It’s been just over a week since we boarded our one-way flight to Copenhagen. Here’s a little post about the journey.
We packed enough to get us through our first short-term rent of two months. After this, we will probably ship the rest of our stuff out, which is currently stored in every inch of spare space at our parents’ houses. The house we’re staying in is fully furnished, so we thought we didn’t need much. Oh how wrong we were! Once you take a 16-month old into account, there isn’t much space left for you. I also wanted to make sure Lydia had all her clothes and lots of familiar toys and books to help her settle.
We filled three large suitcases and three hand luggage bags and Lydia’s changing bag. When travelling with a little one, you usually get two free items to check-in, so we went with a travel cot and pushchair, which we put in a protective case. This turned into a life-saver, as it had space in it to pack extra clothes and coats. Perfect when winter packing takes up so much room, you find yourself turning up at the airport wearing three jumpers, two coats and a handbag inside a handbag. I still actually did this but somehow managed to pack some ridiculously Spring-inspired items, including one brogue. Yes one brogue. I think you can tell our bedroom was the last room we packed up. Time was running out and in a frenzied panic we were throwing stuff in the charity bag left right and centre, while working out what we needed now, what we needed by month three and what we needed longer-term. What I wasn’t thinking was minus temperatures.
After getting dropped off at Manchester airport by Richie’s Dad, we checked in and headed straight for the children’s play area. Having a toddler in tow makes it very easy to strike up conversations – usually started with the phrase ‘how old is yours? Or ‘sorry, he/she’s not usually like this!’ This time, Lydia kept finding the snacks bag and making her loud food noises whenever she couldn’t get in there, while Rich was finding some lunch for us to eat in the glamour of the play area. So I started chatting to Danielle, who was travelling solo with her two boys, both under the age of four. (This is a massive achievement in the mum diaries.) It turns out she had moved from Bath to Copenhagen seven years ago with her British husband and they’ve never looked back. It’s like someone planted her there for us! We swapped numbers to meet up once we’ve settled in.
The flight itself could not have gone any smoother. Lydia munched on carrot sticks during take-off, then fell asleep in my arms as it was her usual nap time, and only woke once we landed. This is the stuff that dreams are made of in parentland. We were so happy we fell asleep ourselves.
All our luggage was easy to collect at Copenhagen Airport and I even found a handy buggy to push Lydia around in. My cousin’s husband was there to meet us on arrival and he drove Lyds and I to the house while Rich was relegated to a taxi with the extra luggage. We were in our new home, feeling hygge and eating tea by 6pm! Bedtime was more of a struggle but hey, you can’t have it all.
