TAKE THE KIDS ///. 24 HOURS OF HAPPY MOMENTS (& TEARS!)

Expect the unexpected

The fun (or challenge) with traveling is dealing with the unexpected events that come at you. Add children to the recipe and your patience and stress management are tested to a whole new level.

As an example ( or inspiration), here's a recap of our flight from Montreal to Honolulu. 
A trip full of detours and surprises, and that took us 24 hours to get to destination. 
We felt like we were in an episode of the show 24 or on the Amazing Race, the Family Edition.
Enjoy!

24 ///. The Honolulu Episode

3:00AM - Beep, Beep, Beep! Tough wake-up call after a short night due to last-minute packing. The kids jump right out of bed and get dressed by themselves (Wish it was this easy on a regular school day)

4:00AM - Taxi company calls to inform us that the van we had booked in advance is not available. 

4:30AM - Taxi picks us up. It's a normal-size car. We managed to fit 2 umbrella strollers, 2 car seat bags, 2 big suitcases, 3 carry-ons, 1 backpack and the 4 of us. Main highway is closed for snow removal, we're stuck on the service road. Heartbeat's starting to increase.

6:00AM - First flight to Toronto is delayed to 6:30. Our flight Toronto-Denver is at 8:46.

7:40AM - We land in Toronto. We are the first ones to get off the plane but unfortunately have to wait until the end for our strollers. We rush to go pick up our luggage and head to customs. While pushing the cart, the boys have a little fight over who will pull the Cars suitcase (note to self: buy two next time). All the suitcases fall off the cart and block the waiting line. Coincidentally, the next person in the line is my new boss and his family. Lovely.

The customs officer tells us stories about how he lived in Hawaii for 6 years and how we have to try the Spam breakfast. We nod and smile. Finally we're cleared and we check in our luggage. The boys don't want to go through the security detector. Tears & bribes are in effect.
We rush to gate E68. Imagine each parent with one stroller to push, a carry-on to pull and a backpack on our back. We're sweating like crazy but the adrenaline pushes us to the finish line. Finally, we get to E68. Damn, they changed the gate to E66, we have to backtrack, just what we needed.

8:50AM - We get to the gate and the plane is gone. The airline employees ask us what's our final destination and we answer 'Honolulu'. Their response: 'Eeeech, good luck.' 

9:00AM - We wait in line at the customer service counter. The attendant is really nice and helps us find a new route to get to Honolulu (Toronto-Vancouver-Honolulu). She leads us to this secluded gated hallway. Before she closes the door, she says 'Run, you have very little time.' We're all pumped up about our new mission, but then suddenly one of our sons vomits on his pants and on the floor. We make sure he's feeling ok and quickly clean up his pants, feel bad about the floor but have to rush to catch our new flight.

We find our luggage and head to customs. At this point, my husband Alex is pushing the overloaded luggage cart with one hand and the stroller with the other. I have the two boys with me.

At the customs, we realize that we only have three passports. We're missing one passport! We backtrack and find it laying on the floor (!).  Luckily, it's still early in the morning and there's not a lot of people. 
We have an awkward conversation with the customs officer to explain that we didn't physically leave the country but that technically we did. 

Once we're cleared, we drop-off our luggage and get our new tickets printed. The desk attendant informs us that the flight to Vancouver is delayed and that this might result in us missing our connection to Honolulu and staying overnight in Vancouver. We take these news pretty well as there's nothing we can do about it , and since we've never been to Vancouver before, it could be a fun detour.

11:30AM - We're comfortably seating on our flight to Vancouver and waiting for takeoff. The flight went really well. The boys played, slept and ate well, and this without having to use electronic devices.

When we land in Vancouver, Alex and I are determined to catch the last flight of the day to Honolulu. Too determined maybe. 

As soon as we get out of the plane, I manage to find a motorized cart to drive us to the gate. As I turn around to call Alex, I can't see him anywhere in the sea of travelers. Meanwhile, Alex is also pro-active and goes straight to the baggage claim to get our luggage for customs. We end up in two different areas of the airport, each with one child and half of the carry-ons. After a few phone calls and detours, we reunite. At this point, we're exhausted, sweating and swearing. The kids don't want to walk anymore and the plane is about to leave. Our strategy is that Alex will run to the gate to show we're alive and coming, and I will follow up with the kids. 

Parenthood Highlight: The reason why parents need to stay fit after having kids is exactly for this specific situation. 

Our gate is of course the last one at the end of the terminal. Alex is running with two strollers, one on each shoulder and pulling a carry-on in each hand. I have a non-ergonomic Cars backpack on my back, my big Longchamp bag on one shoulder, and two boys to motivate to get to the finish line. We pass in front of a toy store and one of them wants to go in, the other sits down on the floor as we're only three gates away. Alex manages to halt the plane, then comes back to help me with the kids. We finally get on-board and because these are last-minute tickets, our seats are all the way at the back of the plane. We can feel the looks of all the passengers waiting for us as we walk down the aisle to our seats. There was probably an aura of sweat around us for the first 15 minutes of the flight. But we made it. Hurray. Relief & Satisfaction. At this point, Alex and I are in heaven. The boys would have asked us for anything and I would have said yes.

In Honolulu, we finally get to the hotel and easily put the boys to bed. They've been real troopers all day. The room is so quiet at this point, and Alex and I look at each other and can't believe our whirlwind adventure. And then we hear Beep Beep Beep! 
Our alarm clock from this morning in Montreal! It's been exactly 24 hours that we've been up. That's our cue to to turn off the lights and get ready for a brand-new day! 

Tips for traveling long flights with kids:
- Get some sleep the night before and during the flights (try to resist watching the movies);
- Eat well & drink lots of water;
- Breathe, smile and enjoy the ride;
- Have some lollipops ready in your bag. The ones from Yummy Earth are my all-time favorites;

On a lighter note, this video (at 0:17 seconds) gives you a good idea of what we looked like when rushing to the gates. Thanks MTM for the tip, and laughs! Click here if you can't view it right away.

Safe travels!

xo
Kim-Anh.



Photo Credits: Kim-Anh Tran