Sunday, December 24, 2006

28 hours in transit

We have arrived in Florida. After 28 hours getting from Tokyo to New York and then New York to Florida, here I sit at 2:30am on Sunday wide awake. Actually I am not wide awake, but some little person is, happily eating cereal and chatting up a storm. Baba-san and I have decided to take turns and I have today. Tomorrow at 2:30am, it will be he who will be listening to the babble of the little miss.

Word of advise when traveling over this or any other holiday season; DON"T DO IT. Stay home. Invite all of your relatives to your house. Pay for them to come if you can. Buy as much food as you need to get through their visit, rent a lot of movies, and DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE!!!!

I say this having experienced a 12 hour flight from Tokyo with a 2 year old. Now, as far as 2 year olds go, she is pretty good. But 12 hours of a 2 year old - any 2 year old, in very cramped quarters is, well, hell. And this was the calm and civilized part of the trip. Japan airports are serene; calm and quiet - everyone going about their travels almost silently. The flights are as well; courteous attendants ready with a toy or a drink to calm a little person who is just a little fussy.

US airports on the other hand are masses of confusion and noise and garbage. Adults, children and pets careening around like mad. Add to that a few delayed flights and you have some pretty testy people. If you have ever experienced the Jet Blue terminal at Kennedy airport during the holiday season, you know what I mean. Unfortunately, we experienced more of it than usual, having a 5 hour layover. By the end of it, I wanted to do what Ariana was doing off and on - screaming out in frustration "GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!! She continued to voice her opinion on the plane, becoming more and more insistent as the flight went on. Actually I don't blame her. She wanted to sleep - we all wanted to sleep. We landed an hour late and then they neglected to tell us half of the luggage from our flight ended up on an earlier one and was sitting at another carousel - fine - add to the torture why don't you!

We did finally made it, set up the Pack n' Play, put her in it and went to bed. Twenty minutes later at the sound of desperate cries, she ended up in bed with us, for a few hours at least. And here she sits. And here I sit. She is very happy. She is very cute. I am very tired. And not at all cute.

Happy Holidays to All.............

2 comments:

Michelle said...

Oh sure you are! Enjoy the holiday and we'll see you on Tues!

mama J said...

No, trust me I'm not.......and about the washing hands, I want to clarify that I do not wash after every change....it is something I aspire to, just like I aspire to not hit Ariana's head on the door frame of the car every time I put her in the carseat......bad mama, bad.