two backpacks and a diaper bag

Sunday, March 11th. Reykjavík-Helsinki. I love Iceland Air check-in process and Iceland Airport security. There was a special line for family-with-children check-in and a fast-track security line for family with babies.

Our flight was scheduled for 7:30 but we got to the airport at 5:20. We had to park the rental car at the long-term parking lot, which meant it was a trek in the open air with Arthur to the terminal. As soon as we parked the car, Arthur once again woke up. I fed him and tried to put him back in his car seat. He protested. We needed to put him back in the car seat so that I could put on my pack and roll him down in his stroller. Plus, it was windy outside so he would be much more protected in the car seat-stroller combo than in my arms.

What I learned recently was that if he was half-sleepy and was aware of being put in the car seat, he would cry his heart out. So I started to talk to him to wake him up a bit. “Hi Arthur… good morning. How are you today? Do you want to go outside?” My voice became higher than usual. I did some baby talk and he calmed down. Then while talking, I slowly placed him in the car seat. He smiled a bit. Success!

As we made our way to the terminal, Arthur fell asleep. We went straight to the family check-in line and there was no line. At the counter, the officer told us that our backpacks were odd-size so after check-in, we needed to take our bags to the odd-size counter. No big deal.

Last night, when I checked in online, I saw that there was an empty row of 3 on the 3-3 seating arrangement. I chose our seats to be window and aisle. At the counter, I asked the officer if the flight was full and if the middle seat was still empty. She said the flight was not full and the middle seat was empty. I asked if she could block the seat so we could have more space with Arthur. She did. She also suggested that we bring the car seat on the plane to put it in the empty seat. That would be a good thing to try since we haven’t done it before. It turned out to be the best idea ever given the circumstances.

Security was a breeze. Since Arthur was sleeping, they were kind enough to let him stay in his car seat. All I had to do was roll him through the metal detector. They looked at him, swabbed the sides of his seat and the stroller, and let us through. I had him covered the whole entire time with a blue blanket to shade him from the light. This was the best airport security experience ever!

After security, we went straight to the gate. I was a bit disappointed to find that we had to be taxied on a shuttle bus to the plane. The good thing was that Arthur hadn’t come out of his car seat since we left the car. He was sleeping throughout. What luck! I also had bundled him up in his warm jacket I brought from Singapore and thick pants that we bought at the mall in Reykjavik, and used my cashmere button-up sweater as a blanket for him. I hadn’t taken off the the layers from the hotel all the way to the gate. He was warm and toasty. I wondered if he would be overheated but I didn’t want to wake him up to check. I was still in my jacket and did not feel hot so I assumed he was also feeling all right.

About 15 minutes before boarding, Arthur woke up crying. I took him out of the car seat and fed him. I took this opportunity to check the back of his neck to see if he was sweating. Nope. This was a good sign. He was warm enough but not overheating. I let him latch on as long as he needed. He was falling asleep while latching. I didn’t bother him.

When the boarding announcement was finally made, I waited a minute or so and broke the latch. He was still okay. I set him up-right, his face against my shoulder, and burped him. He was still okay. I slowly put him in his car seat. He was still okay. He whimpered a bit, but with a bit of shushing, he was still okay. I put the blanket on the car seat and picked up the car seat, and he became silent. He fell asleep again. Whew!

We had to wait about 10 minutes for the bus after they checked our boarding passes. I was so glad Arthur was still asleep. I prayed he wouldn’t wake up and cry so I wouldn’t have to carry him out of his car seat. After all, we would have to get on the shuttle bus and then walk up the stairs to the plane. He would be more protected from the wind if he were to stay in his car seat. Also, Sean had his hands full. He had folded the stroller and placed it in the red gate-check bag. They said he would have to carry the bag all the way to the airplane and to leave it at the base of the staircase. He also had the diaper bag with him. If I had to carry Arthur, he would also have to carry the car seat. Or maybe, we would have just let Arthur cry in the car seat until we got on the plane? Anyway, I was happy we didn’t have to do any of that.

We got on the shuttle bus, and one person was kind enough to let me go in the middle so that I could put the car seat down on a raised platform. That way, I didn’t have to carry it throughout the shuttle ride.

When we finally got to the plane, the doors opened and I got off the bus. We were seated in row 31 which was 4 rows from the back of the plane. I was glad they had opened the back of the plane. I went up the staircase while Sean took care of the gate-check stroller. The wind was blowing quite hard and it blew the blanket a bit, slightly exposing Arthur to the wind. I tried to cover him up as best as I can while making my way up the staircase. There was no queue. Thank God. Otherwise, I would have to stand in the cold wind. I got on the plane and placed the car seat in the window seat. Everything was all right. I took the middle seat. Sean joined me in the aisle seat a couple of seconds later.

Even though we were seated, the airplane door was still opened. It was so cold! Sean grabbed a blanket from the overhead compartment. And we waited. I was so glad Arthur was bundled up properly and that I did not have to take off layers for him at any point from the hotel to the plane.

