Flying with young children

It's our first holiday as a foursome. It is also Noah's first time on the aeroplane. Nathan's second... though I do not know how much he remembered of his first time flying when he was about 13 months old. We chose to fly out at 8.30am in the morning, to maximise the day. Had to get the kids out of bed about an hour before their usual waking up time. Thankfully neither of them complained. We took a cab to the airport, and there was a snaking long queue to check-in. No idea why the queue were so long, but thankfully, it moved pretty fast. 

In the cab

At the check-in counter

After clearing immigration, we wandered around the airport, before heading to the boarding gates. They might have relaxed the rules on carrying liquids onboard, as I had no problems bringing onboard the boys' water bottles which I've filled to the brim. Traveling with young kids, I much prefer to board last. There's a long time to wait after the doors close and before the plane actually takes off... so to minimise the number of 'why are we still here' type of questions, I prefer to let them roam freely outside the plane before boarding. That also give the ground staff ample time to tag and pack our stroller for check-in at the gate.

That's our plane!

On the gangway

Nathan got his very own seat this time around. He enjoyed the KrisWorld entertainment system onboard, and that kept him glued to his seat the entire journey.

Noah offers kor kor a drink

Seat belt buckled and ready to go

Checking out his tray table...

Enjoying his lunch

Enjoying his inflight movie

Noah, just shy of 24 months qualified for infant prices, but it also means he doesn't get his own seat on the airplane. We had done an internet check-in 2 days before our flight and thankfully we managed to get seats with a bassinet. When we were flying with Nathan about 2 years ago, we checked-in late and the flight we were on had more infants than bassinets. We had to keep him on our laps throughout. 

Noah wasn't too happy about being strapped in, much preferring to walk around. Thankfully, the bassinet row had marginally more space for him to roam around. He didn't find KrisWorld quite as entertaining, possibly because he was experiencing it sans audio. 

Look!

Trying to decide what to watch on KrisWorld

Noah's not too happy about being strapped down

Noah watching Elmo without audio cos he refuses to put on the head phones

Noah shared my lunch with me even though he had his own baby food jars. No photos of our food because it is actually quite a feat having to make sure that Noah gets most of the food in his mouth and doesn't knock off the tray table and everything on it. After the meal, Noah was getting sleepy. I gave him his favourite bolster and he drifted off to sleep in my arms pretty quickly. He continued sleeping even after I placed him in the bassinet. Phew! :) At 21 months, he is a bit too big for the bassinet... His legs can't stretch out fully... but even then, it was comfortable enough for him to sleep soundly. While he slept, I requested for some cup noodles as I was still hungry. They'd usually have a stash of cup noodles for passengers who need more food. :P Yummy!

Sound asleep

Traveling with young kids, do plan ahead on when you'd like your meals served. On our return leg, I knew that Noah's nap was shortly after take-off. So I requested for his meal to be served first. Well fed, he promptly drifted off to dreamland. While he was sleeping, I requested for my own meal to be served before everyone else... just in case Noah woke up. 

Nathan & Noah enjoyed the ride and we're thankful that it was pretty fuss free.

Are we there yet?

The view from our seat

I think that means we are ready for a holiday further away from home?