I used to think that armies deployed on military invasions slowly because of the desire to exhaust every possible option for a solution other than mobilization. I now realize that it’s because at the mere mention of moving all those people and all that stuff, someone who was going to be in charge of it said, “Oh, crap! We got a lot of things to do still!”
So it goes with group vacations. When we started these journeys several years ago, in some ways they were easier – we had “color of the day” for T-shirts, and everyone wore the same color. This was a trick that my Mom (Nonnie) had taught me, so that when you scan a crowd of people looking for the errant child, you know immediately that you’re looking for blue or green or red or whatever. It made that moment of panic a little easier to deal with because there was one less variable to process.
That began to fall apart, however, when “style” started to figure into the picture and self-expression came along. When they were little, after all, we packed them and they wore what we packed. Over time they’d begun packing themselves with supervision. This year was probably the first time that they were told, “One bag, 50 pounds max, one carry on,” and left to their own devices. The other downside is that, other than my shoes, many clothes are interchangeable, especially between the boys and Eddie and I.
The Travelers
This year, in addition to the regular cast of Eddie and Larry, Benita (the kid’s mom), Bobbie Jean (her mother / the kid’s grandmother), Taylor and Jordan (who, incidentally are now 16 and driving), and Caleb (fast approaching 14), we have additions. Jacob (on the far side of 16) is one of their running buddies who is frequently along for the ride and has become an ex parte member of the family. Being pack animals by nature, our hope is that increasing the herd of adolescents will work to the benefit of those with a bit of grey in their hair.
Additionally, when we leave for the cruise, we’ll be joined by my parents (Wayne and Nonnie), who are flying out from Oklahoma to join us as we soak up the sunshine in the sunny Mexican Riveria (this isn't where we're going...so more on that later). This will be their second cruise, and the first time that I’ve gotten to travel with them in about 15 years.
The Journey Begins
Scheduling was not especially working to our benefit for this vacation. We decided to come to Los Angeles a few days ahead of time since we’d never really been here to explore. Thus, a departure date of June 10 was selected, giving us from Wednesday to Sunday before the cruise left for fun in the sun.
Incidentally, as I write this at 6:30 in the morning on Friday, it’s overcast with a high in the low 70’s predicted. According to the Weather Channel, that’s what we’re in for during our entire visit here. So much for working on the tan lines ahead of the cruise!
The school calendar for Newton-Conover Schools failed to take our needs into account, though, and scheduled the last day of school for – you guessed it – June 10. The end result was that the kids finished school at noonish (although Caleb was scheduled to go later – what kind of a nut schedules a full day of school for the last day???) and ran errands until it was time to go to the airport and catch the Hickory Hop.
I’ve talked about the shuttle before, but can’t say enough nice about them. The van is clean, runs on time (they’re actually very accommodating if you need a little adjustment in the schedule) and is so much nicer than having to drive, park and pay at the Charlotte airport.
In this case, they were especially glad to see us because we filled up the entire 12 passenger van for them. The driver’s eyes kind of popped when he saw how much luggage there was, and we had it packed tight in the cargo area and some of the smaller stuff up with us. I suspect it was “settin’ on” the overrides by the time we all loaded and headed down the road!
The airport is pretty routine by now, even for the kids. They walked Jacob through the “empty your pockets, no metal” routine to get us through the security checkpoint. Because Eddie and I fly enough, we’ve got a pass to the First Class lounge, which is a much nicer place to wait than out at the gate. We always plan more than enough time to get through the airport so we went there to relax and wait.
This was the kid’s first time to be there, and they brightened up immediately when they saw it – especially the “free drinks and snacks” part, since it’d been more than 2 hours since their last feeding. Benita pointed out that they’d somewhat reverted to infancy, since as teenagers they also sleep a great deal and require round-the-clock feedings every two hours. The big difference seems to come from the fact that they order off the adult menus now, rather than being happy with a kiddie meal somewhere!
After we’d staked our turf in the lounge and got all the necessities sated for a bit, we got to make the big announcement.
Eddie is a champ at working deals on airlines (or hotels, or cruise lines, or just about everything else travel-related), so he’d been talking to US Airways and had worked deal so that we would now be occupying 8 of the 16 seats in FIRST CLASS on this trip. None of the kids had ever ridden in first class before, so this news brought a sprinkle to everyone’s eyes – well, except for maybe the other 8 people in FIRST CLASS, since we had the entire first and last row.
As nice as it was to have the extra room – and an actual meal and drinks – the A321 we were on was somewhat disappointing. We’d talked about the individual entertainment systems and TV screens, but that’s completely gone on this plane – not even a radio to listen to. If we’d had little kids and been planning on that to entertain them during the 4 hour and 50 minute flight, I’d have been a bit annoyed. As it turned out it was irrelevant, because we had enough electronic gadgets between us to run the space shuttle.
As young adults, the kids are so much fun to be with, and especially to travel with. Nobody cried on the plane. We didn’t really get any dirty looks from anyone when because we were going to be sitting with them (I love babies – except on airplanes when I think they really should be put in the overhead bins!). They toted their own stuff. Nobody asked, “Are we there yet?”
We had a great flight attendant, which is one of the perks of first class over coach. She had Bloody Marys (our traditional in-flight drink) to us before we left and kept them coming throughout the flight. She and Bobbie Jean, especially, engaged and chatted through much of the flight and she flattered Jacob and Taylor when she thought they were 18. Jordan, of course, passes for over 21 already and waiters are constantly trying to put a wine glass in front of her as well.
The flight was delayed over an hour in Charlotte as we waited for weather to clear, and thunderstorms were to set the tenor for the rest of the trip. Seat belts were the order of the day, and even halfway through dinner preparations the Captain told them to lock the carts and take their seats. It wasn’t as bad as over the Pacific coming back from Australia, but it was a little bumpy.
The one funny thing that happened on the flight was during the meal. Choices were chicken or fish, of course nobody chose the fish until they ran out of the chicken so some of the kids, at least, got stuck with fish. It really wasn’t a very good smell and at different times as the kids would come up to go to the bathroom and stop to talk they’d comment about the lady sitting in front of Caleb. Seems she had some hygiene problems that were apparent to those sitting around her. As one of them put it (after we didn’t catch on immediately) – “We thought it was dinner that stunk, then we figured out that it was her!”
One step closer to adulthood.
