We survived our flight Germany. Here’s our travel story:
As we planned, we
left around 1pm, drove up to BWI and checked into a hotel near the airport
around 3pm. The kids had a nap boycott in the car, despite my best
efforts. They were obviously worked up
about or BIG ADVENTURE. When we arrived
at the hotel, there was lots of tears and grumpiness. We tried one last time in the hotel bed for a
nap since Bunny Girl really needed it but it was not happening so we went out
to the pool for about 30 minutes. It was
a fantastic distraction and lots of fun, basically like a big RESET button for
the kids. Then we put our clothes back
on and drove over to the airport for check-in.
The line was about a million years long.
I had two carts of luggage plus the kids and Bob. My mom was met us there to help with luggage
while my dad parked the car.
Check-in was fine and we were able to get four seats in a
row. They gave us the bulk-head, which I
was pretty pleased about though I’m not sure I would do it again. (More on that
later.)
We went back to the hotel (five minute drive!) and got take
out for dinner. It was great because the kids weren’t confined and weren’t
under “best behavior” rules for dining out.
It was much more relaxed than going out.
After dinner, the babies took a bath and I jumped in the shower. We all dressed in super comfy clothes and
were ready to go.
We headed to the airport aroud 8:00 and went through
security at 8:30. Goodbyes were really hard.
Tears from me and my parents. Confusion from the kids. Bunny girl kept
dashing out of the security line and running to Grammie and Grandpa for more
hugs and snuggles. Getting through
security was tough…but it’s never really fun with kids and juggling carry-ons,
liquid baggies, declaring extra baby food/drinks, pulling out laptops,
stroller, car seat, etc. We survived and I think we were only about a 10 minute
spectacle for our fellow passengers.
After we made it through security, I grabbed a couple
bottles of water at the gift shop. I usually do this when flying because I hate
waiting for the beverage service when I have grumpy thirsty kids. Then, we camped out by the gate next to
another family. They kindly watched my
stuff while I took the kids for potty/diaper changes before we boarded which
was a huge help and reduced my potty break time by about 70%.
As we boarded, I realized I was the only “single” parent
family group….made me a little sad. They
seated all the families in one section of the aircraft. (Seating Doctrine of
Mutually Assured Destruction, perhaps?)
But, at least that alleviated some of the travelling guilt for seat
kicking and crying in flight.
We were seated in the bulkhead, so I had to do a little
reassessment of our immediate needs for the flight since all of our carry-ones
had to be in the overhead bins for
take-off. I pulled out our sleepytime
stuff (pillows and blankets), the iPods and water bottles and stashed
everything else.
I think we lucked out and this flight was on a contracted
United aircraft with a United crew. We
had the best comfy blankets ever in our seats. They were fluffy quilted
down-alternative personal-size blankets.
Seriously, I WISH I could have snuck them off the plane. They also had
rectangular travel pillows. As it turned out, the kids much preferred the
airline’s blankets and pillows. They
curled up in a cute little next of fluffy blanket and pillow.
The kids slept about 4.5 hours after take-off. They started waking and I could tell they
were just grumpy and uncomfortable in the seat. It was kind of sad watching
their poor confused faces as they shuffled around, half-asleep, trying to get
comfortable and go back to sleep. We had
a small bout of tears starting so I opted for distraction: group POTTY BREAK! Yes, it is possible to fit an adult, two kids
and an infant into an aircraft bathroom.
Just make sure it’s the handicapped one! Our potty break took about 30 minutes with
all the shuffling around for the potty/sink use and a diaper change.
We tried to go back to sleep, but the kids were awake at
that point and were thinking it was time to land. (HA.) The next part of the flight was spent mostly
watching movies on their iPods and a little bit of toys/coloring time.
As luck would have it, they both fell asleep as the plane
landed. Monster boy woke up during taxi
but Bunny Girl sleeps like the dead. She
is hard to wake on a normal day buy as exhausted as she was on the plane, I was
worried she’d need to be carried off the plane.
I managed to wake her, but she was very, very groggy and clumsy as we
got off the plane.
I was very disappointed to find out that we did NOT get our
strollers at the jetway. They took them
straight to baggage claim. I really, really could have used the help since I
was pack-muling SBG in the Ergo carrier and a backpack, wheeling a suitcase,
carrying a carseat and Bunny girl’s backpack in my left arm and pulling the
rolling suitcase with my right arm. Monster
boy did OK walking with his backpack but Bunny Girl was pretty much stumbling
like a drunk sailor.
