I've finally had enough distance to not be traumatized by the memories of our flight. OK, OK! Slight exaggeration, I admit. It was not that bad! But I certainly am glad that it'll be months before I have to do it again.
I'll start on the positive side. The kids were fairly calm and mellow the entire time. Neither of them had any temper tantrums or fits of any sort. I was very glad about that! They slept a bit and ate well and charmed the flight attendants. One might say that I had the perfect flight, in fact. Even the longest stretch of the flight, which usually lasts somewhere between seven and eight hours, was only six hours and a few minutes. "We have great tail winds!" announced the pilot shortly after takeoff. Kaspar watched kids movies for hours and you could say that I managed to watch a movie, too. Missed the dialogue (the headphones did not work and I did not have the energy to ask anyone to try fixing the problem), but got the gist of it anyhow. Most Hollywood flicks seem to be like that, don't they?
But if I'm doing the pros and cons list, then I'm sure that the later will be much lengthier. It is kind of unfair, though. Most of us find flying taxing as is. So, maybe flying with kids is just a different kind of rough. Maybe the cons of flying always outweigh the pros? Is it not the lure of the final destination that keeps us flying? I myself do like the lift off and landing quite a bit, though. I love the feeling in my body... but that's just me. Maybe my true calling was to be a pilot. Ha!
Alright, I'll try to stick to the story line here. My first and most serious pet peeve is airport security. Trying to get through security checks with kids is a nightmare! When flying to Europe and boarding two flights you end up having to go through it several times in one day. It sucks!!! Not only do I have a stroller that does not fit on the moving x-ray belt and through that big box of an x-ray thing, but it has an attached bag, which is not removable. So, we instantly get pegged as dangerous criminals! Go figure. How did I end up with this stroller? No wonder it was cheap! Yeah, I had to stand there and argue and try to convince three, four, sometimes even five officers every single time that the stroller really does come that way and NO, I did not bolt my own backpack to the bottom of the frame. I swear! By the end of it I wanted to scream on top of my lungs. But you cannot scream at security! I'm wise enough to know that, If you want to get through in one piece, you have to stay calm and smile and repeat the same thing over and over and over and over ... well, you get the picture. Of course, to make things a little more interesting, while I was attempting to explain stuff to security either Stella was crying or Kaspar was asking for water (you cannot have water in your bag, when you go through the check points!) or something just as impossible as that.
Once we got past all the security checks things were a little calmer. There was a small playground inside the waiting area in Toronto. Kaspar just began to play with an electric car, when we were asked to board the plane. How do you get a two year old away from a video game he's just started to play in a calm and organized manner? I don't know. I'm at a loss. All I can say is that I did not do so well. Once we got past the check in and managed to fold the stroller and got on the plane... I discovered that there were dozens of little kids on the flight and we were not going to have a bassinet for Stella to sleep in or an extra seat or any other bonuses we have managed to land flying previously. Literally, the flight was packed! I had one seat in the front row and my mom and Kaspar had to sit behind us. And there were screaming babies everywhere I looked. In some ways it was good, because my screaming kids would blend in, if they were to cause a fuss. On the other hand though, I knew that we'd get absolutely no extra attention whatsoever. That did prove to be true during the flight. It took me more then an hour to find out that they did not have any more milk on the flight and Kaspar had to go without. At least he's a wise child and understood the crisis well enough to politely say to the flight attendant "Could I have some water, then?"
As I mentioned already, the flight was relatively painless. In Amsterdam we had a two hour layover and I was looking forward to letting Kaspar run around a bit and using the impeccably well organized bathrooms/baby care rooms they offer at the airport. As we got off the plane I discovered that one of the stroller tires had popped and had no air in it. And then we found out that the next flight leaves from the opposite side of the airport. Oh, just what I needed! It took us the better part of the two hours just to walk over to the area, where the next flight was leaving from, because the Amsterdam airport is huge! And pushing a stroller with a flat tire in itself is a chore. Of course, I had not thought of bringing a tire pump in my hand luggage. Who would? As it turned out, the pump would have done us no good, because the tire really had suddenly developed a serious hole. I wonder how that happens. It sure felt like sabotage to me!
The second flight to Riga was short. Maybe 2 hours in total. But by the time we boarded the plane, I was absolutely exhausted. So tired that I was afraid to drop Stella off my lap where she was sleeping peacefully, so I kept her strapped into the seat belt. Kaspar on the other hand had eaten a whole bunch of sweets and was bored stiff and wide awake. This is where the coolest flight attendant on the planet comes to the rescue. I swear.... this man was a dream! He should be given a medal. He must have noticed my occasionally bobbing head and felt sorry for my son, who had no idea what he was supposed to do with himself. The flight attendant kept chatting with him, made him a doll out of plastic forks and some tissues, brought him snacks and kept him interested for most of the flight. I cannot possibly explain how much I appreciated it. It was more than amazing. It's these little things that make trips like this bearable.
I'll start on the positive side. The kids were fairly calm and mellow the entire time. Neither of them had any temper tantrums or fits of any sort. I was very glad about that! They slept a bit and ate well and charmed the flight attendants. One might say that I had the perfect flight, in fact. Even the longest stretch of the flight, which usually lasts somewhere between seven and eight hours, was only six hours and a few minutes. "We have great tail winds!" announced the pilot shortly after takeoff. Kaspar watched kids movies for hours and you could say that I managed to watch a movie, too. Missed the dialogue (the headphones did not work and I did not have the energy to ask anyone to try fixing the problem), but got the gist of it anyhow. Most Hollywood flicks seem to be like that, don't they?
