We're back from a one week trip to Maui!
This is going to be a multi-part post. Part 1 will focus on the flights.
Let me start by saying that in preparation of this trip, I had
A LOT of anxiety about how AJ would do on the plane. I heard A LOT of things. Good stories, bad stories, good advice, bad advice, advice that didn't make any sense unless you had that baby, you get the drift. I will tell you exactly what I did on the two flights (our own experience), but I will tell you upfront a summary of what I learned.
1. Don't assume that your baby always behaves the same on flights. Just because your baby was good/bad on one flight doesn't predict ANYTHING about future flights. I found that how things go depend a lot on how well baby is rested, how well you are rested, how well flying corresponds with nap time, how hungry baby is, how nice the flight crew is, how cooperative/uncooperative the neighbors are, how many other screaming babies/kids are on board, how much turbulence there is, etc etc etc. You get the drift. It is different EVERY TIME. Much like how your own experience flying probably varies every time you fly.
2. Let the expectations go. Your baby will probably cry. Babies cry.
3. Your flight is a tiny tiny tiny part of your trip. Try to keep your eyes on the prize.
4. Pack light with your carry ons. Most of the time, I'm a huge fan of being over-prepared. But let me tell you...when you feel like you desperately need something and spend 5 minutes digging into your 20 lb diaper bag at your feet (with a huge blanket, nursing cover, and bottle attached to the outside of it), you feel like an idiot. Both because your baby won't stop crying and also because your hand just tangled your nursing necklace and dipped into baby food at the same time. And oh, when the seatbelt light is on, you can't really get into the overhead bins either. Then you're SOL if something's up there. Lesson learned. PACK LIGHT.
5. Now's the time to pull out all the stops to the toys. New stuff is good. Cheap stuff from the Target dollar bin is good. Airplane stuff is also good. AJ played with the bag of nuts, the cup, the ice that came with our drink, the spoon, the inflight magazine, the puke bag, you name it. I don't care if you're anti-TV. If the screen keeps cooped up little man interested for a mere 10 minutes, well that's 10 minutes less of you needing a game plan.
So there, a summary of the most important lessons I learned. OK number 2 was something I learned well before, but found that lesson handy :)
So here is it, how our plan rides went.
We looked at direct nonstop PDX --> OGG only (didn't want to deal with any layovers).
We specifically avoided late night flights (I can't rest well in planes).
We booked a window and an aisle seat near the back of the plane (where we could easily access the restroom and also the area in the back where you can walk around). The hopes was that no one would book a middle seat seeing that the aisle and window as taken. More on that later. Note: the very back aisle is not a great idea (IMO) because you can't recline it.
1/6/14 PDX to OGG, Alaska Airlines (5 hours 45 minutes)
Check-in/security: Easy. Car seats fly free, so we checked it in. We have a convertible carseat that is a little bit of a bitch to install, so I wasn't interested in trying to bring it on board with us even if the middle seat was open (I'm not interested in your argument about carseat safety on planes. This is my blog, please respect that I do not want to discuss this issue). I strolled AJ to the security checkpoint, and then after taking him out for security reasons, put him in my Beco carrier afterwards, then used the stroller to lug our crap around. Easy peasy.
Prior to boarding: changed AJ's diaper
Boarding: we did family boarding (priority boarding). I have mixed feelings about this being helpful. You get more time to put stuff away...but it's also more time to have to deal with your child being in a small place. We actually split up, my husband boarded first, to put everything in its spot and also tried to negotiate with the person sitting in between us to move, if possible. Turns out, the plane was full, so we were SOL on the moving. At the very least, we offered her the widow seat instead. She was happy to take it. We also offered her some earplugs, in case AJ got fussy. She was actually very nice and plenty entertained by AJ.
