My first Transatlantic flight with Ethan on my own
Thank god for strangers on the plane. It's funny how a stranger can make a 1 year old laugh and smile in an instant, yet a parent doesn't have as much success. Heck, I get all the hand flaps across my chest and face from the excitement Ethan gets when interacting with a stranger. Mostly it's women who interact with a baby, but sometimes guys do too.
I was flying in economy comfort (at the time when I was buying tickets it was actually cheaper than regular economy for some strange reason. You get to sit in a 2 seat row with a small table in between and can eat and drink anything from their menu, that they usually sell to economy class).
On our flight to Iceland we were sitting next to a guy who was typing in Visual Studio for most of the 3 hours of the flight. Suffice to say he wasn't one of the interacting with a baby types, even though Ethan tried very hard to get some of his attention.
As I was sitting in economy comfort seat there weren't many people around us and so baby entertainment was mostly left to me.
The first couple of times we flew through Iceland I kept telling myself maybe I just got unlucky. But no, once again I can say without a doubt it's the worst airport I've ever been to. Their gates are either in a middle of a hallway where people are walking by to get to another gate or the gate is in some long hallway that you have to stand in, and they barely have any seats near the gates. And you cannot get from and to a plane without having to take some stairs with your carry on in hand and without a stroller (Can you tell I had lots of carry on items, not to mention the 25 lbs baby hanging on me?). I guess architecture is not their strongest suit.
The faucet in the washroom is kind of cool though. It has a built in dryer on the sides of the faucet. Not baby friendly though - made Ethan cry and he doesn't even cry when I make smoothies in our loud blender :)
As I was going through passport control the guy asked me if Ethan is my child and pointed out that we have different last names. "Are you not married to the father?" he asked. Huh? Are we in the 20th century? For the record I have no problem changing my last name, except I am too lazy to update all my numerous documents and passports :)
Good thing I had a travel consent letter from Eugene, or else they might have had to send me back to Sweden.
The 2nd flight was about 5 hours and I was once again sitting in economy comfort. My hope was since the flight left at 7 pm (our time) and Ethan didn't sleep much during the day he would fall asleep shortly after we take off, and then I would watch a movie or two. But of course with my luck I got seated at the only seats where the entertainment system was broken. I think Ethan got the message and decided not to sleep for about 2 hours. That kid ate a whole banana and most of my rice and chicken airplane meal (which was actually pretty decent) and then he started pointing at the apple the boy next to us was eating...
Finally after lots of struggle and some crying he gave up and fell asleep in the ergo (I LOVE ERGO) and peacefully slept for 2 hours. I had to wake him up when we were landing since they give you this baby strap you have to buckle him into. And since our plane landed 30 minutes earlier, we spent the next 25 minutes slowly (VERY SLOOOWWWLY) taxiing to the airport. And me trying to entertain one cranky kid.
Overall this flight wasn't as bad as I feared. I guess I was remembering how Eugene and I flew with Daniel when he was a year old (from Seattle to Toronto) and that was a nightmare flight. He wanted to sleep and couldn't fall asleep so most of the 4 hours were spent crying and us taking turns to stay sane.
I was flying in economy comfort (at the time when I was buying tickets it was actually cheaper than regular economy for some strange reason. You get to sit in a 2 seat row with a small table in between and can eat and drink anything from their menu, that they usually sell to economy class).
On our flight to Iceland we were sitting next to a guy who was typing in Visual Studio for most of the 3 hours of the flight. Suffice to say he wasn't one of the interacting with a baby types, even though Ethan tried very hard to get some of his attention.
As I was sitting in economy comfort seat there weren't many people around us and so baby entertainment was mostly left to me.
The first couple of times we flew through Iceland I kept telling myself maybe I just got unlucky. But no, once again I can say without a doubt it's the worst airport I've ever been to. Their gates are either in a middle of a hallway where people are walking by to get to another gate or the gate is in some long hallway that you have to stand in, and they barely have any seats near the gates. And you cannot get from and to a plane without having to take some stairs with your carry on in hand and without a stroller (Can you tell I had lots of carry on items, not to mention the 25 lbs baby hanging on me?). I guess architecture is not their strongest suit.
The faucet in the washroom is kind of cool though. It has a built in dryer on the sides of the faucet. Not baby friendly though - made Ethan cry and he doesn't even cry when I make smoothies in our loud blender :)
As I was going through passport control the guy asked me if Ethan is my child and pointed out that we have different last names. "Are you not married to the father?" he asked. Huh? Are we in the 20th century? For the record I have no problem changing my last name, except I am too lazy to update all my numerous documents and passports :)
Good thing I had a travel consent letter from Eugene, or else they might have had to send me back to Sweden.
The 2nd flight was about 5 hours and I was once again sitting in economy comfort. My hope was since the flight left at 7 pm (our time) and Ethan didn't sleep much during the day he would fall asleep shortly after we take off, and then I would watch a movie or two. But of course with my luck I got seated at the only seats where the entertainment system was broken. I think Ethan got the message and decided not to sleep for about 2 hours. That kid ate a whole banana and most of my rice and chicken airplane meal (which was actually pretty decent) and then he started pointing at the apple the boy next to us was eating...
Finally after lots of struggle and some crying he gave up and fell asleep in the ergo (I LOVE ERGO) and peacefully slept for 2 hours. I had to wake him up when we were landing since they give you this baby strap you have to buckle him into. And since our plane landed 30 minutes earlier, we spent the next 25 minutes slowly (VERY SLOOOWWWLY) taxiing to the airport. And me trying to entertain one cranky kid.
Overall this flight wasn't as bad as I feared. I guess I was remembering how Eugene and I flew with Daniel when he was a year old (from Seattle to Toronto) and that was a nightmare flight. He wanted to sleep and couldn't fall asleep so most of the 4 hours were spent crying and us taking turns to stay sane.