The LONG Plane Ride

We flew from Greenville to Detroit, Michigan first.  On that flight the seats were in sets of 2 on each side of a middle aisle.  Scott and Ryan sat together and Greg sat in the aisle seat across from them.  Ashley and I sat together behind the boys.  Ryan is scared of loud noises and often noises that don't seem loud to the rest of us, so we had talked a lot about how the plane is loud when it takes off and lands but not during the rest of the time we'll be flying.  We were both a little nervous about his reaction but were pleasantly surprised.  He did great!  All the kids were fascinated watching out the plane windows when our plane started to move and thought it was really fun going fast down the runway to take off.  Ryan had his ears covered at first but then got braver and removed them.  He told us it wasn't too loud.  We had snacks on the plane, spent a lot of time raising/lowering tray tables and window shades, and went to the back of the plane to bathrooms that are even smaller when you are trying to stand helping a child and have the door completely shut.  Then we were in Michigan.

Greg's company paid for us to fly in business class because it was such a long trip-Detroit to Tokyo, Japan.  We were also on the only kind of plane that Delta has with the business class section in the upstairs part of the plane.  The kids thought that was super cool.  On this flight the seats were also in groups of two.  This time Scott and Greg sat up in the very front seat just outside the cockpit of the plane-Scott actually got to go inside it.  He said that it was really neat seeing all the dials on their dashboard and getting to look out the very front window.  Ryan got to go to the doorway and see all that he wanted to also.  Ashley and I were sitting in a seat near the stairs and Ryan sat in the seat just in front of me.  He was so nice and quiet that the teenage girl he was sitting with told us how sweet and nice he was. Ryan put at least 5,000 miles on his seat moving it around in the first 30 minutes we were on the plane.  We watched movies, though not many kid friendly ones, played games on our individual tv screens, and got out favorite stuffed animals and toys that they had brought in their backpacks. 

Eating was an interesting affair in business class.  We got to choose from a menu and chose the plainest sounding things for the kids.  They mainly ate bread, fruit, and dessert and the number of bites of meat and vegetables we said they had to eat.   They were most excited about dessert after dinner when they heard someone mention ice cream.  Only on the last flight did a stewardess tell us we could have requested kid's meals before the flight - cheese burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, or chicken fingers.  Thanks Delta for noting the kids ages for passport purposes and not bothering to offer kids meals in advance of the flight with the full knowledge of their ages.

Sleeping, for the kids, was better than I imagined it would be.  The seats recline a lot but you are still sloped down towards the floor so they kept sliding down.  Scott wore the sleeping mask that the airline gives you in your comfort pack.  Just give Ryan his favorite stuffed animal Doggy and I think he could sleep most anywhere.  Ashley had her pink bear and slept well in spite of the many times that I had to pull her back up nearly out of the floor.

These pics of them sleeping were too funny not to put here for those of you not on facebook



We laughed that Scott actually fell asleep with his sleep mask on.



Ryan

Ashley-before she slid down
We got off the plane in Tokyo, had to take all of our things with us, and then got back on the very same plane a little while later with a lot fewer people.  It was still another 5 hour flight from Tokyo to Manila-we read, watched some more movies, played some more, ate again, and finally arrived late in the evening local Manila time.  Boy was I glad to get off that airplane!

My dad was both a professional (mostly corporate jets) and recreational pilot and I flew with him for the first time when I was only 4 years old and many times after that.  I wish that he could have seen how much my kids all enjoyed their first flying experience.  They may not think it's so much fun when we fly home next summer on our dime-not in business class.