- Woo! We're feeling a little anxious.
This is our first time--
- You're not feeling anxious.
- Okay, I'm lying.
She's feeling anxious. - Don't lie.
I'm pretty chill. I think everything's gonna be fine.
But we are traveling with our four month old baby.
She's never traveled before,
and we've never done this before.
We're big time travelers, but traveling with a baby
is new to us.
So we're gonna take you through this experience, firsthand,
what it's like traveling with a baby from Toronto to London.
It's like a seven hour flight.
And we're going to show you every step and problem
and highlight along the way!
(upbeat jazz music)
- We're that.
- [Siya] Family check-in.
We have never done this before.
Family check-in.
(ding)
What prep work did you have to do
before coming to the airport?
- Just packing ahead of time.
Basically starting a week before,
just to make sure I had everything and didn't
feel stressed the day of,
and checking out other blogs,
people who have traveled with their kids,
seeing what they brought and what they didn't need.
- [Siya] So this is gonna come with us.
Until we are about to board the plane.
- You could check the stroller and car seat now,
but we wanna have it till the gate,
'cause you can bring it right to the gate, and it's free.
Two out of three things you can bring are car seat,
stroller, and play pen.
So you can choose two of those.
But the stroller has to fold.
- [Siya] So we're choosing to put on the stroller
on the plane so we can take it through the airport?
- [Kristen] Yeah, we're gonna check it when
we get to the gate.
- [Siya] Got it.
So right now, we're going to check this bag and that bag.
Okay, so we just checked in our big suitcase,
with both of our clothes, and our smaller suitcase,
with all of Kai's stuff, with our daughter's stuff.
- [Staff] Where are you flying to?
- [Siya] London. - London.
- [Staff] London Heathrow?
- [Kristen] Yep. - Yep.
Thanks.
I don't know why people would check their stroller,
because it was super easy to just walk through the security.
Took us what, five minutes? Tops?
- [Siya] Yeah.
- [Kristen] So, I took Kai out, and I held her
and walked through, and then Siya
went through with the stroller--
well, behind the stroller, because the stroller
went through by itself, and Siya followed.
- [Siya] In the x-ray, or in the--
- In the, yeah, at the x-ray. - In the metal detector.
Metal detector, right.
And then they just patted it down.
- [Siya] Right.
- [Kristen] Yep. It was super easy. Super simple.
And because we're a family and American Express cardholders,
we got to the front of the line.
It wasn't busy though, but.
If it was, it would have been great!
- [Siya] And she actually doesn't have a ticket,
I was checking, because she's under two years old.
- [Kristen] And you don't have a seat!
- [Siya] She's gonna be on your lap, or my lap.
- She's gonna be, yeah, on our lap.
And she has a bassinet, but we'll talk more
about that when we get on the plane.
(upbeat jazz music)
Everything's so new! Yeah!
All these lights and sounds and smells!
(upbeat jazz music)
- [Siya] Usually we would take the escalator down.
But now,
we take the elevator.
(upbeat jazz music)
- We booked our ticket and included
an infant under two years old,
so that means that she can fly for free.
Yeah, it was that simple.
It was like $60.
I know I'm talking so much, you're like, "Quiet,
"feed me woman!"
It was just like, some airlines charge a little bit,
some airlines don't charge anything at all.
But it was pretty much just taxes for her.
That we had to pay.
(Kai gurgles and Kristen laughs)
Da da da! Da da da da da!
- We're now leaving the lounge.
We were there for about an hour, it was really nice.
Kristen breast-fed, she changed Kai.
How was the changing situation?
- It was actually the first time I've changed her
in a public space.
We brought doggy pee pads, and just laid one down
over the plastic change table thing,
and, yeah, it was fine, it was good.
- [Siya] That kept it sanitary.
- Yeah.
- And that way, if that gets dirty, you can just
wrap that up and throw it in the garbage.
Which is really nice. Keep it sanitary!
How you doing Kai? You doing okay?
We're now at our gate, we're about to board.
Our flight was delayed about an hour, which kinda sucked,
but luckily we're at the lounge, so it didn't really matter.
Kai is passed out right now, but we will have
to wake her up for take-off.
And we'll see how this goes.
- Well, we have never done this before.
Boarding when they say, "Children and families".
Thank you Kai.
- [Staff] And the stroller?
- [Kristen] Yup.
- [Staff] Perfect. Hi little one!
