globetrotter
Stylish Dinosaur
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2004
- Messages
- 20,341
- Reaction score
- 423
yesterday I flew with my whole family for the first time. flying with one kid and two adults is a piece of cake. 3 kids, 2 of which are babies and one is a five year old is very different.
we flew chicago miami, then to cartegena. on top of everything, we had two screw ups - a gate agent took the wrong coupon from my wife's ticket - which has only happened to me one time before in my life, and the airline lost our luggage. fourtunatly, I always figure that the airline will lose me luggage, so we had enough stuff for two day in the carry one, as well as all the stuff I need for work (I'm actually coming down for a week of work and another week of vacation) in carry on. and the issue with the coupon is relativly minor - usually the worst thing that can happen is they charge you a small fee to reprint the coupon, in this case they didn't, I just had to go across the miami airpost and get a new coupon.
traveling with the twins was something - a small army carries less stuff than 5 month old twins. plus, a 5 year old needs about 50 pounds of stuff to keep occupied for 6 hours in the air. so it takes one adult to carry the twins down the aisle of the plane (my wife) one to carry my stuff, one to carry my kids stuff and one to herd my son who is very intrested in what is going on and can stop to look at every lever, sign and switch in the airport as well as stop to state and talk with every adult he sees who looks like he might be willing to talk to a kid.
effectivly, that means leaving a pile of stuff outside the plan (or, in the opostite direction, by our seats) and then going down the aisle 3 times, coming back twice against traffic.
on top of that, kids seem to need a lot of creams, gels and liquids, which the homeland security people don't like very much. getting the whole group through security was an adventure, as well. of course, the miami airport makes you go out of security and go back, when you change airplanes, so, it meant twice through security instead of once.
anyway - all in all just an exhausting and frustrating day.
on the flip side, I am in a great place, warm, one of the most beutiful cities in the world, and my family is very happy to be here. my son has been very excited to come here since we told him.
I have a sales training course for my latin american distributors this week, so it is basically lecruring all day, partying all night for the first week, then, I will spend next week hanging by the beach or the pool, enjoying cuban cigars, fresh fruit, and rum, in 85 degree sunshine.
we flew chicago miami, then to cartegena. on top of everything, we had two screw ups - a gate agent took the wrong coupon from my wife's ticket - which has only happened to me one time before in my life, and the airline lost our luggage. fourtunatly, I always figure that the airline will lose me luggage, so we had enough stuff for two day in the carry one, as well as all the stuff I need for work (I'm actually coming down for a week of work and another week of vacation) in carry on. and the issue with the coupon is relativly minor - usually the worst thing that can happen is they charge you a small fee to reprint the coupon, in this case they didn't, I just had to go across the miami airpost and get a new coupon.
traveling with the twins was something - a small army carries less stuff than 5 month old twins. plus, a 5 year old needs about 50 pounds of stuff to keep occupied for 6 hours in the air. so it takes one adult to carry the twins down the aisle of the plane (my wife) one to carry my stuff, one to carry my kids stuff and one to herd my son who is very intrested in what is going on and can stop to look at every lever, sign and switch in the airport as well as stop to state and talk with every adult he sees who looks like he might be willing to talk to a kid.
effectivly, that means leaving a pile of stuff outside the plan (or, in the opostite direction, by our seats) and then going down the aisle 3 times, coming back twice against traffic.
on top of that, kids seem to need a lot of creams, gels and liquids, which the homeland security people don't like very much. getting the whole group through security was an adventure, as well. of course, the miami airport makes you go out of security and go back, when you change airplanes, so, it meant twice through security instead of once.
anyway - all in all just an exhausting and frustrating day.
on the flip side, I am in a great place, warm, one of the most beutiful cities in the world, and my family is very happy to be here. my son has been very excited to come here since we told him.
I have a sales training course for my latin american distributors this week, so it is basically lecruring all day, partying all night for the first week, then, I will spend next week hanging by the beach or the pool, enjoying cuban cigars, fresh fruit, and rum, in 85 degree sunshine.
