BUT coming home was a completely different story. For starters after we landed in Atlanta I was completely at the mercy of The Husband and his time management and organization "skills" (notice the quotation marks?) so our flight was at 3 PM what time do YOU think I would want to be at the airport? If you guess 12 you are today's BIG winner. But of course we get to the airport an hour before our flight and if you have ever flown out of Atlanta then you pretty much know their airport is like larger then life. We had to ride the monorail wait behind a skinny rich bitch (kidding, but she was), her nanny and her 4 screaming kids at security and all their crap and then we had to RUN to the gate. Only to get there and be 15 minutes delayed. I had no time to grab Phoenix any lunch so I was feeding him Stage 3 fruit, goldfish, and Gerber cereal bars on the plane. He was an insane mess on the plane. Cranky, crying, screeching, pooping, climbing, hitting, yelling, etc. He finally falls asleep about 10 minutes before we land in Philly (layover baaaad idea). We get into Philly make it to our gate and get the most disgusting burger and hot dog. We barely finish scarfing it down and changing him into his pj's before we had to board again! But this time it was about 6:30ish so he was ready to hit the bricks. But this flight was only like 30 minutes, so by the time he fell asleep we were landing. It was just a hot sticky long tiring day! And of course the week that follows ended up being pretty bumpy as well!
Here are a few travel tips I picked up on the way:
1. Book a suite- If at all possible and you can afford it, do it! You'll remember with our NY trip I had trouble getting him to sleep and had to revert back to the swaddle/bounce/shuffle number. But having a suite this time completely eliminated this. I was able to put him down (when we were at the hotel) and go to the living room to read, watch TV, or work on my blog.
2. Unpack- Maybe everyone else already does this, but for some reason I never have. I'm very paranoid about leaving stuff. But this time decided to unpack. It made it easier because I wasn't digging for socks or diapers. I set us up just as if we were home.
3. Book flight for around nap or bed time- Now this was done completely by default. Since this was a business trip all of our travel arrangements were made by someone else and it worked out that our flight going was at his nap time. Add on the fact we had been up since 6 AM he was ready to snooze once we got on the plane. Now coming back....Yeah a different story.
4. Try to get direct flight- Again this was out of my hands. But next time I will insist on a direct flight. Having to entertain a tired and cranky baby in an airport is not the best thing. No other real explanation needed.
5. Good diaper bag- My Fleurville MotherShip does not close all the way so I knew stuff would be falling out of the bag on the plane. I got a big beach bag type thing with a zipper to use as my diaper bag that week.
6. Well stocked diaper bag- I packed about 30 diapers, two travel wipe containers, 2 outfits, socks, blanket, jacket (can be cold), lots of snacks (that don't make a gross, sticky, wet globby mess), juice cup, empty cup, extra paci, changing pad (forgot this), grocery bags (to put dirty diapers in), bottle of water, bottle of formula (even though he's pretty done with this), lovey(s), and "plane friendly" toys, and bibs (Pampers Disposable are great!)
7. Dress baby in comfy outfit- Just like you want to be comfy when you travel, so does baby. And something that's easy to do diaper or outfit changes. Oh and shoes and socks that stay on! Don't want to be fiddling with having to pick up shoes & socks while boarding.
8. Paci clip- What's the technical name for those things anyway? But you know what I mean right? I don't use them really unless we are out, just because when he sleeps I'm nervous he could choke himself. But using them while traveling is obviously a great idea. No need to worry about "sterilizing" the paci the "mommy way" when it falls {you know the one. pick it up. pop it in your mouth to take on the germs and pop it back into babies mouth...don't lie we allllll do it}
9. Bring outlet covers and other easy travel baby proofing items.
So that's it. Those are just a bit of my mommy travel tips to you.
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