Our Bumpy Trip

In case you missed it, we recently took a trip. I tried not to think about it too much because I was incredibly nervous. I didn’t sleep the night before and I told my hubby I was terrified of oversleeping, and that my biggest fear was missing our flight.

What? You saw this coming from a mile away? Yeah. We missed it. By 2 minutes. The plane was still at the gate but they wouldn’t let us on. (Based on our experience trying to get on other flights as standby, it appears they give your seats up to someone else 10-15 minutes before hand.) We would have made it, but an airline employee told us we had to get in the long full service line for “age verification,” even though we’d bought a ticket for the baby. Then the security line was longer than the latest ride at an amusement park, and despite my running with the baby in the Boba, backpack on my back, and the car seat (with base attached) banging against my legs, we missed it. I think I need more iron because my legs look like I was beaten!

So, the plan was to drive an hour to the airport on Wednesday, get there 1 1/2 to 2 hours early, fly for an hour and a half to South Carolina, get our rental car, then spend 2 days with my in-laws. Friday we’d leave the rental car at the airport (cheaper to rent by the week,) fly to Nashville (45 minutes), get another rental car, then drive about 1/2 hour to visit with my Grandparents. Sunday we fly back to SC, then spend a few more days with the in-laws before heading home on Wednesday.

I wasn’t happy with the airport we were leaving from, nor how early the first flight was, or how late the last was, but it was a lot cheaper than other flights, and both flights combined were cheaper than a non-stop to Nashville.

What actually ended up happening is that we spent most of the day going from gate to gate trying to get on different flights on standby. We finally got on one going to Nashville (go figure), then connecting to South Carolina after a 3-hour layover. Hubby was calling his Mom to keep her posted since she was going to leave work early, and his brother’s family planned to spend the day with us. While she was trying to call him, she dropped her phone and it broke in pieces!

The second bump came when the flight was so full, we were asked to gate check our carry on, which held the diapers I’d packed for that day (the rest were in our checked luggage, which had been in South Carolina since the flight we missed that morning.) Unfortunately, the person wrote our final destination on the tag, so my diapers were heading to SC instead of waiting for me and our 3 hour layover in Tennessee. Fortunately, I looked just desperate enough that he hunted it down and I didn’t have to resort to stuffing my my son’s pants with paper towels (or my sweater, that was my other idea.)

We called the rental car company, but they had long since given away the van we reserved. The only one they had. They managed to get us a 3-row vehicle, but since it didn’t have captain’s chairs in the second row, we had to fold a seat down, shuffle car seats, put my son in through the back, you name it. But it worked! We finally got to my in-laws after the kids’ bedtime, and after over 12 hours in planes & airports!

We made it to Tennessee and back, and headed into the restroom before the ride back to my in-laws. At bedtime, my son asked for his Manni (also known as my newborn diaper model) and I got a sick feeling with the sudden realization that my son had him going into the bathroom (I asked if my hubby wanted me to hold him) but that I didn’t remember seeing him after that. The airport is a small one that actually shuts down at night, and we couldn’t get through to anyone on the phone. My husband checked the flight schedule online, saw that there was one last flight landing at 11:30 and put the pedal to the metal. He begged and wheedled and finally convinced a police officer to go look for Manni and thank goodness he was still there!!

The whole trip, I had been paranoid about leaving something (or someone!) behind, and I had just commented that we were bound to forget something. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.

We were intentionally incredibly early for the rest of our flights. Better an extra hour in the airport than an extra day like we spent the first day. The airport luck is contagious since my Aunt & cousins got up at 5 A.M. to return their car and check in at the airport for their 8 P.M. flight. Huh? Yeah. P.M. Oops! We got to spend a little more time with them as we waited for our flight and they waited for standby flights. My cousin booked a flight for his buddy & selected the wrong month, so at least my Aunt got the day right!

Chalk this up to another memory that we (and our marriage!) survived! But this is why we never go anywhere, LOL.