Catching Up

OK, so it is now 9:45pm and I am giving myself 15min to write this blog before I force myself to go to bed.

Lets begin on leaving Grenada...

Took a Liat flight from Grenada to Barbados. Uneventful flight. But since I had Paul with me, I was pretty much the last person off the plane because of all the crap I had, and then I had to wait outside the plane for 20min for them to unload my stroller. Of course since I had the luxury of "pre-boarding", my stroller was the first on, therefore the last item of luggage off the plane.

*Just a side note - Inevitably when I fly Liat there is some tourist who stands at my seat looking confused, checking their ticket, and then eventually saying "you're in my seat." To which I get to point out that contrary to their ticket seat assignment, Liat subscribes to a "rush-seating" policy. Which I think is hilarious. And I send the bewildered looking tourist on their way to find a seat elsewhere.*

Also, since I had my babe, I couldn't fill out my customs forms on the flight, so P & I were the last people to finally go through customs. Out we come to the baggage claim, and lo and behold...no bag! What I do see is some other giant black duffle going around and around in lonely circles. This black duffle is clearly not mine, since I am smart enough to use a giant flourescent pink happy face name tag so that it easily stands out. Obviously the giant pink name tag is not a red flag to whomever chose to take my bag instead of their own.

I'm not terribly panicked, because being a mom, I have a tremendous diaper bag on my person that could easily keep Paul and me fed, clothed and entertained for a month. I'm like "whatev, eventually my bag will get back to me, even if we have to leave Barbados without it." And quite frankly it weighs 65 lbs and is a huge pain in the ass, so I don't terribly miss it. Maybe I won't have to pay any weight overage charges if Liat has to pay to get my bag to me.

45 minutes later, still in the baggage claim talking to the Lost Bag dept., some white guy with a porter comes wheeling my bag back to me :) He tried checking it on to the Toronto flight and realized (when it was so heavy and going to have to pay) that it was not his bag. I thought "hey, my bag was going to make it on the flight anyway!"

Check in to my TO flight and ask if I could possibly have an extra seat for the babe & his car seat. Nope, they tell me, the flight is all full :( Paul luckily napped in Barbados for two hours, so by the time we boarded we were rarin' to go! I am sitting next to a beautiful young doctor who loves babies and her husband. And I'm thinking "this isn't so bad, even without the extra seat!"

However, a flight attendent comes by and asks if I would like to switch with the woman ahead of me because there is an empty middle seat in that aisle for P. How wonderful! Although, I am a little miffed because I wish I had known, I would have been able to bring P's car seat with me and then he definately would be able to sleep. Oh well, we'll just make do, and hopefully he'll sleep on some blankets on the empty seat.

One look at the guy by the window, and I'm thinking "SHIT!" This guy is CLEARLY a baby-hater. He's an older gent, maybe fifty, and when P & I sat down he cringed. CRINGED! But I ignore it, and think it will all be ok. So I lay down Paul's nice blankets and make him a little baby nest so it will be all comfy. We get underway, and P and I are hangin out, watching tv, have a snack, and I think "OK, maybe I'll lie him down now." So I put P down with a soother (binky for you weirdo American's who will read this), and his puppy blanket, and he's all red-eyed and sleepy looking. Pretty relaxed. And when P is going to sleep he puts his puppy over his face and plays with it. Well, P's little fists are up caressing his blankie... and his hand accidently bumps the baby-hater...and the baby-hater jerks away like he's been burned! So then P looks at him and tried to reach toward him, and the baby-hater stares straight ahead and shrinks toward the window. I realize now that I have to keep P from touching this guy at all costs, so I'm trying to stop him from reaching for the baby-hater, but P won't stop and the baby-hater looks so angry that I pick P up and he spends the rest of the flight wide awake on my lap.

Oh, did I mention the part where I was trying to fill P's bottle with formula and water and I had to put P down in the empty seat...we hit turbulence and P falls over and hits his head and starts crying, and the baby-hater turns to me and says "Look! I know it's hard, but could you TRY!" Jackass! That was the only time P cried all flight! I said "Fine!" But I thought of a million things I should have said instead.

Next up...we land in TO, exhausted and ready for bed. Luckily my mom booked us into the Sheraton which is attached to the airport. I hire a porter for $20 to bring my bags cause there's no way in hell I can carry it anywhere. Get to the check-in desk, "We don't have your reservation." What? WHAT? After my & P's extremely long & exhausting day, you don't have my Rez?! I didn't print my confirmation because I figured it was just going to be a redundancy, and a waste of paper, and when have I ever needed a printed confirmation?! So the bellhop lets me use his computer, and I'm looking at the confirmation and it all seems right. I'm at the right hotel...but it's not June 20, it's May 20! Crap.

"Well, that's no problem Mrs. Ford we'll just call Expedia and see if they'll honour this rate and change the date, we'll just need your credit card."
"Right, well that's a long story...I don't have a credit card."
Everyone looks appalled. As if this is the worst thing ever! This is why my mom had to book my hotel, because somebody somewhere copied my credit card number, VISA cancelled my credit card, and unfortunately they do not seem capable to send replacement cards to Grenada. They sent them to Grenada, California. And then said that since UPS apparently couldn't get the job done, that they were going to use regular mail. So we'll probably see the cards sometime next year. Needless to say, they did not arrive prior to my departure.

"I have cash," I say, and am thinking, "you know, cash used to be just as good as a credit card!" So they sort it all out for me, and since the room was prepaid, all is well. But no I may not make phone calls, use the internet, or order room service. "But I have CASH!"
OK, they say, they will call ahead to room service and let them know I will be paying cash. Like I'm some shady non-credit card owner, who's going to roll them for a $35 burger and fries (which were cold! and which I had to eat sitting on the toilet in the bathroom for fear of waking up my exhausted baby).

Next day, flight home :) Beautiful weather. Got a row to ourselves. P had his car seat and slept most of the flight and I got to watch Hotel for Dogs :)

And now I am home. I have more stories to tell, but I have gone well over my alotted 15min window and am exhausted.

Night all! -Karen