two backpacks and a diaper bag

Monday, February 26th. The check-in process was smooth, as usual. We arrived at the airport at 7am for our 9:10 flight. We’ve learned from the Penang trip that we need to be at the airport 2 hours early just in case Arthur does another diaper blowout. He slept throughout the car ride, though, and through the check-in and immigration process.

At the automated machine, we were able to print our boarding pass, but we had to go to check-in assistance to get our baggage tags. No big deal. The line was not long at all and we were already on our way to the immigration line by 7:30.

As an aside, we had enough miles to book first class or business class on this leg. Unfortunately, they were both waitlisted and even after calling and checking and chasing, we were unable to clear the waitlist. I was hoping it would clear even 3 hours before the flight but alas, no luck. At least we have the bassinet row! I checked on expertflyer and again with the lady at the counter to see if our row was empty and she said that it was. However, bassinet row is quite popular because of the leg space so she would have to release the seat if anyone requests it.

I hope no one does. I would love to have the whole row to ourselves. Anyway…

The immigration line was quite long, but things moved on quite quickly. We were sitting outside the gate by 7:50. The gate wasn’t even opened yet. And Arthur was still asleep.

We waited until 8:15 to change his diaper. That meant that we had to wake him up. After the diaper change, I carried him through security while Sean took care of the diaper bag and my purse. After security, we went as close as possible to the front where Sean folded the stroller and placed it in the red gate check bag. He did the same for the car seat. The Singapore Air officer gave us a really large plastic bag for us. He said it would be better if we place both the stroller and car seat inside the large plastic bag to keep them together. We agreed. He then took the plastic bag and carried it to the airplane.

The flight was delayed for 20 minutes. While waiting to board, Arthur pooped twice within 2 minutes. Just in case, we decided to change him before we boarded. So we opened the portable bassinet and changed him on the floor. The carpet at Changi Airport helped cushion the change process.

When we finally boarded, Arthur was fully awake. And as it turned out, the whole row was empty. We had it for ourselves!

While waiting for everyone to board, Arthur started to squirm. I fed him but it wasn’t enough. We checked his diaper again but it was clean. He must be tired. We tried to put him to sleep. It was harder than usual, but he finally fell asleep. Just in time for the take-off.

Throughout the flight, he took many short naps. Sean and I took turns putting him to sleep or playing with him. It seemed to me that he cried a lot, but really, he didn’t. I felt defeated once or twice when he would cry because he was sleepy and he had a hard time sleeping. It was also unfortunate that the cabin wasn’t dark throughout the entire flight. Usually, all the window shades would be closed so that the cabin would be dark, but two people had their window shades open and the flight attendants did not ask them to close them. This caused the cabin to be super bright which wasn’t conducive for Arthur to get a long sleep. Also, even though we had the bassinet, he didn’t spend much time in it. One time, I put him to sleep after lots of rocking, shushing, and singing, and I placed him the bassinet successfully. Five minutes later… turbulence. I had to pick him out of the bassinet. I thought I was going to get some sleep.

Although it seemed like a long flight, at the 8th hour, I was actually surprised we had gone through more than half of the flight. It did not go as long as I thought it would.

We used about 5 diapers throughout the flight and because of we had the whole row, anytime we needed to do a diaper change, we just changed him on the seat. We didn’t go to the bathroom to change him. Plus, there was always a long line to the bathrooms. It worked out great! After each diaper change, Arthur would be in a great mood and we would play with him.

The worst part of the flight was the descent. Arthur was sleeping quite nicely when the pilot got on the PA system to announce that we were going to start our descent in 10 minutes. The loud announcement rudely awakened Arthur. I thought it was good timing. That way, I could feed him and hopefully, it would help him equalize. Unfortunately, I started the feeding too early. He finished feeding and then maybe two minutes later, just after he burped, we started the descent. It was fine for the first 30 seconds, and then Arthur started crying. And crying. And crying. Crying as if someone had physically hurt him. He screamed in pain. And tears started to well up. He looked at me hoping I would ease the pain. I, too, hugged him and kissed him hoping I would ease his pain. But I couldn’t do anything for him.

He cried so hard that he started choking up which caused him to swallow his saliva. He did that a couple of times. And then he stopped crying. The crying and swallowing had helped him to equalize. He cried probably for 10 minutes. But for the rest of the descent, he was calm. And he fell asleep before we touched down. When the plane was turning to prepare for landing, the sun hit his eyes, and Sean helped shade his eyes from the bright light.

Arthur slept all the way through deplaning and immigration. I carried him the whole way, afraid he was going to wake up if I put him in the car seat that we received when we got off the plane. He stayed asleep, though. When I had to change his diaper and clothes, he finally woke up. Meanwhile, Sean went to grab the backpacks from the belt.

I dressed Arthur in a hoodie bodysuit. I thought it would be enough at least until we get to the rental car. We put him in the car seat and exit the baggage area. We went to the car rental desk and were told to go downstairs and take the bus on platform 7. The elevator was outside the terminal. I covered Arthur with his jacket and sleep sack and covered the car seat with a blanket. I found out it wasn’t enough.

Inside the elevator, Arthur started crying. Rightfully so. It was cold outside!

When we exited the elevator, wind started blowing. Arthur hadn’t stopped crying. We saw platform 7 and quickly made our way there. “Once we’re on the bus, he would be more comfortable,” I thought.

But why would he? He was cold.

While Sean took care of the loading of the bags onto the shuttle bus, I took the car seat inside. Once inside, I took Arthur out of the car seat. Inside the bus was cold since the doors had been opened for a while. Arthur was now screaming. Good thing we were the only one on the bus and it wasn’t waiting on anyone else.

I quickly put Arthur across my lap and put on the fleece sleepsack. He was still crying because it was hella cold! Sean got onto the bus. The driver also got in and cranked up the heater. Arthur continued to cry. Instinctively, I kissed him, hoping it would reassure him that he was safe. The kiss caused him to scream. I realized my lips and face were cold. All he wanted was warmth and I had exacerbated the situation. I started to become flustered as Arthur continued to scream.

Sean told me to put Arthur on his lap. I conceded. Sean was calm. He put on Arthur’s jacket amidst the screaming and crying. When it was finally done, he gave Arthur back to me and I started rocking and shushing. The bus started to get warmer too. Finally, Arthur calmed down. We thanked the driver for his patience.

When we got to the car rental place, Arthur was content. While Sean took care of business, Arthur fell asleep in my arms. We then placed him in the car seat and he slept all the way to Swindon.

We arrived at the Airbnb at 6:45. Got everything out of the car, and then went out again to do a Burger King run. We were hungry and we were looking for a drive-thru so we didn’t have to get out of the car again for Arthur’s sake.

No bath for Arthur. All we wanted to do after we got home was to eat the burgers and go straight to sleep. We all went to sleep around 8:45.

Tomorrow, we plan to leave at 8 am and head to Stonehenge and Bath.