For our annual family vacation, we decided to visit my sister Jody and her husband Cace in New Jersey. I have really missed having Jody living close by, so it was great to spend the entire week with her and Cace.
One of the reasons we went now was so that we would have one last chance to fly with Miriam before we had to pay for her plane ticket (she turns 2 in a few weeks), and a chance to visit Jody with only one child to keep up with instead of two (which we'll have in less than 2 months!)
Although I know that flying is much faster than driving, I am in serious debate if I ever want to fly with a child again. Remember when you don't pay for their ticket, they have to sit in your lap.
If everything ran perfectly and on time, then it really wouldn't be so bad. But this trip, everything was far from perfect.
Let me start by saying that we took evening flights in the hopes that Miriam would sleep on the plane.
MISTAKE!
On the way to New Jersey our flight was delayed almost 2 hours, one of those hours being stuck on the plane on the tarmac while we waited to take off. Thankfully the flight attendant had moved us to a row with extra leg room and an extra seat so Miriam had plenty of room to entertain herself.
We didn't get in to New Jersey until 11:30 p.m. and Miriam did NOT take a nap. Thank goodness for Stan's help, I never would have made it with her on my own. It's not that Miriam was bad, she is just a toddler with a lot of energy to harness.
Here's what she did with Stan while waiting in the airport at XNA. Up and down the escalators, over and over and over again.
Our flight back was even worse. We waited in the Newark airport for an extra hour of delay, and then again on the airplane for an hour and half (supposedly waiting for some storms to pass). This time we did not have an extra seat or any extra leg room.
Here's how Stan and Miriam passed the time in the Newark airport.
(Notice how much more tired they are going home).
All of those delays caused us to miss our connection in Atlanta and of course there were no more flights that evening for Arkansas (it was 10:30 p.m.), so we waited in a very long line to get hotel vouchers and get booked on a flight for the following day. At 1:30 a.m. we finally arrived at the Clarion Hotel and I had probably one of the worst night's sleep I've ever had. Not only was the bed awful, but Miriam had to sleep with us and she kept kicking me and of course I'm 8 months pregnant and good sleep is hard to come by anyway.
The next day we arrived at the airport in hopes that Stan could get on the same flight as Miriam and I. They had to put him on standby because there was only one seat left on the first flight of the day to Arkansas.
He did not make it, but luckily I had a very nice lady sitting beside me who was more than patient and helpful with Miriam. I picked up Stan at the airport later that day and we are VERY grateful we don't have any trips planned anytime soon.
I think we'll be driving on the next family trip.
(don't worry, the rest of the posts of our vacation will be much more positive :-)
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