Dubai Day 2: A long flight.
We knew that the flight in would be hard on Elsy, and in turn on us. We did have a lot of help from the staff and was able to get a little bit of sleep in here and there. Elsy was not a fan of the bassinet. It was generally too bright due to the monitor hanging on the wall over her as well as the various lights that were in the cabin; one that was pointed directly into her bassinet.
She was generally well behaved though, and was ambivalent enough not to cry when passengers and stewards alike were waving at her, poking her hands, or pinching her cheeks. I really should get her a shirt that says "These cheeks bring all the boys to the yard."
Maggie did end up engineering a makeshift scaffolding over her bassinet by using the flight pillow and her sleeper to create a tent that blocked out the light. That combined with her tiredness and my dad's technique to put her down, we were finally able to get her to fall asleep in the bassinet. Just before we hit turbulence.
Once the seat-belt light turns on, all infants in bassinets need to be carried and belted to their parents regardless of the current sleeping situation. Elsy was not happy being woken up right after being put down, and we were not happy to have to hold her and spend the next half hour trying to put her down again in our sleep deprived state.
Despite that, we were able to get her down for a couple of hours or so. I thought that things were pretty good, until all the formula we gave her that night came out onto my shirt and pants, with four hours left in the flight.
I had packed a change of clothes in the carry-on luggage, but figured that I'd never really needed these spare clothes, and the extra space would be useful for other stuff (like the Surface), that I threw it into the checked luggage.
You live, you learn.
I ended up rinsing my shirt in the washroom and wiped down my pants as best as I could. Putting the cold wet shirt back on in the air conditioned cabin was not the most comfortable things in the world, but I did not want to be sited for gross indecency so suffered with the cold, sitting on the blanket that was covering the puke stains on the chair, and glad that I could not smell Elsy's sick on my pants.
At least I only had to sit like this for another three hours.
The staff were all friendly and very helpful. Our fellow passengers were nice and accommodating as well. In fact, there were plenty of children and infants on our flight. We were one of the lucky families to have scored a bassinet seat. I do not know how we would have managed if we did not get one of those spots!
The rest of the flight was uneventful. Elsy was pretty content the rest of the flight, clipping during the descent and entertaining the people around her. One of the passengers, who had complained earlier about us taking up so much baggage room, offered to help carry some of our stuff off the plane!
Gina and Kendrick ordered the Marhaba Service for us and we decided to go along with it. It was really convenient! They had someone holding a sign with our names with a stroller that we used to push Elsy around. Fast tracking through customs was definitely a time saver. They even include a baggage drop off, so everything is pretty much handled for you!
Gina picked us up at the airport and she immediately went to Elsy and threw her into the car. We got an impromptu tour of the roads and highways of the area near the Dubai airport (I counted four wrong turns) but that gave Elsy plenty of time to nap on the way to the villa.
By the time we got in, most of the family was asleep, but we had time to unpack and get settled. Elsy was wired though, and I spent most of the night keeping an eye on her, and putting her down. She is definitely jet lagged (and thus so was I).
She was generally well behaved though, and was ambivalent enough not to cry when passengers and stewards alike were waving at her, poking her hands, or pinching her cheeks. I really should get her a shirt that says "These cheeks bring all the boys to the yard."
Maggie did end up engineering a makeshift scaffolding over her bassinet by using the flight pillow and her sleeper to create a tent that blocked out the light. That combined with her tiredness and my dad's technique to put her down, we were finally able to get her to fall asleep in the bassinet. Just before we hit turbulence.
Once the seat-belt light turns on, all infants in bassinets need to be carried and belted to their parents regardless of the current sleeping situation. Elsy was not happy being woken up right after being put down, and we were not happy to have to hold her and spend the next half hour trying to put her down again in our sleep deprived state.
Despite that, we were able to get her down for a couple of hours or so. I thought that things were pretty good, until all the formula we gave her that night came out onto my shirt and pants, with four hours left in the flight.
I had packed a change of clothes in the carry-on luggage, but figured that I'd never really needed these spare clothes, and the extra space would be useful for other stuff (like the Surface), that I threw it into the checked luggage.
You live, you learn.
I ended up rinsing my shirt in the washroom and wiped down my pants as best as I could. Putting the cold wet shirt back on in the air conditioned cabin was not the most comfortable things in the world, but I did not want to be sited for gross indecency so suffered with the cold, sitting on the blanket that was covering the puke stains on the chair, and glad that I could not smell Elsy's sick on my pants.
At least I only had to sit like this for another three hours.
The staff were all friendly and very helpful. Our fellow passengers were nice and accommodating as well. In fact, there were plenty of children and infants on our flight. We were one of the lucky families to have scored a bassinet seat. I do not know how we would have managed if we did not get one of those spots!
The rest of the flight was uneventful. Elsy was pretty content the rest of the flight, clipping during the descent and entertaining the people around her. One of the passengers, who had complained earlier about us taking up so much baggage room, offered to help carry some of our stuff off the plane!
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| Elsy, what are you doing? (Can you see the stain on my shirt?) |
Gina and Kendrick ordered the Marhaba Service for us and we decided to go along with it. It was really convenient! They had someone holding a sign with our names with a stroller that we used to push Elsy around. Fast tracking through customs was definitely a time saver. They even include a baggage drop off, so everything is pretty much handled for you!
Gina picked us up at the airport and she immediately went to Elsy and threw her into the car. We got an impromptu tour of the roads and highways of the area near the Dubai airport (I counted four wrong turns) but that gave Elsy plenty of time to nap on the way to the villa.
By the time we got in, most of the family was asleep, but we had time to unpack and get settled. Elsy was wired though, and I spent most of the night keeping an eye on her, and putting her down. She is definitely jet lagged (and thus so was I).
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