Solo Parenting:: Ferry Edition

[Backblip] Little Man and I caught the ferry to Harwich, from Hook of Holland, today. Miranda, a good friend of ours, from church, gave us a lift to the passage terminal this morning. We had to wait about twenty minutes before we were able to check in, it went smoothly. Border control took a bit longer because I was travelling on my own with Little Man. The Dutch border force are very rigorous with checking to ensure that there is consent from the non-accompanying parent before allowing the child to travel (it happened in July when Little Man and I went to England). I gave the letter from Little Man's dad and needed to explain about the fact that we're in the process of getting a divorce. Thankfully there wasn't any issues.

We then boarded the ferry and settled in to wait. We'd boarded the ferry early and ended up spending over eight hours on board. There was a play area, which Little Man really enjoyed. We also spent a lot of time exploring the ship. I had brought Little Man's tablet and headphones, in the hope he'd settle down and watch his programs but he found it all too exciting. So we spent a lot of time walking around or at the kids area. We're returning by ferry, with my parents, so we left the pushchair at home, as my dad's car doesn't have the space for it. This made it a bit of a challenge as I couldn't strap Little Man into his chair for a while.

Thankfully we were amongst the first off the ferry, but the wait to disembark seemed to take a very long time. Little Man and I were both tired. Getting through UK border control was a breeze and my parents were waiting to collect us in Harwich. Little Man went running into his Opa¹'s arms.

My parents have found a gorgeous apartment on Airbnb above a pub. The building was built in the 1460s during the reign of Henry VI. Its got the low ceilings and uneven floors that you'd expect from such an old building. Caleb's come over for the wedding on Sunday and met us outside. Little Man had fallen asleep in the car journey and Caleb carried him up to bed.

¹Translation: Opa is Dutch for Grandfather