Skip to main content

Christmas Trip - Part 3 - Traveling with Children

Traveling is always an adventure. Traveling with children, even more so.

Thankfully, our children were amazing travelers. They slept in car and plane rides. They were generally happy. They did not cry like crazy on the plane. The travels were good.

But here are somethings we learned on this trip about traveling with children:

1) Have lots of snacks. I knew this and was pretty well prepared. It made all the difference, especially on the planes.

2) Gate check is awesome, but takes time and is unpredictable. We gate checked a stroller and car seat, which was very nice. But you would think when you are traveling with same airline, things would be pretty consistent from flight to flight. But no. One flight our gate checked items needed a pink tag. On another a green tag. Good grief!

3)Traveling as a family doesn't necessarily mean that people will always be willing to switch seats with you so you can sit together. Most of the time we were able to be next to each other. But on one flight, Wilbert and Joash had the middle and window seat and I was across the aisle in the middle seat with Mataya. When we boarded the plane, the passenger in the aisle seat next to Wilbert's seat was already there. I explained that we were a family and wondered if she would be willing to switch. When she heard that would mean she would have sit in a middle seat, she said, "No." So Mataya and I squished between two other ladies and Wilbert had to sit next to the other woman, who was snoring for most of the flight.

4) Airport bathrooms are really not very child friendly, especially for one who is still afraid of falling into the toilet.

5) Family security lines are the best thing ever!

6) Joash is afraid of airport security and elevators. Joash has always been a little leery of elevators and this trip just solidified that fear. Joash always wanted to be picked up when we went into an elevator, which was a bit challenging with all of the stuff we were carrying through the airport. And I tried really hard to prep him for security, but going through it at 5 in the morning on a empty stomach didn't help him at all. In Halifax on our way out, Joash and Wilbert when through the metal detector together and were randomly selected to go through the scanner. Of course, they are not going to make a 3 year old do the scanner, so Wilbert had to do it, which Joash did not like at all. He just wanted to be with Wilbert and he screamed and cried until Wilbert could pick in up again. I have never seen security people work so quickly to get us through the line. And he got really upset again when he saw the scanning machine in the security line at the Grand Rapids airport. Hopefully next time he flies it will go better.

7) For the most part, people really are kind when they see us traveling with kids. I hope that when I am older and traveling and I see a young family, I will be the older lady who plays peek-a-boo with the baby, picks up the dropped item, holds the baby so the mom can make the big step in the shuttle, or helps get a bag from the overhead bin. Praise the Lord for the kindness of strangers!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

This Is Where It Ends by Cindy K. Sproles

When Minerva Jane Jenkins was just fourteen years old, she married a man who moved her to the mountains. He carried with him a small box, which he told her held gold. And when he died fifty years later, he made her promise to tell no one about the box or the treasure it contained. Now at ninety-four, Minerva is nearing the end of what has sometimes been a lonely life. But she's kept her promise. Even so, rumors of hidden gold have a way of spreading, and Minerva is visited by a reporter, Del Rankin, who wants to know more of her story. As an unlikely friendship develops, Minerva is tempted to reveal her secret to Del. But the truth of what's really buried in the box may be hidden even from her. I really enjoyed this book. It is quality historical fiction with a strong narrative voice. I really liked the characters and it was interesting to see how all of the secrets they carried with them affected them. I enjoyed the relationships between the characters and how the setting was

The Best Summer of Our Lives by Rachel Hauck

  Twenty years ago, the summer of '77 was supposed to be the best summer of Summer Wilde's life. She and her best friends, Spring, Autumn, and Snow--the Four Seasons--had big plans. But those plans never had a chance. After a teenage prank gone awry, the Seasons found themselves on a bus to Tumbleweed, "Nowhere," Oklahoma, to spend eight weeks as camp counselors. All four of them arrived with hidden secrets and buried fears, and the events that unfolded in those two months forever altered their friendships, their lives, and their futures. Now, thirtysomething, Summer is at a crossroads. When her latest girl band leaves her in a motel outside Tulsa, she is forced to face the shadows of her past. Returning to the place where everything changed, she soon learns Tumbleweed is more than a town she never wanted to see again. It's a place for healing, for reconciling the past with the present, and for finally listening to love's voice. This was an enjoyable book to r

The Wind Blows in Sleeping Grass by Katie Powner

A fter years of drifting, fifty-year-old Pete Ryman has settled down with his potbellied pig, Pearl, in the small Montana town of Sleeping Grass--a place he never expected to see again. It's not the life he dreamed of, but there aren't many prospects for a high-school dropout like him. Elderly widow Wilma Jacobsen carries a burden of guilt over her part in events that led to Pete leaving Sleeping Grass decades ago. Now that he's back, she's been praying for the chance to make things right, but she never expected God's answer to leave her flat on her face--literally--and up to her ears in meddling. When the younger sister Pete was separated from as a child shows up in Sleeping Grass with her eleven-year-old son, Pete is forced to face a past he buried long ago, and Wilma discovers her long-awaited chance at redemption may come at a higher cost than she's willing to pay. I really enjoyed this book. The characters in it were interesting and unique. While some thing