A night in Vancouver International

Last night we were due to fly to Chicago out of Vancouver on a red-eye leaving at 11:30. Of course, fate and a new baby conspired against us, and we arrived after the flight had closed. Fortunately we ran into a super helpful United employee, and he arranged for us to be on the next flight leaving at 6:30am this morning. We decided to spend the night in the airport, as we live more than an hour from the airport, and yesterday was the HSBC Festival Of Lights in Vancouver, so that would have made traffic incredibly congested, and with check in opening at 4:00am, there was hardly any point to driving back.

Sleeping in an airport with our new baby was challenging to us though, however after finding a nice long padded couch in the international arrivals hall where they had dimmed the lights, it was great, and Portia fell right asleep on her mommy’s tummy. Not such an easy sleep for her parents though, as you feel horribly exposed with a baby sleeping in a public place and are constantly aware – perhaps a bit of paranoia thrown in as well – that you may drift off and someone may take the baby.

Around 2am, a security guard at the airport woke us, and suggested that we move to the airport’s nursery. Now I never knew that Vancouver International had a nursery. It is a small room with a couple of cribs and most importantly you can lock the door and withe the cribs, you can get some sleep yourself, knowing that no-one can come in and that baby is safely contained in a crib.

I would strongly recommend that anyone with an infant having to spend time in YVR ask a security guard for access to the nursery.

Tagged as: baby sleeping, Cribs, Night in Airport with Baby, Sleep, Sleeping, Vancouver International, YVR, YVR Nursery