Our vacation to Florida has come and gone and still nothing has appeared on Quincy’s site – nary a peep but for the timeline updates. Well, what can I say, but that you get what you pay for. So please make sure your tray table is locked and your seat back is in the full upright position.
Since we were flying Southwest out of Manchester, New Hampshire (direct to Orlando), we decided to make the four hour drive down there the day before the flight so as to minimize the travel stress on us and, of course, Quincy. We spent the day Saturday, February 3rd, packing up our stuff for the trip. For some reason, we were able to pack less stuff for flying than when we travel by car. Quincy actually had the bulk of stuff to ship on down to the Sunshine State. We left the house shortly after lunch and arrived without incident at our hotel near the airport – a very nice Best Western that we’ll use again if we fly out of Manchester again. After a so-so dinner at a local eatery, we bedded Quincy down for the evening and then sat by the bathroom reading the newspaper and being bored in general. I decided to go to sleep at 8:45 since there was little else to do.
Travel day (ominous music here please) with Quincy via an airplane. Our flight was after lunch, so we checked out and drove over to the airport very early. The shuttle bus driver was zero help with our bags – not to mention it was very cold and windy. We checked in, got our boarding passes and had lunch before going thru security – which was not a problem. I did find it very funny that even Quincy had to take his shoes off. Yup, we were going to hide the plastic explosives in our toddler’s soles. Regardless, there was nothing next to do now but wait, and wait, and wait. Did I mention that we had to lug his car seat all over creation? Well, we did. I felt more like a pack mule than anything else at times. Why didn’t we check the car seat? Simple – Quincy had his own seat on the plane and he was going to ride in his car seat. The nice thing about traveling with Quincy was that we got to get on the plane before the rest of the cattle. So, we picked a row, buckled his seat between us and waited. He was doing fine at this point – mainly curious about all that was going on. We’re pretty sure he has no idea he was on an airplane. He really likes them from the outside, but has no clue we flew in one.
We even got to fly on one of Southwest’s specially decorated planes – Slam Dunk One – the NBA themed plane. We were told that it doesn’t make it into Manchester very much – gee I find that surprising. On this flight, Quincy did great, he sat in his seat on takeoff, had a snack, took an hour nap, and then played on mom’s lap for a while. He made nary a peep on this flight – on this flight. I must also add that the flight crew on this plane was the funniest one I have ever come into contact with. The safety briefing before take-off was a comedy sketch. I have never seen a plane load of people applaud at the end before, but it happened this time. Here are a couple examples that I can remember accurately:
“Should this Southwest flight turn into a Southwest cruise……”
“For those of you traveling with small children….what were you thinking?”
“Tampering with the smoke alarm is a federal offense and could result in a $2000 fine, but let’s face it, if you had that $2000 you wouldn’t be flying Southwest today.”
Before we reached the gate in Orlando, people started unclicking their lap belts when we hear, “Not yet……” more clicking noises “Not yet…..” The seatbelt sign goes off and then we get a “Okay, get out” over the speaker. This was a sampling of what went on – just good stuff, especially for those of us who despise flying.
Everything went smoothly at the Orlando airport and we were on the rent-a-car shuttle bus in short order. The driver here, unlike the one in NH, was very kind to help with all of our stuff. The rent-a-car place needed a more streamlined process for getting people into their vehicles. It was a bit of a wait, but then we were off and running in our white Jeep Laredo (for all the off-road driving we were going to do).
We made the drive from Orlando to my aunt and uncle’s house in Lake Panasoffkee – about an hour away. We made it to their house before half-time. Did I mention that this was Super Bowl Sunday? How about that it is my fault the Colts won? Well, that’s a story for another time. What an ugly game it was – not worthy of the title “Super”. Quincy was in a fairly good mood considering all that had happened that day. Oddly enough, my mom was there when we arrived (I knew she would be). There had been a death in her extended family and she had come down and was staying with her sister, where we were – Aunt Buff the Great’s house. She got to see Quincy that evening and then for a few hours in the morning before she had to drive over to Tampa for her flight home.
Quincy slept very well every night we were down there. This was a concern for us before we left since he hadn’t slept in the pack and play for a few months and we weren’t sure how he would react to it again, but no problems to report. We spent Monday just hanging out with family, going for a nice long walk around the area and then out for a nice dinner. Tuesday we had planned to drive over to my brother’s and his wife’s house in Mascotte – about 30 or so minutes away. Before we left, we went out for a walk in the morning and Quincy got to watch Buff feed some donkeys some crackers (the donkeys live close by). By late morning, we decided it was time to pack up the gear and make the journey to Uncle Bill’s and Aunt Melissa’s and perhaps, just maybe, the happiest place on earth (moderate amount of sarcasm there).