Me And My Boy Take 2 - Day 1 Travel Day

[meandmyboy]

Tuesday 11th November - Day 1 Travel Day

It turned out to be a pretty terrible night. I’d settled down at just before 10 but couldn't fall asleep for ages. I don’t think I’d been asleep long when was woken by Jacob at 00:51 needing a drink, again at 3:30 for another drink than again shortly after for a wee! Jacob woke early and fidgety looking out the window at the monorail and planes. He came into my bed at 7.15am whilst I was still desperately trying to get a bit more sleep but then started playing with the balloon so I gave up all hope of any more sleep at 7.45am and got and started getting ready for the day.

Once we were both clean, dressed and the bag all packed up we made our way back down to the restaurant for our pre-paid breakfast. It had taken me quite a while to explain to Jacob why we couldn’t take his helium ballon from last night with us today - despite the fact it was now looking rather limp - he was not happy about leaving it behind. So you can imagine both his and my delight when he got given another one on arrival at the restaurant!

We had a nice mixture of cold and hot breakfast items until we’d had enough to eat. I was glad that Jacob ate well as I suspected he wouldn’t touch the meal on the plane, and wasn’t sure if he’d eat the sandwich I was planning to buy for him. But give him croissants and bacon and he’ll stuff his face! Which is exactly what he did. Where we were seated was a bit of a pain to get to the food so I had to keep leaving Jacob at our table by himself, with the bag, whilst I went back and forth getting our food and drinks. I hate this bit about being a single parent with a young child - I guess as he gets older it won’t be so stressful but at this age I worried so much I was constantly rushing back and forth - not exactly a relaxing start to the day.

Once we were both full we walked back through to the airport terminal and caught the monorail back to the South Terminal and headed up to departures. I decided we should just go straight through so we went through the family security line, which was nice and short and we got through with no problems. It is a bit stressful trying to remove and then later repack all of the bits from the bag whilst keeping Jacob close by, but he was pretty good for me.

I love the sense of relief you get once you’re finally through security and everything is back in your bag and you know that it’s just chill out time until you can make your way to the gate. Okay, so it’s not really chill out time anymore (I’m thinking more of when I used to travel solo) but we didn’t have too bad a time. We spent a bit of time in the children’s area where Jacob befriended a little baby girl and proceed to follow/stalk her around the area for the next half an hour or so. He loves babies and is very gentle with them, but he doesn’t know when to leave them alone! Whilst we were in the children’s area there was a minute’s silence for Armistice Day. It was pretty amazing to see the busy and noisy airport terminal come to a standstill for that minute...the only noise being made by children and their parents anxiously trying to stop them talking!

Jacob decided we needed to explore the terminal a bit more so we went for a wander around - him leading the way. We explore both levels and then even made our way up by the airport lounges before coming back down again. I then made us take another break as the bag I was carrying was pretty heavy, so we sat and played a Disney Planes memory/matching pairs game until it was nearly time for our gate to be announced. I quickly popped into the electrical shop for a new charger cable for my iphone/ipad and WH Smiths for some snacks and drinks for the plane, plus an Abney & Teal magazine for Jacob. It came with a little plastic whistle and guitar which I promptly removed for the safety of our fellow passengers ears - could just imagine the looks if he got that out on the plane!
There was just enough time to go for a quick toilet break (although toilet breaks with Jacob are never quick as they involve so much cajoling before he finally concedes that he does indeed need a wee) and then I checked the boards for our gate to see it had been announced and was closing in 5 minutes! Why do they do this?

We set off as fast as we could go, which was not very fast as we were going at Jacob’s pace, towards our gate. Fortunately it wasn’t one of the ones furthest away so it didn’t actually take all that much time and Jacob enjoyed riding on the moving walkways. There was a decent queue for the passport/ticket check at the gate but it was moving well so it wasn’t too long before we were through. I stopped to get our bag sorted before boarding the plane as I’d put all the bits we’d need for on the flight into our Trunki tote bags. So I pulled these out and zipped the main bag up ready to be put into the overhead locker.

Once on the plane we made our way up the stairs and found our seats 78J & K I think it was, in the bubble. A man was already sitting in the aisle seat so he got up to allow us in. My cabin bag wouldn’t fit in the overhead locker so I stuck it in the cupboard behind us, then got Jake strapped into his seat and our stuff packed away into the little cupboard under the window, and clipped our Trunki tote bags onto the seats in front. We were all set!

Jacob was excited looking out the window at the planes and vehicles moving around, but he was even more excited that he was now on the plane and that this meant he could finally watch the programmes I’d loaded onto his iPad! He settled down to watch these and before too long it was time for take off. We enjoyed take-off together and then he settled back into watching things on his iPad.

The flight went really well - especially compared to last year’s - and amazingly I even managed to watch three films myself! I watched Maleficent, Boyhood and The Inbetweeners 2. Jacob watched various programmes on his iPad, enjoyed the stickers and activity books I’d packed in his Trunki tote bag for him and did some colouring. He even managed to have a nap for about an hour or so which was great. He also enjoyed watching the sky map and seeing where we were flying.

