Are we there yet?

We are, yes. After our eight hour flight, we arrived in Chicago yesterday evening. Or it may have been the afternoon. None of the Ruby clan are entirely sure what time it is. The Mouse and TR are particularly confused about this.

Our flight was smooth and uneventful, which is exactly how I like my flights to be. The Mouse enjoyed watching Angelina Ballerina and TR mostly enjoyed ripping tissues out of the dispenser in the aeroplane bathroom and bashing on the counter while I changed his nappy.

Now, there is plenty of advice out there on flying with kids, some good, some bad. However, I am here to reassure you that, should you be contemplating the idea, it's not all bad news, so long as you come prepared. My list of flying-essentials would include:

1. Nappies that can also be worn like pants - very handy for standing-up changes. Since airports don't seem to major in changing tables, you will need to get good at these. Also, a standing-up change provides better access to the aforementioned tissue dispensers.

2. The knowledge that those small-screen TVs will occupy a four year old for a surprisingly long length of time.

3. Endless snacks and dinner supplements. This is particularly important if anyone in your party has any kind of food intolerance or allergy. BA are geared-up to deal with all sorts of special dietary requirements, but not if you have any kind of combination of them. The Mouse cannot eat either milk or soya and she is furthermore philosophically opposed to sandwiches with fillings like 'Mushrooms and roasted red onions'. I was able to book a lactose-free meal, but not a soya-free meal (and intolerance to both those things is really very common, so you'd maybe think... but no). You can guess what the most common milk substitute is, can't you? Yep. And what a bummer that is. In an ideal world, I'd be able to book her a lactose and dairy-free meal with child-appeal. In a less than ideal world, I packed a lot of snacks. Which was a Good Thing to Do!!!

So that's my list: three items, over-elaborated.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we did get the packing done before we left: