Terrific Traveler

Well we made it to Idaho safely. Spencer did an amazing job traveling. The day however was full of frustrations. Things started going downhill when we arrived at the airport and we were told that they didn't have Spencer's ticket...

Three weeks before it was time to leave we got a call from Expedia, which is the company we bought our plane tickets through. Spencer needed his own plane ticket, which we purchased, but apparently Expedia could only take our money-they couldn't actually issue us an infant ticket. They said the airline had to issue the ticket for us but that they would take care of it. Great. A week before we fly we call Expedia and verify that they took care of everything and a ticket had been issued for Spencer. They confirmed it had. Great. The night before we leave Adam tries to check us in online but was having some trouble so he called Expedia to get us checked in. They told him that they weren't able to help him over the phone and that he should just check in at the airport in the morning. Fine.

We get to the airport and we go to get checked in. We give the lady our Expedia confirmation page and she looks at it for a while, then she types some stuff on her computer, then she gets on the phone...it is always a bad sign when they have to get on the phone...after she hangs up:

Lady: I am not showing a ticket for the baby...I can find yours but it looks like you still need an infant ticket. What you can do is go over to "Reservations" and purchase a ticket for him.

Me: But I already purchased a ticket for him. Expedia said that the airline was supposed to issue him one and I confirmed with them a few weeks ago that it had been done.

Lady: Well I'm not showing that to be the case. You can try calling Expedia or you can go to "Reservations" and purchase another ticket.

Awesome. So we call Expedia.

Expedia Rep: Well, I am showing that the ticket has been issued but there must have been a technical error. This happens all the time. What you can do is go purchase another ticket and we will reimburse the cost.

...This didn't sound like such a great plan but what other option did we have? One ticket later, Spencer and I are sitting on the plane waiting for takeoff. I flagged down one of the flight attendants to see if there were any open seats so that I could sit Spencer in his car seat. She informed me the flight was full. A few minutes later there was an announcement overhead:

Captain: Sorry folks for the delay, there is a family of five that needs to exit the plane and we'll need a few minutes to locate their luggage, thanks for your patience while we search...

Perfect! I flag down the flight attendant again.

Me: Now that there are five open seats can I have one of them for my son's car seat?

Flight Attendant: No, I'm sorry but we have already accommodated other passengers...

Me: But there are still five open seats, I'm sure someone wouldn't mind letting me sit by my son....

Flight Attendant: Well those seats won’t have a mount for the baby cot.

Me: Oh, well if I have an extra seat I won’t need the baby cot because my son will sit in his car seat...

Flight Attendant: No we can't do that because the car seat won’t sit up enough...(this argument actually made zero sense to me)

Me: If you go and get the car seat I can show you, it actually sits him up pretty well. I don't think it should be a problem.

Flight Attendant: If I get a chance I'll check your seat for you but I need to help the rest of the passengers prepare for takeoff.

...At least I tried. She came back a few minutes later and said that she looked at the seat but that it wouldn't work because there was no way to fasten it in the back and it was the airway's policy that car seats must fasten in the back. I don't think she realized that it was a rear facing seat...oh well.

Spencer did very well on the flight. He hated the baby cot the airline provided for him and therefore hardly slept. He slept about 20 minutes, poor little guy, he was so tired. The flight was nine hours and he didn't make a sound for the first seven and a half hours of the trip. It wasn't until the flight crew made me sit down during turbulence that he cried, and that only lasted for about 15 minutes. Everyone was complimenting me on how good he was...everyone except the rude lady that sat right next to me. When we boarded the plane she glared at me and asked if Spencer was going to scream. When Spencer finally did start to cry hours later she acted like he had been crying the whole flight. She threw her hands up over her ears then she screamed I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE. Then she ran down the aisle holding her ears and shaking her head. Her behavior didn’t bother me though, I was just happy she was gone.

Spencer finally nodded off the last few minutes of the flight. When we landed I was able to put him in his car seat. He was asleep for about an hour when I had to go through customs and they made me take him out of his seat so that they could search him....GRRRRR! Now Spencer is awake and screaming and I have to find my next gate. I check the board and it says my gate is S216. When I finally get to S216 it just doesn't look right...I asked the guy at the desk if I am in the right spot...

Guy at gate S216: Oh, do the boards still say your flight is departing from this gate? Let me look up where you need to go...Ah, here we go, C2E.

Thankfully I had a two hour layover in Seattle, I got to my gate with 20 minutes to spare. It was enough time to change and feed my screaming baby...on the plane I overheard other passengers complaining about how they went to the wrong gate...I added my two cents:)

Spencer, bless his heart slept the whole 45 minute flight to Spokane and the entire two hour drive home. He. Was. Exhausted. We both were. This story does have a happy ending though, I was on my way to the baggage claim and as I came around the corner, I saw two angles. Brenda and my sister Ashley were there to greet me and welcome me home. Ah home.