We also realized how difficult it would be for me to fly internationally with two tiny humans so we asked / persuaded / coerced (you pick the verb) my mother to fly with us and spend a few days helping us get settled in. Thankfully the tiny humans are cute and she said yes.
Mom was booked to fly from Austin to Dallas then join us on the Dallas to Philadelphia and Philadelphia to Zurich flights. Until she was notified the evening before we were to go that her flight from Austin was delayed which meant she would have missed all the connections. Thankfully she saw the notice and spent many hours on the phone with American Airlines service counter to get rebooked. All of which meant she got about 3 hours of sleep that evening.
The girls and I were staying at Adam’s parents house after selling ours and having all our earthly possessions (minus three suitcases and five carryons) packed up to either go to long term storage or eventually float it’s way to Liechtenstein. {Aside: do you know how long it takes a boat to dock in Liechtenstein??} I had spoken with American Airlines earlier in the week and explained that I was traveling alone with two small children and asked if my Mother-in-law could come through security with me to help me get to the gate. Not a problem they replied, just ask for a day pass when you check in and as long as she has valid ID, she can come through. So off we went to the airport. We checked in, they viewed everyone’s passports, they took our bags. I asked for a day pass for my Mother-in-law who was going to help me with the children through security. The worker told me they do not issue day passes except for ADA reasons. I told them of the conversations I’d already had over the phone, they called a manager over, they still decided they couldn’t issue a pass. My Father-in-law talked to the AA concierge since he’s a Platinum member, still no. We were less than impressed. So now I was faced with taking two kids, a diaper bag, two rolling suitcases, a stroller, a carseat & a backpack through security by myself. “Oh, and by the way, the TSA precheck lanes are closed so you have to take off your shoes for you and the 4 year old, but the one year old can leave hers on.” I stared at the guy then looked at Olivia who had just taken off her shoes. It’s funny now that I’m here & writing about it. For the record, it was not in the moment.
We waited it out for a few minutes to try to find a bit of a lull in security but there didn’t seem to be any slowing of people trying to go through so we said our goodbyes to the Powells and headed in. We made it through. I feel for the TSA folks, they tried their best to help us and meet all the restrictions but we were loud, disorganized and had way too much stuff to coral. Thankfully just outside the entrance stood my Mom who was about as nervous about the entire situation as I was. She sprang into action and got the kids something to eat and all around a table so I could walk down the terminal and walk off a little of my frustration.
We found our gate and had a few minutes to kill so Charlotte & I went to ride the SkyLink while Mom & Olivia watched the luggage.
The plane arrived and the passengers started to get off then Mom & I spotted a paramedic crew standing at the gate with a stretcher. We then noticed them starting to glove up like they were going to go into action. This is when I got nervous again – though to be fair, I’m not convinced I had stopped being nervous all day. We waited what felt like an eternity for all the passengers to deplane then watched the paramedics go down the jetway at about the time boarding for our flight was supposed to commence. Awhile later, the paramedics reappeared helping a flight attendant off of the plane who was holding bandages to her head. We will never know if there was an altercation in flight (I assume no, because nobody that we saw left in handcuffs) or if just something fell in landing or deplaning. Mom & I pushed forward and took advantage of family boarding so we could get everyone in their seats. I took Olivia’s car seat and strapped it into her plane seat in the thought that she would then feel at home and go to sleep on the flight.
She did not.
She kicked and screamed the entire 3hrs and 17min flight to Philadelphia.
We were supposed to have about a 90 min layover in Philly which I thought was just about perfect to stretch legs and move to the other gate and get back on the big silver tube for the long flight. Except that we were delayed because of the medical situation then apparently we didn’t have landing clearance because we circled for awhile. By the time we got to the gate we had 25 minutes until boarding of our next flight. Eeek.
