We have arrived

After a very stressful few months as a single parent, the Bean and I have joined the Mister in London. He ended up leaving at the end of July to set up things on this end of the ocean, and I stayed in Canada waiting for the Bean’s and my visa’s to arrive. I also got to pack up everything, drop tonnes of stuff off at thrift stores and organise the few belongings we decided to ship over. But now we are here!

I think one of the things I was dreading most about this whole move was the flight from Canada to the UK with a 19 month old. By myself. I read blogs and asked advice from friends about how to make less painful for me, the Bean and our fellow passengers. I bought new toys and books that she wasn’t to see until we were on the plane. I talked to her about the airplanes and what we would see and what would happen. We talked about how we would take a ferry and then two airplanes and then we would see Daddy. And I’d like to think she understood a bit. In the end it went as well as possible. I was stressed and exhausted by the end, but the Bean was just fine.

The travel day started at 5:30 am. We had been staying with my parents for the last two weeks on Pender Island, which is a small island in between Vancouver and Victoria. One must take either a float plane or a ferry to get on and off of it. That morning, due to the massive amount of luggage we had, we had decided to take the ferry into Vancouver. Our ferry left Pender at 7am and we needed to be there before 6:30am to guarantee our spot. So at 6am I loaded our gigantic suitcases into the car in the dark and in the rain. And then loaded the sleepy toddler in after them. My Mom provided coffee and the three of us headed off.

The ferry left on time. It stops at two other small islands on its way to Vancouver, so we were going to be on for about 2 and a half hours. And I got to spend that two and a half hours chasing a giggling toddler around the boat. It was fun though. I could carry my coffee and get her all worn out before we had to get on an airplane. She had a great time saying hello to everyone, and running around like mad. She’s always happiest when she thinks she’s being a bit naughty by not holding my hand. She giggles uncontrollably and is convinced she’s getting away with it. It makes her happy to have the independence I think. And it’s hilarious to pretend to chase her. Even though I bet some of the other passengers probably thought it was a bit too early for a toddlers happy shrieks.

We got to the Vancouver airport at around 11 am and my flight wasn’t until 3. We had two flights, the first a quick trip to Calgary, and then the second Calgary to Heathrow. Beans loved watching the planes take off and land from the observation deck in the Vancouver airport. She kept demanding to see “more airplanes”, so that’s how we killed time until it was time to go through security.  Which is when we had to part ways with my Mother.

The absolute hardest part of the day was saying goodbye to my Mother. She’s going to try to come visit in the spring, but it won’t be the same as having her near by. Especially because she took care of Beans when I worked this last year and the two of them developed a great relationship. Even now that we’ve been in the UK a few days my daughter keeps asking where her grandmother is. I’m hoping with technology being what it is these days (Skype anyone?) they will still be able to communicate and keep in touch.  And we will be back to visit as often as we can manage it too.

Security was fine and there were other little kids waiting for the Calgary flight, so the Bean had little ones to play with. So between the other kids toys and watching In The Night Garden on my iPod we were pretty set.  I had this plan that if I could keep her awake on the Calgary flight, then she would fall asleep and stay asleep for the majority of the England flight. Sadly while I was holding her during take off my exhausted little girl crashed before the seat belt sign even came off. I managed to dig my headphones out of my bag and watch half an episode of Game of Thrones before she woke up. She woke up very disoriented and confused, but still adorable! Her nap was only about a half hour at the most, but since the flight it’s self was just over an hour that wasn’t too bad. The last 20 minutes of the flight were supremely turbulent. With the quick rises and drops that make you gasp. Bean was fine, and thought it was fun. I did my best to put on a brave face. I hate flying during the best of times, but this was just hellish. I couldn’t help but imagine our fiery and horrifying death as the plane pitched up and down. I’ll never be one of those people who can just calmly watch a movie or read a book during the bumpy bits of a flight. I’m too busy using all my mental power to keep the plane in the air.

