It's fair to say that a huge part of why we've been hesitant to visit our old stomping grounds—Carlsbad, CA—is that the travel across country is traumatic at best....at least it is to me with two kids in tow.
Granted, somehow our kids always rise to the occasion on the most stressful of travel days. They just don't sleep. Ever. Not like "normal" children at least. The worst part of the distance (2,400 miles to be exact) is that you lose an entire day with travel in each direction. 7 days become 5 really quickly. And it usually involves a drive from Grand Rapids to keep it affordable.
Our adventure began at 10:45 the night BEFORE our departure when Little Ms. Pukeface reappeared to our dismay. After two rounds and a sleepless night (mostly for me who slept on the floor with an anticipatory bucket and would jolt awake with every sigh, toss or turn) we had to make the executive decision on canceling the trip, though it turned out to be the least decisive decision in history.
Though we had purchased trip insurance, the office didn't open until 9am since it was a Saturday. We had to hit the road at 6:30am to make it to O'hare in enough time. That left us with the "must travel" necessity since we weren't sure if we were covered for reimbursement....even though we were not sure if I was sick, if Elise would strike again or if Ryan was next. (Max is odd man out since the guy can lick a toilet and not get sick. PE teacher immune system I suppose.)
The two most vivid reflections on this part of the trip:
- Making it to the first rest stop on 96, standing in the vestibule for 20 minutes waiting for the trip insurance office to open while panicking on the phone with Staci to consult on what SHE would do. (She was 15 minutes behind us on her way to O'hare and a family trip to Florida.)
- Returning home to our parked car and seeing the frenzy of garbage bags, puke buckets and CLEAN towels we had stashed for the drive there in case we really were plague stricken. There was a sigh of gratitude when we returned and thought about what could have been.
The net is that Frontier airlines stinks. Our kids are awesome, even when they don't sleep for 18+ hours. (Ryan woke up at 4:30 am....we got to our hotel at midnight our time.) Praise God for iPads and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. And that the one time you pack everything you'd need for a vomit emergency, you won't need any of it. The only bummer of the trip was watching MSU lose to Duke on our layover between Denver and San Diego. But hey, we were headed to sunny, warm California, so it was easy to get over it.
Once we landed in San Diego, there was a delay with the rental car but the kids were so excited to be coat-free and run and play, they did not care that there was a 45 minute drive ahead of us...in traffic that rivals my 8am commute in Gran Rapids...though it was only 9pm PST.
Once we arrived to the Carlsbad Inn, we could not have been excited by our luck and location. But more on that with our Day 2 post.
PS. Check out our luggage cart. If that doesn't prove I have the street credibility of an illegal and spent significant time driving behind plywood clad work trucks piled WAY too high with mattresses and ladders, I don't know what does.
No comments :
Post a Comment