Traveling with infants

Well we did it and are none the worse the wear after a day of getting caught up on naps. Saphira now has her first stamps in her passport and can, after completing 4 flight segments, be considered a seasoned flyer.

She did very well - the only time she cried was when she hit her head on a seatbelt while we were trying to get into the seat.

Even Airport security was a breeze as GATWICK had a special line for handicapped people and those traveling with children - so it was 1) shorter, 2) everyone in it had tons of stuff too so we weren't holding anyone up.

The only pain was we were carrying a car seat and they are a bit awkward -especially when juggling luggage! But it was much cheaper to rent the car seat for 1 month ($10) than get it from the car rental company for a week ($45). Ironically, to carry it over on Ryan Air cost $15 - more than the rental, but the combined cost was still less than getting through the car company - so worth the hassle. However, Ryan Air has sunk to least favorite discount airline.

I was very pleased to discover that I didn't pack unnecessarily for Saphira - we used everything!

England and Northern Ireland were blissfully cool and mostly sunny - so it was almost tragic to leave that and return to 35C temps and scorching sun here in Kiev.