Been wanting to blog about this since we came back almost 4 weeks ago (gosh... where did time go?). The boys and I had a little adventure as we flew back from the USA all by ourselves. Their daddy had to return 3 days earlier, leaving just the 3 of us coming back on our own!
The adventure started almost immediately when the daddy went onto the plane. I was shopping at Costco when I suddenly recalled that I didn't keep Kiefer's paper ticket when I separated our passports (we all had electronic tickets while Kiefer, being an "infant-in-lap" held a paper ticket). The daddy had already boarded the plane and there was no way to contact him. That started an entire evening of calling NWA to replace that ticket. After talking to them for a long time, they said that we just had to go to the airport earlier to get the ticket reprinted but at USD100 (cos it was taken that it was a lost ticket charge)!! Well, anyway, fast forward to the part after I got hold of the Daddy. He too called NWA in Singapore and they said that there was nothing they could do to waive the USD100 even though we told them that we had the ticket, it was just not with me!! In order to expedite the process for me at LAX, Kiefer's ticket number was left on the system so that the check-in counter personnel could quickly retrieve it and replace the ticket for me.
Well, LAX is one airport that I wouldn't like to fly in or out from if I can help it. Their systems are old and messy and the staff aren't really helpful (and that's not just judging from this recent experience). Well, this lady at the NWA counter, she was simply annoyed that she had to replace the air ticket for me. She didn't know what to do, she wasn't polite and she took a darn long time getting such a simple thing done. I didn't think she was nice at all, cos while serving me, she was darn rude to other passengers and her lines weren't even funny!! Another passenger simple asked her where her colleague (who served them half-way and disappeared, while holding on to their passports) and she simply brushed them off by saying "out for lunch!" It was 830am in the morning. :( She was clearly distressed that I had many pieces of luggage for check in and also the huge chore of reprinting the ticket to do. Clearly not very efficient. I asked her to put in a request for me to have assistance at Changi Airport, she told me a long story of how NWA cannot give assistance for single passengers with children, all they can give is a wheelchair etc. I told her that Changi airport staff will do so and insisted that she do it. In the end, she pretended to write something down on paper and said that she would do it later. At that point I knew that she wasn't going to do anything already! In fact, I thought she probably saboed me cos I had some special meal on the flight, which I didn't request for and I suspect it was probably a diabetic meal or something. :( I also requested for assistance at Narita airport long ago (once we booked), no help whatsoever was offered to me on flight or at the airports. Come on! How can this be service? I was a single lady, travelling with 2 young children!!!!!!
Enough griping about NWA. Well, back the adventure. I had 2 big worries before I flew with the boys. 1) They need to go toilet at inappropriate times. 2) Kieran would be sleeping during disembarkation and I wouldn't be able to get both him and fer off the plane and make the 1h 20min transit time at Narita.
for #1, well, that happened. I was really early at LAX and I kept asking Kieran if he needed to go toilet. He kept saying no until about 10min before boarding, he said," Mummy, I need to poo poo!" :P Gosh, the toilets weren't at the boarding gates. We had to walk a couple of minutes to the toilet, with bag pack and a toddler in tow to get him to poop!! :P :P
for #2, I read off NWA.com that I could bring an umbrella stroller onto the plane and stow in in the overhead cabins. As usual, NWA didn't come through. I had to check my tiny umbrella stroller at the gate cos they said I couldn't bring it up. The fortunate thing was that they actually brought it to the gate really quickly when we got to Narita (note: they took so long to bring the strollers up at Narita on our SIN-Narita flight that even though we were disembarked the plane really quickly, by the time we got our strollers we were at the end of the line for the security checks. By the time we reached our transit gate, we were only 20min to boarding!!) Thankfully, Kieran actually woke up during landing and he could walk off the plane. :)
The plane departed LAX 1hour behind scheduled departure. I was thoroughly stressed out, cos if you remember, I only had a 1hr20min transit time at Narita. The FA said that flight time is reduced by 1hr so I'll still be on time, but being NWA, what happened was that by the time the plane landed, taxiied and doors opened, it was already 5pm!! My next plane leaves at 550pm. The whole time while waiting for the planes to open, I kept telling Kieran, "Kieran you have to run ok.. cos we are very late. " And he was so good. He carried his own pack and walked so quickly with me. Once I got our stroller, he sat in there without fussing and we quickly made our way to the security. I literally half-walked/ran with Kiefer in the sling and pushing Kieran in the stroller. I must say that I've met some really helpful passengers. There was this nice Filipino guy who, at the security told me to just take care of the boys and he will help push my stroller across. :). We made it to the gates and found that the next flight was also delayed for another hour. So much for the mad rush! By the time we boarded, it was past midnight LA time. And once we got on that plane, the boys slept almost throughout the 7hour flight. :)
How was it travelling alone with 2 young kids?
I would do it again. Preferably on an asian airline though. The boys were great on the entire flight. they played, slept, ate, played slept. They didn't ask to walk around or anything. Any walk we took was simply to go to the bathroom. We kinda had fun.
Things I would recommend to bring on board for the kids:
- snacks for the kids and yourself (i.e. cookies, cheerios)
- sippy cup for juice/water to prevent spills
- colouring materials
- playdoh (this occupied them for quite a while, almost 1hr!!)
- ome video devices (i had the psp and the iphone with me, but i didn't need to use them much. they watched like maybe 20min of video on the entire 2 leg on the flight)
- handheld games (Kieran had his new leapster, which also occupied him for about 20min only)
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