Friday 26 October 2007

Scotland holiday - the flight

Well i don't think any of the passengers on the flight from Gatwick to Aberdeen will forget that flight in a hurry. I've always believed people when they have said that kids on airplanes cry because the pressure hurts their ears but now i know differently. Little boys just don't like to sit still, and Mummy's should not attempt airports on their own!
Leslie dropped us at Terminal 1 ages before our flight so with pushchair in one hand and wheelie case in the other i made my way in to the chaos. First problem, there is no one to talk to just computers! I'd never heard of checking in with a computer so that baffled me but i got my tickets and managed to keep hold of pushchair and case, phew. Now what everywhere said international and i knew i wanted domestic so i asked the guy checking in next to me and he said right at the end so push pushchair and pull case all the way down to the end of the building but it can't be right because that's arrivals. Maybe if you've flown lots you'll be thinking this sounds silly but at this point i was thinking this was not a good idea!
Anyway i eventually discovered that i you want domestic flights then you follow the signs for arrivals, silly me should have known! At this point Dylan was fed up but i manage to get rid of the case so that made life a bit easier, so i joined the huge ques for going through to airside.
I must admit at that point i breathed a sigh of relief and thought no problem I've got ages. The ques moved slowly and Dyls keep asking for OUT Mummy but all of a sudden a nice man opened up a side bit and let me through. Oh how nice obviously very helpful! Yeh right!
When we got down to the machines that scan the luggage it became obvious that he just didn't want me to hold the ques up because i had to take Dylan out of his pushchair and put pushchair folded up, nappy bag, handbag and mine AND Dylan's shoes on the rack. Then walk through and whilst holding Dylan unfold the pushchair (easier said than done) put Dylan in it, didn't want to keep holding everyone up so didn't strap him in (big mistake). I put Dyls shoes on, my shoes on, fixed nappy bag back on to pushchair. Phew so off we go!
Now the screen said we needed to go to Gate 5 but it was very early so off we go, outside the gate i got my phone to let Leslie know we'd made it and see if he had got out in time. That's when Dylan decided to make his escape, so he shuffles out of the pushchair and he's off. He can't go very fast but i have a new dilemma. If i let go of the pushchair to grab him then the whole thing will tip up as out nappy bag was full of books and toys for him. So i have to grab him with one hand and then keep the pushchair upright with my foot whilst i wrestle him in to it. Needless to say we ended up on the floor anyway with himself creating as he want to walk.
Everything else when fairly smoothly except having to change his nappy right by the gate whilst everyone was getting on the plane, but when needs must!
Once on the plane it became clear that Dylan needed a sleep but there was no way he would sleep so out came the toys and books. Within five minutes he was bored of these and we hadn't even taken off yet. He wanted to climb all over the seats but the seat belt sign was on and we kept taxiing down the runway waiting for our turn to go. After 20 mins we were off and so was Dylan screaming at the top of his lungs. That pretty much continued for the entire flight if he had to be strapped in except for when we were landing when it was 10 times worse!
So i have decided that it was not that the pressure hurt his ears it was his unhappiness about having to sit still in his seat that was the cause of the screaming and the cause of the very noisy flight to Scotland!

3 comments:

Hudsondoglets said...

Phew, I'm exhausted after that flight! I think you deserve a medal!

Karen said...

OMG that reminds me of my sons first flight to Portugal nearly 19 years ago and I still remember it like yesterday and yes he screamed all the way there and back and NO it was not the pressure in his ears just sitting still !!

Anonymous said...

I travelled a lot with Sarah and her brother Doug,when they were young. Sarah I have to say was never any trouble that I remember but my lasting memory of flying with children was when Doug once threw up on an innocent passenger who offered us assistance.

Enjoying the blog - haven't been checking for a while
Mum