Traveling with Babe (Part II)
A fitting use for SkyMall? (I would have felt worse if it were the in-flight magazine, or even if it were something that people actually read.)
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4
On the way back from our east coast trip, I was feeling light and sprightly. That was because I had extra space in my suitcase due to having “spent down” my five days of diapers and other baby supplies. When I went to check in, I even found that I had been upgraded for the DTW-SFO portion of my flight, so things were definitely looking up!
The first leg of my trip was on a cramped regional jet, and SFBaby was a super-wiggly live wire all of the way there. My seatmates were mostly sympathetic, although the woman in front was not particularly amused when SFBaby managed to squirm away and kick her seat.
When we got to Detroit, we had enough time for SFBaby to crawl around in the airport to let off some steam, which helped a lot.
My upgrade to first class was a double blessing: not only did we get into first class, but we also got a bulkhead window seat. This meant that SFBaby had her own private play area to crawl around in, and I could corral her by simply sticking out my leg.
The only downside to our location was that there was no underseat storage ahead of us, so I had to throw my bag in the overhead bin. Unfortunately, we had run out of breast milk long ago, but SFBaby still needed a bottle of something to suck on during takeoff. (Note to self: bring SFMom along next time!)
This meant that I had to immediately get back up to extract my bag from the overhead bin, gather all of the essentials for making baby formula, and then do some minor chemistry by measuring powder and pouring liquids from one bottle to the other. At least initially, my seatmate did not appear to be amused about the presence of babies in first class (although he came around by the end of the flight).
Aside from that issue, the bulkhead turned out to be a fantastic place to sit. SFBaby was able to bounce up and down, crawl around, and play with the contents of the seat pocket.
This was a long-haul flight, and luckily for me, it was SFBaby’s bedtime shortly after takeoff. After tiring herself out with SkyMall, she blissfully fell asleep on my lap. Having a sleeping baby on your lap for four hours is not a piece of cake, but it’s certainly better than having an awake baby on your lap for four hours.
And with that, we arrived home into the waiting arms of SFMom! And SFDad has resolved not to do any more solo traveling for quite some time.
Tags: airplane, baby bjorn, first class, skymall, upgrade