We have become a traveling cliche.
When I was traveling to Indonesia on business, I saw a lot of families on vacation. It was easy to pick them out of a crowd because they always fit the same pattern. As we made our way through the Singapore airport on Sunday, I realized we, too, fit that pattern. Father in the lead acting as guide and family pack mule. He is holding the tickets and passports in one hand, searching for the right gate, and carrying all of the family's carry on luggage. Mother following with kids in tow, looking weary in a way only a mother with young children can. Often carrying the baby with one arm and holding the hand of one or more other children. She doesn't really care where she is going as long as they get there quickly. She definitely isn't paying attention to anything other than staying close to her husband and keeping the children occupied.
That is now us. We're among the traveling families who just want to make it through to our destination in one piece and without strangling any of the children. We also hope the young one doesn't scream at the top of his lungs for any extended duration of the flight. Nothing adds tension to a group of people in a big metal can 30,000 feet in the air like a crying baby.
I think we'll have to explore traveling the way many of the wealthy Asians do - with their nannies. On the 70 minute flight to and from Singapore we always fly coach. I try to limit our business class tickets to flights over four hours duration. Because we travel with an infant, we get the first row of economy because they can setup a bassinet. On our return to Jakarta, a young Indonesian family with an infant boarded the plane with two nannies. The couple proceeded to sit in business class with the infant. After the nannies helped prepare the baby, they went to their seats in economy. About half way through the flight, the baby started to cry. The mother tried soothing her for a few minutes, then looked expectantly back to the nannies for help. They rushed from their seats and calmed the child down again.
And they call the US a nanny state!
I don't know what the fuss was about. The baby's cry wasn't very loud. Of course, I'm comparing her cries to those of my son who decided that the flight back to Jakarta was the perfect opportunity to try out both a new pitch AND a new volume level. Freddie Kruger never heard screams like that. Thankfully, the flight attendant distracted him with the sophistication of a sticker. He stared in awed rapture at the wonders of sticky paper as it stuck to noses, cheeks, fingers and hair.
Thank God for the simplicity of a child's mind.
When I was traveling to Indonesia on business, I saw a lot of families on vacation. It was easy to pick them out of a crowd because they always fit the same pattern. As we made our way through the Singapore airport on Sunday, I realized we, too, fit that pattern. Father in the lead acting as guide and family pack mule. He is holding the tickets and passports in one hand, searching for the right gate, and carrying all of the family's carry on luggage. Mother following with kids in tow, looking weary in a way only a mother with young children can. Often carrying the baby with one arm and holding the hand of one or more other children. She doesn't really care where she is going as long as they get there quickly. She definitely isn't paying attention to anything other than staying close to her husband and keeping the children occupied.
That is now us. We're among the traveling families who just want to make it through to our destination in one piece and without strangling any of the children. We also hope the young one doesn't scream at the top of his lungs for any extended duration of the flight. Nothing adds tension to a group of people in a big metal can 30,000 feet in the air like a crying baby.
I think we'll have to explore traveling the way many of the wealthy Asians do - with their nannies. On the 70 minute flight to and from Singapore we always fly coach. I try to limit our business class tickets to flights over four hours duration. Because we travel with an infant, we get the first row of economy because they can setup a bassinet. On our return to Jakarta, a young Indonesian family with an infant boarded the plane with two nannies. The couple proceeded to sit in business class with the infant. After the nannies helped prepare the baby, they went to their seats in economy. About half way through the flight, the baby started to cry. The mother tried soothing her for a few minutes, then looked expectantly back to the nannies for help. They rushed from their seats and calmed the child down again.
And they call the US a nanny state!
I don't know what the fuss was about. The baby's cry wasn't very loud. Of course, I'm comparing her cries to those of my son who decided that the flight back to Jakarta was the perfect opportunity to try out both a new pitch AND a new volume level. Freddie Kruger never heard screams like that. Thankfully, the flight attendant distracted him with the sophistication of a sticker. He stared in awed rapture at the wonders of sticky paper as it stuck to noses, cheeks, fingers and hair.
Thank God for the simplicity of a child's mind.
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