But if I'm doing the pros and cons list, then I'm sure that the later will be much lengthier. It is kind of unfair, though. Most of us find flying taxing as is. So, maybe flying with kids is just a different kind of rough. Maybe the cons of flying always outweigh the pros? Is it not the lure of the final destination that keeps us flying? I myself do like the lift off and landing quite a bit, though. I love the feeling in my body... but that's just me. Maybe my true calling was to be a pilot. Ha!
Alright, I'll try to stick to the story line here. My first and most serious pet peeve is airport security. Trying to get through security checks with kids is a nightmare! When flying to Europe and boarding two flights you end up having to go through it several times in one day. It sucks!!! Not only do I have a stroller that does not fit on the moving x-ray belt and through that big box of an x-ray thing, but it has an attached bag, which is not removable. So, we instantly get pegged as dangerous criminals! Go figure. How did I end up with this stroller? No wonder it was cheap! Yeah, I had to stand there and argue and try to convince three, four, sometimes even five officers every single time that the stroller really does come that way and NO, I did not bolt my own backpack to the bottom of the frame. I swear! By the end of it I wanted to scream on top of my lungs. But you cannot scream at security! I'm wise enough to know that, If you want to get through in one piece, you have to stay calm and smile and repeat the same thing over and over and over and over ... well, you get the picture. Of course, to make things a little more interesting, while I was attempting to explain stuff to security either Stella was crying or Kaspar was asking for water (you cannot have water in your bag, when you go through the check points!) or something just as impossible as that.
Once we got past all the security checks things were a little calmer. There was a small playground inside the waiting area in Toronto. Kaspar just began to play with an electric car, when we were asked to board the plane. How do you get a two year old away from a video game he's just started to play in a calm and organized manner? I don't know. I'm at a loss. All I can say is that I did not do so well. Once we got past the check in and managed to fold the stroller and got on the plane... I discovered that there were dozens of little kids on the flight and we were not going to have a bassinet for Stella to sleep in or an extra seat or any other bonuses we have managed to land flying previously. Literally, the flight was packed! I had one seat in the front row and my mom and Kaspar had to sit behind us. And there were screaming babies everywhere I looked. In some ways it was good, because my screaming kids would blend in, if they were to cause a fuss. On the other hand though, I knew that we'd get absolutely no extra attention whatsoever. That did prove to be true during the flight. It took me more then an hour to find out that they did not have any more milk on the flight and Kaspar had to go without. At least he's a wise child and understood the crisis well enough to politely say to the flight attendant "Could I have some water, then?"
As I mentioned already, the flight was relatively painless. In Amsterdam we had a two hour layover and I was looking forward to letting Kaspar run around a bit and using the impeccably well organized bathrooms/baby care rooms they offer at the airport. As we got off the plane I discovered that one of the stroller tires had popped and had no air in it. And then we found out that the next flight leaves from the opposite side of the airport. Oh, just what I needed! It took us the better part of the two hours just to walk over to the area, where the next flight was leaving from, because the Amsterdam airport is huge! And pushing a stroller with a flat tire in itself is a chore. Of course, I had not thought of bringing a tire pump in my hand luggage. Who would? As it turned out, the pump would have done us no good, because the tire really had suddenly developed a serious hole. I wonder how that happens. It sure felt like sabotage to me!
The second flight to Riga was short. Maybe 2 hours in total. But by the time we boarded the plane, I was absolutely exhausted. So tired that I was afraid to drop Stella off my lap where she was sleeping peacefully, so I kept her strapped into the seat belt. Kaspar on the other hand had eaten a whole bunch of sweets and was bored stiff and wide awake. This is where the coolest flight attendant on the planet comes to the rescue. I swear.... this man was a dream! He should be given a medal. He must have noticed my occasionally bobbing head and felt sorry for my son, who had no idea what he was supposed to do with himself. The flight attendant kept chatting with him, made him a doll out of plastic forks and some tissues, brought him snacks and kept him interested for most of the flight. I cannot possibly explain how much I appreciated it. It was more than amazing. It's these little things that make trips like this bearable.
Our final leg of the journey was interrupted by Stella, who chose the time of deplaning as her q to poo. By the time I made it to the nearest change room in the Riga airport she was covered in yellow mustard like substance from her toes all the way to the nape of her neck. I get the toes part - gravity, you know. But to this day I cannot figure out how babies manage to have poo shoot all the way up their back. How is that possible? Anyhow. It took me at least 15 minutes to change her and clean her up at which point my mother was starting to get worried that I had gotten lost and went looking for me with Kaspar in tow. It's impossible to get lost in the Riga airport, but it's easy enough to keep missing each other while one or the other is checking out each bathroom along the way. When we finally made it to the conveyor belt of luggage pick up, our luggage arrived within minutes. We did have a minor glitch at the customs, because the customs agents did not believe me that I was not bringing in anything "new", but upon opening two of our bags, which were full of diapers and obviously used toys and such... they gave up the search. I guess we were not interesting enough, after all. At the very end as we were leaving the customs area I realized that the lads had thought all along that I was a resident of Latvia returning home and not a visitor. They became very perplexed and apologetic, when I said that we were traveling with our Canadian passports. Ha!
I guess this is where the story ends. We made it in one piece and God willing, we'll make it back to Toronto in one piece, too. But I'm glad I don't have to do it twice in three weeks!