We did land in one piece, about 20 minutes late, so I had to rush to get to the gate for the London flight. When we got there the room was completely stuffed with people, most of which were blocking the door. We had a few minutes yet before they loaded and Bean was agitating for some milk. I went back to one of the shops we passed and convinced the lady behind the counter to sell me two bottles full of the milk they had for the coffees. She was pregnant and seemed to understand my position. We got back to the gate just in time for the priority boarding (i.e. us!). I was pretty unimpressed with the flight attendants on that flight. They asked me to break down the Beans stroller before we loaded the plane, which I was fine with. But was somewhat difficult to keep the Bean close by, as well as our two bags and break the stroller down.The flight attendants on the Calgary flight had done it for me. Maybe understanding that I was travelling alone with her, and I only have so many hands. Beans was so tired and cranky and out of her comfort zone that  she burst into tears as soon as I took her out of the stroller and put her down. Which earned me some nasty looks from other passengers. I really love how empathetic some people can be!

I got the stroller broken down as quickly as possible, and scooped up my confused Bean and we found our seats. We had gotten Beans her own seat even though she is still under 2 just for a bit more space. Best call ever, really. She had her space and her own little TV and I had a bit of room to put all our stuff. It was a full flight so a nice man was in the window seat with us. He was heading to Lisbon for a sabbatical and was friendly with the Bean. He seemed to genuinely like kids, and no look of horror washed over his face when he saw his seat mates. So that was good!

We hit the same turbulence leaving Calgary that we hit landing. It lasted until we were well over Quebec and delayed dinner for over 2 and a half hours. Beans was not impressed with this development. She was hungry, didn’t want milk or any of the other snacks I had packed and the plane kept pitching around. Over all it was bad. Bad. She didn’t cry or fuss too much, but she did kick a few seats  and kept saying “Food, please!”. Broke my heart.

When we finally stabilised we got dinner and soon after the Bean fell asleep and stayed that way until we landed. Thank God! I watched some movies and tried to snooze but the Bean kicks and moves a lot in her sleep, so there was no rest for me. THe rest of the flight seemed to ‘fly’ by and soon we started our decent into London. It was kind of cool to see some major landmarks as we headed down. Big Ben and the London Eye made an appearance which I appreciated. Our landing was uneventful and then I had the joy of walking for miles throughout Heathrow looking for customs. My Bean was a bit confused by the sunlight, since according to us it was 2am, but was soon distracted by all the airplanes.

As for customs, the last time we travelled with the baby to Heathrow my husband and I got directed to a special line and didn’t have to wait with everyone else. This time no such luck. Or so I thought.  They had a special line for students (?) but not families. So I followed another couple with two kids under 3 and stood in line, like everyone else. After we had waited for about 10 minutes (with Beans asking to get out of her stroller ever 30 seconds), a woman came through and pulled all the families with small children out of the line, and brought us to the front. Lovely! So we got through with no trouble. It helps to have your visa’s all in order. I am a little annoyed however since my husband and I had to do a bit of work to get a notarised note saying I was allowed to leave the country with my daughter without my husband. You know to make sure he knew we were travelling and that I wasn’t kidnapping her. And NO ONE asked for it. No one on the Canadian side or and English side. It makes me happy we used the company lawyer from my husbands work instead of paying £70 for an official notary.

Getting our bags, the playpen and the stroller out of the secured part of the airport also presented a bit of a challenge. The carts didn’t have any baby seats. So I had to carry my sweet toddler (who at this point was refusing to wear shoes) and steer a heavy, over packed trolley to where my husband was patiently waiting. My darling child kept insisting on “helping” to push the trolley so I ended up carrying her like a football while she put both her hands on the bar of the cart to push. There are a lot of twists and turns to get through that section. And my Bean managed to knock my glasses off more than once before we got through. But then we saw my Mister and it was all okay again. Two months are a long time to be apart, and all the stress and exhaustion just melted away when I saw him. He had organised a cab to take us home for which I am incredibly grateful. I don’t think I could have bourne  a two-hour multiple train ride after all the traveling I’d done in the previous 24 hours.

And then we headed to our new home. But I think that writing about that can wait for another day or two. Seeing as getting this far in the story has taken me close to a week to write.