Flying...it's for the birds

So, the day finally came when I was to go and meet Wendy (my email pal for 7 years!) I was so excited but very nervous that Haley would be a mess on the plane. I truly had visions of the other passengers conspiring to push us out of the emergency exit-in mid-flight. In preparation I bought her stickers to play with, Color Wonder markers (hoping that their claims that they only write on the special paper was true) because she loves markers but is never allowed to play with them-for obvious reasons. I had also decided that she would be allowed to nurse on demand (for the first time in months) just for this trip. Oh, and m&ms!!! Lots of m&ms. I wanted to make things run smoothly. Ha!

We left for the San Antonio Airport (on time! woohoo!) and make it there just fine using my mapquest instructions (yes, Leah and Harold, they do work!!!) and we got checked in. We were fine through security and everything...so far so good...Our seat was next to a young guy...great! I'm sure he loves to look at boobies. **eyes rolling** but he was a really nice guy-helping me to pick up markers OVER AND OVER AND OVER. But, still, things are going wonderfully!!! The first snafu came when I noticed the milk I bought in the terminal to refill Haley's sippy cup had spilled all over the entire carry-on I brought. I had done such a good job of packing it-an extra shirt for me, extra clothes for Haley, a blanket for her, etc, etc...all of it was SOAKED in milk. Yuck. the good news is, my phone, wallet and important papers were on the other side of the bag--whew! We made it through that flight wonderfully! Haley was sooooooo good!! I was so proud of her. :D


We arrived (on time) at Washington D.C. (Dulles) airport and the first problem came up. We got there at 9-something. Just after every food place in the airport closed. Yeah. That's good. We had not eaten dinner. Ok, we'd just get some when we got in to Syracuse, right? No problem! Then, we find out our flight is "delayed". I came off of the flight and looked at the monitors and it was delayed by a small amount of time. I got into the shuttle that goes from terminal to terminal and when I came out it was delayed more. Oh great. No food, almost out of diapers and now this. I called my friend to let her know and she told me her hubby was leaving Washington DC on a flight right then...she suggested I try to catch that flight. I thought that'd be a wonderful thing! So, I RUN to the other terminal and it says "departed"...ok, no biggie. I just went back to my original gate.

But, every time I looked at the monitors the flight was getting later and later. Finally they put us on a plane. Great. So, we're sitting there on the plane and the lights go out and everything shuts down. After like 3 times of this plane "malfunctioning" I was getting a little nervous about this flight. Thankfully, they decided that plane would not be okay to take. Ya think? So, we were all herded BACK into the terminal. By this time it's like past mid-night. I don't even remember the exact times. Late and later is what I'm thinking now. At this point they informed us that leagally they could not fly us out that night even if they could get another plane. Whatever that meant. (It's illegal to fly late??? Puhlease!) By this time I had made a friend who was trying to get to Syracuse too. Her little girls were waiting on her. After we found out they wanted us to stay in a hotel overnight and then come back in the morning to see if we could squeeze onto a stand-by flight (the earliest we could've gotten out was 12:30pm) she decided to rent a car and DRIVE TO SYRACUSE. She told me we were welcome to ride with her if we wanted. Hmmmm. I've never "hitched" a ride with a virtual stranger before-especially with my baby in tow-but the alternative is to be at the mercy of the airline that night (no food for my child or myself, no diapers, etc) and the next day. So, we decided to split the cost of the rental car and go. The only problem with this plan? They would NOT GIVE US OUR LUGGAGE-which included my carseat. Oh you better believe I was mad!!!! We ended up renting one from the car rental place--an INFANT seat. Which Haley outgrew at about 11 mos--she's now 17 mos~!! So, my new friend drove us to NY from Washington all night. We arrived in Syracuse at the time we'd have just gotten back to the airport. And we got to stop and get food in this scenario!!! The other thing is that my newfound friend refused to take my half of the rental car fee. I was so blessed by that act of kindness. Valerie, if you ever read this THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART! I was a little tired when we got there but all was well. And I thank God that He kept us safe.

I think I'll save my stories of the trip back for another blog. ;)