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.