Los Angeles Day 1: Leaving on a Jet Plane
As our flight out was not until 1800, I had initially planned on dropping Elsy off at daycare, figuring out my company's year end, grabbing my paycheque, and picking up Elsy after her nap before heading to the airport on the UP express.
After figuring out that that schedule would be a little too tight, we decided to keep Elsy at home, and I picked up my cheque the day before so I only had one errand to run, which took a lot longer than anticipated due to traffic.
We decided to drive to the airport instead of taking the train because of all the stuff we were bringing. It was unfortunate because the train is a lot faster and cheaper than driving and parking. I am the first to admit though that even with only one luggage to check in, taking a car seat, stroller, diaper bag, and two other carry-ons is a lot to lug around on public transit, especially when there are no elevators (or down escalators) at our subway station.
The extra time we gained from cutting out some of the events from the day proved useful as it took us a long time to check in to our flight. When I called ahead about the flight, I was told that the check in baggage would be free for Elsy. However, when I tried checking in at the self serve kiosk, I was unable to get a free check in for the luggage and was told by one of the service attendants that we would have to pay to have it checked in. Due to time restrictions, we just went ahead and paid for that bag to get checked. We had enough time to get through security, customs, and to our gate but did not have enough time to grab any food before people started boarding. As we were a little late, we missed the pre-boarding call and ended up getting loaded with the rest of the travelers. Again, due to a miscommunication, our car seat was not checked by the check-in attendant and we had to wait while someone examined our car seat before we were allowed onboard.
Elsy enjoyed the trip to the airport as well as seeing all of the airplanes while we were inside, despite being the second (although technically third) time that she has flown. She was excited for the takeoff and handled the air pressure change very well. The iPad helped a lot as she was watching shows for most of the time she was awake onboard the plane. The car seat helped quite a bit methinks. Elsy was able to sit comfortably on her seat for the duration of the flight and had some good naps.
Because we had missed getting food at the airport, we were hungry and wanted to purchase a couple of the hot meals on board. However, by the time the cart go to us, we were told that all of the hot meals were gone, and most of the snacks were unavailable as well. We pretty much subsisted on a small snack dish we bought, the complementary pretzels and cookies, as well as the red bean moon cakes I was able to bring onboard. Not happy.
We landed in the evening and was the last party to leave the plane. Our luggage was already taken off the carousel by the time we got to baggage claim, but fortunately everything was in order.
The car rental went fairly smoothly, and I was convinced to purchase liability insurance after seeing the traffic at the airport. Our Ford Fiesta was small, but was just big enough to take us and our luggage to Maggie's cousin's house.
Traffic was pretty bad despite being ten at night. Due to issues we were having with our off-line GPS, we ended up stuck in a lot of jams and also ended up taking the wrong exits due to mistiming of driving commands (I could not see the map as my phone had died).
In any case, we were able to make it to the house by midnight and managed to meet up with the whole family before going to bed.
After figuring out that that schedule would be a little too tight, we decided to keep Elsy at home, and I picked up my cheque the day before so I only had one errand to run, which took a lot longer than anticipated due to traffic.
We decided to drive to the airport instead of taking the train because of all the stuff we were bringing. It was unfortunate because the train is a lot faster and cheaper than driving and parking. I am the first to admit though that even with only one luggage to check in, taking a car seat, stroller, diaper bag, and two other carry-ons is a lot to lug around on public transit, especially when there are no elevators (or down escalators) at our subway station.
The extra time we gained from cutting out some of the events from the day proved useful as it took us a long time to check in to our flight. When I called ahead about the flight, I was told that the check in baggage would be free for Elsy. However, when I tried checking in at the self serve kiosk, I was unable to get a free check in for the luggage and was told by one of the service attendants that we would have to pay to have it checked in. Due to time restrictions, we just went ahead and paid for that bag to get checked. We had enough time to get through security, customs, and to our gate but did not have enough time to grab any food before people started boarding. As we were a little late, we missed the pre-boarding call and ended up getting loaded with the rest of the travelers. Again, due to a miscommunication, our car seat was not checked by the check-in attendant and we had to wait while someone examined our car seat before we were allowed onboard.
Elsy enjoyed the trip to the airport as well as seeing all of the airplanes while we were inside, despite being the second (although technically third) time that she has flown. She was excited for the takeoff and handled the air pressure change very well. The iPad helped a lot as she was watching shows for most of the time she was awake onboard the plane. The car seat helped quite a bit methinks. Elsy was able to sit comfortably on her seat for the duration of the flight and had some good naps.
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| Elsy is all prepared for takeoff. |
Because we had missed getting food at the airport, we were hungry and wanted to purchase a couple of the hot meals on board. However, by the time the cart go to us, we were told that all of the hot meals were gone, and most of the snacks were unavailable as well. We pretty much subsisted on a small snack dish we bought, the complementary pretzels and cookies, as well as the red bean moon cakes I was able to bring onboard. Not happy.
We landed in the evening and was the last party to leave the plane. Our luggage was already taken off the carousel by the time we got to baggage claim, but fortunately everything was in order.
The car rental went fairly smoothly, and I was convinced to purchase liability insurance after seeing the traffic at the airport. Our Ford Fiesta was small, but was just big enough to take us and our luggage to Maggie's cousin's house.
Traffic was pretty bad despite being ten at night. Due to issues we were having with our off-line GPS, we ended up stuck in a lot of jams and also ended up taking the wrong exits due to mistiming of driving commands (I could not see the map as my phone had died).
In any case, we were able to make it to the house by midnight and managed to meet up with the whole family before going to bed.
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