carry on size? all the same?

[bavaria]

Some of you are BROADLY definining "essentials" An "essential" or "valuable" is something YOU MUST HAVE, not "all you shampoo, makeup, shaving kit etc...." Medications are essential. Shampoo is not.. they sell it in Orlando. Nebulizers are essential.

I have had the unfortunate experience of living through several bad flight expereinces.

A few years ago there was a fire in the terminal at Dorval airport. We were offloaded after 3 hours on the runway and bussed to the front of the terminal, where one waited 45 minutes for a taxi in -30 degree celcius weather. No carryons allowed to be removed from the plane, purses only. I arrived at a hotel Saturday night and left Sunday noon; no stores open in Montreal those hours. I survived with the use of hotel ammenities and what was in my purse.

1972 I sat on a plane for hours at the Munich airport during the Olympic crisis. I was age four; we had no mammoth carryons. I remember vomiting and flying half way around the world in a dirty dress. I survived

In Sep 2001 I was involved in housing the thousands of air travellers who were diverted to other countries. After sitting on the tarmac for hours, they wre allowed to disembark without any carryons. They finally arrived at the receiving station late in the evening. Although the hotels had run out to stock up on diapers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc I had so many come up to me and ask for clean underwear, which nobody had considered.

So now I travel with a change of underwear, a toothbrush, lipstick, powder, and any medication I require. That had become my list of essentials.

It's all relative.

 

[ducklite]

In my case, I was talking about flying alone and trying to juggle the diaper bag and the carseat and my purse and a toddler down the aisle of an airplane. That's the only reason the single parent angle came up. I had to fly because of the distance, and I needed the diaper bag and the car seat, and my purse. Oh, yes, and the toddler who was dashing off while I juggled everything.

I'd like to suggest that you say "Flying alone with my child" instead--I know it's just semantics, but the whole "Pity me, I'm a single parent" angle has been used and abused to the point that it now turns people off regardless of the situation. Just some friendly advice.

Like I said in my earlier post, I do believe that as a courtesy to any parent who has bought a seat for their child, assistance with carrying the car seat on board should be automatically offered.

Anne

 

[NotUrsula]

Originally Posted by jodifla:
"The only time I've ever had trouble was trying to wrestle the car seat, a diaper bag, a purse and a toddler down the airport aisle by myself. That was misery."

Originally posted by Troy McClure:
"As I said, it's all about choices."

It is about choices, but not about choosing to fly, whatever the reason for the trip. It is about choosing what to carry and how to carry it to minimize the hassle. There are more "necessities" when flying with a baby, but there are ways to minimize the space they occupy and the number of bags they require. Sometimes those choices will cost a bit more, so it depends on whether or not it is worth it to you to avoid the misery.

Jodifla has referenced that trip before on another thread, but that thread was about using toddler reins, which she chose not to do, in spite of the fact that they would have made it easier to control the wayward toddler in the airport. She also carried a separate purse, which could have been avoided if she had combined her purse with a backpack diaper bag, which could have in turn been strapped into the seat of the carseat, which could have been worn on her back in a satchel or pulled on a luggage carrier.

Getting onto the plane, she could have put the diaper bag on her back, put the carseat over her head upside down (which means taking a lightweight enough seat to make that feasible. You look pretty ridiculous, but it works.), and taken the toddler by the hand. Still not easy, but easier than trying to juggle more bags than necessary when your hands are full.

DS flew so often as a baby that I kept a separate "flying diaper backpack" fully packed for trips. I took the lighter-weight "Grandma's car" carseat so that I wouldn't have to take ours out of the car, and I invested in a backpack carseat satchel and a quality aluminum umbrella stroller. I also always put him on reins if he wasn't going to be in the stroller in the airport. Those were my choices, and the extra equipment was $80 well spent, IMO.

As to my current habits, again, I keep a lot of kits pre-packed around the house, toiletries for family/Me/DH/Either one of us + kids. Those are grab and go, and they live in little waterproof zipper makeup bags. I restock them after every trip. I do carryon my toiletries on the way to my destination; I'm paranoid now, as I once had a really bad allergic reaction to hotel soap on the morning of a job interview. My bag is a 20" rollaboard, and I also carry a leather handbag/laptop tote combo (and like Bavaria, I keep a change of undies in it, in a discreet little drawstring sack.)

