Holiday travels

I am not a fan of airplanes. But compared to driving 14 hours with three kids in the car, an airplane ride is nothing. I still don’t like the traveling. Last year Christmas travels included driving 2 hours  to Kansas City, flying to New Orleans, fighting with Enterprise about not being able to take the rental I booked with my debit card (because I didn’t have a credit card on me), then driving two hours to my moms.  

This year, we flew from Manhattan to Dallas, then Dallas to Lafayette. I thought it would be much easier. I learned a bunch more lessons on this trip. First: don’t bring powdered protein mix in a plastic bag in carry-on back pack. Since we usually carry our suitcase on the plane when we fly Southwest nonstop to New Orleans, I didn’t think any different this time flying American. I packed all our liquids in 3 Oz bottles, had them all in a quart size bag as required by TSA. I didn’t think twice about my protein powder. My backpack went through security and was pulled to the side. No problem! They used the wipe to check for explosives and it set off the alarm. Well dang it. So then I had a pat down and all of my luggage was wipe down and tested. Including the other items in my back pack (my Bible, Isaiah study book, 2 calendars with pictures of kids for grandmas, and iPad). My 4 year old laid out on the floor of the security area asking when I would be done. Did I mention it was 5:00 AM?  The security guard was very nice about the whole thing, and I did my part by not fussing or making a scene. It’s my fault for bringing the powder.

We make it to the plane and fly to Dallas. We arrive at 8:10 AM at gas E37. I receive a text that we have to go to B38 for our connecting flight, boarding at 8:25. So we retrieve our bags (AA gate checks small luggage, and doesn’t let you carry it on the plane with you), and rush to get to the Skywalk train. The 4 year old tries to jump on the up escalator, misses the step and scratches her legs. Of course there are lots of tears, but we don’t have time to stop. We have to get to the gate! We get on the train and ride to gate B area. She the proceeds to panic and scream as we try to get on the down escalator. My 6 year old also panicked and so I took 3 small suitcases and tried to get on the escalator to calm my kids. But I couldn’t! A stranger came and offered to help me get the luggage down while I hurried to get to the kids (bless him!). Second lesson learned: take an elevator.

We finally made it to the gates, and the kids have to use the bathroom. We sit down right around 8:25. I don’t see a sign for the Lafayette flight, but I figure they will call us in a minute. At 8:40, I realize they never called the plane to be boarded, and went up to the desk asking about the plane. I was told the flight was leaving from gate E38, and the doors were already closed. They would not be able to hold the plane for us to get back to that side. I started crying. The next flight wasn’t until 12:20. I explained about the text I received showing this gate. The gentleman proceeded to tell me that I should check this specific website for the flight an hour before it’s set to board. I told him (rather loudly, I’m afraid) that an hour before, I was on the flight heading here with my three children. Third lesson learned: take a second to check the big screen monitors for correct gate. In my defense, I was fearful that we would not make it across to B, and didn’t waste time looking at the monitors.

We made it back to E (we took the elevators this time) with plenty of time to spare. We found some food and sat for 2 hours until boarding time. All of this back and forth was done while toting 4 suitcases with us. Fourth lesson: check 1 big suitcase on plane instead of 4 carry on when having a lay-over. Once we finally got on the plane, I learned this plane (as well as the one we were on to get to Dallas) lacked running water and had no coffee. I also learned my stewardess was on day 4 of a 4 days straight work schedule, and was finally able to get back to her family to celebrate Christmas once they flew back to Dallas. I realized my situation could always have been worse. We made it to Lafayette without any other issues, and my parents were there to pick us up. Alls well that ends well I guess. And we still made it to Lafayette well before we would have if we would have flown to Nola and driven in.

If I would have taken the second to check to monitor when we landed, lesson 2-4 would have been negligible. Because we were right next to our gate. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and I apologize for lack of posts lately with the holidays.