BookBear

Hello all,

I'm going to be heading back to England in February with my baby, who will be 10.5 months at the time. I'll be gone for 3.5 weeks, and am leaving my husband at home.

So I'd love some advice please. I used to be able to spend hours looking up info on the net, but now I only have little windows while bub is napping, so I was hoping you might be able to help out.

I have Aussie citizenship.
I have a UK passport in my maiden name (tickets are in married name).
I haven't applied yet for my Aussie passport, or my baby's passport.

So I'm wondering, once I've got my bub's Aussie passport, will he need a visa to visit England?
Can I get a UK passport for my son?
I'm going to get an Aussie passport for ease of returning through customs.
I was thinking of getting my name changed on my UK passport so I could go through LHR customs quicker, but if my baby has an Aussie passport can he go through the EU passport holders queue with me? Or is there a faster queue at LHR for aliens with babies?

I think that covers the passport stuff. So now for for any advice you might have on flying alone with a crawler......
I'm flying Adelaide to Singapore to LHR. Can you borrow strollers in Singapore airport?
Any advice on combating jetlag in a baby?

Thanks in advance.

James516

We did this trip last year, our DD was 10 mos at the time.

1. Your bub won't need a UK visa on his Aussie passport. He'll get a 3 month tourist stamp at Heathrow.

2. Yes, you can get a UK passport for your son. Good luck getting him to stay still for the photos. You can get it here in Oz. However, there's not much need for it, and he won't be able to enter Oz on it.

3. Yes, get yourself an Aussie passport asap. If you don't have one you may not even be allowed on the return flight, and even if you are, you will most likely have to spend at least 2 hours at Adelaide airport upon your return with a crotchety child whilst the immigration people confirm you are an Aus citizen.

4. Name change on the UK passport a particularly good idea seeing as the name on the tickets is your married name! This is likely to present you with some difficulty upon check-in if you don't sort this out before you fly, unless of course you use your Aussie one (which will presumably be in your married name). If you don't want to bother changing the name on your UK passport, you could in fact do the whole trip on your Aussie one, but be prepared for a short wait at LHR as they confirm you are entitled to enter the UK. I have done this twice now, each time expecting they would just give me a tourist stamp, but oh no, I had to wait in a pen with all the asylum seekers until the computer told them I was a UK citizen.

5. Bub can go through EU passport queue with you at Heathrow. As indeed can all family members (e.g. hubby if he doesn't have UK passport).

6. General travel advice for babies - fly Singapore Airlines. You may already be doing this. Be prepared for the incredible frustation of having to get him out of the bassinette just as he gets to sleep because the captain has turned the seatbelt sign on. Be prepared for every cabin attendant on the plane to want to give him a cuddle.

7. I have heard rumours you can borrow a stroller at the airport, but haven't done it myself. Remember you can bring your own and it doesn't count towards the luggage allowance. It might get taken off the plane and be waiting for you at the gate in Singapore, I think this largely depends on the airline.

8. Jetlag - Phenergan is your friend. Feel free to go nuts with it :-) But make sure you do a test dose first, as it has the opposite effect on some kids and sends them hyper! We stayed 2 nights in Singapore on the way home and had no jetlag at all upon return to BNE.

BookBear

Thank you James for such a comprehensive response.

quoll

Phenergan is contraindicated for children under 2 these days and doctors and pharmacists will all advise you of this. There is apparently a risk of respiratory failure in babies. I failed to find anything sedative that was approved for children under 2 and I looked hard for my travel sick sensitive granddaughter who was 18 months when we flew over. She slept beautifully on both journeys - maybe because we got late night departures in both directions and motion sickness wasnt an issue at all. Try and give him a drink at take off and landing and that way you should avoid ear problems.

Travel light - I know you have a 10 monther but consider a sling instead of a stroller - ergo slings (brand name) are great for front or back use and a sling is handy if you need to walk the aisles over Asia. I was always a very independent backpack and sling mum and it is possible to negotiate all the queues etc with baby on the front in a sling and a backpack on the back, much easier than hassling with wheelie cases and strollers IMHO. That way you also have a hand for a nappy bag with essentials in it.

Be sure to book a bassinette - that will give you the seat at the bulkhead and if you are very lucky, because you will be on your own you may get a free seat beside you as they prefer not to put odd strangers next to babies if they can help it.

Must say that I have never had cabin crew who have wanted to cuddle my kids (many aeons ago) nor my granddaughter (recently) - I believe that some airlines instruct their staff not to touch children for O, H & S reasons and I am not sure that I would want some stranger holding my kids anyway. However, on your own, do ask for help - if you want to go to the loo for example, ask a neighbour to keep an ear out for him if he is asleep - they can bang on the door if he wakes up etc. If you have to travel with more stuff than I do then ask for help de-planing as well but remember that you have to take everything off at the refuelling stops these days (another reason to travel very light!)


You wont be able to get back into Aus with a UK passport because you are a citizen and all visas have been revoked when you became Australian. It wont matter for your son but it will be handy for him to have his own UK passport when he gets older - and I agree, good luck with the passport photos!!!!

