Traveling Woes

It's a long one - Sorry! I have said it before, and hopefully I will say it again, our kids are good travelers. Even when we wake them up early and hustle off to the airport, hoping to get on to the plane before we have to start passing out breakfast. And because our children were so good, it highlighted just how much I dislike Southwest airlines. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. I should start at the beginning...We decided early on that we would be taking a car seat for Abby to use on the plane - the girl just cannot sit still. We have this thing about wanting to sit together on the airplane - it just makes sense when you travel with young children. We talked it over and decided with the extra baggage and out seating hopes, it was worth paying Southwest's $10 early boarding charge for Abby and me. I did happen to see as I was paying that it did not guarantee any earlier boarding. Good thing I saw that because we got A51,52 - a whole 5 seats before Christopher and the boys got on. Seriously? I was not happy about this but we got on, got two rows together, and it looked like we were all good. Until Abby started kicking the seat in front of us. (Car seats make their legs longer, remember that.) Quick thinking on my husband's part, we switched all of our seats around so she could kick Noah the whole way. Problem solved. Or was it? Remember me saying that we hadn't given anyone breakfast yet? Add that to the fact that I packed Abby's blankey in her suitcase (because I didn't want to carry the gigantic blanket on to the plane) and we had one very unhappy little girl. I knew all would be solved once we were settled in and food was passed out. The fine lady behind us, however, did not. "Oh, I just hate children," she starts. I never did figure out if the person next to her was actually related. Let's just say I hope not. "Even our own! And they were ugly too! The first time I saw ??? I just thought he was so ugly." Imagine my joy to get to listen to this aimed at my child. I really wanted to say something but knew it would help nothing, so I just took care of Abs, and let the lady squawk. Which she continued to do throughout the trip. I'm sure the young child across the aisle who wailed for the final hour of the trip had something to do with that. My children, however, sat quietly and minded their own businesses.

It did earn our children all kinds of accolades as we deplaned, however. So, we arrived.

But that was only half the trip - we still had to get home. And this trip helped me hate Southwest all the more. (I blame them, not the actual people who cause me grief because I firmly believe that if we had assigned seats, I'd have no troubles.) Our $10 bought us mid 30's on this flight. I was excited about that. Got on, found our two rows together. Put Abby in the BACK row, put our bags down, thinking Christopher would be right behind us. But we wait. And we wait. All the other families with kids get on. Then they stop. Just regular passengers. And still no Christopher. The plane is starting to fill up and people start asking about this row of seats that I am watching like a hawk. I explain they are for my husband and sons who are coming and most very courteously move on their way. Until one very 'special' man arrives. At this point, Christopher is finally about 4 people back. The man asks about the seats and I mention my husband. He starts this tirade, "Well, where is he? Is he on this plane? Because I don't see him. You can't save seats. You can't save seats! That's not fair! BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP" At which part my ears start bleeding but I stay focused on my husband quickly approaching. They get situated and I hear old, grumpy in the back tattling to the flight attendant, "She had bags on the seats. You can't save seats. Blah, blah..." So as my dear husband sits I ask where he has been. Turns out Southwest wouldn't let him on. While their policy is families with children 4 and under, they wouldn't let them on because Noah is 5. He said they made some comment about splitting up the party? Now, I ask you... who in their right mind would let either a 4- OR a 5-year-old board a plane by himself while his dad boards with the other? Who runs this dumb company? Add to that my sick baby and it was not a pleasant flight. I was quite happy to get home. But I am not happy that Southwest is cheap and lets bags fly free which means I will probably have to fly them again, as I am so over them...

And remember the lady on the flight out? Here's another great story... Somewhere over Tennessee I start smelling something horrible. Not baby-horrible, mind you, but bad fumes. "Is she painting her nails?" I wonder. And I try to crane my neck to make obvious that she is stinking the place up. (Boy, do I wish my dad was on this flight because if there is one thing he hates, it is nail polish.) Lots of huffing, and neck-craning on my part - I got no response. Minutes later a flight attendant appears, "Um, ma'am? You can't paint your fingernails on the plane. I was in the back and I could smell that. This is a closed area. Fumes spread quickly. I'm gonna have to ask you to put that away." As soon as she starts walking away, the lady starts in, "Well, I didn't know that. Nobody ever told me that." Turning to the MAN next to her she says, "Has anyone ever told you that?" "Well, uh, no. Actually no one has ever told me that," he laughs. I'm still not sure she got it. Oh, poor, horrible, stupid, old, crabby, smelly, mean, MEAN lady...