I hate airplanes

I have so many stories of bad traveling incidents that I could seriously write a memoir. It's like someone has this voodoo doll and put a bad travel curse on me.

The grand prize winner:
Missing our flight at Christmas time by 3 minutes (after being there in plenty of time but waiting two hours in line) when Nolan was 15 months old and entertaining a toddler in the nasty dirty airport for 12 hours. I never want to ride an escalator 20 times in a row again. Lesson learned from the trip: always bring 5 extra diapers wherever you go so you don't have to be on the lookout for parents with the same size kids and beg for diapers from strangers.

I guess I can't complain too much because the rest of the trip was a lot of fun. We just got back from a week long trip with all of Justin's family at Folly Beach, South Carolina. I have lots of pictures to post but that will come as soon as I can get to unpacking and downloading pictures!

On the way there, we had the nicest guy sitting next to Justin and he held Campbell and entertained him...thank goodness for him. I felt like we needed to pay him for his babysitting services.
On the way back home, Gram and Pop helped with the boys at the airport and after we gave them hugs and kisses, Nolan said, "I had fun with Gram and Pop. I'm not going to cry." It was so precious, we had to call and tell them. Unfortunately, Gram wasn't so lucky to hold back the tears.

So we get the boys on the plane. This was a tiny airport so we had to go on the jetbridge, down the stairs, walk outside and back up the stairs to the plane....always so much fun with four bags, two kids, and a stroller. We get on the sauna...I mean plane (it was seriously 90 degrees on the plane) and get the kids settled. Nolan is already talking about how he's going to take a nap before he wants to watch a movie (what a great kid) and Campbell is passed out asleep in Justin's lap. His sweaty curls are already in full force and leaving a sweat ring on Justin's shirt. I'm fanning myself with the safety instructions. Nolan is coloring and Campbell's out...what a recipe for a great trip.

"Pardon the interruption ladies and gentlemen, but we seem to have some mechanical problems so we're going to turn around and go back to the gate. Since it's so hot we're going to have you wait back inside the airport where it's cooler." Turns out our flight got canceled. I already know that we're going to miss our connecting flight but still hold onto hope that we can get out later that day.

After Justin's waits and talks with the ticketing agent for two hours, we discover we can either fly to Boston where they're having a monsoon and get home after midnight (or get stuck there) or we can leave at 6 a.m. the next morning. Neither sound good but we decide that the 6 a.m. sounds the best. So the next morning we get up at 3:45 a.m, pack up the boys, and do it all over again. Justin and I didn't have seats together but we just begged people to change seats with us. I think they either felt sorry for us or they saw two kids, and wanted to get as far away from us as possible.

Justin somehow lucks out and get a first class seat and has a hard time giving that one up. So we make a deal, I'll take Nolan but he has to have Campbell with him in first class. He decides it's a good one and I'm thinking I just might have won the lottery. Nolan sleeps for an hour and then watches a movie. I'm feeling so guilty so I go up to first class the last 25 min and get Campbell. Justin said that he threw his paci somewhere and couldn't find it. Don't you know all those first class passengers were hating my baby!

Those last 25 minutes were ROUGH. I was by myself with both boys at the back of the plane with no paci and only a bag of goldfish. Campbell tore the Sky magazine to shreds, screamed, kicked (because he learned to walk this week and did NOT want to sit), and even the girl next to me offered her diet coke bottle for him to play with. She must have been thinking, "Here, shut that baby up!" I try to find something like my cell phone in my purse to entertain him. I stick my hand in my purse only to discover my lotion had exploded in my purse and I had it all over the place including my hand. Bath and Body Works Wild Honeysuckle aroma envelopes the plane within seconds. So now, I'm "that lady" that not only has the screaming baby but that is putting on overpowering aromas into the air. I couldn't get off the plane fast enough...hard to do when you're at the back of the plane.

Thankfully my parents were waiting for us and I did the pass off to them for a little mental time out before heading home. I think I've had my fill of airports and airplanes for awhile.