As always the last bit of the flight began to drag and I just wanted to be there already! But finally we were and I managed to grab our bag and repack our bits into it before helping Jacob down the stairs and heading into immigration. We were almost at the front of the line which was a fantastic improvement on last year, and were through within a few minutes. We waited a little while for our luggage but once it came through I packed my cabin backpack into the bag with the car seat, so I could just put that over my shoulder and wheel the suitcase with one hand, whilst holding Jacob’s hand with the other. This strategy had been carefully thought out so as to avoid the use of second bag drop this time and meant we could head straight to the Magical Express desks.

I hadn’t realised quite how far the walk to the DME desks would be though and wished I’d got a trolley as the car seat bag on my shoulders was soooo heaving and I was really struggling by the time we made it there. Next time I’ll definitely remember to get a trolley once we get off the monorail. But we were on the Magical Express by 6.05pm which was just amazing. Unfortunately despite the bus being almost full when we boarded we still had to wait about another half an hour until they’d filled it completely up and then finally we were off - heading to our hotel. Last year we’d been the first stop on the bus, but this year we weren’t so lucky and All Star Music was the third stop after Coronado Springs and All Star Sports.

Jacob had fallen asleep on the bus so was a bit grumpy and disorientated when I woke him to get off at our hotel. He was also upset by the sound the bus made when it let out air as it moved off - so wasn’t in the best of moods as we reached the front desk. Bell services didn’t bother to come and help me with my bags so I had to drag everything to the desk myself. I went to the express check in as I’d done online check in beforehand. We got given our magic bands and the lady kindly made Jacob’s smaller for him so he could wear it this time.

Jacob was quite upset and tired at this point and the staff did their best to cheer him up by giving him a lovely pirate Mickey colouring set and a yellow helium balloon - which did raise a smile. He was still going on about the two balloons he’d had to leave behind at the Premier Inn this morning!

The lovely lady on the front desk was trying to find me a room closer to reception and it was taking her ages. I didn’t realise what she was doing and eventually she noticed that I’d actually requested a room in Country Fair because I wanted somewhere quiet and on a top floor. I didn’t need to be close to reception or the buses as we’d be picking up our rental car tomorrow afternoon. Anyway in the end I worked out what she was trying to do and we decided to stick with the room we’d already been allocated - 5656. Jake was desperate to go into the gift shop and look at the toys (he also thought Mickey would be in there and wanted to show him his balloon!). I had to tell him that Mickey was in bed when he asked why he wouldn’t be there!

After getting our map and all the information, including our car pass for tomorrow, we took our bags back outside to bell services to be taken to our room. We had a quick look around the gift shop to keep Jacob happy and then we had to walk the entire length of the resort to reach our room. Jacob was excited to see the swimming pools! We got to our room and dumped our stuff and I quickly started getting Jacob ready for bed. Bell services were brilliant and arrived with our bags not long after us, which meant I was able to get ready for bed too.

We were both in bed by about 8.10pm and Jake fell asleep quickly (and in his own bed this time - last time he’d wanted to share with me on the first night) happily snuggling his Simba toy. I caught up with emails whilst he dropped off and let my Dad know we’d arrived. I switched off just after 9pm and fell asleep quickly.

[Tartan Tigger]

Great start. Looking forward to next installment.

[WileyCoyote]

You must have been exhausted but wow, what a smooth travel day with all that fab organisation you did before hand. You did brilliantly ! I think Jacob was amazing, lol, probably less hassle than my teens on the flight , lol. So pleased it went ok for you. Hoorah,you are there.

[Guest]

I would love to do a mother daughter trip with my daughter I'm not a single parent but it's sounds such a lovely thing to do you are doing brilliantly

[meandmyboy]

Originally Posted by Tartan Tigger

Great start. Looking forward to next installment.

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Thanks for reading!

[meandmyboy]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

You must have been exhausted but wow, what a smooth travel day with all that fab organisation you did before hand. You did brilliantly ! I think Jacob was amazing, lol, probably less hassle than my teens on the flight , lol. So pleased it went ok for you. Hoorah,you are there.

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Yes it went a lot more smoothly than I was expecting - although compared to last year anything would have been an improvement! I'd rather give birth again than repeat that day over again.

Jacob was really good for me that day (although he lets the side down phenomenally a few times later on in the holiday) and we were so happy to finally be there!

[meandmyboy]

Originally Posted by Rollercolster

I've got to say I'm not a parent but I think you did a wonderful job of organising Jacob, it's bad enough with just me and my wife and we rely on each other to get through travel day. That last part of the flight always drags but it sounds like you coped really well

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Thank you! And thanks for reading along. I think it helps that I've travelled solo loads over the years so I'm quite used to sorting myself out. It is quite different/harder work sorting out a little one too but I learned a lot from last year's experience and tried to minimise the areas of that added to the stress last time.

[meandmyboy]

Originally Posted by DisneyMadFan

I would love to do a mother daughter trip with my daughter I'm not a single parent but it's sounds such a lovely thing to do you are doing brilliantly

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Thank you! And thanks for reading too. A mother daughter trip would be fab - you should definitely try and do it

[rens]

Glad travel day went smoother for you then it did last year!
Loved the bit about your son wanting to go and find Mickey in the guft shop as soon as you'd got there- too cute x

[meandmyboy]

Originally Posted by rens

Glad travel day went smoother for you then it did last year!
Loved the bit about your son wanting to go and find Mickey in the guft shop as soon as you'd got there- too cute x

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He was really quite disappointed to hear that Mickey wasn't in there!