Our flights over to London (via both Brisbane and Hong Kong) went without incident. I had need not have worried about how she'd go on such a long flight as she happily played with the paper dolls I had bought her. (Remember those? A paper doll which you would dress in different outfits? Big, big hit and many hours wasted here playing with her!) She did a little colouring but on the way home I just took a sticker doll book and a pen and paper on the plane and she was fine.
Monet was fast asleep on the plane even before the huge Jumbo took off from Hong Kong bound for London. She slept for a solid seven hours on that flight which was a blessing in itself. We had ordered her the kids meals on all flights which were really nice, not that she ate all of them because she can be fussy (but things have been looking up since our return home! Yay!) There were no chips or burgers or junky food for any of her meals - they were all pretty impressive... And she then got to collect the kids 'entertainment' bags for all flights.
In terms of jet-lag I think she battled it well. We had arrived on English soil at 5:30am and she had completely had it by 2pm that afternoon. She slept like a rock and did not move for 4 hours with her arms above her head and fully clothed on the bed. It took a good 45 minutes to wake her up at 6pm (we needed to meet people for dinner) but she was back in bed by 9pm and woke per normal and was fine.
Arriving home she had jet-lag for 2 nights/3 days. This included waking and staying up from 4am on the Monday morning after we arrived and then 3am the following morning. But I kept her up by having her play in the playground across the road and having a picnic dinner in the lounge room (anything to keep her awake!!) and that was that. End of jet-lag story. She did well. Very well.
She loved catching public transport and did so very well, especially on the day when we travelled from Venice back to London. That day we were up bright and early, walked to the main canal with our luggage, caught a ferry to the bus station, caught a bus (which we then had to change halfway through back on the mainland), then another bus which took us from the airport terminal to the 'EasyJet' plane parked about a kilometer away, then a plane, then a train from Gatwick to Victoria Station, then on a tube train to Earls Court. A very tiring, busy day with not one whinge or complaint from our 3 year old. Love that.
We only had one real melt-down in public (in Venice - she refused to put on a jacket when leaving the hotel when we were going out for dinner and well, she just cracked it!) but most of the time she was a good child. We all love a good child, don't we?
There were only a handful of other incidents (mainly in London) where she might have refused to do something but she soon got over what ever she was grumpy about.
All up, traveling with Monet was a pleasure and it was great for her to see and do things we had dreamt about. (What an education!) I'm glad we went on a such a big trip with a child at that age, as she was free most of the time (!!) and she did have a wonderful adventure. We look forward to seeing more of the world with her in times to come.
Thank you Monet, thank you.
9 comments:
Sounds like it was a trip that Monet will remember for a long time too!
And looking at that last photo.... No wonder you were getting some looks (from what I remember from a post a while back) with Monet in the stroller. She does look big for her age (and the stroller)!
Kellyanne - yes, big for her age and no strollers will accommodate her height. But even when she wasn't in it we still got looks with that stroller...
You done real well, all of you!
She may not remember the blow by blow (or even the blowouts) but you will remember them (except the blowouts) with fondness, no doubt!
How wonderful that some of her earliest memories will be of this trip. It sounds like she was positively angelic and who can blame a three year old for the occassional 'moment'? Do you know, she is probably more well travelled than many adults already! :)
How great to find out that Monet is such a GOOD traveler at such a young age....That has got to make future trips easier in a way, don't you think? Now that you know how wonderfully she adjusts...Well, I can see some fabulous trips for the three of you, in your future!
That is fantastic, Melody! I'm thinking about a road-trip in a couple of weeks (it would be just K & me) and am cringing at the thought of 8 hours in the car. I don't know that I can count on him to be as good as Monet was!
I was hoping for this post as our trip is three weeks aaway. Monet is quite the traveler. It is not the CP's first airplane ride, but it is a long one. He is a pretty easy kid so I am hoping for some of the same successs you had. If you come up with any more tips I'm all ears.
I'm a newcomer to your blog and I was very interested to read about your experiences since we're just back from a month in the UK, Croatia and Montenegro with our nearly three-year-old. We didn't have such a smooth trip as yours - but that was down to the airline, not us. I too was impressed by how adaptable little kids can be when they're in unfamiliar environs.
She sounds like an excellent traveler for such a young child..you guys are lucky.
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