So cute. How old?
- [Kristen] Four months.
- You're a brave momma.
You're a brave momma.
- Why?
- For trying to travel with a four month old.
- Oh no, it'll be good.
- You're brave. Enjoy it.
And congrats! - Thank you.
- Why's people gotta keep saying that?
"You're brave, you're brave".
Am I missing something? Is it really that difficult?
I guess we'll find out, but really?
That person made me nervous!
- [Siya] Yeah, 'cause you weren't nervous before that.
- Yeah, I'm nervous, but I don't even know why,
to be honest.
I guess her ears, I'm nervous about her ears.
(upbeat music)
Alright, we're on the plane now, baby's first flight.
And she's getting sleepy, which is good.
So we have front-row seats,
which means we have more leg room.
And we ordered a bassinet ahead of time.
- [Intercom] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen--
- From the airline,
which is also free for infants under two.
I'm gonna breastfeed on the way up, to help her
with popping her ears.
Wish us luck!
(ominous music)
- [Siya] So these are the seats that we got.
So Kristen was upgraded to be here,
because she's with the baby.
And I assume that they're going to put a bassinet
here on the wall, so that Kai can go to sleep.
And then, I had to pay to upgrade to sit next to her.
We brought some disinfectant wipes,
so just going to wipe down this area.
- [Air Hostess] Yay!
So, for takeoff and landing,
you can hold the baby both positions so the--
- I'm gonna breastfeed her.
- [Air Hostess] Okay, so just hold her head in the back,
just in case something happens, we don't want the head
to go backward, safety.
Seatbelt on you, not on the baby.
- [Kristen] Yep.
- [Air Hostess] And if masks drop,
you're gonna put your mask first,
and after on her.
- [Kristen] Right, yeah.
- [Air Hostess] We're gonna bring the bassinet
once in the air.
- [Kristen] Okay.
- [Air Hostess] Okay?
If the seatbelt sign come on, you're gonna have
to hold the baby, don't leave the baby in the bassinet.
Any questions?
- [Kristen] Nope! - No.
We've been delayed for like, two hours,
two and a half hours now.
Not fun, with a baby.
But she's so good, thank goodness.
This is her fussy. 'Cause I'm waiting to feed her.
'Cause I don't wanna feed her and then she doesn't
take my boob for takeoff.
So we're just sitting here, waiting.
(dramatic music)
(Kai cries)
(lullaby)
- Okay, so we're halfway through our flight to London.
We've been in the air for three, three and a half hours.
Kai was asleep before takeoff, so she's been asleep
the entire time.
And this is the change table.
So it just comes down.
And it looks like it's supported over here,
and in that side of the wall, so that's not gonna fall,
this is strong.
And it looks pretty clean.
I've never had to use this,
we haven't used it on the flight,
we haven't changed her yet,
but we probably will change her before she
goes back to sleep.
And this looks like a clean surface,
even though we will put a pee pad down,
so that it's a nice, perfectly clean, sanitary surface.
So far, so good!
- Hello! I think it's like two AM, Toronto time.
Which is about the average time I would get up,
back in Toronto, to pump,
because Kai sleeps through the night really well.
But my boobs, they need to release the beast.
As in, I need to milk them, because they will explode.
Or, they do, sometimes.
There was nowhere to plug in the pump in the washrooms,
so I had to plug in at my seat, fiddle around with
my pump's position, and drape a towel over me,
which kept falling off, but I don't really care anyway.
Anyways, success! I got some milk!
Now I'm gonna go and see if I can possibly put
it in their fridge,
or get some ice to keep it a little cool.
Usually it's good at room temperature for a couple hours,
but I'm gonna see if I can make it last even longer,
because Kai, I think, is pretty much out for a while.
Well, we're getting close to the end of this flight.
And we got two sleeping babies.
(guitar music)
(snoring)
(guitar music)
Success! She slept the whole time.
She didn't even feed when we went up or went down.
She was cool. Oh, and look at that!
Perfect.
- [Siya] There's our stroller and our car seat!
- It's a good thing we got these cases
for our stroller and car seat, because they are wet,
but the car seat and the stroller are not!
'Cause they're protected.
- [Siya] Yep. You can see there's water here,
because we're in London and it's raining!
But on the inside, perfectly dry.
- [Kristen] Wait. Wait, it rains in London?
- [Siya] It rains in London.
- What?
(upbeat jazz music)