Emirates were A-MAZE-ING. I can see why they are so recommended when travelling with children.
We rocked up to Heathrow with over 75kg of check in luggage, plus three carry on bags, a buggy and a baby. Even getting out of the taxi and into the terminal required military planning. Joel had to steer two trolleys while I contended with the buggy, the front pack (of course Elsie didn't want to lie in the buggy at that moment!) and a wheelie suitcase. I can't believe we have become the kind of people that have two trollies full of suitcases. We used to travel light!
Even before we reached the check in desk (we weren't exactly zipping around the terminal) a staff member from Emirates came to us and said "Are you flying Emirates? Come this way". I still have no idea how they knew we were Emirates passengers. Perhaps it was the screaming child and the 75kg of luggage?.. Anyway, they led us straight to the front of the queue and to the business class check in desk (no we weren't flying business class unfortunately). We had Russell standing by in case we had to quickly edit our luggage due to beig grossly overweight - but they didn't even care. So far so good.
The first leg went really well. I had spent the previous weeks doing 'operation milk supply' that involved a serious diary farm arrangement between me and my breast pump. Consequently I had loads of milk for Elsie on the flight. It was a 10pm flight and so I waited until take off to feed her the 'dream feed'. No screaming on take off. Good start. Elsie got all sleepy so we tried to transfer her into the bassinet thing. Nup, wasn't going to happen. I don't think it helped that the whole thing was on a steep angle due to our ascent. No she had her sleep on my lap instead. Six hours later we were descending into Dubai so I fed her again on the way down. No screaming there either. First leg down. No incident.
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| Dubai Airport |
Once we left Dubai we got transferred to an Airbus A380. This was amazing. Loads of leg room. Plenty of elbow room for breastfeeding. And best of all a big communal area where you can loiter while jiggling your baby while socialising with the middle-aged people doing their anti-blood clot leg exercises and of course the drinkers. The drunks were all very interested in the baby. Poor Elsie!
Elsie still wouldn't go into the bassinet, so she spent the remainder of the flight sleeping on me. Anytime that she made a peep she got fed. Mmmm snacking and napping. Baby heaven.
Thirty hours later we arrived in NZ. Well, add an extra half hour because somebody's NZ passport had expired Joel!
So once we cleared immigration we headed to MAF. We were very organised and had a list of things to declare. As we rounded the corner there were three MAF desks. You could see the looks of horror on their faces as the volume of our luggage became apparent. We selected the poor guy in the middle (it seemed democratic) and tried to declare all sorts of wool products. They weren't the slightest bit interested in searching through all our stuff. Sweet.
So we were home! Mum met us at the airport with a surprise companion Aunty Val. Just what you need after a 30 hour flight. Surprise visitors. Actually we felt pretty good and we headed back to Vals for some good old fashioned kiwi hospitality (tea and biscuits) while we killed some time before mum's flight back to New Plymouth. Elsie was sound asleep when we arrived at Aunty Val's. Whoopsy, Mum and Val accidentally woke her up when transferring her from the car - so they had to give her lots and lots of cuddles. Aaaw!
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| With Grandma Marjan at Aunty Val's immediately after arrival. Elsie is a stunned mullet! |
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| Weirdy apple in Aunty Val's fruit bowl. Joel and I thought this was amazing - but we were pretty tired.... |
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