Hello,
I know it has been a VERY long time since I have written about travel here on this blog but since I have a new wrinkle I have decided to bring it back.
My daughter Korianka is now just a bit over 7 years old and I wanted to capture what it is like to travel with an infant. Now I must point out that my wife and I have agreed that there will be no pictures of Korianka shared out to the public so if you are looking for that I am sorry. I can post other pictures of our trips and those that don't really show her very well right now. When she is old enough to understand and make her own decisions about being on the internet then things can change.
First off, why Tucson? This is a business trip for Hologic. I am attending and assisting in a training class for products for our newly purchased division called Faxitron. They manufacture specimen imaging devices which means the device take images of non-living matter typically. Usually of things surgically removed from a patient. They also make some non-destructive testing devices (this allow for making sure things are manufactured correctly without having to use up the device or object being tested).
Our class runs from Tuesday to Friday with Monday being a setup day for the lead instructor David and I. It will be my first time to be in the Tuscon facility and meet the people there.
I do not believe it is possible to take a direct flight from Boston to Tucson or if it is then it is rare and expensive. So we had to choose a single stopover flight which landed in Houston and then on to Tucson. We ended up with United as our airline then. Daniela and Korianka are obviously not working with Faxitron but are along for the ride as has been typical for Daniela on my trips since she moved to Massachusetts. Since it is February I am sure she is quite ok with the weather in Tucson over Boston though it appears it will not be the best week of weather here possible. Anyway it will still be significantly warmer.
Our first flight on a 737-800 departed at 1:33pm from Boston to Houston. The adventure started earlier than that with getting all the stuff we needed and getting it all packed. For this trip we were going to need a rental car so I had to worry about a car seat. I bought a car seat travel bag which allowed me to pack the car seat base and the car seat into it. It is good to know that the car seat can travel for free much like strollers. We arrived to the airport around 11:30am which gave us a solid 2 hours to get ready for the flight. We left home with the van which we parked at the airport around 10:30 or so.
First was check-in which was confused by the fact I had to pay for some tickets on my card and some on my work card. Korianka was flying as an under 2 lap infant so was no charge but she still had to be listed when we purchased tickets. United doesn't want to do desk attendants anymore so we had to use the automated kiosks which generated a ton of complications for this. I learned now that I should use the business card to check me in first then the personal card will hopefully locate the others. I am not certain. The personal card located me even though I had a different locator number with the company card. So then I had to go through and get the wandering attendant to help and instead of him having it switch things up he had to find Daniela's ticket separately. It was rather annoying and added probably 20 minutes over the old fashioned method of just getting to a person at the counter and handing her or him your documents. They did let me check the car seat for free.
The delay meant that we the security line grew but when we got to the person there she told us to go to the premier section because of the stroller. Of course the normal and TSA lines are on the far side from the kiosks. The premier line is on the side near the kiosks. So we walked all the way back to the premier side and the girl there didn't want to let us in. After a couple of minutes of looking annoyed and exasperated she let us.
Some lady in front of us apparently had an expired driver's license and that created a todo about what they should do with her. They decided she would get a full pat down and search. Ok, great.
We put all our stuff through the line. You are allowed to take baby foods that are more than 3.5 ozs according to the TSA website but it might require additional checks. So we had 2 packages of baby food that were just over the limit and the girl running the xray machine saw them and she stopped up the whole security line because she didn't know what to do. I mean everyone behind us had to wait for that. The stroller was too big for the xray machine also so another TSA guy had to take it and check it separately. Regarding the food I am ok with the additional security on it and I submitted to the pat down and let them do it. But that took extra time because of the expired ID lady in front of me as the TSA agents had to finish the thorough check of her before we could be checked which probably took another 15 minutes. This is made worse to me by the fact that no one behind us got to move until that we were being checked. I know that if I was behind us I would be furious because I was waiting for no reason. The girl could have set our stuff aside and continued on with the people behind us but didn't. She just stared sort of panicked about what to do. So about another 10 minutes later we had completed the pat down and were on our way to the gate.
We got to the gate and went straight up with the stroller for the gate check process which was quick and painless. The ladies at the desk told us we could board early which we boarding in less than 10 minute by this point all things adding up to a huge time sink until now. So Daniela went to the Peet's? Coffee and bought a yogurt and a sticky bun and banana and was able to eat the bun and banana before we boarded but I didn't eat because I didn't want what they head. We boarded and it was fairly quick. Our seats were aisle and middle but the window passenger was ok with swapping to aisle and that allowed for a better situation for the longer flight.