 

[troy mcclure]

IT WAS NOT A VACATION. I had to get back and forth to Michigan from South Florida in three days with DS by myself. Until they perfect that beaming technology, the flight was the only thing I could do.

But I appreciate all the empathy you have for fellow human beings.

Oh, excuse me! May I suggest it might be helpful to provide that little clarification up front? I am sorry you had a difficult time on this trip.

As far as empathy goes, I am not a faucet that provides instant empathy on demand. It's provided where deserved. As Anne pointed out, playing the "I'm a single parent" card doesn't guarantee automatic empathy.

 

[bicker]

I'm a little uncomfortable with the way the discussion about empathy is going. Let's be fair: Being a single parent, and/or traveling alone with a small child, is difficult. There are hardships, and challenges. No question about that.

I think we need to differentiate that with whether that warrants any extra service or consideration on the part of suppliers or other customers. The answer to that is unequivocally 'no'. Folks in need of more service need to make their decisions based on consideration of that, and typically that means paying more for more service. That's why single parents cannot afford to do all the great things that two breadwinner families can afford to do. They simply can't. However, it's the single parent's issue, and it doesn't connotate any obligation on the part of anyone else. Part of personal accountability is acknowledging what are the limitations you face, and operating within the limitations, as sad as that may be.

 

[CarolA]

It was a good excuse to get the purchase of a HOT PINK (I've got a *thing* for pink ) and not inexpensive roll on past DH!

Anne

Anne, I have seen the Tumi... it's mild compared to the one I have from Vitronex. (I know I misspelled that) They no longer make mine so I have had to scounge to get a tote that matches and boy is it HOT PINK!!!!!! People stop and stare LOL!

And just for the record my experience has been that most FAs do attempt to help parents. However, on flights to Orlando they may be limited in what they can do. I believe they are required to have someone at the front door at all times so if the other FAs have already started the trek back with either a disabled passenger or another parent it may be a while before they can swim upstream to help you. (And as usual being nice helps. Parents who get on cursing either the airline and/or thier children are not as likely to be helped. FAs are human if you and your kids and spouse are having a huge fight they aren't joining in)

A lot of this comes back to our overall mess. We want SERVICE, we want FAs to help us, we want nice FAs who have time to do stuff for us, but we will ONLY pay $100.... the math doesn't add up. In the old days there were lots of FAs, now the airlines have only the FAA mandated numbers....

 

[ducklite]

Carol,

Tumi has already discontinued that color. I LOVE Tumi products and have decided I'll never buy another manufacturer if Tumi makes it--except handbags and wallets.

I'm going to give DH the Tumi golf bag cover for Christmas next year.

Anne

 

[NotUrsula]

Accckkk -- no, please, no, not the Tumi testimonials. We'll be here forever!

(Seriously, DH and I share business luggage because our house is small and we're almost never gone on the same length trip at the same time. He really wouldn't go for the hot pink!)

 

[CarolA]

Well you should have seen the look on my boyfriends face when he first saw it.... LOL!(he is using my old black TravelPro for his occassional trips)

 

[safetymom]

I am a single parent and I didn't expect anyone to help me when I went places with my children. After my husband died I learned quickly if I wanted to do something the only one I could depend on was me. So my kids learned early how to travel quickly and easily.

 

[ducklite]

Accckkk -- no, please, no, not the Tumi testimonials. We'll be here forever!

(Seriously, DH and I share business luggage because our house is small and we're almost never gone on the same length trip at the same time. He really wouldn't go for the hot pink!)

Well you should have seen the look on my boyfriends face when he first saw it.... LOL!(he is using my old black TravelPro for his occassional trips)

 

[NotUrsula]

BTW, I compared the colors of the Tumi and the Victorinox online (both are still available from various places): I've got to say I think the Victorinox color wins in the "how pink is truly shocking?" category.

It looks like the color that replaced "Punch" (pink) in the Tumi line is a really bright orange.

 

[CarolA]

BTW, I compared the colors of the Tumi and the Victorinox online (both are still available from various places): I've got to say I think the Victorinox color wins in the "how pink is truly shocking?" category.

It looks like the color that replaced "Punch" (pink) in the Tumi line is a really bright orange.

Oh it's shocking LOL! I get all kinds of looks and statements.... Their pink from last season was more a petal pink (breast cancer color, sold as fund raiser)
Now bright orange sound fun...