The worst part was the giant staircase right off of the
jetway. There was a huge crush of people
going down to Immigrations and I was effectively stuck at the top of the
staircase. I asked the staff about an elevator and was told there was
none. This was my one of two
near-breaking moments. I tried going
down the stairs, but I had so much in my arms and there were so many people
pushing that I was close to losing my balance.
Bunny girl was so groggy and unsteady that she just couldn’t manage the
stairs and I couldn’t help her since my hands were full. I was sure she was
going to fall. We were stuck about two
stairs down when some fellow passengers realized our trouble and started unloading
me. When I had my hands free, I was able
to sling Bunny Girl on my hip and carry her down. Monster Boy did great on his
own…such a little trooper. I really
regret how this was handled. I did see
an elevator after we were on the floor below.
I suspect, but can’t prove, that it wasn’t used as a matter of
convenience for those herding passengers. I would have had to leave the
“passenger pathways” they had roped off to herd is in the right direction and
then be funneled back in on the bottom floor.
Since this is a US facility, I feel certain there had to have been an
alternate to the stairs to allow for disabled/wounded passengers. We just weren’t allowed to use it.
We made it through Immigrations and passports without
incident. Very easy. As we walked to
Baggage, I saw Soldier waiting for us on the other side of the window. I nearly cried out of relief and frustration
that he was so close but still a BIG hurdle away.
Baggage Claim was a nightmare. It’s a tiny area with a TON of people shoving
suitcases and luggage carts around.
There’s really no extra space to maneuver in there. I had a very hard time getting luggage carts
and coaxing the kids into one area. We were separated by a crowd of people for
a few minutes while I was trying to get luggage carts. The stream of people just sort of flowed
around us and I couldn’t get through to the kids. They got a little upset….lots of big people,
noise and stuff going on and Mommy was far away. It seemed like it took four years for luggage
to be brought up. Really, I think it was
probably about an hour to hour and a half after we arrived at the gate and
maybe 30 minutes after I arrived in Baggage area. It doesn’t seem like that
long as I write the words but at the time, it was an eternity. Sweet Baby Girl was sobbing in her car seat,
Bunny Girl was randomly bursting into
tears out of exhaustion and Monster Boy was fully engaged in the
Crazy-Exhausted behavior he does. He
just couldn’t stay still….was jumping,
climbing, crawling, rolling all over and harassing both sisters in various
ways. I was torn between watching the conveyor belt from about 15 feet and 10
people away and keeping tabs on the kids.
I tried asking the Customs Agents if Soldier could come through to help,
which they refused. The door to where he
was standing was about 15 feet from the Baggage area. I asked if I could send
the kids through the door to Soldier, I figured Monster Boy and Bunny Girl
could walk through to him…it was all glass windows so he’d see them coming. The guards told me no one in my group could
exit until we had all of our luggage. At
that point, I just gave up. I shoved the
carts and my carry-ons against the back wall and sat down on the floor with all
three of my crying children. I felt like crying but decided the luggage
problem would work itself out. If I sat on the floor long enough, everyone else
would get their bags and leave. Then, it would be easy to find my bags since
they’d be the only ones left and I’d have lots of room to maneuver.
After a few minutes, a lady came over and asked if I was
alone and if I was being met by anyone. She told me one of the guards had let a
pregnant lady out of the baggage area to drop off her daughter with her husband
while she got the luggage. The passenger
pointed me to the guard that had done it.
I went over in all my bedraggled, crying kid glory and asked to do the
same. He waved me through and I walked
the kids out the magic door of freedom to where Soldier and two dear friends
were waiting. I handed them off and then
went back into wrangle bags alone. My
guardian angel passenger stayed to help me push one of the carts outside.
We loaded up the car, with the help of our friends. We were
quite the spectacle: four adults, six kids, two giant carts of luggage and two
strollers! We all went over to the PX
for lunch and playtime at their indoor play area and then loaded in the car for
the four hour drive to our home. Thankfully, the kids were tired and
well-exercised so they all slept nearly the whole way to Parsberg.
Tomorrow I'll Post my AAR -- What worked, what didn't and what I wish I knew ahead of time.