While waiting in the plane for everyone else to get off because, oh did I mention we were at the THE. VERY. BACK. we made some friends one of whom said, “how can I make your life easier?” Those words will never leave my mind. What kindness. No assumptions of what I might need, but a genuine offer to help in a tangible way. I asked if he could carry Olivia’s car seat off of the plane so I could just carry her and the diaper bag. We finally got off the plane, the stroller was thankfully waiting for us at the end of the jetway, the kind gentleman placed the carseat on top of the stroller for me then we took off. I pushed the stroller with a full carseat on top, had the diaper bag across me, Olivia on my hip. Charlotte had her backpack full of plane toys and stuffed animals. Mom had the two rolling suitcases and her backpack and purse. We looked like the opening credits to the Beverly Hillbillies. But oh, this is fine, we’re at gate A13 and our next flight is at A24, those have to be fairly close.
Wrong again.
We ran / jogged / powerwalked our way across half of Philadelphia. There is only one flight to Zurich a day and I was going to be on it. I figured if I could make it with the stroller, I could stall long enough for Mom & Charlotte to catch up. And thankfully that is just about what happened. I showed up as they were calling Group 7. By the time the gate checked the stroller and reviewed all my passports and covid documentation, Mom was in line just behind me. Somehow we switched and she got ahead of me by the time we were actually getting on the plane – I imagine I was dealing with a child or a stroller or something but to be honest a few memories are a bit fuzzy in this whirlwind. Anyway, the plane was a 787 so it was 3 sets of 3 seats across. The girls and I were in middle and Mom was in the same row in the aisle of the next section. As we started to settle in, flight attendant came up to me and said that we were not allowed to sit in the middle section with a carseat since it’s too difficult to get around incase of emergency, so we would need to relocate to a side section to put the carseat at a window. She also said that the plane was nearly empty so she was going to move us up a section to the Main Plus so we wouldn’t be as crowded. In another act of extraordinary kindness, she also let us sit 2 & 2 behind each other so that Charlotte could also have a window and we had a little more room to spread out. We had dinner on the plane. Either my taste was still messed up from all the nerves and trauma of the day or airline food has gotten even worse, but I picked at some bread; Olivia at the crackers and Charlotte balked at everything and had applesauce packs I’d stashed in the diaper bag.
I think Olivia passed out as they dimmed the cabin lights – poor kid didn’t get a nap & had been through a lot so she was exhausted. Charlotte took a bit longer but was soon sprawled across her seat, the spare seat & most of my Mom’s seat. I’m never going to understand how my Mother managed to stay awake again, but her adrenaline had kicked in and despite only having three hours of sleep the night before, she was awake most of the flight…perhaps it was also the 4 year old kicking her…
We landed and I told Mom we were taking our time getting off the plane, I was no longer rushed to get anywhere and we could get ourselves a bit organized before sprinting around. So we did. We cleared immigration and customs and rounded the corner to the best sight we’d had in three weeks. We were back together as a family!
We waited it out for a few minutes to try to find a bit of a lull in security but there didn’t seem to be any slowing of people trying to go through so we said our goodbyes to the Powells and headed in. We made it through. I feel for the TSA folks, they tried their best to help us and meet all the restrictions but we were loud, disorganized and had way too much stuff to coral. Thankfully just outside the entrance stood my Mom who was about as nervous about the entire situation as I was. She sprang into action and got the kids something to eat and all around a table so I could walk down the terminal and walk off a little of my frustration.
 |
| McDonald's to the rescue! |
We found our gate and had a few minutes to kill so Charlotte & I went to ride the SkyLink while Mom & Olivia watched the luggage.
The plane arrived and the passengers started to get off then Mom & I spotted a paramedic crew standing at the gate with a stretcher. We then noticed them starting to glove up like they were going to go into action. This is when I got nervous again – though to be fair, I’m not convinced I had stopped being nervous all day. We waited what felt like an eternity for all the passengers to deplane then watched the paramedics go down the jetway at about the time boarding for our flight was supposed to commence. Awhile later, the paramedics reappeared helping a flight attendant off of the plane who was holding bandages to her head. We will never know if there was an altercation in flight (I assume no, because nobody that we saw left in handcuffs) or if just something fell in landing or deplaning. Mom & I pushed forward and took advantage of family boarding so we could get everyone in their seats. I took Olivia’s car seat and strapped it into her plane seat in the thought that she would then feel at home and go to sleep on the flight.
