So here we are, pulling into JFK, with a child who just vomited all over himself and me. The driver wasn't nice to begin with and was ticked off that my child had just vomited in his car (there wasn't a lot of vomit in the car, it was mostly on my sweatshirt - which I wasn't wearing - and on Zachary and me). He pulls up to the Jet Blue curb at the point furthest away from curbside check-in. He takes our stuff out of the car and leaves it on the curb. I got the kids and car seats out, wiped up any vomit from inside his car (I'm really too nice - he was a jerk), and he drives off.
I'm now at the airport with a 5 year old and a 3 year old. The 3 year old and I are both covered in vomit. I have a stroller, 2 car seats, 3 rolling suitcases (to check), 3 carry-on bags, and my purse. I'm by myself and I have to get all of this stuff to the other end of the drop-off area. And I want to cry. I'm also furious at the driver for being such a complete jerk (I'm trying to watch my language here) and just leaving us. He could have taken 2 more minutes to drop us off in a convenient location.
The first thing I did was grab Zachary's pajamas from his carry-on bag and I changed his shirt. I travel with lots of plastic baggies so I put my sweatshirt and his dirty shirt in baggies. I used diaper wipes to mop up the best I could. I had a clean shirt for me in the diaper bag but no clean pants. I reached into the closest suitcase and grabbed the first bottoms I could find - which was my running skirt. NOT ideal travel clothes (the running skirt has built in spandex shorts but it's quite short). But it was clean and not covered in vomit so I put it in the diaper bag for when I could change clothes.
At that moment something else went wrong. The zipper on Jessica's carry-on bag broke. Last year I bought the kids small rolling suitcases with Disney characters on them. They also have straps so you can use them as backpacks. The zippers on Jessica's bag were completely broken. There was no way to close the bag at all. Great.
I have to say that Jessica definitely rose to the occasion. She took care of her own carry-on bag and one of the big suitcases. Zachary sat in the stroller and I put the car seats in the back seat of the stroller (we have a Phil and Ted's with a back seat - I'm sure I have pictures later). I would walk 10 feet with the stroller, park it, run back to grab the suitcases, etc. Jessica was a huge help.
We finally got into line at curb side check-in. At that point I think I would have paid $100 to get rid of the bags and car seats!!!
I brought large, clear garbage bags for the car seats so I could check them. The check-in guy was nice and gave us our boarding passes. Most importantly I got rid of 3 large suitcases and 2 car seats which made the load manageable. Unfortunately he couldn't give me 3 seats together but he reassured me that when I got to the gate they would help me.
We walked into the airport and headed straight for the bathroom. The bathroom near the entrance was very small and crowded. I quickly realized that I would have to temporize here and really clean up later. I changed Zachary's diaper and pants (he just wore PJs) and I changed my shirt. At that point we were ready to attempt security.
We headed over to security and I must have looked pretty desperate because they waved me over to the priority security check-in. The security line wasn't terrible but there was definitely a line (and remember I was probably still almost 2 hours before flight time). I wasn't worried about getting to the gate on time or anything, just getting to a place where I could get organized and cleaned up. And make sure we were sitting together on the plane!
Security was pretty quick and easy. Our stroller is too big for the belt and there was nobody to tell me what to do with it but we figured it out. Kids did great and Jessica helped Zachary get his shoes back on while I retrieved our belongings. By this time Zachary seemed much better and I assumed he had just been car sick.
We then headed to the gate to see what they could do with our seats. One of the issues was that my flight was booked on miles and therefore was a separate reservation from the kids' reservation. The gate agent was able to work through this. We were given seats in the last row (not an issue for me - close to the bathroom and we had so many checked bags that there wasn't a rush to get off the plane). Zachary was in a middle seat, I was on the aisle, and Jessica was in the aisle seat across the aisle from me. The gate agent thought the person in the window seat next to Zachary would be happy to switch with Jessica but I was perfectly satisfied with the seat arrangement. I let Jessica know that she wasn't going to get a window seat and she was totally fine with it.
The next stop was to find Jessica a new carry-on bag without spending a small fortune. The first few shops only had bags that cost $50 or more. Not what I wanted to replace a $15 bag! We finally found a surf shop that sold an oversized tote bag for about $25. It's a cute bag and something we can use again. The one downside is that it doesn't have a zipper or anyway to close the bag. Jessica was thrilled with it.
We then went to the family restroom so I could change, Jessica could put on her PJs, and we could get a little cleaned up. I re-packed Jessica's stuff in her new bag and we threw out the old one. We went to the counter-serve place to grab some dinner (we got pizza) and went back to the gate area to eat.
The kids opened some of their travel gifts that I had packed for them and I took some pictures with my iPhone (which I still need to upload - sorry!). We finally boarded the plane and took off.
The flight was fairly uneventful. Zachary was a bit active which was exhausting and stressful for me but he wasn't bad. Jessica was awesome. She sat next to 2 women with a very young baby. They kept asking me if they could share snacks with her (I said yes). Jessica was happy and they thought she was adorable. (The baby was a very good and very cute baby.) Zachary fell asleep as we were landing. This was a bit stressful because it meant I had to carry him in addition to the carry-ons. Luckily the stroller was waiting at the gate. He slept through the night from that point on!!!
We went down to baggage claim. We had arranged to spend the night at the Hyatt in the airport. For $10 they will send a bellhop down to baggage claim to help you. What an amazing service!!!
The bellhop was lovely. I can't tell you how much I appreciated this guy. He waited with us for all of our stuff (the car seats were the last 2 items off the plane), brought us to the check-in desk, and then up to our room. There was a roll-away already set up and he opened the sofa bed for me. He was the kind of person who said hello to every guest he saw and asked them how their stay was. Really amazing! I couldn't tip him enough. After the nightmare day he was exactly what I needed to get settled.
There were a few minor issues - like my contact lens case and pajamas were in one of Tom's bags but I managed. Tom and Nathaniel's flight was delayed 45 minutes so they didn't get to hotel until 1:30am. Their flight was uneventful except the delay.
And our original flight on Saturday was canceled.
So we made it! It wasn't pretty but we made it!
Amanda
Tom is an adult urologist and father to our wonderful children.
Most of it went into my sweatshirt but it was all over him and all over me. Very little of it was actually on the car itself. Not a good start to the trip....
I can't wait to hear more!
