HOLY…CRAP! It is difficult to fly with little ones! I can’t imagine that anyone actually enjoys this. Lol! Some of you know that I do not have children of my own yet; however most of you don’t know how much I LOVE KIDS – at least other people’s children that is. In the past, I’ve enjoyed being a dance teacher, pre-school teacher and nanny for adolescents of all ages. Even though I love the kiddos, I found out very quickly, with the help of my little diva niece, Roman aka Ro-Ro, that traveling with infants is no easy task!!!

THE NIGHT BEFORE

Some people do not know that a child under the age of two years old travels for free. If you were unaware of this policy, now you’re in the know. You’re welcome. Knowing this was the case, I really wanted my niece, Roman, to come visit me in Atlanta before she turned two and I would have to pay for her to visit. Rather than making my sister fly down with her and then have to fly back, I offered to come and get her myself – I mean what are flight benefits for right? I was finishing working a trip and the itinerary was supposed to be an easy fly down to Lubbock, TX, spend the night, leave at five the next morning, type of schedule. After finishing a tiring three-day work trip, I made the late flight to Lubbock that night. I must have gotten to my sister’s house around 9:30-ish? Why was my niece still awake? I’ll tell you why. It’s because I am a childless aunt who underestimated the importance of sleep for a child. I asked if she could keep Ro-Ro awake so that I could see her, and my sister should have told me “HECK NO CRAZY SHE’S ONE!” because at this time I was very much unaware of the torment my almost two-year-old mini me was preparing to unleash.

TO THE AIRPORT

The next morning my sister gets her all ready to go and into the car. Roman is literally asleep the entire time! I’m thinking, “Great. She’ll be asleep the whole flight. This will be easy!” We got out of the car at the airport, put Roman in the stroller, and I gave lots of reassurances and “okay-got-its” to my sister, all while Roman is still asleep! Going to the ticket counter (yeah, I haven’t had to visit one of these in a while) to process the necessary paper work and off to the security line, Roman is still asleep – this is great! This is also where the fun ends.

“This will be easy!” or so I thought.

Getting to the front of the TSA line did not take long at all, but that didn’t help the overall time it took me to get through the security line because I literally had no clue on what this process should look like. Not only had I never traveled with a child before, but also at this point I rarely even went through “normal people” security lines anymore. It felt like everyone was yelling for me to do different things at the same time, but somehow I understood that I needed to either have Roman walk through by herself, or I could bring her through with the stroller. Duh – no brainer, she was still sleeping. I walked her through the x-ray after I dumped my 2 workbags and her diaper bag on the X-ray (please take note of how many bags I have – its important). After I went through the X-ray, a man startled me as he quickly walked up to me and asked me for my hands which needed to be tested apparently. Why? IDK, but I guess, it is standard procedure when your baby doesn’t walk itself through the X-ray. Who knew? After they were done testing milk and everything else, we were finally able to get to our gate and relax. Keep in mind it is 4 something in the morning and this little girl went to bed super late last night. I just let Roman sleep like the princess she is.

BOARDING THE PLANE

On top of being a first-time, with-infant traveler, I also forgot how to travel like a 1^st world millennial. Besides that, I was doing pretty good, and I was feeling a bit proud of myself for getting through that ordeal. I even got some “Awww she’s beautiful” comments from other travelers, which I gladly received as though I deserved the credit for this cutie. Little did I know…

Source: gratisography.com

As I am pushing Roman down the jet bridge with one hand and holding on to my personal bags and her diaper bag with the other, we reach the plane door. This is where I have to take her out of the stroller, collapse it down and get us boarded and seated for the flight. I take her out of the stroller and before the tips of her toes touch the ground I hear a blood curdling shrill that I’m sure sounded like death to everyone in that jet bride. OMG! All I could think was, “This is NOT happening!” and “I’m just the aunt.” I picked her right back up so quickly I probably gave the poor girl whiplash! Of course, she immediately stopped crying, that little turd, but what was I going to do? I still had to get this thing collapsed somehow while holding her at the same time. There was no way that was even possible, so I did my best impersonation of a Jimmy John’s employee and got Roman ready to board freakishly fast. The shrilling only lasted about 10 seconds but to me it felt like minutes!

“This is NOT happening – I am just the aunt!”

At this point, I had Roman in my arms with her head on my shoulder, the stroller is down, and I’ve collected my bags. All that I have left now is to board the plane. Easier said than done. ALL OF THOSE BAGS!!!!! Why didn’t anyone tell me that I should have checked Every. Single. One. of my bags and just kept the diaper bag? Of course I checked Roman’s suitcase at the ticket counter, but I didn’t think to check any of my own. MISTAKE. The airplane aisles are so narrow that it is impossible for me to get through with Roman on my hip and bags at my side. So yes, I attempted to do the unthinkable. I put Roman down – in the middle of the aisle.

As she is shrilling again, I am trying to get her to walk down the aisle and she is not budging an inch. Everyone stared at us; we were holding up the line, and I was mortified. I wanted to (and probably did) tell everyone on that plane and the people waiting in the jet bridge, “Hey I’m just the aunt”. The moment was kind of surreal but NOT in a good way. It felt like EVERYONE was judging me and my “parenting” skills, and in my head I couldn’t help but think “You little 💩”. Like who thinks that about a 1 year old?! But seriously she was totally out to get me that morning! I literally stood there frozen not knowing what to do until someone offered to take some of my bags for me while I carried this beautiful little demon princess with me. We found our seats; she screamed again when I put her down (I swear she’s not normally like that) so that I can put up the bags. Once I got settled into the seat with her in my lap, she was lights out for most of the flight and was back to being her beautiful, normal, non shrilling, non embarrassing self for the connecting flight to Atlanta and for the rest of the day. Before I get to the ‘Takeaways’, I would like to make note that 1. I took ownership and cleaned up the mess that my niece made on the plane like a responsible person, and 2. I literally ADORE my niece – even when she’s behaving like a little stinker.

THE TAKEAWAYS

While I am sure there are so many things I did wrong in this story, here are a few of the takeaways that I hope will be of some help for new parents traveling with little ones:

Get some sleep: Make sure you and your children are well rested.
Documents: Have yours and your child’s documents ready to go for check-in.
Check your bags: Only bring bags that are a necessity!
Be prepared: for weird rules at the security line and the entire process.
Clean up: During the flight, please ask for a trash bag so you can keep up with your child’s messes. I learned first hand that no matter how hard you try to keep the area clean, its almost impossible, so I get it. BUT, there’s no reason you should ever leave your row looking like a Kansas twister rolled through it. It’s just not nice and you wouldn’t like that if someone did that to you at your home or place of work.
Bring Help: It would have been so much easier if my husband, sister or a friend had been with me!

So, I again want to say kudos to traveling parents. Other passengers and airline personnel probably have no idea what you or your child is going through. As a passenger, while I have never been one to be rude or act out because of a crying infant or tantrum throwing toddler, I have had my fair share of eye rolls, huffs and puffs in reaction to children disrupting otherwise pleasant flights.

This experience was definitely an eye opener for me. Ever since this trip, I have tried to make it a point to noticeably be on the parents’ side when it comes to a crying infant, especially when they are trying to do everything in their power to make the babies stop. Sometimes parents just need a little patience and understanding from other passengers and airline personnel. At the end of the day, they are just children – they can’t help it if their ears hurt, or if that airline doesn’t serve milk. If in the future, you just really don’t want fly with a crying infant, then I encourage you to book your own private jet to avoid this. Fly safe everyone!