The rest of our Melbourne 'holiday'

Well I think I have recovered enough now to write about the rest of our time in Melbourne.

After my last post (which was in some quiet little Korean internet cafe where I had to guess how to use the computer since I don't read Korean all that well, and I had to leave pretty quickly because Preston started crying - and it's not really the done thing to have a crying baby in an internet cafe), Preston and I went to bed about 9pm and woke up about 11 hours later. That was good. I packed up all our stuff (travelling with a baby is ridiculous - I had the stroller, carseat, suitcase, carryon small suitcase, plus large handbag for baby stuff), checked it into the hotel storage room and went shopping. This time i thought i would be clever and i carried Preston in the front-pack thing and i pushed the stroller. It was a great idea in theory, since he preferred to be carried, and i had the stroller just in case, plus the stroller was an excellent shopping trolley! However i did pay for it later...

Shopping was fine - while Preston was asleep on me i managed to fill the stroller to its maximum capacity with shopping, and people looked at me a bit strangely! I was hoping i would be able to stuff everything into the remaining space in my suitcases and not incur too much overweight fee. Went back to the hotel to catch my bus to the airport, and began the act I had become an expert at this holiday - looking like a helpless single mother so people would deal with my mountain of bags for me. This is quite essential when travelling alone, and I really thank the people of Melbourne for helping me in all sorts of situations, it was really amazing. Luckily there was a man catching the same airbus as me from my hotel and he helped me with all my stuff all the way to the airport, and even stacked it all on a trolley for me.

I checked in early at the airport, which was good since there was no rush or queues and it also gave me time to go up and down the escalators with my pile of bags a few times (so I could find various places including where to get my tax refund from shopping). This is me at 4pm: semi-tired looking but calm, carrying a sleeping baby in my front pouch, pulling a small wheely suitcase with one hand, and with the other, very carefully pushing a very heavy trolley (smaller than the AirNZ ones) that had my suitcase, stroller and carseat all resting precariously in a pile. The stroller wheels are pretty wide, so I only just fitted on the escalator, and it was tricky with one hand.

Had about 2.5 hours at the airport which was fine - Preston was being nice and good. Just before we boarded he started to cry a bit but nothing too bad. We got to board first, but it was a smaller plane than when we went over and the basinettes were temporary ones that were not able to be put up until the seatbelt sign was turned off. This was a bit annoying as I had managed to get him to fall asleep on me just after takeoff and I wanted him to stay asleep. I didn't get the basinette until after he had woken up, by which time it was too late - the crying had begun. This is me half and hour into the flight: tired and a bit embarrassed about my noisy baby, so I carried him up and down the aisles.

I was sitting right by business class with only a curtain separating us, so I was remembering all the times I've been on flights with crying babies and just wanting them to shut up - and the business class flight attendant kept coming out to see if there was anything she could do. Preston just kept getting louder and louder. AND LOUDER. I was getting tireder and wanting to eat or sleep myself, but he was being so tantrumy that I couldnt do anything. This is me two hours into the flight: screaming baby in my arms, deafening me with the loudness of the screams and soaking my clothes with the amount of tears, I just couldn't take it any more so I joined in. We just sat there crying inconsolably into each other. By this point all the other women sitting near me who had obviously been watching the drama unfold all came over and spent the next hour consoling me and Preston. He eventually went to sleep about half an hour before landing - and I was extremely unimpressed when the flight attendant told me she had to take away the basinette during the descent.

By the time we landed it was 12:30am, Preston was asleep in his front pouch again - totally worn out from hours of screaming - I was in a bit of a state and had to deal with all the luggage/trolley thing again and go through customs. I was the last one off the plane and poor Dan had been waiting so long for me. I think I just sobbed all the way home and went to bed, so glad to be home again!