I Do Deserve a Medal....

As you know, we recently returned from a trip to NY. Flying standby allows for some pretty cheap flights and fly-by the seat of your pants opportunities. It also allows for some extra stress and requires and laid back attitude. None of this really bothered me until baby. In the past each get-away was a fun adventure; you never knew if the travel gods were going to cooperate or curse you.

Leading up to our trip I rearranged our trip dates since Ryan had a week of serious work backed up to a bachelor party in Vegas. Being the gold-medal deserving wife that I am, I decided to minimize the time spent apart by rearranging our trip to correspond to his busy week. However, flights were not as open as I would have liked. We had the option of flying Sunday morning on an early, early morning flight or flying a red-eye Saturday night. Obviously, the early morning flight was a better choice. However, there were minimal seats available and there was even a chance we wouldn't get on; that would suck! The red-eye, at last check before arriving at the airport, had 17 open seats. Without a doubt, that looked pretty good. We went with the red-eye which departed at 10:30 PM.

A 10:30 PM departure meant Missy Moo would miss her 6:30 PM bedtime by at least 4 hours. This was the start of my stress. And it did not stop there. By the time we arrived at the airport those 17 seats dwindled down to single digits. People must have bought last minute tickets or flight crews were hitching a ride to work or people like me were flying standby with a higher priority. As a I found this out my dream of obtaining a seat for Ella was pretty hopeless. However, I came armed with chocolates. Luckily for us, and I am not sure how this happened, but Ella and I snagged independent seats, a dream come true. Flying standby has its perks, sure. However, few airlines will move paying passengers for the comfort of a non-rev passenger. After all, they don't make money on us. Somehow, by the grace of the travel gods (combined with the chocolate bribes for the crew), Missy Moo and I each snagged a seat and next to each other. Obviously, being 14 months old she could not have a seat away from mine. Phew! And as much as I hate red-eyes, it was pretty painless. I enjoyed my personal TV, watching Cold Case and other crime shows while keeping a diligent eye on Ella's pacifier. If that thing fell out, who knew what would happen since she was not in a deep sleep. And before we knew it, the 5 hour flight was over. Ella was a supreme flyer, sleeping 3.5 hours. However, her patience had run out while waiting to deboard. She cried and cried and cried. And who could blame her? Her usual night's sleep consists of 12 hours and at the moment she only logged 3.5!

..........

Returning home was trickier. Since the NYC airports are notorious for delays, sitting on the tarmac, and the grumpiest customer service possible, I was not hopeful. I decided against another red-eye because although the flight was smooth, the catching up on sleep and getting back on routine was not. After hemming and hawing, I decided that the first direct flight of the morning would be best. Chances were that someone would miss the flight since it was so early, there would be less of a chance for delays, and consequently, we would snag a seat. But true to NY airports, nothing was easy. After waiting in line and talking to a rep, I was directed to another line that would "help". No such luck. In fact, they looked at me with two heads. So much for some privileges. With time running out and lines getting longer, it was looking bleak. I managed to find a semi-helpful lady who let me cut in front of a group and check me in. Unhappily, (this is where her demeanor changed) she gave my momma a gate pass so she could help me lug all the baby stuff to the gate. After all, I only have two hands.

So now it is dangerously close to boarding and we have yet to get in line for security. I am in a panic. My mom is running behind me and the security line is long. There is NO chance. NO CHANCE AT ALL. I manage to squeeze my way into the crew line ( hey, the guy let me) and by the grace of god, made it to the gate in time. Armed with my chocolate gesture, I try to snag a seat for Ella, but the guy barely looks at me. He could care less. There was no point so I keep my chocolate and I take the 5 minutes I have to use the restroom. I had intended on feeding Ella breakfast, grabbing something to eat for myself and drinking some Starbucks. None of that happened. But, we got ONE seat... Yup, one.

So, for 5.5 hours Ella sat on my lap. And for those of you who know Ella know that she is happiest when she is on the go. She does not sit on laps. She does not cuddle. And she certainly does not fall asleep on people. I knew it would be a long flight home. To make matters worse, we were in the middle seat. I had a gentleman to our left and a lady to our right. The fella was a father of 4 and was wonderful. He engaged Ella and was friendly and helpful. The lady, not so much. She must have been having a bad day.... or life. Anyways, I tried to keep Ella from kicking the seat in front of us. Impossible. I tried to feed her without letting her stick her hands in her food. Impossible. I decided against eating or drinking myself during the flight since I had no where to put it out of her reach.

We sang songs, tickled each other, talked about colors and what was going on around us, we looked at pictures, we read books, we played where is Ella's (hair, eyes, toes, belly....) and even managed to fall asleep for over an hour. I was armed with lollipops just in case it got bad. Luckily, I did not have to break them out (if you know me, you know this would have been tragic).

And we survived.

Now we get to do it again in less than three weeks. I keep threatening Ryan that he can take care of Ella while I sit elsewhere on the plane and relax...