Europe 2011 Day 1

Flying is so eventful, I'm not even sure I can capture all of it in a single post, especially not when writing from my phone which takes so much longer. There is a lot that needs to be documented though, as this flight became the "clown flight" that we would love to not have to endure ever again.

We had a good start to our departure day. I went for a run just shy of 4 miles, we left only 30 minutes late, I only forgot one thing (the strap for my camera, oops), and though the house isn't spotless it is quite neat and the trashes were all emptied. One thing my mom taught me is the importance of leaving behind a house that's as clean as possible. You'll feel much better when you return home!

We arrived at right around 2 hours before our departure time, and made sure to request a bassinet. The woman, who I shall now refer to as ECL (evil checker lady) told us that bassinets were not an option
(only for babies 6 months and under) and that the bulkhead seats weren't available either. She let us know she put us in the second row behind the bulkhead. Why was this helpful? I don't know. She didn't like us because they are crazy strict about carryons being 6 kg or less and it took me like 6 tries to empty out my carry-on enough to make it work (good thing my checked bag wasn't pushing the weight limit!)

So we went through security feeling pretty deflated. We had done everything in our power to make this flight as seamless as possible, but ECL was not on our side and we felt we were now doomed to a miserable flight.










Thank goodness for this gated play area right next to our departure gate!

As we loaded our stuff onto the plane I noticed that the numbering system on the middle row was different than the sides. Turns out, on the side aisles the bulkhead was row 4, but in the middle the bulkhead was row 5. ECL had messed up and we were in the bulkhead after all! A super roomy bulkhead with even more leg room than that on the sides (we had a super tall basketball player sitting next to us). I said a little prayer of gratitude right then and there.

The flight was really hard. Really really hard. We were in the air for 8 1/2 hours, and T1 slept for 3 of those (and not straight through, half was spent in husband's arms and half on the floor). We were so grateful to have two seats next to each other were the armrest went up. If we ever fly again with a kid this age, we'd like to just pony up the money for another seat because I spent a good deal of time sitting on the floor because being in a seat like a big boy made him happy.








T1 in my seat

So this was the clown flight. Let me try to remember the myriad of ways this particular flight/airline (Lot, a polish airline) drove us crazy:

They never answered the stewardess call button, ever

Once when TH asked for a glass of water the stewardess replied she would "ask her friend". What does that mean?

The plane thought we were going to Paris. The screen that says the destination was only in English and French.

They served dinner at the equivalent of midnight. Shortly afterward they came through yelling about Duty Free goods available for purchase (hello, we're trying to sleep?)

They didn't have TVs in the individual seats, but they did play a movie at 1 am.

People around us kept getting the urge to check on the clouds. At 3 am. I most certainly stood up and asked them to lower their shades because they were waking the babies up. The clouds don't look any different than usual.

They apparently had a water/juice station in the back the entire time (at one point I was so thirsty I drank out of the sippy cup because they never came when we called them to ask for water), but as far as I know they never announced said station.










The craziest thing that happened though was the man who passed out on the plane.
I was walking the aisles with T1 when I hears this loud thud in the aisle next to the bathrooms. I looked around the corner and saw a man, face first on the ground, gray socks poking out into the aisle. I started leaning over people and pressing call buttons like crazy in the hope that if the staff saw one specific area all lit up they would actually pay attention. They figured out what was going on and I left because I knew I wasn't going to be helpful anymore. I'm not sure what happened afterward or why he passed out.

So yeah, this was the clown flight. We plan to fly Lufthansa from now on.

We landed in Warsaw, went through security and customs, and waited about 2 hours before our flight to Katowice. That's the only benefit of flying Lot, our connecting flight between Warsaw and Katowice was a lot shorter than the one between Frankfurt and Katowice.




























Yet another play area that kept our baby (running on 3 interrupted hours of sleep) from going crazy. Thank you airports for having these!










The puddle jumper we took from
Warsaw to Katowice. Boarding on the Tarmac always makes me feel so glamorous.

Finally we walked out the door and saw my FIL. I did much better with the kissing meet-and-greet (eventually I'll be less anxious, right?!?!?) and less than an hour later we were finally done with the traveling to Poland part of our trip. The flight was so miserable to experience with a toddler, but now that it's over and we are with TH's parents I absolutely would do it again. Having us here (particularly the baby), makes them SO happy.

My MIL immediately scooped T1 up and took him to the backyard to show him what they had for him. A sandbox, a tent, and a swing. In a gated backyard. That Husband aptly named this paradise for him, as it is 100% "go bye-bye all the time".