Airlines and traveling with an infant

I thought I would write about our experiences with airlines recently traveling to and from Siberia.

We travelled on three airlines: Air NZ, Air China and S7. I will break this up into each segment of the travel.

AKL-Shanghai
We travelled on Air NZ. We were in the back section of economy but at the front/centre of this section. This meant we got a bassinet. This was excellent. The bassinet was at a good height. The flight was 12.5 hours long, which is a fair stretch. The service was very Chinese orientated with all announcements in Chinese first. The service, inflight entertainment system and food was not as good as Singapore Airlines.

Shanghai-Beijing
We travelled on an Airbus 340. There were very few people but the service was good. The airline people loved Katya. They put on a VIP bus to take us to the plane because the normal bus was "too cold". They had no child restraint and no bassinet (although this is explainable by it being a domestic day flight). The toilets were stinky.

Beijing-Irkutsk
We travelled on S7 Airlines. This is a "go for it" Russian airlines. It was using its old TU-154M aircraft which feel a lot more safe than Boeings operating in the winter. The food is excellent but there are No facilities for babies and no change tables in the toilets. However the seats fold down and make an excellent change table.

Irkutsk-Beijing
Exactly the same service. No facilities but we did get the front of the cabin which gives you fold down benches which Katya loved playing on. The fold up seats allowed us to put Katya in her carry pack.

Beijing-Shanghai
This again was Air China. This was very bad service. The boarding was late. Then the plane started to move before we were seated. There was no lap belt for Katya. At Shanghai they held all the other passengers up in a waiting bus while we got out stuff sorted.

Shanghai-Auckland
This was Air NZ again. This time we were in the front economy cabin at the front-right hand side. The bassinet was mounted significantly higher because the Pacific Premium class in the section in front impacted the wall between us. This made the bassinet very hard to operate. Also they chose to seat some poor girl next to us which I am truly sorry about. It must be a nightmare being seated next to an infant. The service was appalling until one of the senior NZ based crew intervened and sorted out the Chinese based staff. Just little things like bring one meal for one parent at a time so that the other parent can look after the infant. These things help. The bassinet material was also not leather this time. This meant it got static charge which electrocuted Katya and me a few time. One time Katya went to bite the bassinet and got electrocuted through the tongue.

Summary
I continue to recommend S7. You don't expect much from a Russian airlines but you get very good service and you will be pleasantly surprised..

The Air NZ direct flights to China save a lot of time over going via Singapore. Overall I think it is worth it, particularly when you will soon be able to go directly to Beijing. However Air NZ have a lot of work to do to catch Singapore Airlines. There are a lot of little details that just make traveling easier and they are not attending to them.

I would stay away from Air China. With direct flights to Beijing, this will be possible.

Traveling with an infant
I was a bit worried about this. But my worries did not eventuate. Flying over when Katya was 12 months was simple. It was made simple by Claire still breast feeding her. Planning before hand (ie how many nappies, changes of clothes, feeds, etc) really helps.
Traveling with a 13month old was more challenging. Katya believes she can walk, although evidence suggests she has a bit to learn. This means you have to constantly be watching her ready to stop her falling. Plans are not designed for infants and have lots of hard edges and things for catching infant fingers. I think the just pre-walking stage is the worst. Once they walk they should be ok so long as they are on a leash (I am serious... we saw one couple in an airport with their kid on a leash and it worked well).
I think our kiddie backpack was brilliant. It meant Katya could see what was happening but could not grab things like pens off us as we filled in mountains of forms. She also slept in it very happily.
Finally I would suggest that traveling with infants is ok. Just get your expectations right and you will be sweet.

Massive Siberia Photo Dump...

The view down to our local shopping centre. The sign says BONUS... which is the supermarket there.
Ice cubes that were created without a freezer.
Dogs do exist... even outside in the winter

What happens when you do not have triple glazing

All the ice sculpture photos were taken at mid day. Note the shadows.

Baikal Seal

Dave and Jo... NZers who went over with us for part of the time. They have stood here in summer with ice-creams in 2006









Across the road from our apartment was a tennis court which during the winter is an ice skating ring
Our apartment building
Inside our apartment

Picture taken from inside our apartment

Now that we are back...

...I am going to upload a number of photos and videos. Internet in Russia is expensive. It is the equivalent of NZ$100 for 1Gb. By comparison, we pay NZ$90 for 40Gb. And in Russia it is on a pay-for-use basis. In NZ it is paid for once a month and if you don't use it, you lose it.

Anyway... here are some videos etc.


These kids have soooo much fun. Even banging into each other is no worries as they are dressed in sumo suits (well enough clothes to ensure they are warm)


This is Claire playing with Katya in the park across the road from where we stayed.

Back home in Wellington

We are now back home in Wellington.
These are two pics from the trip.

In Beijing we had about 7 hours. Not long enough to get a hotel but long enough to need to sleep. We stuck Katya into my new fur lined and trimmed leather jacket (a small indulgence). She slept a wonderful sleep, even with lots of noise. ALso Beijing Airport was very cold... especially when you did NOT have a fur lined jacket.

