Our flights to and from Fort Lauderdale went pretty well overall. For the flights I packed 7 books, one stuffed animal, an Aqua Doodle, restickable ocean stickers, a few animal figures and the savior of all things my iPhone.
Before taking off I downloaded free podcast of Sesame Street and animal tours from the Miami Metro Zoo. It was P’s major source of entertainment while waiting in line and in the plane.
I also bought a Go-Go Babyz before leaving and it made taking a car seat feasible. So, in total I had: the carseat on wheels, diaper bag and messenger bag (one with necessities and the other with entertainment), and P.
The flight out was a red-eye. We flew Delta. The LA crew has always been very nice and understanding about traveling with kids. It was a full flight, but after politely asking, the crew gave us an entire row to ourselves!( I always buy a seat for P on a cross country flight) The flight attendants also helped me get the car seat and P to our seats! That’s a first for me! Once P fell asleep I ordered a beer. It was that good of a flight.
The return was the hard part. Delta crew in Fort Lauderdale have always been shitty. First we were charged $90 for being 12lbs over on our one checked in bag!!! ONE bag checked! For two people!
We had a 6:30pm flight out. Again, it was a full flight to Atlanta. I board as last as possible so I don’t hold up traffic with all our baggage. Once we’re in and seated the captain tells us we are being held back for what could be 2hrs. They didn’t want to deplane because they wanted to be ready to take off ASAP. I almost died! Two hours! What can I do with a toddler, strapped in a car seat for 2 hours!!!! AND she was antsy despite running around like mad in the terminal.
Luckily we got off about an hour late. We got to Atlanta and there was a lot of chaos because all flights were delayed due to weather in the area. Our flight was 2.5hrs late. P was still antsy. Again she ran around in the terminal before boarding. I was trying to drain her battery. We boarded last. Crew rolled their eyes at me. Again we taxied for an hour!!! Luckily P fell asleep half hour after we sat down. Phew! The lady next to me was incredibly sweet. A mother herself so she understood my woes.
We were suppose to get into LA at 10pm. We got in at 1:30am.
Next time I think I’ll let P sit on the airplane seat directly. She barely fit in the car seat strapped into the seat. She also wanted to use her tray table but couldn’t. So next time it’s not worth bringing the car seat on board. I’ll gate check it. I’ll bring the same set up of books, Aqua Doodle and iPhone. All the entertainment items were very useful especially with all the delayed flights. We got several compliments for P’s great behavior.