We took off on time. Daniela breastfed Korianka during the take off which is supposed to help with the pressure change and it apparently did as she fell asleep for takeoff and about an hour or so into the flight. Korianka was fidgety here and there after she woke up but by trading off here and there we were mostly able to keep her entertained with rattles and looking out the window and bouncing her around. She took a walk to the bathroom and the flight attendants area for a while and overall she was pretty good for the 4 hour or so flight. She did drop her binky to an inaccessible place and we waited until the entire plane was basically deboarded so I could find it and we could leave with it. Neither Daniela or I got more than 10 minutes sleep. Daniela couldn't while Korianka was sleeping because it was too hard to hold her and not worry about dropping her. Korianka wakes up instantly if Daniela tries to give her to me so that really couldn't happen. I think I got about 10 minutes and Daniela got a few here and there at times when I was holding her. Overall Korianka was a champ though and while she babbled or cried a bit here and there overall I think she was low impact to the surrounding passengers who were almost all wearing headphones anyway.
When we landed in Houston we were in C terminal but needed to get to E terminal. Daniela took Korianka to the bathroom and changed her and then we took the skyway to terminal E. By the point we got there they would be boarding in 10 minutes but I had eaten only 2 packages of pretzels and Daniela had her aforementioned snacks. So we found the only places to eat near enough were an Asian placed called Yume and a pizza place. Daniela didn't want the pizza so we ordered from the Asian place and it took long enough that we had to get it to go. I got what was supposed to be pork katzu and Daniela got a fried rice dish with chicken and shrimp. Daniela fed some baby food to Korianka and her food showed up first so she got to eat some while waiting for mine and I continued to feed the baby. Then we had to race over and be the last people to board the plane. Fortunately it was far from a full flight but people spread out so we were stuck with a guy on the window seat with us.
It was getting late for this flight 6:30pm there is I think 7:30 pm for us and that is typically when Korianka starts the ritual of going to bed. So she was a bit fussy for this flight. When feeding she did fall asleep for maybe half an hour for this 2 hour 20 minute flight but then she woke up and all the unfamiliar kept her a bit annoyed and fussy and we had to pass her back and forth and keep her entertained. By this time of day she wants mom and not dad. Daniela took her for a diaper change and walked her around towards the end of the flight and that got her to pass out in her arms and stay asleep from there on out. As to the food, I was hoping they would turn on the lights but they didn't. I eventually ate it in the dark and didn't like it at all. The pork was burnt and dry and didn't seem to have panko breadcrumbs. There was no egg it was all dumped into the to go box in a mess. I ate it all because I was starving by that point. It was super salty and not a satisfying meal at all. Daniela loved her rice saying it was the closest to chaufa she has had in the US in non-Peruvian place.
We deboarded and went to the baggage claim. Tucson is a small airport. I waited and waited and the car seat never came through after the other two did. That was when I found the office that had the car seat sitting in it. It is apparently considered oversize and won't go through the carousel. The guy said it came through on the prior flight. Live and learn and waste another 20 minutes or so. Of course Daniela had the claim tag and he wouldn't take the ticket or driver license from me even though he just took a driver license from the guy in front of me. So I got to go back and get the ticket and show it to him before I could get the car seat.
The rental facility is right off the terminal so that was easy to get to and not too hard. We got a crappy tiny Nissan but it fits everything. It has car seat anchors so installing the base was quick. The trunk had a tough time with the bags and stroller but we can do it differently on the way back. I used google maps to find the hotel and we drove pretty much straight to the hotel. It is 15 miles but half an hour because the roads are littered with traffic lights and are all low speed limit. It felt like being in Miami honestly for that. It was totally dark out so we didn't really see much but lights from stores adn restaurants and the like.
The hotel is the Embassy Suites Paloma Village which is sort of far out of town thus the longer drive. It was cool out but not cold to me. Certainly didn't feel I needed a jacket. We did see a minor accident on the drive to the hotel. We got there about 9:30 or so and got checked in nice and quickly. We settled and I think I was in bed by 10:10 pm or so. Korianka woke up not long after then the night seemed to go as they typically do. 10:10 is like 12:10 at home and with all the lugging and walking and flying we were both exhausted and for me at least sleep came quickly.
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