be able to bring it up.

After all that, my hunger kicked in so we went to eat breakfast and then said our goodbyes. We got through security fairly quickly, I was allowed to take my pushchair up until the just before boarding which helped a lot. I was seated to the seats with the most leg room and was asked right after boarding if I wanted the baby cot to be connected, I said yes to give myself the option of putting her in there if I needed to. I was then given a belt extension and shown how to put it on. I carefully placed the earplugs on Ruru and we were ready for take off.

During the six hour flight on Gulf Air, Ruru was as chilled and relaxed as she was normally at home. Despite there being another child on board who cried most of the flight and disturbed our sleep, she did not get upset or cry herself. Before I knew it, we had landed and like the trooper she had been the entire flight she patiently waited for us to get off. I was carrying Ruru and the bag, while the immigration officers sorted out our visa status. I got tired and sat somewhere while my husband and the officer spoke to get us out of there as soon as possible. To say I was exhausted would be an understatement, she was also getting frustrated at this point. I gave her milk and after a short while decided to throw up on me, at this point I wanted to cry. I kept talking to myself and calming myself down, crying would not make things go any faster. Finally they sorted it and we asked a airport helper to collect our suitcases and take them outside where my husband had been waiting for a while. Despite the lack of sleep, nausea, and being on my own with an infant. I am happy with how she handled herself during our first flight.

Fast Forward Two Months

Now we are on our way to Toronto, Canada via Amsterdam coming from Bahrain. A lot has changed in those two months, she is eating food and is much more active as well as being super aware of her surroundings. The first flight was a night flight alhamduliah and she managed to sleep most of the time. Once we got to Amsterdam, she was getting annoyed about being restricted and not having the usual freedom she has to roll around. Our flight was delayed by an hour and the flight was full so we were unable to change our seats.

Side note: I went to check in online as soon as I was allowed, however I could only change my husband's seat and not mine. Later at the airport we were told that it was because the baby was under my name, infants sitting on laps are restricted to certain safety seatings.

The most annoying thing when she was awake was trying to entertain a infant while having another chair in front of you. The second flight she decided she did not want to sleep and instead wanted to grab everything she could, so you can imagine how difficult it was to eat. It was much easier this time as there was two of us travelling together. Watching other children's reactions to travelling made Ruru look somewhat of a saint. Even during our 5hr car ride to Ottawa only two days after getting to Toronto, she did not act out too much. I secretly think she knows she has a lot more travelling to do, so she figures she might as well behave. I used to love all stages of travelling (despite being non sleeper) but now I would not mind just blinking and getting to my destination. Everything becomes much more tiring and physically draining, I just can not wait until she can walk on her own and can eat big people food.

Overall, Ruwayda is a great travel companion not only on flights but also during long car journeys. Her six month old passport has already been stamped three times, with many more stamps awaiting it.