Flying with Karyn

(Post-dated)

Hubby had to go on a 4-day Tokyo business trip and so, I decided to crash in with Karyn. Used his Krisflyer miles to redeem an Economy return ticket on SIA and paid for an infant ticket for Karyn. However, it wasn't for the same flight out (of SG) as Hubby as that flight had been fully booked. Thus, Karyn and I had to take the next morning's flight at 9.25 a.m.

Many "firsts" that we experienced... It was Karyn's very first overseas trip and it was my first, alone with Karyn. I had been super anxious a week before the flight. Karyn had recently gone into the infamous "Terrible Twos" stage, throwing tantrums every other day. So I started reading up articles on the Internet about flying with children. I had to equip myself with all that I needed to know to handle any possible scenario that could happen during the 7-hour journey from SG to Tokyo.

Surprisingly, Karyn was so well behaved that when we landed, the gentleman seated next to me and the lady two seats away commented that Karyn is such a good girl!

I attribute it to two reasons:

(1) It was the anti-nausea/giddiness medicine that I gave her just before we boarded the plane that knocked her out almost half the journey time. She was sleeping like a baby.

(2) It was her first flight and everything was so unfamiliar to her. Hence, she was too busy taking in the experience to have the time to act up.

Something else that helped was the "bag of tricks" that I had brought along - stickers/colouring book, crayons - that kept her occupied during the times she was not sleeping. So she pretty much stayed on my lap, belted in.

But lo and behold, the flight back was such a contrast!

Hubby, though on the same flight, was not with us as his was a Business Class ticket (thanks to his company policy). Fortunately, there was an empty seat beside me and the gentleman one seat away is a grandfather of a 3-year-old boy who didn't mind playing with Karyn and helped me occupy her while I ate my in-flight meal.

Perhaps the earlier flight had brazened her, she was such a terror during the return flight! Refused to be belted in, getting up and down from my lap so many times till I lost count, venturing down and across the aisle to other passengers, trespassing into the Raffles Class cabin that was a curtain away... Even the sticker book and her favourite Want Want milk balls weren't sufficient to entertain her this time.

I was so exhausted trying to keep up with her antics that I must have lost at least 1 kg during that flight.

The only consolation is that the next time we fly long distance again, she's definitely getting her own seat. She'd be more than 2 years old by then.