air travel is so romantic… the curbside service, the friendly baggage handlers, the charm filled flight attendants. oh wait, that was the 1960s. the whole thing circa 2010 is a freaking nightmare from start to finish, especially if you are traveling with a connecting flight and on a smaller plane. oh, and with a smaller human.
this christmas we went to duluth, mn to visit my in-laws. the trip there was relatively uneventful. we went to the airport, were harassed by the baggage handler, got ont he plane and connected without much fanfare. it was the trip home that was trying, to say the least.
the biggest snow storm to hit brooklyn in my memory just happened to smack the right coast the night before we were to go home delaying our return trip by 4 days. that was 4 days of blissful staycation we had planned. those were days i was to see friends from far flung places – friends who are now gonzo, back to distant lands not to return until spring time. sigh.
anyway, when we finally did get on a plane to go home, we sat on the runway for so long that we missed out connecting flight and were forced to fly into newark. not the worst thing in the world, i’d rather be in newark than in the chicago airport for new year’s eve, but still. our luggage went to laguardia (including baby guy’s car seat) and it took 3 days for us to figure out how to get it back. answer: go get it yourselves.
here are a few things i have learned from the whole ordeal: do not travel without an ipad if you have a tiny person traveling with you (note to self, buy an ipad). avoid any connecting flight if in any way humanly possible (note to airlines, get a direct flight to duluth, mn within the next 2 years or we are going to have some serious in my house). pack 2 smaller bags rather than one large bag so that the airline doesn’t get the joy of charging you an enormous fee for an “overweight bag” (note to self, the mailing of christmas presents obviously didn’t lighten the load… don’t bother in the future). and last ,but certainly not least, just avoid any airline travel whatsoever if at all possible, (note to airlines, you all suck and i would greatly like to punch you).
this is all i will permit myself to say about christmas travel 2010. i am now officially moving on. i welcome 2011 with fervor! or at least with the tiny bit of energy i have in my enormously pregnant whale body. next post will be about something much more uplifting, or at least not as boring as listening to people prattle on about their experiences with the airlines. maybe i will even reiterate, in tiny detail, a dream i had once! everybody likes to hear about other people’s dreams.
everybody.
winging it 