We're Lounge People Now
Surviving a long haul flight with a baby
With every hour that passed, Miss Adventure seemed to get worse and with every hour that passed, we were heading towards an international flight that we didn't know if we could make...
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Miss Adventure was sick - fevers, snot, cough, weird breathing and to top it off, conjunctivitis. It was the worst sickness she had ever had (in her 8 months), and we didn't know what to do; should we take this flight?
It was the day before the flight, the only thing left to do was to book an appointment with a doctor and find out if she was fit for travel.
We called the doctors office and explained the situation, hoping that they could see her as soon as possible. We got the second-last appointment of the day - some relief, but we were still less than 24 hours from our scheduled departure time with a sick baby.
We sat silently in the waiting room and were finally called into the doctors office. Feeling pretty stressed, we explained our situation to the doctor, who performed all the standard checks on Miss Adventure.
"Do you think she'll be right to fly tomorrow morning?" we asked anxiously.
"Yeah, no problems" he said, jovially.
His calmness in the whole situation took us aback; were we expecting him to tell us not to take a flight with a sick baby? Was this one of the tests of parenthood?
Still unsure as to whether or not we were being negligent parents, we filled the prescription at the pharmacist for the conjunctivitis eyedrops and on the way home, we decided we were definitely going to take the flight.
That sureness disappeared at 2am when we woke up to Miss Adventure crying with a fever, blocked nose and red blood-shot eyes. With 5 hours until our ride to the airport was coming to pick us up, the doubts set in again.
After a fairly sleepless night, the alarm went off and the adrenaline kicked in. It was go time!
We packed a tub full of homemade Immune Boosting Vitamin C-packed Gummies (recipe by Boob to Food) to have with our breakfast at the airport and after some last minute checks through the house, we woke up Miss Adventure and we were on our way.
We got to the airport and lined up to check-in what we thought was our well packed luggage, but in the end, we had to do a little shuffling around of one bags contents. This was because Mike decided to pack (or smuggle in without my knowledge and direct instruction not to) one of Miss Adventures' favourite singing nursery rhyme books. Coincidentally, this was also the same year he won the Father of the Year award in our household...
Next we passed quickly through security and customs with Miss Adventure happily taking all the exciting new surroundings in, regardless of her constant stuffy nose. Giddy at the thought of our first time flying with a baby, the whole process of getting to the departure gate was easy, and before long, we were ready to board.
We found our two reserved middle seats at the bulkhead, where we would have a bassinet set-up once we were in the air and got buckled up for the flight. This flight was an 8.5 hour flight from Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City, and the seat configuration was 3x3x3. Soon, the announcement came that made our day (which was welcome after the stress of managing a sick baby, before an international flight), the cabin doors were closing. Luck was on our side - a glorious spare seat sat vacant beside us, which meant we had a whole row to ourselves.
This was both a blessing and a curse. This flight, our first one as a family, was pretty comfortable with the extra space, and Miss Adventure napped and played well throughout.
We highly recommend booking the bassinet onboard the plane. If your baby fits the recommended weight and height limits, then it allows you more leg room and for them to have a safe spot to nap. Keep in mind that all airlines have different sized bassinets, so if you have a bigger baby, you might find they can ride in the bassinet on some carriers, but not others.
We could originally only book 3 out of our 4 flights with a bassinet for Miss Adventure, however, at the last minute, we called the airline again and were able to secure one on the last flight. This made the time a little bit more manageable, as it would have been tiring having to hold Miss Adventure for the entire duration.
We landed at Ho Chi Minh City Airport and made our way towards the lounges - we had a 6 hour layover in this sweltering hot airport (which only seemed to have air-conditioning next to the Gucci store) and our plan was to escape the heat by holding up in a lounge. We had read online that you could buy passes when arriving at airport lounges, so we went to the first one, only to be told that they were at capacity and couldn't actually sell passes at the entrance. Not to worry, there were two more lounges to try. We walked to the other end of the concourse and were told by the attendant at the second lounge that they only accepted club members. That left one last option, the lowest rated and poorly reviewed third lounge. At this point, we were desperate and sweating profusely, even though we were inside, so we would take anywhere that would have us.
The third lounge also turned us away.
Feeling defeated, we headed to the food court to research options for buying passes online. We found a website which would allow us to buy a pass, however, it's validity was questionable. Was AU$150 worth the gamble? In this case - yes, it was. Tan Son Nhat International Airport is unbearably hot, and we didn't know how we would survive the next 5 hours without a food buffet, air-conditioning, and somewhere quiet for Miss Adventure to nap.
After the website declined all of our bank cards, it didn't look promising. But Jess weaved some magic, whilst Mike had to take a walk to "cool-off" from the frustrations of service denial, and was able to find a work around to secure passes to the first lounge we had tried earlier.
The same attendant that turned us away, welcomed us with open arms once we showed them the passes. We would be able to eat and rest here for the next 5 hours, which was honestly one of the best decisions we've ever made and from that day forth - we were lounge people.
Leave a comment and tell us your favourite airport lounge in the world, we'd love to hear which ones you've visited.
Oh yeah, we forgot to fill you in - remember how Miss Adventure was horribly ill and we didn't know if we could take these flights to get to Europe? Scientifically speaking, we can't explain it, but by the end of the first-leg, she was miraculously healed. Conjunctivitis and all.
Back to the lounge - it was fantastic. We ate heaps of food from the buffet, there was freshly made pho (with all of the add-ons), congee, a great selection of tropical fruits, and delicious desserts. We hydrated, showered, and reclined in the cool air-conditioned comfort, with Miss Adventure taking full advantage and having an excellent sleep on a make-shift cot that we fashioned together with two armchairs and a blanket as a canopy. After a nice relaxing time, boarding began for the next flight.
The second-leg was tough. We quickly realised how spoiled we were in the first flight, having had a whole row to ourselves. With another passenger sitting next to us, we missed that extra space that we had grown accustomed to in that first flight. After Miss Adventures' excellent sleep in the airport lounge, she was fully rejuvenated, her sickness was completely gone, and she wasn't interested in rest. Her parents, on the other hand, were three levels of exhausted, and we still had 12 hours of flying to go.
If you have come on the adventure with us this far and are waiting for our top 5 tips on how to survive a long haul flight with a baby, here it comes - there are none. It was horrible.
[The adventure continues soon...]
See you on the road!