Toddler Travel

Why is it that it takes twice as long to recover from a vacation than you spend on it? We returned from our 5 day trip to Minnesota 10 days ago and I'm just now starting to get back on track.

I always have such high hopes when I get to the airport, but to no avail. I have the worst airplane karma of all time.

For example, on our last trip back from Thailand (pre-baby), we got to the airport very early and requested bulkhead seats so that we'd have a little more legroom on the 14 hour flight. Our friends did the same and we were seated in the same row.

When we get on the plane...well, while our friends have bulkhead, it turns out that there's actually an extra row in front of our seats. An extra large gentleman takes the seat directly in front of me and proceeds to fully recline his seat into my lap.

Basically, he's practically lying flat while I stare at his dandruffy head, unable to even cross my legs. He snoozed away while I fumed and contemplated punching him repeatedly in the head.

Since Baby Girl is such a good traveler (and we're really cheap), we did not buy a seat for her. We booked red eye flights both ways, figuring that they'd be less full and she would sleep the whole way. Well, half of that was true on the way out. The flight was completely packed but she did sleep so we were fine.

On the way back, we requested seats in the back of the plane, hoping we might get an empty row. We ended up in the second to last row, so far so good. Only this is the only row on the plane where the arm rests don't go up!

So much for Baby Girl comfortably laying across our laps and snoozing gently. The worst part was that, while our row was full, the row behind had one guy in it who stretched out across the seats. GRRR!

Anyway, we're back now with no permanent damage, except to my brain stem. Hopefully, I'll get out some regular posts now. At least until our next vacation.