The second picture is in Shanghai. It was snowing but the snow was so wet it melted as it landed.

I will write later when I am not jet lagged about our trip... which was fascinating.

On returning home we have found that our cat, Gemma, is gone. She disappeared on Thursday and the neighbours who were looking after her have not seen (nor heard) from her. We presume she has wandered off and died. She was blind, deaf and crazy. She was also about 19 years old.

This is Gemma about a year ago.

Some recent Siberia Photos

Standing on ice on the river Angara. I had a lot of issues uploading this photo hence its late addition to the post.

Katya and Claire at Dominos.

Taken from on the ice of the Angara



Giant pigeons. They put on fat to keep warm.

Two Photos

This first photo shows our fridge. Note the 3kg container of Mayonnaise.


This second photo shows someone who likes Mayonnaise.

A very warm day

Today the snow started to turn to slush. It was a very warm -18 degrees and very sunny.
We had a lovely time talking with some english speaking ladies. We have had lunch with them on Wednesdays.

MacBook Air a great disappointment

Today Apple announced their new MacBook Air. I am very disappointed that it is so big (with a 13inch screen). It is also quite expensive and has a very small hard drive.
I think it will lead me to by a standard MacBook as it is much cheaper and my 12inch Powerbook is running out of puff after 3.5 years.

New Photos

A beautiful day

More teeth

Katya has been sleeping really well the last few nights. We now see she has 6 teeth... up from four when we left NZ.

New MacBook

There are rumors that a new MacBook is on its way. Maybe it will be called the MacBook Air.
I have a PowerBook G4 1.5Ghz 12inch. There are 1,000s of people with these who have been waiting for Apple to produce a replacement. We want a laptop that is small but powerful. The 13inch MacBooks are just too big.
If the rumors are to be believed, our wait will be over on the 15th Jan when MacWorld Expo happens.
YA!!!!

Election Year

This year is election year. I tend to support this approach...

The principle reason is that I am unhappy with the invasive and hypocritical approach Labour has taken to running NZ.

A secondary reason is that I believe that Labour has run out of ideas to move NZ forward. I would suggest that the following are major policy changes that would make a significant improvement to NZ:

1. Remove withholding tax
2. Purchase the roll out of fiber-optic cable to every home in centres with more than 10,000 people

When a new government is elected, I would really like to see the Electoral legislation revert back to what it was.

My new jersey

So I have bought this lovely new 1200RUB jersey (NZ$60). It has a label that came with it that I want to share. It is very funny. Please note that there are no spelling mistakes in what I am writing...

"This product is produced in same quality as they precedents in Europe. The comfort was taken into consideration mostly during the mold design of the products. The quality control of this product was done by our expertise personnel before was presented to you. Please be sure that you obey the using instructions in order to be able to see the product as in frost day. We are most thankful to you for choosing this brand."

I think something got lost in the translation!!!

Very Cold

This morning we woke to a very cold day. The minus temperature is outside. The plus temperature is inside. There is almost a 50 degree difference. The forecast is for it to get to -37 degrees so we may not be outside today!!!

A windy day

Today there was wind and it snowed. This makes life a bit unpleasant outside so we spent a day inside cleaning and relaxing. Later in the afternoon I went out and bought two new jerseys. One is made in Turkey and one is made in Syria. They are ultra fine wool and very nice.
Because Russia joins to so many continents, the product availability is amazing. And the prices are very good. You soon realise how isolated NZ is and how limited the products are that we get.

A Russian Christmas

Today (the 7th Jan) is Christmas in Russian. We celebrated it with some of our friends. As we left our apartment to go to our friends apartment it was snowing!!!

This year we have had two Christmas'. One in NZ. One in Russia. This is a catch up from last year went Katya was born. Because of the rough ride we had with that, we had no Christmas in 2006. In 2007 we have two!!!

We have been told that there are a number of nick names (closest mean phrase) to the name Katya. One is Katinka (pronounced Car-tink-ka). Katya lights up when she is called this so it will stick.

Some more Siberian Pics

The sign says Tennis Court. Now it is an ice ring. This is across the road from our apartment!

This is Lake Baikal steaming because the water is so much warmer than the air.


These two pics are from a ski field just up the road. It would take maybe 5min to walk there. It is very picturesque.

New Year's

Last night we stayed up until some very late hour celebrating New Years. This is the big celebration in Russia. Bigger than Christmas. Today all the shops are shut and people are out playing in the snow.
We watched with our friends Putin's speech and also witnessed the biggest fireworks display I have ever seen. It was locals letting off fireworks that are well and truly banned in NZ in the closed areas of the apartment blocks. The sounds echoed and after 30min the whole area was so smokey you could not see. It is amazing what happens when a couple of thousand people all combine.
Today I figured out what one of the kiosks was across the road.

Actually I had figured out what it sold a day or so ago but I can now read the sign. The little red Kiosk says Chicken Grill. Our own local KFC!!!