Julie's Boggle

In just 6 days time – yikes! – we are travelling to Australia for a three-week holiday.

It all seemed such a good idea at the time, but on reflection, it’s easy to gloss over certain things (like the prospect of having a little one sharing your seat for a 24 hour flight) when they’re still comfortably far away!

I’m now into a phase where one part of my head is working on quietly blotting out all thoughts about actually being ON the flight, while the other part is doing its level best to work its way through every minute of it, with a view to not missing anything on the baby-packing-list.

After some thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that about the only thing the airline can be guaranteed to provide, where Jon is concerned, is bottled water and fruit juice.  Which leaves a seemingly endless array of items that supposedly need to be fitted into our carry-on luggage, to feed, clothe, entertain, nappy-change, and (in an ideal world) persuade him to sleep.

As a brief taster on preparing this mammoth list, consider the travel tip that most parents offer, which is to try to follow your home bedtime routine as closely as possible.

• Getting changed into night-time clothes: pack PJ’s
• Bedtime bottle: pack bottle & milk (not provided by the airline for “security reasons” :zipit: )
• Teeth-cleaning: pack baby toothbrush & paste
• Story: pack bedtime book
• Into “bed”: pack muslin, soft-toy, and baby sleeping-bag

That’s NINE items, excluding the obligatory nappy change. Not to mention the stress of trying to get a 500ml bottle of milk through airport security!  (Most adults wouldn’t hardly bother packing one item for going to sleep on a plane, unless perhaps it’s a neck cushion.)

The airline have offered us a “child meal for infant” but I’m reserving judgement on this one and planning more familiar pots of baby mush (lucky Jon) just in case.  (Not to mention lots of snacks, preferably ones that take ages to eat.)

With any baby food that we take, it’s hit and miss whether the quarantine authorities on the Australian side will let us through with it, even if it’s sealed.  So the idea is to go lean and hit the shops down under before the jet-lag wears off.

Anyhoo, we’re getting there.  Slowly.  And planning a bigger carry-on bag every time I re-pack it in my head.

And the part of my head that is trying unsuccessfully not to dwell on the flight (or jet-lag, or any other complications), is reminding me that we DO really want to do this.  Catching up with family and meeting our nephews for the first time will be great, and -big bonus- Tom and I are planning to do some diving too! 

So there is much to look forward to!  And if I don’t get a chance to blog while we’re there, watch this space for some holiday news in 4 weeks time.