Better luck next time

We went to North Carolina last week. It was the worst "vacation" I have ever been on. Carsten was a total pill the entire week, plus him and I both came down with some gnarly colds. It was so nice to see our friends, which was the main reason we went, so the trip was worth it if just for that reason. North Carolina is beautiful, especially this time of year when Fall is in full effect. It's too bad we couldn't really enjoy much of it. Please, be smarter than us. Don't ever take a toddler on vacation with you when they are in the throws of their terrible two's. Holy Hell... what torture.

We should have known the trip was going to be bad after our experience getting there.

We got to the airport a good 1 1/2 hours before our departure to avoid any stress rushing to get to the gate. We were waiting in line to check our bags in when suddenly I realized my wallet was missing... my wallet which contains my I.D... the I.D. you have to have to get on the plane. So, we started to panic. The guy in front of us... I mean, the moron in front of us, kept trying to tell us that I could still get on the plane, but that they were going to search me. We should have known he had no idea what he was talking about, but wishful thinking kept us in line another 10 minutes. I figured out I had probably left my wallet at Walgreens the morning before. Danyel was so mad at me and I felt just awful.

Of course, once we got to the front to check in our bags they told us I had to have my I.D... period. We were so screwed. I called Walgreens and they had my wallet. Anyway, there was only one more flight to Greensboro that day and it wasn't arriving until 9pm, plus it was full so we were only going to be able to go standby, meaning our chances of getting on were like zero. We talked about it (while Carsten threw a major tantrum) and Danyel decided to make a run for it to Walgreens to get my wallet. We had only an hour and 20 minutes until the plane took off. I knew he wasn't going to make it. I knew I was going to be in major trouble if we didn't get on that plane.

So for the next hour, I kept Carsten occupied. He took a horrid poop, which I had to change right there in front of everyone because there was no way I could carry all our bags and him to the restroom. It was so impolite, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I knew that if Danyel was not back 30 minutes before take off that we were screwed for the simple fact that they usually won't check in your luggage anytime after that. He came running into the terminal 25 minutes before take off. He had taken a cab for a hefty price of $100 knowing that he would never make it back in time if he had to take the shuttle back to the parking lot to get the car. Luckily, he was able to convince the cabby to go 90 mph most of the way there and back.

By the grace of God everything fell into place after that point...

1.) there was no line to check in your bags by this time.
2.) the attendant checked in our bags.
3.) there was only a few people trying to get through security.
4.) the carry on baggage screener missed the sippy cup of water accidentally left in the diaper bag, the tide pen, and the hand sanitizer.
5.) we arrived at the gate right before they shut the doors... right as the attendant was saying "This is your last boarding call".

If they would have found the "illegal" liquids in my diaper bag and had to pull me over and search me, we would have missed the flight. We ran like hell from the security check point. I was holding Carsten as he worriedly asked repeatedly, "Mama? Mama? Mama?" If he had the vocab, he would have said, "What the hell is going on Mama?!" It was truly a miracle that we got on that plane.

Most importantly, I was spared the wrath of Danyel. By that time he was just so happy that we made it and he didn't have much energy left to reap me over the coals. Don't get me wrong... I spent a lot of time apologizing and he spent a lot of the trip reminding me that I cost us a $100 cab ride.