By JEANNIE WONG
SACRAMENTO — This is a portion of what I wrote on Sunday afternoon while sitting in the Orlando airport:
Going home! After five days and four nights at Disney World, we are pointing ourselves back toward Northern California.
Although tired, my girls are rallying over the smallest things — the shuttle bus ride over from the rental car-return site, watching their stuffed animals go through security, having Dad buy them yet another ice cream. (A recurring theme, if you’ve been following along.) … All in all, I would say that this trip has been a huge success.
So many cool memories, and — every parent will appreciate this — we’re taking home only a few toys. …
Oh Jeannie. How naive you are. Only minutes after writing my happy little missive, the news broke over the loudspeaker:
Because of the pouring rain, with the occasional lightening strikes — just the kind of conditions you want for a long flight — our plane to Salt Lake City was going to be delayed at least two hours, which would put the final leg of our trip, from Salt Lake City to Sacramento, in jeopardy, as well.
Well, in every great trip, a little @#$% must fall. And in this case, it came in the form of unrelenting rain.
OK, time to regroup. I looked over at my surprisingly patient and resilient girls — much more resilient than my stomach on this trip, let me tell you — and wondered if it would be fair to keep them waiting even more. As it was, we were forced to check out of our lovely resort at 10 this morning (Hellooooo, Hilton Resort People — you ever hear of the noon checkout, let alone at 1?) to then cool our heels at the nearby Downtown Disney, a huge mall-like venue also found in many other cities.
Then it was on to the airport, where we had already been hanging out for two hours when the news hit.
After a quick debate (with me voting to stay the night and trying again tomorrow), we went with The Spouse’s plan of getting the heck out of Dodge. In his mind, if the storm broke enough for us to fly out, that would be a good thing; bad weather was already predicted for the following day, possibly stranding us again.
Fortunately, the weather did break and we made it to Salt Lake City, but as we feared, not in time to make our connector. We were met at the gate at nearly 11 p.m. MountainTime by an incredibly cheery agent who handed us a hotel voucher and four travel kits (“Take them, they’re cool! There are T-shirts in them and everything!”) and off we stumbled.
(A side note: The folks in Salt Lake City, especially at the airport, were very kind and helpful to us; on the next day, when one of our daughters spilled her hot chocolate, a vendor at one of the eateries gave her another one for free. And we hadn’t even purchased ours there.)
The new hotel was clean and close, and our flight home today was mercifully uneventful and, at about an hour and a half, happily short. We landed this afternoon to clear skies and a spontaneous cry of “Yippee, we’re in Sacramento!” from one of my girls, eliciting smiles from the people in the next row.
So, as I look back now, what are some of the things I’ve learned from this trip?
Fast food can be a good thing:
That weak stomach I alluded to? It arrived unannounced on Saturday night, the last day of our vacation, when The Spouse and I thought we’d have something else besides chicken nuggets, pizza and hot dogs for meals. So we sat down to a nice dinner, complete with tablecloth, silverware and full table service, at one of the restaurants in the Magic Kingdom. And while it tasted great going down, it wasn’t so good for me a few hours later. I should have stuck with the hot dogs.
My girls are just as happy traveling four-star or two-star:
The voucher that the airline handed us in Salt Lake City was for a chain motel that, at $69 a night, was a far cry from the one-bedroom suite with full-kitchen and “waterfall” bath that my girls had been lapping up for the last few days. But I was pleased to see that they were just as excited about the $69 accommodations — in the individually wrapped Styrofoam cups in our room, in planning what they were going to eat for breakfast the next day in the tiny lobby.
Most parents will tell you that they don’t want to be raising spoiled little snobs and, at this point, it appears that my girls aren’t — even if their parents would have definitely preferred the one-bedroom suite.
My girls are good travelers overall:
I started out my guest posts on this blog by confessing that I had been a travel weenie, afraid of the hard work and/or anxiety that might come with traveling with young kids. Well, I’ve seen that my 6-year-olds can find the fun in whatever situation — easy or hard — that is put in front of them, making the best of things — and making my job on the road a whole lot easier.
So maybe traveling with the kids isn’t as scary as it seems. Just be flexible, keep a sense of humor — and make them wash their hands, ‘cos they’re gonna wanna touch EVERYTHING!
I envision many more family trips ahead. Thanks for following along on this one — it was great having you with us!
(You’ll find links to Web sites with helpful tips, information and more on the Cool Travel Sites page. –G. Gross)