I've blogged a lot recently about travelling with Lara; I've shared my tips on how to remain mellow, especially when travelling abroad by aeroplane. Yesterday, for the first time since Lara was born, I had occasion to fly abroad WITHOUT Lara. The luxury.
Yesterday I flew to Frankfurt to visit the Pampers R&D department in Schwalbach. It's a fascinating story that I shall tell you about in more detail at a later date. It is the first time I have ever been away and travelled back by plane all in the same day and it felt so good to be taking only hand luggage with me. No queuing at the bag-drop desks. No hanging around at the baggage reclaim. This is travel at it's fastest, right?
I was very much looking forward to a fight without the need to carry vast quantities of baby supplies with me. I felt slightly un-nerved without a changing bag and a pushchair to hinder me and, as I passed hesitantly through security I hung around expectantly, imagining that a customs official might want to ask me to taste one of the items in my bag. But no, this time I was travelling with no strings attached and no baby-gubbins to weigh me down.
Travelling out to Germany yesterday wasn't too bad but on the way home, our flight was delayed by over an hour. That may not sound like much, but on a flight than only takes just over an hour, that's double the time you expected. Exactly a week beforehand, I had been on the same end of a flight-delay. A 15 hour delay on a 7.5 hour flight from the USA with a 1-year-old in tow.
Yesterday I flew to Frankfurt to visit the Pampers R&D department in Schwalbach. It's a fascinating story that I shall tell you about in more detail at a later date. It is the first time I have ever been away and travelled back by plane all in the same day and it felt so good to be taking only hand luggage with me. No queuing at the bag-drop desks. No hanging around at the baggage reclaim. This is travel at it's fastest, right?
I was very much looking forward to a fight without the need to carry vast quantities of baby supplies with me. I felt slightly un-nerved without a changing bag and a pushchair to hinder me and, as I passed hesitantly through security I hung around expectantly, imagining that a customs official might want to ask me to taste one of the items in my bag. But no, this time I was travelling with no strings attached and no baby-gubbins to weigh me down.
Travelling out to Germany yesterday wasn't too bad but on the way home, our flight was delayed by over an hour. That may not sound like much, but on a flight than only takes just over an hour, that's double the time you expected. Exactly a week beforehand, I had been on the same end of a flight-delay. A 15 hour delay on a 7.5 hour flight from the USA with a 1-year-old in tow.
Lara crawling in at midnight after a hard night drinking and dancing in the US of AThe fascinating thing for me was that where a week ago I had been relaxed and resigned to my fate, last night I got stressed and impatient. I've decided that this demonstrates the Lara-effect. Lara calms me down. Lara makes me mellow. Ever since Lara was born, I have been transformed. The manic, control-freak, stress-meister has disappeared and the mellow, pragmatic, realist has been revealed. Last week I took it all in my stride and never once did I feel my blood pressure rise, or the red mist descend. But yesterday, in Lara's absence, I felt that naggy, stressy feeling again. I was up out of my seat, scouring the departures board for updates, ranting about airline staff and hurling abuse at fellow passengers. The old me had returned.
I'm sure that there is a scientific explanation to the mellow mood that Lara causes in me. It's probably hormones but it might just be her gorgeous smile and twinkling eyes that melt me. Mr. B. says that it's just that all other stresses pale into insignificance compared to a stroppy toddler and a poor night's interfered sleep.
I'm sure that there is a scientific explanation to the mellow mood that Lara causes in me. It's probably hormones but it might just be her gorgeous smile and twinkling eyes that melt me. Mr. B. says that it's just that all other stresses pale into insignificance compared to a stroppy toddler and a poor night's interfered sleep.
