1. We flew an A380 from Singapore to NYC. A first for me. So far Ive only designed gates at airports for the plane, this time I got to travel by it too.
Unfortunately for us direct flight lovers, Singapore Air decided to terminate their direct flights from Singapore to Newark, aka the world's longest direct flight, which used to be entirely business class. The hubster has had the fortune of flying that one before, but the daughter and I have'nt sadly, as much as I'd have loved to. So we make did this trip with a 24 hour flight journey with a 2 hour long stopover at Frankfurt. Yes I know just reading that is tiring enough.
The daughter was both co-operative and out of control at times. Naturally the entire lower floor of the A380 knew who Zoe was and rode in terror at the prospect of having her show up yet again, peeping into their business, every few minutes.
2. Singapore Airlines is a very baby friendly airline. As is KLM. Not only does the crew make it a point to know the baby's name but are also helpful/ resourceful with food, milk, toys etc. Note to Self: The next time you fly on either of these, do not bother carrying anything baby-related except diapers, since most baby supplies are on the house. Now if only they could provide baby-sitters on board, that would be any Mommy's dream come true.
3. Just the air in some cities has the power to spark off a drunken euphoria and give one goosebumps sometimes. Needless to say, NYC does that to me. And the aerial view of flying into JFK, (albeit not as scenic as flying into LGA or EWR), brings a sense of home-coming that can only compare to what I feel each time I fly into Mumbai.
As we piggy-backed onto the little one's passport and cleared ourselves out of the 'US Citizens' line at Immigration, the officer's "Welcome Home" greeting brought instant smiles on our faces and a spring in our step.
4. I had forgotten how it feels to come visit the US after living outside it for a while.
Comparisons are but natural, considering we were now coming from 'Let-me-spoil-you-Asia'. Even though we've lived in Asia for only 2 months, as compared to the 10+ years in the US, the differences were strikingly apparent.
Our home for the week was the W Hotel on 50th and Lexington in Manhattan, conveniently located close to everything that we would need for the week.
Be it the curt DIY attitude at the Manhattan hotel Vs the 'I-bow-before-thee-my-lord' attitude at our Singapore one, the skimp perks of a bagel-breakfast at the former Vs an all-inclusive multi-culinary breakfast buffet at the latter, the meagre comforts of a Starwood Group Manhattan Hotel (I do not mean the lack of space here, since space in Manhattan is obviously at a premium, so to expect roominess here would be being ignorant) Vs the over-the-top lavishness of the Starwood group Singapore one, it was quite clear we were now in NYC.
The lack in all of the above, however, was made up for by the reception/ attention that the little one garnered at the Hotel, by staff and guests alike. Whoever thinks New Yorkers are not warm/ friendly enough, should try living in Singapore with gregarious babies.
5. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder. And that fond heart then spoils you silly too, in the process, as we saw in our one week in NYC.
While Hubster worked from his Manhattan office, the daughter and I struck off one reunion after another with friends, ex-colleagues/ ex-school mates etc. It is always nice to be a visitor at home. People bend their schedules to catch up with you more often than not. The unwritten rule of 'pay-for-the-guest' would apply to me in NYC, I did not know of, until now.
A big Thanks to everyone who made it a point to come see us/ have us over, be it for a few minutes or multiple times throughout the week. It is because of you that we left the city knowing it has missed us and hope that it knows how much we miss it too!
6. I've often been asked how we manage to take the baby with us on such frequent, short international trips.
On-flight the key has always been to let-her-be. If she wants to walk, we walk with her and for take-off or landing we make sure she's intellectually occupied with books or random airplane-seat paraphernalia. We've always carried limited toys on flight, making toys out of objects we find on board usually. So far that has worked fine. However, that might soon have to change.
As her frequent flyer miles shoot up gradually, airplane gadgetry has lost its novelty on her, so here on perhaps its time to innovate. And of course a big chunk of the credit goes to friendly co-passengers who are usually at the receiving end of her stares/ drools as they eat and hence out of sheer compulsion end up sharing their food with her.
"What? You dont use Benadryl?" asked her pediatrician, this week when we went to meet her in Hoboken. Sheepishly I nodded, saying I prefer to not medicate unless absolutely necessary.
"90% of children get drowsy after Benadryl while the remaining 10% get hyperactive. So make sure you try it out first, if you do decide to use it" she said.
Not fully convinced yet, I managed the courage to try it one evening at our hotel room, only to see that the daughter outright refused it. That was the end of the Benadryl discussion as far as we were concerned. Since she has'nt really driven us up the wall yet on flights, we figured let's keep things as un-medicated as we can for now.
Our other travel secret with the baby is hiring sitters wherever we go. This trip was going to be no different, except of course instead of relying on the hotel baby-sitter, we got our close friend's future baby-sitter to work with us for our last few days and nights out in the city.
7. Considering we are on the road/ in a plane more often than ever now, that too with surplus baggage allowance, we've realised it is only convenient if we run our errands, wherever we can. These vary from everyday needs such as buying the baby's cereal in one country & shampoo in another to getting a haircut in one country and making a doctor's appointment in another. Surprising; how easy it is to actually have errands done on-the-go like this.
8. An important errand was to go meet the European models, aka the current residents of The Original MD House, to pick up our mail. Besides no visit back home can be complete without going home really, now can it? The house seemed happy, perhaps because its current residents are such great caretakers. I gave Hubster the 'See-how-well-these-men-keep-house' look only to receive his classic 'Whatever' response in return.
9. In the batting of an eyelid this trip was over with. We found ourselves heading to JFK, dreading our relatively shorter (by a few hours, since we were flying East) flight back to Singapore. I convinced myself, as I did most of my friends in NYC that I would've stayed longer, had it not been for the unnecessary hassle of travelling alone with a child. As a policy, I ve kept myself exempt from the above, until absolutely necessary. In fact my maiden voyage with the daughter will be two weeks from now, when she and I fly to Mumbai. The 5-1/2 hour journey I might be able to live with, me thinks. More on that in the next write-ups to come.
Thus ended a fun but quick trip back to one of our homes. We left with the promise of returning again in a few months, to meet some who would've turned newly weds, others who would've become parents, some newly arrived babies and others that would've grown up to become toddlers.
As of now, I need to get back to doing what I do best these days; travel research followed by
flight & hotel bookings for the next itinerary on the charts.
Until next time, stay well!
Love,
Shweyts
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