Trina invited me to contribute to her blog. Actually, she said that writing isn't her favourite thing to do and, since I enjoy it, I'd be responsible for the blog while I'm here. And it'll work out, at least while I'm jet-lagged, because I'm up before the birds.
The executive summary of the trip from Calgary to Taipei with Jeremy: It was worth it. When we walked out of the airport, he was so happy to see his mommy, he was all smiles. He was really tired, so he just cuddled on her lap and went to sleep, perfectly content I'm sure, during the entire car ride back to the apartment.
Now for the gory details of the 18 hour trip. Although the story starts at the start of the day on Wednesday. Get comfortable, because it won't end until Friday morning, due partly to the 14 hour time change.
I dropped off Jeremy with Stacey, the sitter, for the last time. Because their house is unstable, they have to move and I had to find someone to take Jeremy full time after I return, at least until Trina returns. Jeremy was so happy at Stacey's, with other kids his age but mostly with the dogs and the kittens. I said a heart-felt thank you to her for taking good care of him for so many months. I went in to work for a few uneventful hours and my mom picked Jeremy up from Stacey's to go out for the morning together. I met them for lunch and then Jeremy and I drove to Trina's parents house. It's nice to spend time together with family, especially when we'll be apart for a while. Jeremy fell asleep in the car, then refused to nap at their house. It was 4:00pm before I got him to sleep and he slept until after 6:00pm. I didn't get the nap I was hoping to have, but I hoped it would get Jeremy ready for the big trip and 14 hour time change.
We left for the airport at 8:30, checked in the bags, had my paper tickets re-issued (thank you, Canada Post), and said goodbye to Trina's dad, who had driven us to the airport. Jeremy played in one of the kid zones for a few minutes, then we went through security. I don't remember it ever going so smoothly... I guess Jeremy just flashed them a winning smile and the turned down the metal detector, because my belt usually sets it off. Since I was carrying Jeremy, I was thankful not to have to strip off my belt and shoes and submit to the wand.
It was a bit of a walk to our gate in section B (where the security is closed, so everyone goes through A), but we had a Hummer of a stroller for Jeremy and my massive backpack. When we got there, most everyone was already waiting, but Jeremy found a kids' activity station and another boy to play with. The other boys father told him to be careful of "the baby", but he needn't have worried. Jeremy was pretty excited, either to be in a new place or to be allowed to stay up past 10:00pm, and he was climbing all over. The boy said to his dad "Jeremy's wild today!" Just wait, I thought to myself, he's supposed to be sitting on my lap in the plane because, at under 2, I didn't pay for a seat for him.
We boarded at 10:30pm and it looked for a while like the plane would be only 2/3 full. After all, who wants to fly to Vancouver at 11:00pm? It turns out that everyone flying from anywhere in Canada to anywhere in Asia does, and there were no empty seats. Jeremy was impressively well-behaved for a boy who hates to sit still. All the way until we began our descent. I gave him a squiggly fruit snack before we started down, but his ears must have really bothered him because he just squirmed and screamed all the way down. The stewardess (who has a young child herself) came and suggested that I not be embarassed, the crying would help clear his ears, so I just tried to keep him from getting off my lap. As soon as we got on the ground, I tried to get off the plane as quickly as possible... but the stroller wasn't unloaded yet, so I got to stand at the exit of the airplane, holding Jeremy, while everyone walked past giving my sympathetic smiles. At least they were sympathetic. One lady told me I should give him something to suck, didn't I know that? Didn't I? I tried to tell her that I had tried, but I should have just thanked her for her concern. She wasn't trying to annoy me, but I felt a little frustrated that I hadn't been able to help Jeremy with his discomfort and a little apprehensive about the much longer flight coming up.
We walked all across the Vancouver airport, and I knew something was wrong when a bunch of people (who obviously recognised me from the previous flight) were walking back towards us. One couple asked if we were on the China Airlines flight and, when I said "no", muttered "lucky." Grateful for the stroller now, I found our departing gate and found a semi-circle of chairs to settle into. We were right by the departures board and Jeremy, excited to be someplace new, started running around. I found out what the trouble was. A flight from L.A. to Hong Kong had been forced to land in Vancouver and stay for about 8 hours. A China Airlines flight to Hong Kong had been cancelled. And another one had been delayed from 2:00am to 4:00pm. Then, the gentleman who was sitting near us told us that his flight to London wouldn't be leaving until 12:00am... I think 10 hours late, and he had been there all afternoon. He played with Jeremy for half an hour before his flight was ready to go, then Jeremy spent the next two hours climbing over tables and chairs and running and jumping. Even when we had to exchange our boarding passes, Jeremy wouldn't stay still in my arms.
Finally, at 1:15am (Vancouver time), Jeremy started acting tired and I decided to put him to sleep. He didn't agree, but couldn't resist when I carried him around and sang his bedtime song. We boarded 10 minutes later and he slept straight for seven hours. What a relief! The stewardesses on EVA Air were very accomodating. They had seated us at the second bulkhead since Jeremy had an infant ticket. I laughed when they offered to bring a bassinet, because at 26 pounds, there's no way that would work. The armrests didn't go in our row, even though there were two empty seats beside us and they told me he couldn't sleep on the floor, so would I mind moving upstairs? They assured me it was still Economy class, but I'm not sure why because I would have been just as happy if it were higher class. Anyway, there were about 12 rows of 3 + 3 upstairs and only about 20 people. We had two rows of 3 empty seats to ourselves (one behind the other), with a big empty space behind that where the emergency exit is. Having so much space was a real relief. I slept for about four hours, and Jeremy woke up for two hours, slept for one and a half (gravol has no effect on him), then woke up for the last four hours. By the time we were two hours from Taipei, I was begging him to go back to sleep so I could get some rest. But he would climb across our seat, climb up onto the storage compartments between the seat and the window, crawl up and down there, run up and down the ailes and basically have a lot of fun.
All in all, I can't complain. I would have liked Jeremy to sleep more and I would have liked more sleep myself. But Jeremy was very little trouble and hardly cried; our flight was basically on time (compared to many others), we had lots of space and we arrive safe and sound... and sane. Jeremy fell asleep 10 minutes before we began our descent, so his ears didn't even bother him. After getting off the plane, we had to wait for our stroller, where we met a couple with a child about Jeremy's age, who had come from Montreal and were continuing to Vietnam (I think). I was so glad that we had arrived. Their stroller came first, and I listened to them speak to each other in a mix of French, English and Vietnamese (I think). Whenever I was tempted to feel sorry for myself, there was always someone who had a harder trip.
Customs was jam packed, and Jeremy had woken from all the jostling, but there was a really nice kid (probably mid-20s) behind us who took a liking to Jeremy. He ran and got us the forms we needed and the line moved quick enough that I just finished filling them out when it was our turn. The immigration officer was polite and I spoke my first Chinese of the trip. Welcome to Taiwan, Jeremy!
The rest is a bit of a blur. Our bags were already there, so I grabbed them, tried to balance one on the stroller and drag the other, while pushing the stroller. I wanted to get out of there quick, but I don't know if I saved time by not getting a baggage cart or if I took longer struggling with the bags. It wasn't far and we were both very happy to see Trina. I got a kiss, but Jeremy got a big snuggle and he sat on her lap the whole way back home.
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