The Journey

Before we began our trip, I knew that traveling with a 10-month old would not be easy. I had prepared as best I could, packing a diaper bag and book bag full of bottles, formula, finger foods, toys, and clean-up supplies. I put on a brave face and headed to the airport.

Everything went really well at BWI. They allowed us to use the express line at security, bypassing the need to take off our shoes and remove our laptops which made all the difference when traveling with an infant. The flight was on time, we were able to change our seats so we all sat together, and Evie was in a fairly good mood.

Then we landed in Atlanta.

We were worried we wouldn't make our connection as we only had 45 minutes to change concourses. Luckily (or so we thought at the time), our flight to Seattle was delayed about an hour. By this point, Evie had had it with sitting in her car seat and wanted to move. I found the cleanest area I could, corralled her in with our carry-ons, and let her play. We eventually remembered a blanket we had and spread that out. We boarded our flight, found our seats, and settled in. By this point, Evie had been awake for 4-5 hours and was very sleepy. We pushed off from the gate, only to sit on the runway for an hour due to bad weather. I think Evie's screaming matched everyone else's mood on the plane. Finally, we took off and Evie slept.

Makeshift baby cabana

Thirty minutes later she was awake and would not sleep again on this flight. She was clearly tired and was easily bored/irritated by everything we tried, and cried/screamed for about 3 hours. It was misery. We were lucky to be seated near kind people who tried to entertain her (and of course, she loved that).

Evie awake at 5am

We landed in Seattle, late, where we sat on the tarmac for another 20 minutes waiting for other flights to come down a "corridor" that leads in and out of the gates. After almost leaving the stroller on the plane, we made our way to baggage claim where we required two carts to carry our 7 checked bags. We made our way across the terminal, over a bridge, and back down an elevator to the hotel bus area.

Check-in at the hotel was great and we quickly got Evie a bath and into bed. Surprisingly, all went well there. We ordered Chinese food for dinner which wasn't very good so I didn't eat much. We were up early due to the time change but that gave us plenty of time to let Evie play and for us to get ready for day two. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and they had a great breakfast! A pancake maker made pancakes fresh and in minutes. They had eggs, bacon, sausage, Chobani yogurt, juices, all kinds of things! Too bad Evie wanted no part of sitting in a high chair which meant I barely tasted my breakfast. Instead I wrestled to get some food in her which ended up as prunes all over her clothes. So upstairs we went to dig in a suitcase for a new outfit.

Let me say this: the Seattle-Tacoma airport is so poorly designed. The security line was ridiculously long and the staff seemed to have no clue how to prioritize people or manage the number of people coming through. Instead of being waved through assisted security (where we have always gone with the baby and stroller) we were in the general line which was huge. When we finally got to the scanners with about an hour until our flight, the stroller tested positive for explosive materials (mind you, this has never happened before and I always get my hands tested since I'm carrying the baby and I tested negative). So all of our bags had to be pulled to the side and I had to have a pat down in front of everyone. Who pulls aside the Major traveling on orders with his family that includes an infant and a wife who already tested negative for explosive materials? *sigh*

Poor thing

Our flight was once again delayed due to weather, so Evie played on the floor in the waiting area and made some friends. Lucky for us, this flight contained a lot of families (and as it turns out, many of them were families also PCSing to Hawaii). Once we boarded the plane, Evie proceeded to puke all over Jay's shirt. Once that was cleaned up, she proceeded to wail while our take off was delayed, but she slept once we were in the air, this time for almost 2 hours!!

 The flight from Seattle to Honolulu was a much better experience. Although they had only one hot meal (which I was starved for by this time) and they ran out of it, I was happy to get a snack and finally be on our last leg of the journey. We were near the back of the plane in the "family" section (there were at least two families near us with small children), so noise and crying were no big deal. Evie puked again mid-flight which required another change of outfit. We passed the rest of the flight by playing with her while she sat in her car seat.

Bouncing on her knees

Playing ghost baby with daddy

Once we arrived, we were greeted by Jay's co-workers who gave us all leis. They took our luggage in a van to our hotel while we went to take the hotel shuttle. The shuttle service informs us that the shuttle won't be arriving for another 45 minutes, after which it'll take at least an hour to get to Honolulu. We'd already been waiting over an hour after our flight to complete our airport check-in procedures, so we decided to take a taxi. A very expensive taxi who decided to take the longest way possible to the hotel. Then he refused our credit card even though the signs at the taxi stand assured us we could use a credit card. We finally made it to our hotel at about 3:30pm (9:30pm EST) and were relieved to be done traveling.

That trip was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but if I can get through that I feel like I can get through so many other things. Now, don't think that things were ok once we were in Hawaii. Oh noooo, the fun was only just beginning! Stay tuned...