Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The journey home

We spent a week in Brisbane before we getting back to Nigeria. I am so grateful that Danella was able to fly back to NZ and then come with me to Brisbane. Getting through customs with a baby strapped to my friend was a total mission, and it was definitely the part Neriah hated the most! Having my wonderful sister there helped so much and taught me that when we are travelling alone we need to remember the following:
1. Don't overpack the nappy bag and the cabin bag. It is absolutely impossible to put a cabin bag in an overhead compartment, with a baby strapped to your front, when it is double the 7kg weight limit.
2. Don't pack anything in the nappy bag or cabin bag that will mean you get searched at customs, this includes metal objects such as bangles. You are already having to get a laptop out and put that through seperately, the less you have to take out the better.
3. Do a half feed BEFORE boarding. While mom thinks its a great idea to save the feed until taxi-ing/take-off, baby has other ideas. A crying baby makes it harder to focus on organising putting bags in lockers, getting seatbelt attachments, etc. 

After learning these things, it made our following three flights so much easier.
After awaking at 3am and making my poor sister take us to the airport, we flew to Sydney for a 2 hour layover, and then the 14 hour flight to Johannesburg. Neriah was such a dream traveller thanks to my earlier lesson. I was constantly told what a good girl she was, and she had the stewards and airhostesses totally charmed!  We then stayed in a flashy hotel in Johannesburg for the night, courtesy of reward points, and I felt like a million bucks! 
The flight from Johannesburg to Lagos was definitely eye-opening. On my previous flights, I had so many offers of help - people offering to hold Neriah, putting my bags up in the plane, helping me pull luggage off the carosel, etc.  On this flight, there was no such offers. A plane full of men, and not ONE of them offered me any assistance at all. I couldn't believe it. It must be a cultural thing? I hate to put it down to that but there can't be any other explanation.

Caleb met me at the airport with some beautiful red roses and I promise I did not want to let him go!!

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