London - Day 1

the long-awaited holiday has finally arrived. i havent been back in exactly 11 years, the last time i was here, it was december 1999, after i submitted my dissertation for my msc international business. i was extremely looking forward to returning. its hubby's first time here and he was on top of the world. the boys were excited too...they wanted to see harry potter and thomas the train engine. so all in all, we were counting down since january 2010.

we took qatar for this journey. most economical out of the lot. our flight to doha was at 3:30am. when i was at the airport i thought choosing this flight was the worst thing i had done. we checked in at 12:30am, the whole process took less than 5 minutes since i had checked in via the internet the day before. then we took the boys to the satelite building, look for the gate and waited. that's what we did for 3 hours. we waited! the boys were wide awake and the parents were losing their minds. before we even reached the first hour we wanted to turn back home.

i was a bit sceptical about the flight. i dont know of anyone who had taken qatar airways before. the only person i know is syerah and the feedback from her wasnt too positive. most of her feedback was right...the plane was a bit packed, the people werent that great to be around and the crew werent too friendly (except one). we were not too happy having to sit through 3 more times.

then...at last...3:30am came. we gave the boys piriton before we boarded and it took effect (plus they were sleepy) almost immediately. we didnt get a basinet for akmal even though i booked the front most seats. apparently whats front most on the net is not front most on the actual plane (they leave out the first 3 rows, we were told). that actually was the source of the worst part of the journey. amir, asyraf and ariff slept for a good 5 hours on the plane. akmal, on the other hand, being sleepy but not comfortable, was kicking and punching in his foul mood. he finally slept for a couple of hours when hubby laid him down on him.

doha could not reach fast enough. the boys woke up about 2 hours before landing time, in time for breakfast and a bit of Cars & Toy Story and some games. when we got to the airport, we quickly changed the boys from their pajamas to long-sleeved tops. looked for a place to sit and followed the signs to children's play area, which was next to the food hall. we let the boys loose in the play area, got some fries and drinks and hubby went to the check-in counter to ensure amir & i got the front seat so that akmal would get his basinet, which alhamdulillah he managed to get.

we spent a couple of hours there before hearing the boarding call for the next leg of our journey. the first impression set the tone for the journey. the plane looked bright and new...the crews friendly...the people much better and the basinet was God-sent. amir and asyraf slept as soon as the plane started moving and after putting akmal in the basinet, mummy followed suit. we slept away half of the journey, amir & i woke up almost the same time and managed to eat before akmal got up. a bit too early for my taste but at least he got to eat amir's leftovers.

before we knew it, the captain announced the plane was making its descend. another half an hour before we arrived in sunny london. it was sunny alright...when i thought we were still in the clouds, the plane touched the ground. immgration was quick, actually. they saw 4 boys and let us through the special lane - good to know we can put the boys to good use every now and then. after getting our suitcases, we called the landlord and took a cab from the taxi ranks - cost us 65 quid from heathrow to marylebone, where the landlord was waiting in front of 48 campbell street.

we walked up 3 flight of stairs - the carpet was exactly like those in parkwood, seriously! hubby was shocked again and again - from the non-existence of a lift, to the steep flight of stairs (that tortured him with the strollers, 2 suitcases & a cabin bag), to the size of the apartment. with the suitcases on the floor and the big landlord around, the apartment looked majorly small. we stepped in the living room, which was a combination of living, dining and kitchen, and across the small hall was the bedroom. it looked much much smaller than it did in the website. once the payment was made and the landlord left and the bags and clothes were put away, the place didnt look too small. we thought of which sofa bed to open for the boys to sleep on (akmal had his cot) but both would made the living room unliveable, so we took the extra duvet given and made the boys bed on the floor in the bedroom.

we took a quick walk down crawford street to edgware road to do some grocery shopping in waitrose. we were in a hurry i left out quite a few things, most importantly was the boys' diapers. i brought only a few as spare since they had baby packs on board. but once we got here, we ran out of the diapers we got on the plane and had to rely on the 4 in akmal's carry case. 2 for the night and 2 for the next day. living on the edge, arent we?

we packed dinner on the way back, had a quick dinner, bathed the boys and told them to sleep whenever they felt sleepy. the stayed up til 7:30pm except for akmal who slept since we were in waitrose at 6pm. he only got up during his bath and went back to sleep after a bottle of milk. we lights were switched off by 8:30pm. and if everyone would wake up at 7am the next day, it would mean we didnt suffer from jet lag.