After suffering through some outrageous traffic to get to Dan's office downtown, we left the car in his work garage and hopped into a taxi for a quick ride to the airport. Finley was strapped to me in the Beco and seemed to enjoy his first ride in a yellow cab. Not sure what's legal in terms of babies in cabs, but people in NYC certainly don't buckle in a car seat for a ride uptown, right? We got to airport with enough time to check ourselves in, drop off our car seat at the ticket desk (car seats and strollers can be checked for free!), and get in line at security. Due to the wonderful design of the Beco (no metal fasteners), I could wear Finley right through the metal detector. We got some cute stares from the security dudes and proceeded through to the gate. Dan wasn't as lucky as he forgot to take his phone out of his pocket!
We got the gate and met up with my Aunt Marnie and her boyfriend, Michael. They were lucky to book the same flights as us and agree to share a rental car...we didn't want them to regret their travel plans, so we told Finley to be on his best behavior. Here we are hanging out near the gate waiting to board.
Finley was very chipper since he'd had his two daily naps and was ready to play once we got on the plane. There wasn't much room for playing, but plenty of room for feeding-phew! The advice I was given from many experienced baby mamas was to nurse on take off and descent to help Finley's ears clear as he gulps and swallows. It worked! He laid on my lap or Dan's for most of the flight. When he got squirmy after the beverage service (still free on AirTran), we started singing to him. Finley loves being sung to in most circumstances and being above the clouds was no different. I sang some nursery rhymes and then Dan and I sang a variety of Tom Petty tunes. Fin was all smiles and soon it was time to eat again for the trip down.
We got off the plane, put Finley in the Beco, and headed off to get the rental car. Finley boarded his first shuttle bus and proceed to fall asleep instantly.
He was wide awake for most of the ride to my parents' house, but gave in to the hum of the road as we neared their driveway. We said some quick hellos and then put the little guy down for the night. He certainly did not sleep well, but we decided it was worth the trade off for him to be such a great traveler.
Our trip back to Boston was also fairly smooth. Finley wasn't as accommodating a flier as he was earlier, but all in all he did just fine. We avoided being "those people" with their screaming baby, phew! The hardest part about the flight was that we tasted space and freedom when we though the flight wasn't full and let Finley stretch out in his own seat...
...too bad the plane did fill up and we ended up sitting next to a quiet man who was reading the most interestingly titled book: Christian Courtship in the Over-Sexed World: A guide for Catholics. Hm...wonder how he'd feel about his Jewish neighbors who (gulp) lived together before marriage? Much less their spawn!!
We learned a lot about travel with a baby and came away with some good tips:
1. baby carriers (like our Beco) totally rule, they keep the babies happy and allow moms or dads to have free hands to carry or wheel luggage around
2. dress babies in PJs so you don't have to worry about socks or spitting up on nicer digs
3. even if your baby doesn't usually take a pacifier, bring one--Finley surprised us by needing and taking it during a traffic jam in the rental car
4. toys are great, but be prepared to be the entertainment yourself
This was a good first run, but it doesn't quite prepare us for our trip to Prague in July...but will anything?
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