Day 16 (Part 1) – Qatar to Chaos

Technically, we touched down in Qatar in the very early hours of Day 16. Alexander, once again, was an absolute star on the flight. The cabin crew were loving him and he just took everything in or snoozed peacefully. Honestly, he’s been a dream baby to travel with. What was everyone warning us about?

We breezed through security this time. One man did stop me to ask why I had so many milk bottles and if I was travelling with a baby… as if I just carry them around for fun. We grabbed a veggie burger, changed Alexander, and did the usual bottle routine — cleaned and filled with boiling water — before boarding the final leg from Doha to London.

Same seats, different plane. And once again, Alexander was a hit. As I walked him up and down the aisle and up and around the huge plane, a new air hostess stopped me and said, “Is this Alexander?” — they all knew his seat number and word had got round that the star baby was on board. Genuinely, there was competition over who got to look after him, especially from the crew stuck with the crying babies in the other cabin.

He was crankier on this flight, understandably, but he finally dozed off just in time for us to enjoy our food. Not really sure what we were eating, the vegetarian meals filled the gap. We thought we were nearly there, but just before disembarking, there was a delay as the police boarded and escorted someone off the plane. Not sure why or what he did but we later spotted him at baggage claim and he seemed very chill about everything.

Baggage collection at Heathrow was a complete mess — one tiny room, no air, and endless waiting. It took forever to get our bags and of course everyone just stands at the front so we couldn’t see the bags yet alone grab them. We actually missed our bags the first time and only realised as it disappeared behind the baggage curtain and we had to wait for it to have another journey right round again. When we eventually got our bags, we thought we were finally through the worst of it… but then came passport control. Utter chaos. Queues forever and staff nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, one member of staff noticed our pram and waved us through thanks to Alexander. So good travelling with a baby!