I am going to start doing the Digital Scrapbook Place blog prompts again. This week’s theme is “travel”. Let’s start off with the bad news about travel:Everyone has at least one travel ‘horror’ story. Share your worst experience(s) with us.
My worst travel experience was my flight here to Germany. Because of a delay in getting Will’s passport, Keith had to travel to Germany before the kids and I. That left me flying ALONE with two year old twins and a two month old infant. We had a direct flight from Atlanta, GA to Frankfurt, Germany, so I thought I could handle it. I’m going to try to be as detailed as I can but I’ve tried to block the experience from my memory.
The week before our trip, there was a news story about a plane being turned around because of a two year old boy being disruptive. This story was at the front of my mind during our flight. My girls were not that disruptive but I was so very anxious. My worst fear would be to have been either kicked off the plane or to have had it turned around because of us!!
We left from my in-laws house to travel to Atlanta early on a Sunday morning. Our flight was that afternoon. I was very positive about the time of our flight. It was prime time for sleeping!!
One thing that I was most anxious about was getting through airport security with three small children, three car seats, and carry on bags. I was praying that they would allow my in-laws to help me get through to the gate. When we arrived at the Atlanta airport I paid a cabbie outside to help us get to the check in counter. He was great–he unloaded the car with all of our luggage and car seats and stayed with me while it was checked in. After checking in for the flight I hired another “helper” to get us through security to our gate. He was another blessing. And he spoke to someone about my in-laws staying with me and we were able to arrange that.
I think it took us all of five minutes for us to get through security and through the subway to our correct gate in a very crowded airport!! It was a breeze and I was so thankful for this answered prayer.
We spent the next couple of hours waiting for our loading time. I was convinced that because of my special situation I would be able to load in plenty of time before anyone else. I was wrong on that point. They did call for us to board after the business travelers, but we did not have a lot of time. I had the baby, two month old Will, in a Moby wrap carrier. My in-laws had Mary Catherine and Elizabeth Anne. Of course, they were not able to board the plane, so they had to hand them over to stewardesses when they called for us. Mary Catherine cried out for her Papa and I think Elizabeth Anne was in shock from all the activity.
Once we were on board the stewardess could not figure out how to install the car seats that we somehow managed to get on board. There was another Army family seated in front of us and that mom helped with the car seats and offered to help me during the flight. I am convinced that she was a specific answer to prayer. I don’t know how we would have survived the flight without her and another lady that was seated diagonally from me.
I gave the girls a dose of Benadryl while we were waiting at the gate, so they fell asleep as soon as they were settled in their car seats. Will, on the other hand, screamed through out the entire take off that was delayed. Of course, I couldn’t take him out of his car seat and comfort him so I was getting some pretty dirty looks.
The nine hour flight that followed was so busy!! The girls woke up after about an hour of sleep, basically after take off was over, and didn’t sleep again until about an hour before we landed. This wasn’t for lack of my trying to get them to sleep though. That’s how I spent most of my time. Then they only slept about 30 minutes because the pressure of landing woke them up. This means that I didn’t sleep AT ALL, except for falling asleep while nursing Will.
We were served dinner and breakfast on the plane, but Elizabeth Anne and Mary Catherine didn’t eat any because I couldn’t reach them over Will in order to help them with their food. Thank goodness I packed some snacks for them!!
I made sure I packed plenty of things for the girls to play with on the long trip…coloring books, dolls, and various small toys. Guess what??? They didn’t play with one thing!! I could have saved a ton of room in my duffel bag by not packing this unnecessary stuff!
As bad as the actual flight over was, it did not compare to the stress of going through Frankfurt airport with two toddlers, a two month old baby, three car seats, a large carry on bag, and five pieces of luggage, without any help from the airport personnel. I was frightened being in a foreign country, hearing an unfamiliar language, and unable to find my husband.
When I finally reunited with Keith I vowed that I wouldn’t ever do this again, even if it meant never leaving Germany. And I won’t even discuss the jet lag that followed!!
Stephani says
You poor thing. That would be terrible. I can’t even imagine your fear being in a strange country with all that to deal with. I am so glad that you all made it safe and sound despite the nightmare that it took to get you there.
glynis says
Oh you are BRAVE for even attempting this!! Traveling with children is so stressful…glad you made it through okay, though, and welcome back to the group!