I haven't posted in weeks because Chase and I took a fun trip back to Michigan and Chicago to see his grandparents and great-grandparents for 10 days. We got back yesterday afternoon. I thought I'd share with you my travel experience from yesterday. It was interesting. Traveling with a toddler is NOT easy! By the end of the flight I had a splitting headache.
-We got to the airport and checked in. Chase is tired so he is being really good in his stroller. I get about a million stares from people because of my two suitcases, stroller, baby, my big duffel bag carry-on and a carseat on my back. The man behind me was kind enough to roll my suitcases forward for me as we stood waiting in line.
-Made it through security without any issues.
-Our gate is at the very end of Terminal A (which is about a mile long). By the time we made it to the gate, we only had to wait 5 minutes before we got to board our plane. By this time, I am out of breath and sweating like a pig from all the stuff I had to push and carry. Not one person offered to help me board the plane, even though they all stared at me as I struggled with the carseat on my back, a purse, a duffel bag and a baby. By the time I finally made it to my seat, Chase was upside down and practically falling out of my arms. I would have let him walk but it would have taken much longer to get to our seat as Chase would be distracted by everything.
-Chase is bored waiting for take-off (we were late taking off because a huge group of people on my flight were going skiing at Deer Valley so there were a million skis that needed to be loaded). He does his high pitched obnoxious angry scream a few times and cries. I play peek a boo with him using his blanket. I also offer juice and a few items of entertainment, all of which get thrown between Chase's seat and the window.
-We finally take off. Chase falls asleep for about an hour and a half. When he wakes up I turn on his dvd player. It did not entertain him like I thought it would! He was a fussy little fellow. But I manage to entertain him by giving him my water bottle which has a flip up cap that Chase is enthralled with.
-With about an hour and a half left to go, Chase ends up dumping the rest of my water bottle on his lap. He has a soaked onesie, pants and carseat. Having no place to change him (plus knowing he would not return to his carseat if I took him out at this point) I left him soaked, drying it up the best I could. I know, I'm mean.
-We are finally starting the initial descent for landing. Chase is bored with all his toys I brought and the dvd player. I tickle him, play peekaboo, and other various games. He goes from crying to laughing during the games. Then cries again as soon as I stop the game because he remembers he is trapped in his carseat on an airplane, soaked.
-It takes 3 attempts to land becuase of winds. Add an extra 30 minutes to our flight on top of the 20 minutes from being delayed at take-off.
-We finally land. The captain comes on the speaker and instructs everyone to remain seated as we pull up to the terminal because local authorities need to board our plane.
-Chase has had it by now and throws a real nasty fit. I take out my phone to call Jason, which made Chase all excited. He grabs for my phone so I give it to him so he will hush up. He's happy but after a few minutes throws it between his seat and the window.
-We are at our terminal. Two cops come on and stop 5 rows in front of us. One cop takes an Arab looking man and his young son to the very back of the plane where we are and stands guard. The other cop stays by the row guarding some other people. Rows 13 and up are allowed to get off. We are in row 20.
-3 more cops get on. The rest of the plane quickly gets off because who wants to stay on with 5 cops, an Arab looking man, and the 5 other people that are detained (including 2 kids). I try to get off quickly but I had made the seatbelt holding in Chase's carseat way too tight and could not get it off! Finally it's me left on the plane, the cops are waiting for me to get off so they can do whatever they need to with the people being detained and I can't get off! I finally ask the flight attendant for help. It took her a few minutes but she finally got it. She carries the carseat off the plane for me (finally I get a little help!). I put Chase in his stroller, the carseat on my back and turn to leave when I remembered my cell phone was still on the plane! So I turn around and one of the flight attendants from the next flight kindly retrieves it for me. As I'm leaving, one of the flight attendants from my flight comes out and tells the new flight attendants it's going to be awhile...
So I have no idea what happened on our flight (I'm assuming maybe a kidnapping, or maybe the Arab man was making terrorist remarks on our flight. No offense to Arabs, but that seems to be the trend with a lot of them). I'm just glad we made it off safely. There's been nothing in the news about it. I just wonder why they couldn't take the people off the plane to an interrogation room. And why they needed so many cops. Who knows how delayed the next flight was.
Luckily I'm not doing any more traveling for 4 more months. By then, maybe it will get a tad easier to travel with Chase (or worse, who knows). I do not know how I will travel when I have two kids!
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