Sunday, January 31, 2010

P.S. Don't Fly With Kids

They were good. Well, as good as one can expect from a 3-year-old and an 8-month-old. Only about an hour each of real whining and sleep each way.

Hey, some people have much worse circumstances. I'm not complaining.

But don't fly with kids. Seriously, it sucks.

Not that you have a choice, mind you. Excuse me, not that I have a choice. Wife hates road trips. She gets car sick easily and can't do anything except to stare straight ahead and listen to top-40 music (from the 80s to present.) I love road trips. My philosophy is that if I can drive there within 8 hours, I'm driving. F the airport and the airplane. Wife wins.

As I mentioned in Trippin Out, Wife's maternal Grandmother (last surviving grandparent between us) lives in Ft Lauderdale, FL. According to Google Maps, it would be around 1400 miles and 22 hours of driving. I figure I could do it in 2 days, maybe 3. Wife would have no part of that and it would probably suck with 2 little one like we have. If they were 10 and 8 or even 6 and 4, I could handle that. But a baby screaming for an hour on an airplane would probably seem like Mozart compared to 6 or more hours of screaming in the car. I digress.

From parking the car, pulling the car seats (I'm too cheap to rent car seats there), getting through security (having to put the stroller through the x-ray machine, then they test the water in the baby's bottles for vapors), and waiting to board, it can be a real challenge.

Oh, then doing it all over again when you get off the plane.

Then doing it all again when you return home.

But I love my family (yes, I call my wife's family my family). I love Grandma Syl. We had an amazing time. Perhaps I'll write about the actual vacation soon.

But I'm having some family issues that I'll probably share soon.

4 comments:

  1. We did the road trip mult. times with more kids and younger ones. It was awesome... my kids love traveling though to see family cause its such a treat. I think your kids could do it without six hours of screaming. The flying was a headache. 4 carseats to get on, staff that was mean and wouldn't let us preboard, but the security rocked (I think they felt bad for us or something), and the kids did better than I expected. In fact flight one people didn't realize there were kids on the flight. I highly recommend the tag pen (even Frei loves hers so I am sure JD would enjoy it). It kept them so happy. As well we sucked it up and bought ipods so the kids could watch videos which made a huge difference in our sanity. We brought no water with us btw- we bought when we got past security. Saved us the headache.

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  2. I agree with you. Airports are competition area. Who will get more trouble :) From hat to boxer and even I turned on my camera 3 times last time... I always wanna land immediately :) or car is always best way :) especially with babies, car is...

    offerofmylife.blogspot.com

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  3. I was a bit nervous about how a 10 hour flight (LHR-LAX) with our daughters, 3 and 1, would go. I was more worried about our 1 year old, becoz she generally has alot less patience than her older sister to this day. To my surprise, it turned it our alright. The 3 year old watched kiddie programming till she fell asleep, and she pretty had to be woken up before landing. The 1 year old fussed a little, then settled herself down and was quiet the whole way through. Man, I still thank god to this day, that that went smooth.

    I'd always fly, especially if its 8 hours away by car. I say that though, knowing our last experience isnt a guarantee. Have a great trip

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  4. We only took long trips or flew when the kids turned 6 yrs. old.. we saw others struggle w/their babies... I flew once w/a crying infant... not mine but the crying seemed like it was right next to mine... But I think alot has to do w/the parents... If the parents are stressed then kids will pick it up regardless of their age... Age 6 worked for us cuz u can stuff a backpack full of things to do...

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