Travel Master
Is there anything more fun than holiday airline travel with two toddlers? Only when you get to do it by yourself.
That’s right, our frequent-flying family marked a new milestone over the weekend: our first flight with only one adult. And we survived.
Of course, I suppose I wouldn’t have done it in the first place if I didn’t feel confident that I could do it. Not only do we already have 15 or so round-trips already under our collective belt, but the kids are older now and (at least theoretically) able to comprehend and follow simple instructions. So, when we had to plan the trip with M heading home five days before the rest of us (stupid on-call schedule), I was OK with it.
Then, I got lucky. Turns out my mom and stepdad had a flight to Florida, on the same airline as us, leaving within half an hour of ours. Brilliant! Two extra (adoring) adults to help us through security! The stars have aligned!
Or, not. My flight was canceled. My options were to fly out the same day on the 9:50pm flight (arriving at 1 in the morning), or go the next morning at 8:30am. Desperate as I was to get home, the late night flight just screamed of disaster. So we stayed over, and I got to get the whole crew (and all of our crap) moving before sunrise.
The long and short of it is that we did fine. I psyched myself up to keep my happy cheerleader/lots-of-praise mom face on. Such good cooperating! Great listening! What big kids you are! I did my very best to remain sympathetic to tired, whiny requests to be picked up. I took advantage of the skycaps, and looked pathetic and desperate enough that someone moved me to the shorter security line and no one blinked when I said the carseats needed to be hand-inspected. The Travelmates remain one of the greatest inventions of all time, and we have gotten more than our money’s worth over the last two years. I couldn’t have made it to our gate without them.
A well-placed Starbucks with Odwalla smoothies and bananas made for a “special treat” kind of breakfast.
With two kids and one adult in the same row, there’s not enough space for both carseats. Thankfully, we “practiced” going sans carseats for the first time on the way in, when we still had a second adult. This time, we were ready for the gate-check, and the kids carried their own backpacks.
As an aside, if you’re considering doing this for the first time, check to see what plane the airline usually flies on your chosen route. I’m a die-hard JetBlue fan and fly them whenever possible. But the plane that does the Boston-Chicago route is only four seats across (two and two), so it simply wasn’t an option. We switched to American simply because the plane in question had three seats together.
Anyways, the usual bag o’ snacks was a good hit, as were carefully-rationed treats. Daniel kept himself busy with two of our favorite iPhone apps (Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider). Rebecca was entertained for most of our ground delay (woo, de-icing) by the “stories” conveniently available in the pocket in front of her.
And then, of course, there is the savior of parents everywhere: the portable DVD player with two headphone jacks and Cars. Rebecca watched the entire thing, only getting antsy and tired as we approached the end of our flight (and naptime). Daniel was on headphone strike, but still watched most of it without audio.
A super-friendly and helpful flight attendant let them play with an empty plastic coffee pot and the flashlight on his keychain while we waited to get off, and even held their hands all the way out of the jetway while I wrangled the carseats.
And when we walked through the doors past security and the kids ran shrieking to Daddy, I almost burst into tears from joy and exhaustion. My four-hour nap that day was well-earned, and I can now check off another accomplishment. While I wouldn’t say it was exactly easy, I now know I can do it.
December 28th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I am impressed! We haven’t flown yet and honestly, I’m still a little scared of the idea. Will have to check into the travelmates and will be emailing you for advice!
Susan D.´s last blog ..A look back
December 28th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
You are a rockstar!!! So glad to hear it was smooth.
December 28th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Go You! That is awesome, sounds like everyone did great. Do you have any experience/opinion on the recycled travelmates that you can buy from the site? We have a trip to Barcelona with our girls who will be just 2yrs at the time in the Spring, and so I am just looking into these.
December 28th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Amazing, I am super impressed!
December 28th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Congrats on doing it solo! I’m hemming and hawing over whether to take the boys in the Travelmates or not for my solo trip home from San Diego. With the whole potty thing, it means we’re stuck with the handicapped bathroom with all.that.stuff. Plus they will be VERY close to outgrowing their Roundabouts at that point. I’m leaning towards not using them but SCARED!!
LauraC´s last blog ..Staycation
December 28th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Way to go! We have two 7 hour flights under our belts but my husband was there to help with our twins. You are an inspiration (and well-deserving of a long nap!).
December 28th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Dang. You go girl!!
Nancy´s last blog ..Makes My Monday: Disney for the Whole Family
December 28th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
WOW, you are AMAZING. I am considering do it in the Spring to Florida, but am scared sh*t-less. You are such an inspiration to other Mom’s, especially twin Mommies…
December 29th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
WOW. This is amazing. You are great! So far we did 3 adults and 2 kids, when my twins were 8 months and 16 months. We are yet to brave it with two adults, but your post is very encouraging (we are 23 months now).
December 29th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Great job! I can see that it is a bit easier to wrangle now that they are two and almost a half – I can’t even get Ned to hold my hand into the doctor’s office when I had a stroller malfunction (and Penny can’t walk so has to be carried). They were little troopers and you were an amazing general.
Mommy, Esq.´s last blog ..Pregnant Pauses
December 29th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Very impressed. I can’t imagine doing it by myself!
Amy´s last blog ..Way back When-esday
December 29th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
And you even got to take pictures during all this!
December 30th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Congratulations on your success.
This is yet another reason to have no more children, for me. All our travel involves one adult, and three kids? Or four? (Yep, we got our next deployment date. Guess who won’t be home for Christmas 2010.)
Sadia´s last blog ..2009: Family
December 31st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
First off, HI, I’ve never actually known anyone to find me through Blog Her ads, imagine that, the shit really works.
Anyway, last year we decided to fly to Vegas, my husband, my kids, myself and my parents. We thought, woohoo, we would have one kid and my parents another. Not so much. Halfway through the flight my 3 year old started screaming for mommy, so my parents had to unbuckle pass him to us take the younger one so that the older one could sit with us and get back in their seat. BUT THEN, my four year old said he had only wanted to say hi to us and demanded to go back to may parents, so the whole debacle had to happen again. Then we arrived and had a massive argument over who got to sit in what stroller etc. From there I had to practically hog tie my four year old to keep him from trying to ride the baggage claim. On the way home we gave up, bought a double stroller and thought this would be all good. Then we had a three hour lay over. Next thing I knew we were sitting in a crowded Las Vegas airport trying not to lose my two kids who thought an airport was as much as the play land at McDonalds. By the time we boarded they were tired and cranky. We didn’t arrive home until 1am and, since it was dead quiet in our little Reno airport my dad started encouraging my son to play on the baggage claim (I should mention my dad is equivalent to a six year old so it was really like traveling with 3 boys). Next thing I knew I found myself sprinting around the baggage claim to grab my three year old just in time for my dad to stick my one year old on and watch him go whizzing by me.
I WILL NEVER FLY AGAIN!