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| NOT BAD FOR 2 ADULTS AND 1 TODDLER! |
I spent all my spare time during the week packing for a two day trip, crazy I know but as it was our first trip as a family of three, fitting two adults and one toddlers needs into one carry on case, one ruck sack and a travel buggy, well even for someone who loves packing, I was a little nervous!
Getting to the airport: Our flight was very early in the morning, and we had to get to Dublin Airport 90 minutes before the flight. Since it would be a very early start we decided to dress Growing Girl in her comfy travel clothes instead of Pyjamas going to bed so we just had to transfer her from cot to car seat in one easy move. Which saved us some time but she did wake up regardless of our efforts and stayed awake. We drove our own car and parked in the red long term car park. We booked the car in for 3 days at €21, much cheaper than a taxi where we are coming from! We got a spot just beside the shuttle bus stop, GG got straight in her purple buggy and we took it directly on the bus without collapsing it. On the bus there was a space for buggies, we put the break on which was fine but with this buggy being so light I felt I had to hold on tight to it in case the jostling from the bus might tip it over.
Getting through security: It was very very busy, Growing Girl stayed in the buggy right up to the scanners. The buggy folds up so small, there was no problems getting it through the scanner. One thing to note was it fell off the rollers going into the scanner as the front wheel is not fixable, it slid all over the place, so on the way back we held onto it until our cases were going in, then we put it on the rollers. Another point about the scanners is, they have to scan everything including any toys or teddy little ones might be carrying, we tried to explain this a bit as we were queueing. GG is very attached to her teddy rabbit and carries him everywhere. We explained "rabbi has to go through the tunnel with your purple buggy, he'll come out the other side" "keep looking, see there he is", she did get a little disgruntled but at the same time I think she was curious enough to want to see what was happening and stopped crying, giving the odd grunt when it wasn't going fast enough for her. The security guys were very nice about getting rabbi back to GG quickly. As it was a morning flight we needed to have with us GG's toddler milk, we brought a litre tetra pack of Cow and gate 2+. I was reasured by a friend that it was ok to bring it, you just have to take it out before it goes through the scanner and show them, I was a little wary but thought it was worth the try. I showed it and they asked did she have an allergy, I said yes (a hissy fit if cows milk is found in her morning beaker qualifies as an allergy, right?) they let it through with a side note that we'd need a doctors note for next time.
We did cut it a little fine getting to the airport, by the time we got through we had to run to the gate Home Alone style, which did feel a little dramatic but as we approached the gate they were boarding the last few people! With that in mind we didnt have any time to gather ourselves before the flight, no time for a nappy change or to fill up GG's beaker, get her toys and amusements ready for the flight, we were a bit flustered to say the least.
Getting on the plane: The night before we had discussed who is in charge of what. Which I thought would finally have pushed my husband to think I was taking this organisation obsession a bit far. It was a good job we did with being under pressure getting to the gate late we knew without hesitation that I was taking the ruck sack on my back and carrying Growing Girl on my front and DH was to take the buggy on his back and wheel the carry on case. On the way out we checked in and got our boarding passes ourselves at the Aerlingus machines, handy as usual. On the way back at Brussels airport we had to go to the check in desk to get our boarding passes as there was no machine, they weighed each of our carry on bags (something I hadn't encountered before), and gave us a yellow ticket to attach to the buggy. I was surprised they gave us a ticket but it turned out we didn't need it, the buggy went into the overhead bin just as it had on the way out. We did get a tap on the shoulder from one of the hostesses on the way onto the plane but it was just to tell us to take it off our shoulders and carry it in front for safety. We obliged of course, glad that it wasn't to tell us they'd have to take it down to the luggage compartment. It fit perfectly fine stuffed length ways to the back of the compartment and our case and ruck sack fit fine width ways in front of it. GG had her own seat for this flight, technically as she is just under two she could sit on my lap and not have to pay for a ticket but any time we travel on a bus (a bus journey is a good way to test this) she hates sitting on my lap and gets cranky easily so is much happier in her own seat. she is a tall (almost) two year old so she fit fine in the seat, with the regular belt.
Yezz in Brussels: It was more than convenient having the buggy to hand straight away when getting off the plane, it meant Growing Girl could get into it at the door of the plane and we could push her up the gangway. The buggy handled the city of Brussels quite well, easy to push, light to handle up and down step and getting onto trams etc. Also it was very neat for when you were in a cafe or restaurant small enough upright for beside the table and quick and easy to fold and stash under the table. There was some trouble when we were in the very centre of the city where the streets/walkways were cobbles or just in disrepair but we solved this by turning the buggy around and pulling it (a la the bugaboo snow/sand configuration.) that worked well and GG loved the view this way! She had no problem dosing off in the buggy even though it doesn't recline. I think there is only two things I would change about this buggy, to have a reclining option, and slightly bigger wheels but if that was to compromise the convenience of it especially for travel we can certainly do without it.
When you're packing (even if you have a week) you inevitably forget something and as the universe would have it the one thing I did forget was the rain cover. I thought nothing of this, but of course it rained for 80% of our trip, my friend who we were staying with gave me a lend of her cover which is for the bugaboo cameleon. It didnt look very pretty or fit like a glove but that didnt matter as it did a grand job of protect GG from the rain.
For our first trip as a threesome I needn't have been so worried or nervous it went so well that there wasn't even a tantrum or a freak out on the plane . . . from either one of us for that matter! It makes me very excited and enthusiastic to plan another trip, maybe for a longer stay and maybe a longer plane journey, hopefully easing us into a long haul flight one day!
some pictures were hard to snap at the time so if they were buggy related I recreated them at home just to demonstrate.
