Destinations Belfast, Ireland Time of travel May 2010 Length of holiday <=1 month Childs age Baby (0-1 year) Accommodation Family Holiday type Visiting friends and family Transport Aircraft

I'm originally from Northern Ireland, but these days I'm based in Khartoum, the capital of the Sudan, the largest country in Africa, and my husband's country. I live here with my husband, and our son, Anwer, who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last year. We brought him to Sudan late last year, when he was about six weeks old. On that journey I was lucky to have my mum and my husband with me to share the arduous task of escorting a tiny, sleeping infant on a journey of approximately 3000 miles!

Recently we made our first trip back to Northern Ireland since last year when we'd spent time there after Anwer's birth

Due to awkward travel arrangements, it worked out that my husband would be travelling 24 hours earlier than the two of us, and I would be travelling in sole charge of Anwer. I tried not to think about the ins and outs, preferring just to grin and bear the journey, focusing on the joy on Anwer's grandparents', aunts', uncle's and extended family's faces when they saw him again. Anyway, he's a placid, cheerful, eight (and a half) month old – how difficult could it be to sit on a plane with him for x amount of hours?

Pre-travel planning

We waved daddy off early afternoon on Monday and I started mentally preparing myself for the journey ahead. Our flight was due to leave at 5am the next day, necessitating a 3am arrival at the airport, so I decided I'd get up at 1am, and we'd leave the house at 2.30am, the airport being a ten minute drive away. The initial worry for me was disrupting Anwer's routine, as he's usually fast asleep at the time I was planning to get up. We went to bed early – Anwer sleeps in the same bed as me, so he's quite happy to sleep when I sleep. He stayed fast asleep while I got up at the arranged time, stayed asleep while I showered, and while I packed my hand luggage (remembering a warm coat for Anwer – it may be summertime in the UK, but we were leaving behind temperatures of over 40 degrees so I was concerned he'd feel the cold). He stayed stubbornly asleep as I changed his nappy and dressed him, but woke up as we were leaving the flat. I had a rather large wheeled suitcase, but made sure I packed lightly as I knew my main priority would be carrying Anwer in a sling. In my hand luggage I had a good supply of nappies, two changes of clothes, a can of powdered formula milk, and two empty bottles. Anwer is mostly breastfed and eats some solids, but he also gets formula milk when I'm out at work so I brought the supplies of the brand he's used to so that I had the option of making up formula milk in case of an emergency situation. I also made sure I dressed in a way that would enable discreet public breastfeeding, as I know from experience that baby changing and feeding facilities in airports are often unreliable (i.e., locked or out of use) or very busy (queuing with a screaming, wet nappied, hungry baby is not on my list of top ten travel experiences).

Knowing that I was prepared for various eventualities – dirty nappies, dirty/wet/vomit-y clothes, breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, gave me a feeling of confidence and security as I set off.

The disruption begins …

At the airport we joined an unsettling horde of people taking the same Egyptair flight as us who weren't being allowed to enter the check-in area - "because of the weather" according to the guard outside. After chatting to some fellow passengers it became clear that our flight had been cancelled due to the inbound plane being stuck in Egypt due to heavy sandstorms. Unfortunately this meant returning home and waiting for a phone call from the airport staff when our flight was ready for check-in. At home again, Anwer slept, I couldn't, worried I would miss the call from the airport.At 6am the phone call came. We were to be at the airport at 8am for check-in. I didn't spend too much time calculating if we could make the last flight to Belfast that night, preferring to concentrate on the journey immediately ahead. We checked in at 8am, and then waited in the departure lounge for four hours until we boarded our flight at 12 noon. Those four hours were relatively straightforward as Anwer kindly snoozed in the sling, but they were tough on me, wearing me out before I'd even done any real travelling. From Khartoum we flew to Cairo, a pleasant journey, made all the more pleasant by the fact that we were finally off. Anwer napped in the baby bassinet, allowing me some time to eat the meal provided, and have a break from holding him.

Flight cancellations!

Arriving in Cairo we went to collect our boarding passes for the onward flight to London, only to be told that all flights to London had been cancelled that day and we were to stay in a hotel! At this point I was very tired and frustrated, after having considered rebooking on a different airline altogether when our flight was delayed in Khartoum, only to be convinced by the Egyptair representative that I would definitely reach London that night. A few tears were shed as I insisted to the airline representative that we had to arrive in London that day because of an important appointment the next afternoon that couldn't be changed or missed. Convinced by my pleas that I urgently needed to fly to London that day, the staff member asked me to take a seat in the waiting area while he booked us on a flight to Frankfurt with another airline (Lufthansa), and then on a connecting flight to London, which would have us there at 10pm. I was very relieved, though we had to wait right until the last minute to get our boarding passes, meaning we had to race to the gate to board on time. There was no baby bassinet on this leg, but the flight was relatively empty, and Anwer was able to get a seat to himself beside me, as well as a souvenir cuddly toy from a friendly flight attendant. I was able to lie him down on the seat next to me, and he slept for a few hours while I ate, relaxed and watched a film. Towards the end of the flight he woke up, and enjoyed looking around while sitting in my arms, there were some children seated near us who played peek-a-boo with him and made him laugh.

Frankfurt airport is very big, one of the busiest and largest airports in the world, and it took us the whole 45 minutes we had between our flights to get from our arrival gate to our departure gate. Rushing along the brightly lit corridors, I really wished I'd brought a pushchair, as Anwer in the sling felt very heavy and unwieldy. I was exhausted and shaking like a leaf when I arrived at the departure gate. This flight was completely full, overbooked in fact, and probably the least pleasant part of the journey. We were in a window seat, and Anwer was grumpy and wanted to feed, but the length of his body meant he encroached on the person seated next to me. The passenger didn't complain, in fact they slept peacefully the whole journey, but I felt crowded and cramped and worried that Anwer would squirm and kick and disturb my fellow passenger. I suppose I should be thankful he didn't scream and cry and disturb the entire plane!

Home at last

Flying into Heathrow just after sundown, with London very prettily lit up, I was overcome with joy at having reached (almost) my destination. London felt close enough to home to be a relief, and I was overjoyed that the end was in sight. After close to 24 hours of being up and in travel mode I was feeling drained, and very emotional.

(I also looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, and my clothes were covered in milk spills and baby dribble, but that's beside the point.)


Our journey was a lot longer than I had expected, but given that I did arrive at my destination, eventually, with my child in tow, I count it as a successful first expedition. And after all, given that I dealt with being alone with a baby, cancelled flights, long waits on uncomfortable seats, crowded flights, busy, large, unexpected airports, well, then, I can confidently deal with anything on the next journey! Except perhaps an additional child …

Most useful thing I brought: My credit card – to pay for that expensive London hotel. Had I been on my own I think I would have suffered a couple of hours on an airport bench, but I couldn't face putting Anwer through a night in a harshly lit airport after such an arduous journey. Those few hours in the dark, in a soft bed, made all the difference, especially when we arrived to all the excitement of family who hadn't seen us for over six months.

Most useful thing I didn't bring: A pushchair. I thought the sling would do the job, but having Anwer in my arms constantly, and carrying him whilst rushing through sprawling airports really took its toll on me physically.

Most important lesson learnt: The importance of staying calm when faced with travel disruption! I learnt that however prepared I might feel, anything can happen when travelling long distances. It helped me immensely to focus on making sure Anwer was as comfortable as possible, and avoid worrying about anything out with my control.