Flight: AJ surprised us by taking 2 solid 1.5 hour naps! So effectively, he was asleep for half the flight. He was already asleep when we were taxi-ing, and I had some anxiety about his ears popping, but he didn't even notice the ascent. All around he was a happy boy. He played with pretty much everything we found in the seat pocket, our food items, cups, ice, and his own toys too. Having his favorite foods around was also very helpful, as it served as an excellent distraction when he was starting to get bored. I brought my friend's travel Boppy along with me, which made nap time very simple and easy. I've heard thought that the Travel Boppy is only useful if you are a heavy utilizer of the regular Boppy at home. Well, we're Boppy fans, so I guess that made sense. He started getting a little bit fussy towards the descent, so I breastfed him. He seemed content at that. Breastfeeding on the flight was pretty simple. Privacy was not really a big issue, as I had my nursing cover. We also did some walking up and down the aisle, just to mix it up. But even without that, I think we could have done fine.
In hindsight: oh boy this is embarrassing, but I WAY overpacked. My "carry-on" items consisted of my diaper bag, the Travel Boppy, my coat, a blanket, a portable changing station, and the Beco carrier. My diaper bag was filled to the max with food, toys, wipes, diapers, more diapers, a sippy cup, 5 Indestructible books, one big board book, 5 binkies, 2 binky straps, 2 changes of outfits, a nursing cover, a bottle of Tylenol, a bottle of Benadryl, 5 bibs, and about 15 small toys. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?! Like I said, there was so much stuff that I couldn't even move my feet when I was sitting! It an absolute nightmare trying to get stuff out of that bag! In reality, all we used was the pillow, the change pack, 1 Indestructible, 1 binky, the nursing cover, one small tangerine, and maybe like 3-4 of the toys. Heed my warning. PACK LIGHT. Because yeah, even if you make it off the plane, you still gotta lug that SOB around with you!
1/11/14 OGG --> PDX Alaska Airlines (5 hours 10 minutes)
Check-in: easy, almost exactly the same as last time. This time, I did have 3 ounces of breastmilk with me. I just took it out, showed it to them, and they were fine with it. It did go through the x-ray machine though. I don't really have a problem with that.
Before boarding: changed AJ's diaper but he peed all over himself. The changing pad was unstable in the bathroom. And the line was super long, so we ended up getting to the terminal a little later than I wanted. In hindsight, I should have known this was a bad start.
Boarding: a little bit trickier this time, since we boarded later than family boarding. Apparently, when you don't get onto the plane early, you get ignored as being a family with a young child, at least that's how I saw it. I'm saying this grudgingly, because I really was irritated throughout the flight, but seriously, the flight crew paid extra attention to help other families, but treated my child like he was an elephant in a room. Upon arriving at our aisle, we noticed there was a young girl sitting in the aisle. Myron nicely asked if she'd like the window seat (keeping in mind now, that this particular passenger's seat is supposed to be the middle seat). A F/A quickly stepped in and informed us that we needed to sit in the middle and the window seat, because she needs to get to her mother. Unless another passenger was willing to trade her seat to get closer to her mother (which they were working very hard on doing). Irritated. Fine. Whatever. Non-cooperation gets you kicked off a plane, so whatever. They finally found someone to trade, but promised her the aisle seat. HELLO! THAT IS MY FUCKING SEAT YOU TRADED. IRRITATED. She really preferred the aisle seat, but luckily, she was a grandmother who recognized my desperate look. She agreed to sit at the window. She turned out to be quite a nice lady actually.
Flight: More on the flight crew, because I loved them so much. Not sure what it was, maybe a "Friday" for them? There was a lot of goofing off, chatting with other F/A's, not much help at all. Every time they came by, they avoided eye contact with me. Snarky remarks and laughter about hitting my baby's face when they rolled their beverage cart by. Every time I tried to get up to soothe my child, they approached me to ask if I "wanted to get back to my seat." No, I don't. That's why I got up. Eventually, the turbulence got to me, and I got really really REALLY sick towards the end. Again, F/A's not helpful. Passed by, giggling, chatting with each other, never asking if I needed help. I ended up throwing up on the plane because I was so sick (glad I knew where the bag was). Again, no F/A noticed, cared, helped, whatever. My baby ended up doing alright. He was noticeably fussier on this flight, but probably due to a number of things. But me? That was the worst flight ever in my life. Makes me never want to fly Alaska again. I doubt that's actually going to happen, but just how I felt about this particular crew. Gives me nausea thinking about how bad it was.
That's all. Our first flight experiences. yay.