She did not.
She kicked and screamed the entire 3hrs and 17min flight to Philadelphia.
 |
| All boarded & hoping for sleep...that didn't happen |
 |
| LeapFrog DVDs for the win! |
We were supposed to have about a 90 min layover in Philly which I thought was just about perfect to stretch legs and move to the other gate and get back on the big silver tube for the long flight. Except that we were delayed because of the medical situation then apparently we didn’t have landing clearance because we circled for awhile. By the time we got to the gate we had 25 minutes until boarding of our next flight. Eeek.
While waiting in the plane for everyone else to get off because, oh did I mention we were at the THE. VERY. BACK. we made some friends one of whom said, “how can I make your life easier?” Those words will never leave my mind. What kindness. No assumptions of what I might need, but a genuine offer to help in a tangible way. I asked if he could carry Olivia’s car seat off of the plane so I could just carry her and the diaper bag. We finally got off the plane, the stroller was thankfully waiting for us at the end of the jetway, the kind gentleman placed the carseat on top of the stroller for me then we took off. I pushed the stroller with a full carseat on top, had the diaper bag across me, Olivia on my hip. Charlotte had her backpack full of plane toys and stuffed animals. Mom had the two rolling suitcases and her backpack and purse. We looked like the opening credits to the Beverly Hillbillies. But oh, this is fine, we’re at gate A13 and our next flight is at A24, those have to be fairly close.
Wrong again.
 |
| A13 and A24 are about as far away from each other as they can be 😠 |
We ran / jogged / powerwalked our way across half of Philadelphia. There is only one flight to Zurich a day and I was going to be on it. I figured if I could make it with the stroller, I could stall long enough for Mom & Charlotte to catch up. And thankfully that is just about what happened. I showed up as they were calling Group 7. By the time the gate checked the stroller and reviewed all my passports and covid documentation, Mom was in line just behind me. Somehow we switched and she got ahead of me by the time we were actually getting on the plane – I imagine I was dealing with a child or a stroller or something but to be honest a few memories are a bit fuzzy in this whirlwind. Anyway, the plane was a 787 so it was 3 sets of 3 seats across. The girls and I were in middle and Mom was in the same row in the aisle of the next section. As we started to settle in, flight attendant came up to me and said that we were not allowed to sit in the middle section with a carseat since it’s too difficult to get around incase of emergency, so we would need to relocate to a side section to put the carseat at a window. She also said that the plane was nearly empty so she was going to move us up a section to the Main Plus so we wouldn’t be as crowded. In another act of extraordinary kindness, she also let us sit 2 & 2 behind each other so that Charlotte could also have a window and we had a little more room to spread out. We had dinner on the plane. Either my taste was still messed up from all the nerves and trauma of the day or airline food has gotten even worse, but I picked at some bread; Olivia at the crackers and Charlotte balked at everything and had applesauce packs I’d stashed in the diaper bag.
I think Olivia passed out as they dimmed the cabin lights – poor kid didn’t get a nap & had been through a lot so she was exhausted. Charlotte took a bit longer but was soon sprawled across her seat, the spare seat & most of my Mom’s seat. I’m never going to understand how my Mother managed to stay awake again, but her adrenaline had kicked in and despite only having three hours of sleep the night before, she was awake most of the flight…perhaps it was also the 4 year old kicking her…
We landed and I told Mom we were taking our time getting off the plane, I was no longer rushed to get anywhere and we could get ourselves a bit organized before sprinting around. So we did. We cleared immigration and customs and rounded the corner to the best sight we’d had in three weeks. We were back together as a family!
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