Turns out there’s no such thing as an easy exit when traveling with a toddler.
Our day started off well. Packing at 8:30 a.m. leaving by 10:00 a.m. getting a nice breakfast and heading to the park. Of course Adah fell asleep on the way, her normal nap time seems to have set in, so we headed to the Natural History Museum (NHM) and arrived around 12:30. Flight leaves at 4:50 p.m., need to arrive two hours early, no problem.
The NHM was cool. We kept it simple and looked at the cool stuff: large mammals, dino bones and when Adah woke up the little critters. I would say my favs were the: Stegasaurus bones, T-Rex Head, Wooly Mammoth and whatever that large acquatic mammal overlooking the lobby was! The sea cow was pretty cool, Sarah & Duck anyone? We left with time to spare and headed to Gatwick Airport.
Thanks to some expert tetrising we were able to turn seven bags into four. Two over-stuffed incredibly heavy large packs and two backpacks. This made the trip from the NHM to Gatwick incredibly difficult. None of the stations between there and Gatwick had a lift or escalators which meant me and my pregnant wife had to lift a 75 pound stroller packed with our stuff while carrying already heavy bags. Thank God for parents of kids who saw our struggle and help at many points throughout our journey.
All the delays had us arriving around 3:15 pm. The Gatwick Express took us to the wrong terminal, so we take another tram to get us to the right place. We arrived, got our stroller check card to be put on at the gate and headed to special / family security. I happened to notice a sign as we walked “boarding gates close 30 minutes before flight” flight leaves in an hour, plenty of time. NOT! Security took awhile, my overstuffed bag was to big for the bins that security needed, we had to unpack, repack, shift toiletries and wrangle a fussy toddler. When we got through security we had about 15 minutes to get to our gate. So much for plenty of time.
From this point on everything went wrong, until it didn’t. We walked towards the departure gate through the longest Duty-Free area I’ve ever seen at an Airport. Seriously, it was the size of a small mall that opened into a massive terminal space without knowing where our gate is. We found it on one of the many screens and looked up to see GATE 101-2 -> “At least it’s close. As we rushed on we were lead through a series of escalators, bridges, lifts and stairs no joke a mile away from the initial terminal. At this point we’re carrying between us about 120 pounds walking / jogging and I’m legitimatley wondering if my heart can handle the stress. Bethany is wondering how we can survive a night in an airport with a toddler. In the last stretch we split up so she could take the lift and I could rush to the gate. We made it.
“Are you kidding me? When will this end?”
Because we were so late the gate carry-on space was all gone so all of our bags had to be checked at the gate, free of charge (silver lining?). Yes and no . We placed Bethany’s Bag in the stroller bag and I was instructed to carry that and my bag down to the tarmack. No problem just down another tunnel, some more stairs and out into the cold carrying 110 pounds, easy pease.
When we finally boarded our flight and got settled all we could do was exhale and laugh. EasyJet more like notEasytogettoJet, am I right? The final silver lining the flight was only 40 minutes long, an hour less than expected. Lesson learned: If you’re willing to go through a stupid amount of stress, you might get your bags checked for free. Oh and always arrive way to early for international travel.
Our arrival in Paris was mostly uneventful other than a scare where we thought our stroller and Bethany’s bag were lost. They were not. Apparently strollers are dealt with differently than other bags in Paris, good to know. We hailed a cab and headed to our new place on Rue De Nantes near Metro 7. It is apparently legal for toddlers to drive without carseats. It’s a little nerve racking but our driver was slow and careful which we appreciated.
Once we arrived, climbed up three sets of steep winding stairs, we arrived at our new digs for the next few days. A small 450sq foot flat 15 minutes from downtown. I quickly realized I left my credit card in the cab, cancelled it, grabbed my other card and headed to the store to get dinner and milk for Adah, a girls gotta eat.
We finished our night watching Puffin Rock on Netflix with Adah until she started laying on the hard wood saying “Night Night” and we went to bed. We don’t co-sleep often but I got to lay down with her and it was amazing. I get why people do it.