I think you will either need to get your passport name changed or be prepared for the third degree about why you are travelling with a different name to your travel documents. Actually, technically you could do it all with your Aus passport, you arent going to stay that long in UK and they wont care if you are there for a holiday.

You may want to be uber prepared and have a letter from your husband saying that he gives you permission to take his son out of the country - I think there have been people questioned about why one parent is taking the child out of the country without the other parent.

Good luck and have a wonderful holiday! It'll be fine, I travelled many times on my own over and back with my kids when they were little and never had a problem.

BookBear

Thanks quoll. More handy hints.

I actually have an Ergo, I love it, and so does DS, I think that might be the best option by myself.

I googled Phenergan earlier and read about the 2 year minimum, so I thought I'd better avoid it.

I've ordered a few cheapo Asda clothes for winter, and got them sent to the address I'll be staying at. I plan on packing as light as possible.

James516

Phenergan's fine. If your doctor/pharmacist is getting their knickers in a twist about it, go to a different one.

We had the baby bjorn with us most recently along with the stroller - no reason you can't take both.

My child is the most goregous in the world and any cabin crew who didn't want a cuddle, regardless of airline restrictions, is clearly not human

quoll

LOL, not the doctors and the pharmacists but the FDA http://www.drug-injury.com/druginjur...gan_and_s.html At the end of the day of course, parents are at liberty to choose whether to put their kids lives at risk or not just for a bit of peace and quiet.

James516

Screaming child and stressed parent might result in the little blighter's life being at risk as well

Mrs Vash

We just did the flight UK-Oz with a 7 month old. We flew with Cathay Pacific airlines and were allowed a generous baggage allowance - I was allowed to take a bag with nappies and food as well as the stroller (which I find easier than sling because you don't get the backache - I am a weakling tho). We booked bulkhead seats and a bassinet. Now for the bad bit - the bassinet we got given was broken on the first leg of the journey, and meant that had the worst happened, it would have been very bad for bub (providentially, the worst did not happen). Also, there was very little leg room even though it was bulkhead. I think that this was probably down to the design of the plane - an airbus.

On your way back, if you are using Heathrow airport, I should warn you about that too. We lost 50% of our baby food due to having to test it by opening and sampling it (thank you terrorists), and as you know it goes off after a couple of hours (so no good for a long haul flight, even though the shriveled old prune at the counter was telling me that I could just take it on the plane). You might be better off with a ten month old, but check whether the airline provides baby food - sometimes they do. Otherwise, bring double, and if your baby is on formula then bring a powder pot & bottles that they can fill with water on the plane, rather than the cartons of ready made formula, because those are an expensive waste.

Rosscarbery

I've travelled before with maiden name passport and married name ticket by carrying my marriage cert, but it's probably not worth the potential hassle these days. You are also likely to be questioned more if your passport has a different surname to your baby's. I would second the advice to carry a letter from your husband stating that he knows about/agrees to his child being taken out of the country. A lot of countries are, rightly, getting stricter on this these days with a growing number of children being removed from their country of residence by a parent.

sr71

Tixylix does the trick.

JAJ

Mostly in Canada ...

crystaldi

Yes, you can for free. I flew with singapore airlines and asked them when I checked in. They were Brilliant! I had assistance from the plane to the main area where they got me a pushchair and took me to the assistance lounge where they picked me up 3 hrs later and took me to the boarding gate of the new plane. EXCELLENT SERVICE!!! Have you got your bassenet confirmed for your flight make sure it is. you will find if the seat belt sign goes on you have to take bub out of the bassenet and seat belt them on your lap even if they are asleep! Also you can pre order baby food and they have it all ready for you whenever you need it.

Primark is excellent for cheap baby clothes and wash well. Asda good too.

Baby milk - if you use formula - then Aptimil is the nearest to breast milk at 7.95 a box from boots there is also cow and gate and SMC. but aptimil is the best. They come in stage 1,2, and 3. I would not reccommend stage 2 as this is for "hungrier" babies and all my friends told me not to use. My bub was superb on the aptimil 1 dark blue box - its also a smaller scoop so you can have more choice on how much milk you make -in 30ml measures instead of 60ml differences.

Ella's kitchen is identical make to raffertys garden brand of baby food, but you will find a great selection of baby solids over there.

I had a phil and teds travel cot (2.5kgs!) which you can take extra to your lugggage allowance which was so helpful.

Mothercare do a fantastic folding highchair that goes on a normal chair for 30quid. Thats all we use. If you get it keep the box and that too will go extra to your luggage allowance - we stuffed loads of extra clothes in box too (bonus!)

Have a lovely time x

quoll

Again, not recommended for the under 2s http://www.healthchemist.co.nz/liqui...l-p395544.html unless you can find the specific baby syrup

comet555

Better to get the letter just in case than to be questioned and not allowed to travel.

I would get the letter and even have it witnessed by a JP to be on the safe side. Mostly I'm just paranoid and I'd rather be prepared, but since I am Canadian I have heard of a couple of people that had hassles while travelling alone with their kids without a letter (internationally that is).