Leaving on a Jet Plane

Anna and I are now in California to get away from our apartment while Jason is gone. It seems to be a good thing we did too because Anna was already starting to miss Jason and it was only a couple of days. Being here, though, she doesn't seem to mind. I guess the different place and all the cousins to play with is helping to distract her.

But getting here required 10 hours of travel with just me and her. I was a little nervous about it because every other time we flew, Jason was with us or she was much younger and not nearly as active. Fortunately, it was the best possible flight I could have hoped for. The first part was from Philadelphia to Phoenix which is about 5 hours. Initially, we were in the middle seat with people on either side of us. I was worried even though the people seemed nice. In looking around, I saw a row that only had one guy in it and was thinking about asking the flight attendants about moving there when one of them offered it to me once we got in the air. She even told the guy not to let anyone else sit there because it was for us.

Once we got in the air, we moved and not only did we then have an extra seat for her to sit in (which she enjoyed) but the guy we were sitting with was great. His name is Matt and he has three kids of his own (10 to 4). Naturally Anna liked him and he seemed to like her too. They would play together, he shared his headphones and even put a movie on his laptop for her (she didn't watch it but still). Basically a great seatmate. Anna took a nap, we walked up and down the aisle and played with the flight attendants in the galley. So even though it was still a long flight, it was doable.

Then we had a three hour layover in Phoenix. I was worried about this part too (obviously I chose the flight based on price rather than schedule) but it turned out ok. I think it was good to have some time outside of the plane. We had lunch and enjoyed a little play area while I talked on the phone to a friend of mine. I had brought the stroller with me so we were able to walk up and down the long concourse and Anna got another nap. And even though our flight was delayed, we had fun playing with some other people in the waiting area including another baby.

The last flight was an hour and a half. By this time, I was getting pretty tired (especially since I got up at 5 am to do all of this) and was a bit less patient with her wiggles and she was getting tired of being in planes. There weren't any open seats this time but the woman accross the aisle from us (who has two kids, 9 and 7) played with her almost the whole time. Then we visited the flight attendant and next thing I knew, we were beginning our descent. It was the shortest hour and a half flight ever.