And the big-vacation begins...
The very thought of flying with a 9 month old all by myself was terrifying. But my urge to be with S was so strong that nothing mattered at that moment. And I know a lot women had travelled with younger babies so I assumed it couldn't be that bad. Parents, S, friends specially L gave me lot of confidence and I could prepare myself pretty well with all the checklist provided by a dear friend as well as the one available in the website. S had tremendous confidence on me. I think he secretly adores me to be a super-woman...well, I don't mind that assumption **blush blush**.
With lots of preparation, ultimately the day has come when my baby and me embarked on our first journey
across the oceans. We had purposefully booked the flight via Delhi so that I could get enough transit time and could spend my day with an uncle and family. Had a lovely day with all of them as they were delighted to see Shreya. Laughter, gossip, catching-up took-up the whole day and by early evening we got ready for the BIG journey. 15 hours non-stop flight from Delhi-Toronto. S had done all the arrangement and could manage to book a seat with bassinet and I really thank him for that. Although Shreya was big for bassinet seat but I could dump all her stuffs there and that made easy access to things that are needed often.
We reached airport by 8:00pm. Airport authorities arranged an escort who would carry my luggage uptil the flight and help me with the boarding formalities. But nobody can help me with a sleep-deprived, cranky baby. Shreya had an active day at her grandpa's house and slept off on the way to airport. The boarding formalities woke her up and made her very upset. Had tough time during my immigration formality and by the time everything was done, she slept off again. Rest of the on-boarding formality went smoothly and there we start our journey at 1:30am. Bassinet seat, enough leg-space and a 14months old baby next to me helped me sail through the most-dreaded journey time and before I could realise, we were ready to land in Toronto. Lets just say Shreya behaved like an angle, thanks to the very sweet family in my next seat. They not only kept her smiling but also helped me with food/drinks and also my luggage.
However, the off-boarding was not very smooth. Shreya was very sleepy by the time flight landed. Lots of formalities involved after that and also had tough time locating my luggage. I was pretty sure that I would end up losing either my purse or my passport or something or the other. But thank God nothing of that sort happened. I came out of the airport after collecting all my luggage and there I saw S smiling. A kind of relief ran through my nerves and that happiness can never be described in words.
Time for hugs and kisses and that's what we did. We were happy..very happy to be together after a brief separation of two months and the whole world didn't matter.
That was a bring, sunny Saturday morning of July 30th 2011 when I landed at Pearson International Airport,
Mississauga. Our apartment was about 30 minutes drive from the airport. The city was calm, well-spaced, clean and beautiful to say the least but I was not in the state to experience anything as the reality that I had
successfully reached safe and sound with Shreya was still sinking in.
The apartment was located at the 14th floor and was lovely. Cozy, fully furnished, tastefully designed and a big wall-to-wall french door overlooking Ontario lake. I must say that was the highlight of the entire house. The bedroom too had a big french window overlooking the lake. The night and early morning view used to be breath-taking.
A cozy bedroom, a big living space with magnificent views of the lake, greenery all around and a sail boat or two in the distance. It was love at first sight for me **smile smile**. I could imagine writing a novel, painting a masterpiece, having a romantic affair with my husband (yes, I am boring) or simply gazing out at the lake!!!
I am not kidding when I say that I am a dreamer at heart and on looking back I feel that I had spent some of the "life's-best-moment" in that home.
That's "Happy us" at our Mississauga house:
With lots of preparation, ultimately the day has come when my baby and me embarked on our first journey
across the oceans. We had purposefully booked the flight via Delhi so that I could get enough transit time and could spend my day with an uncle and family. Had a lovely day with all of them as they were delighted to see Shreya. Laughter, gossip, catching-up took-up the whole day and by early evening we got ready for the BIG journey. 15 hours non-stop flight from Delhi-Toronto. S had done all the arrangement and could manage to book a seat with bassinet and I really thank him for that. Although Shreya was big for bassinet seat but I could dump all her stuffs there and that made easy access to things that are needed often.
We reached airport by 8:00pm. Airport authorities arranged an escort who would carry my luggage uptil the flight and help me with the boarding formalities. But nobody can help me with a sleep-deprived, cranky baby. Shreya had an active day at her grandpa's house and slept off on the way to airport. The boarding formalities woke her up and made her very upset. Had tough time during my immigration formality and by the time everything was done, she slept off again. Rest of the on-boarding formality went smoothly and there we start our journey at 1:30am. Bassinet seat, enough leg-space and a 14months old baby next to me helped me sail through the most-dreaded journey time and before I could realise, we were ready to land in Toronto. Lets just say Shreya behaved like an angle, thanks to the very sweet family in my next seat. They not only kept her smiling but also helped me with food/drinks and also my luggage.
However, the off-boarding was not very smooth. Shreya was very sleepy by the time flight landed. Lots of formalities involved after that and also had tough time locating my luggage. I was pretty sure that I would end up losing either my purse or my passport or something or the other. But thank God nothing of that sort happened. I came out of the airport after collecting all my luggage and there I saw S smiling. A kind of relief ran through my nerves and that happiness can never be described in words.
Time for hugs and kisses and that's what we did. We were happy..very happy to be together after a brief separation of two months and the whole world didn't matter.
That was a bring, sunny Saturday morning of July 30th 2011 when I landed at Pearson International Airport,
Mississauga. Our apartment was about 30 minutes drive from the airport. The city was calm, well-spaced, clean and beautiful to say the least but I was not in the state to experience anything as the reality that I had
successfully reached safe and sound with Shreya was still sinking in.
The apartment was located at the 14th floor and was lovely. Cozy, fully furnished, tastefully designed and a big wall-to-wall french door overlooking Ontario lake. I must say that was the highlight of the entire house. The bedroom too had a big french window overlooking the lake. The night and early morning view used to be breath-taking.
A cozy bedroom, a big living space with magnificent views of the lake, greenery all around and a sail boat or two in the distance. It was love at first sight for me **smile smile**. I could imagine writing a novel, painting a masterpiece, having a romantic affair with my husband (yes, I am boring) or simply gazing out at the lake!!!
I am not kidding when I say that I am a dreamer at heart and on looking back I feel that I had spent some of the "life's-best-moment" in that home.
That's "Happy us" at our Mississauga house:
I am overwhelmed to know that i actually boosted ur confidence :D..
ReplyDeleteCool ...It reminds me when I travelled with Saanvi alone when she is just 3 months old:-) But I guess our next gen kids are pretty good:-) they behave quite well outside the house:-) I too had a smooth journey of around 24 hrs.
ReplyDelete@Arundhati: Thanks L. U actually did boost my confidence and u always do that :D
ReplyDelete@Kalyani di: I agree. They are way smarter than we are.
I wanna bow down in front of u Sumita. I have traveled with Zoe by Air alone around 7 times (all in a year :)) but those have been hardly 2-3 hours journey within India and I have had sleepless nights before every journey. I can't even think of taking a 15 hours+ flight with Zo that to alone :)
ReplyDelete@My Zoe's Mum: Travelling with a kid is indeed scary. And u will be surprised to know I travelled with her around 13 flights (again all within 12-14months) but mostly with help around. This long haul flight to-and-from Toronto was the most dreaded ones and to add to the story, our return flight from Toronto was 18hrs with 2hrs break in Belgium. Sounds crazy when u are alone with the toddler, isnt it?
ReplyDelete