Phewwwww!
That was a mouthful and tiring subject on its own yeah? Yes! That's
exactly how I embarked my journey back from Malaysia exactly 3 weeks
ago. As most of you might already know, the 4 of us went back to
Malaysia in late March. The kids and I stayed on till May for my
brother's wedding. Unfortunately, Iskandar couldn't stay on because he
was on work probation and could only get 3 weeks time off. A lot
happened when he went back to the UK and left the kids with me, but that
will be a different blog update altogether :)
So, everyone asked me the same question every time they hear I was going
back with both kids all by myself,
"how will you manage with 2 kids on
the plane??", "what if 1 of them starts to throw tantrum suddenly? Will u
cope??". Everyone had their concern and was doubtful about my journey
back home to the UK. To be honest, I couldn't give any rational answers
when I was bombarded with these questions. All I could answer was,
"InshaAllah, with Allah's will, I will be able to handle them on my
own."
When we booked our tickets, the plan wasn't for me to bring both kids on
my own. The initial plan was for Khairaldin to travel with my brother
via Emirates and for me to travel with Layina via MAS on the same day.
Somehow, the plan changed because Emirates didn't have any spare seat
for Khairaldin. Since I've already booked for Layina and my flight via
MAS, I had no other choice but to book for Khairaldin's flight with us.
In all honesty, I wasn't prepared for this ordeal at all. But with so
much faith in Allah, I took this opportunity as a Mother.
Everyone who
knew about my travel arrangements started to label me as a "SUPER MOM".
All I have to say is, I'm no where near that title.
So, here's how our travelling went. I have to say,
Alhamdulillah shukur
for such a superb and easy travelling provided by MAS. Staffs were
helpful and everything was just bearable from the check-in counter
onwards. We + my parents arrived the airport at 8am and dropped our
luggage at the check in counter. We requested for a travel assistance
since I had 2 kids with me. At first they didn't have anyone to assist
us but they had that initiative to get someone nonetheless. I had to
wait for someone to assist us at 9am. So, we just continued waiting at
the departure lounge. By 9, one of the staff came to help us out. Well,
the reason I needed help was only to have someone to pull my hand
luggage. Khairaldin was in the pushchair and Layina was in the baby
carrier.
It wasn't a problem in that sense.
Good thing about having assistance is that they assist you right into
the aircraft and everything is priority;
priority lane for passport
checks, priority for boarding pass checks and of course the first one to
get onto the plane! It was amazing! No hassle at all Masha'Allah. I was
so glad. I would have given the young boy some tips, but by the time I
settled down in my seat he has already pass his duties to the
steward(ess). Didn't get a chance to say proper thank you. Guess he was
scared if the plane took off hehehe. He'll be in my du'a, inshaAllah.
Oh yeah, I didn't request for a bassinet seat because when travelling
with Khairaldin before, he didn't like sleeping in the bassinet. So I
thought, it's ok, give others the opportunity. But I really wanted at
least the whole row to myself. Before we took off, I asked the steward
if there was any vacant rows. Unfortunately there wasn't any. Flight
wasn't that full, there were spare seats but not rows. However, a guy
sitting at the bassinet seatings offered to give his seat to us. I
accepted his offer and swapped seats with him. It's very nice of him!
After swapping seats we waited patiently to take off. Just before take
off Layina cried for milk. I thought, that's good at least she'll get
her nap straight away. Seeing that our flight was at 10:05am, it's the
time she normally have her naps.
So I breastfed her and by the time we
took off she was already sound asleep. The stewardess then assembled the
bassinet for her and I put her in it straight away. Little did I know,
Layina is so different from her brother!
She loved the bassinet and what
I thought was going to be a short nap actually lasted for 4-5 hours
straight!!! How good was that?
Khairaldin on the other hand, wasn't as easy as Layina. He suddenly had
tummy ache and was restless. After putting Layina in the bassinet, I had
a steward to look after her for awhile whilst I brought Khairaldin to
the toilet.
He had diarrhoea! Sigh. I did put diapers on him before we
left for the airport, but being toilet trained, he couldn't 'do it' in
the diapers.
But Alhamdulillah, we only went for 2 toilet trips in
15minutes gap. After those 2 trips, he felt much better and fell asleep
straight away! I was so glad. Since both of them were sleeping, I didn't
waste anymore time and straight away 'joined' them to sleep.
Alhamdulillah I managed to sleep for 2hrs straight. It was good!
By the time they woke up, we were already half way through our journey
.
We went for a few rounds around the aircraft, read a few books, played a
few games and just made a mess on the floor! Thankfully Layina was
already walking, saved me from having to carry here everywhere in the
aircraft. We managed to catch some short naps. Layina wasn't awake that
much. It was only for awhile that she was awake. Khairaldin was lucky as
he got to just spend time with me :)
Two hours before landing was a bit tough. Khairaldin kept asking what
time we were gonna arrive and kept bugging about wanting to eat bread
with chocolate spread from Nana's house! So I had to reason out with him
until he really gets the idea that we are far away and there is no way
he's getting his bread and choc spread in the plane. Hehehe
All in all, it was an interesting experience as it wasn't as how I
expected it to be at all! I was prepared for the worse and
Alhamdulillah, that was nowhere near my expectations. I am sure this
breeze journey was from the numerous thoughts and du'as people sent to
me! Alhamdulillah shukur! I believe that if we have a plan, we should
tell your loved one about it so that they constantly du'a and remember
you. JazakAllahu Khair, everbody!
Any tips or tricks? No really. I guess it was a rather "easy" journey on my side because I
am with my children almost 24-7 therefore I know when they are restless or
about to throw tantrums. If I was a working Mom, I don't think I would
be able to take up this adventure. Basically, you really need to know
your child when you're about to travel. Get them as comfortable as
possible, InshaAllah everything will be great! :))
Personally to me, SUPER MOM are those working Mom's who would be brave enough to take such adventure seeing that they're rarely with their child during day time. But either way, mother instincts are the best!! :))
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