Off I went.
It felt weird – to say the least – to be travelling without two small hands to hold on to. If you’re a mum too and have forgotten quite what it’s like to travel alone you might find these pointers useful.
1. It’s normal to carry just a single piece of baggage. Nah, you haven’t forgotten anything. And it’s not even important whether the bag is pink, blue or yellow.
2. On the flight, you are not allowed to cuddle people sitting on either side of you (to be on the safe side, keep your hands off the hand rests).
3. If your boarding pass says window seat, you actually get to sit at the window.
4. You can survive a two-hour flight without a visit to the loo. As a bonus – you also survive take offs and landings without admonishing your neighbours to ‘hold it in’ even while wondering anxiously if they will hold it in.
5. You can get through a flight without a single apology.
6. You don’t need to ask the airline staff for favours – no change of seats, no extra water, no extra tissues to mop off said water.
7. Airport shopping zones are a grossly misunderstood lot. Far from the disaster-waiting-to-happen-zones you thought them, they make for blissful browsing.
8. You get to decide what you want to do on the flight – reading, listening to music and sleeping being real options (over visiting loos, ensuring co-passengers don’t get kicked/ pushed, mopping messes and refereeing seats).
9. The baggage carousal is just that – a baggage carousal, not a forbidden slide you cannot allow your kid on.
10. A two hour flight is way too long. After a point you don’t quite know what to do with yourself.
A last bit of advice. Sit back, relax and try to enjoy yourself just as much as the kids are enjoying your absence back home.
Linking to ABC Wednesday for the letter ‘J’ for Journey. Joyful thanks to Mrs Nesbitt who thought up this wonderful meme.
I did take a work-related trip without kids recently and totally identify with all this!!
Ha ha Roshni. It's just a mom thing.
Haha! Good one, Tulika
Thanks Sid 🙂
hehe..this was too good..and, where did you go, alone? *please notice the generous streaks of envy lining the question*
Aw.. Uma don't be envious – I had to go for my sister's surgery. But now that I know they can live without me, a holiday is on the cards.
i definitely was nodding at the last one.. my niece and nephew were here and oh my god travel was horrendous , are we there yet , are we there yet .. but once they left the same journey was WHY is it not finishing 🙂
Bikram's
Lol Bikram either way it takes some getting used to.
The last line that two hour journey seemed too long reveal how much attached you are with your children and the message that it is the kids who provide the fun in any outings.A very enjoyable post.
Thanks KP. Kids sure keep us busy.
Lol! That was a fun read… I always wondered how moms could keep their kids sane for two hours of flight.
Exactly Sheethal.
Yes, I've had no kids for so long, that having a child at 51 was tricky in terms of travel./ ALWAYS late for the first 5 years…
ROG, ABC Wednesday
You said it Rog. It's specially hard if you've been punctual and conscientious all your life before the kids came along.
LOL 😀 You make N and H sound so bratty, Tulika! 😀 Glad you had a great time traveling alone 🙂
Ha ha.. Shilpa, they're not bratty just 'normal' kids – however ambiguous that may be.
Hahaha… I meant they are regular normal kids but you made them so bratty in this post! 😀 Wait, till they grow old and read this post!! 😀
Can't wait for them to grow up. They need to know what we've had to put up with :-).
Haha…see, this is why I could never have kids! I enjoy all of it way too much. Solo travel or travel with friends is bliss! 😀
P.S. Two hour flight is way too long??? 😀 I've got 15 hour flights coming up in June! I'm sure I have enough books to keep me company though. Or else just chatting, writing and observing people…
Sanch kids are addictive in a weird way. Somedays they make you as happy as you've never been and then there are days they make you wonder why you needed to have them at all. 15 hour flight – Good Lord!! Best luck to you. Hope I'll get to read all about Canada soon enough.
And on a trip like this I often wonder where the kids have been for long … to realize they are back home 🙂
-Jyoti
Ha ha Jyoti. you're right.
Well, that must have been quite a change…I hope you enjoyed and not kept thinking about the two little ones constantly 🙂
Well I did think of the kids. How can I not! They seemed to be having such a great time, though that I wasn't worried for a moment.
Too funny Tulika! I hope you thoroughly enjoyed your journey! 🙂 <3
I did, thanks Elly. Need to get used to it.
Ha ha ha. I needed this dose of laughter today, Tulika, especially the one about not cuddling fellow passengers 😛 What would the spouse say, I wonder! 😉
Spouse.. err.. umm.. didn't ask him. Guess he'll be kind of relieved or else he'll make sure I ALWAYS travel with cuddlable people.