We were on our our way to Helsinki! Arthur stayed asleep through take-off. I only checked on him a couple of times throughout because whenever he moved his head side-to-side, which he would often do, his beanie would slide down to cover his eyes. This has happened when we were at Stonehenge and he hated it. It made him feel like he was suffocating. Or at least that’s how I think he felt as he gasped for air. So, even though the car seat was covered by a blanket and Arthur was nice and toasty in there, I had to check on him a couple of times to make sure the beanie did not cover his eyes or the blanket did not get cover his face.

We let him sleep as long as he wanted. Meanwhile, we also tried to steal some power naps. Didn’t quite work for me, unfortunately. Well, at least we had the car seat and we weren’t holding him in our lap. The car seat idea was great! I wonder if we were going to be this lucky on our next flights: Vilnius-Warsaw and Lisbon-Frankfurt-Singapore.

Arthur woke up an hour and a half before landing. He woke up in a pleasant manner, actually. No cries. He just looked around, grunted, and when we locked eyes, he turned his face away with a smile as if he was shy. I decided to take him out of the car seat. He needed the stretch after sitting in the car seat for almost three hours.

An hour before landing, I tried to feed him but he was not ready. Forty minutes before landing, he was getting a bit fussy. But I didn’t want to make the same mistake as the Singapore-London flight. If I fed him too early, he wouldn’t feed at the top of descent and he wouldn’t be able to equalize well. So Sean took him for a walk up and down the aisle. The distraction only lasted for a while. He was hungry. He latched on 30 minutes before landing. The difference between this flight and the Singapore-London flight was that Arthur continued to latch on for a good 20 minutes. He even switched sides!

This flight turned out to be a very pleasant flight.

When we got to Helsinki, Arthur didn’t mind being placed back in the car seat. As I walked out of the plane with him, he actually fell asleep again. Nice! We head towards the baggage claim. We must have walked too far because when we exited on Arrival 2B, the belts were empty. We asked an officer at a nearby counter. They said we made a mistake. We now had to exit, make a left, and right after the pharmacy on the left, we had to ring the bell for security to allow us back into the luggage area 2A. We did just that. Sean and I both thought it was weird. The way back into the luggage area was this unassuming door. A person came out of the door and asked us for our airline and let us in quite easily. No boarding pass check or anything. Oh, well.

Once we got our bags and the stroller, we head straight to the train station.

Waiting at the platform was quite cold. I’m glad we had the Graco stroller. Arthur was sleeping and he was protected from the cold. The car seat had a very big retractable hood and the stroller also had a large retractable hood. The combo creates a perfect cocoon.

We didn’t have to wait long for the train to arrive. We got on for a 32-minute ride to Helsinki city center main train station. About 5 minutes into the ride, Arthur woke up and started whimpering. We opened up the hood and talked to him for a while. But he wanted to get out of the car seat. So I took him out and he sat on my lap for the remaining journey. He was quiet throughout the ride. I think he liked people-watching. Seeing different people getting on and off the train. Some were wearing quite colorful outfits. Some even gave him smiles.

When we arrived at the main station, I placed him back in the car seat, and he was surprisingly pleasant. I wondered if he would be happy sitting there for the next 15 minutes as we made our way to the Airbnb. It was only going to be a 1-km walk.

At first, it was fine. We tried to cover him up in his cocoon but he didn’t like that. So we opened him out to the cold. He didn’t seem to mind it at all. We only walked for 350 meters and he started to cry. Started out slow but it got louder and harder. He wasn’t buying any of the cooing or talking that we did to distract and soothe him.

We headed towards Scandic Simonketta. It was only 50 meters away, it was on our way to the Airbnb, and it was a hotel that we’ve previously stayed in the last two times we were in Helsinki. We knew they had a pretty large and chill lobby. As soon as we got there, we took Arthur out of the car seat and he became a happy baby. He just wanted to be held.

We tried putting him back in the car seat. He cried. The stroller bassinet. He cried. I put on the carrier and placed him in it. He was fine. So we decided that we were going to walk with him in the carrier. I took off my pack and put it on top of the stroller. Sean pushed the stroller while I focused on Arthur.

We finally made it to our destination. Long story short, the key pick-up and the apartment were at two different places, a block apart. When we got to the Airbnb, we had gotten the wrong key so Sean went back to get a key exchange while I stayed by the elevator with Arthur and the bags.

When we finally got in to the apartment, we dropped off our stuff, changed Arthur’s diapers, put him to sleep, and headed out to get some groceries. The supermarket was only a block away which was super convenient. We decided we weren’t going to cook tonight so we got Subway to-go and went back to the apartment to relax. It was only 5 pm but we were so exhausted.

We ate, watched a movie (we projected a movie unto the wall), did the laundry, and tried to put Arthur to sleep by 8pm.

It was 11pm by the time Arthur was willing to be placed in the bassinet. I laid my head on the pillow to get a good sleep. I was waiting for this opportunity to sleep.

It was cold in the apartment. I messaged the Airbnb owners earlier in the afternoon but still haven’t gotten a response.

Arthur woke up crying at 12, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 for various reasons. Suffice it to say, I’m still exhausted.

Tomorrow, we’re planning to do museum visits. We’ve been in Helsinki before so we’ve done some of the big touristy things. We’re only here really as a transit point to the Baltics. We’ll see what we’ll end up doing tomorrow.