We, of course, had an unlucky travel day. We arrived at SFO a bit early in case there were long lines, but, due to fog, the plane was delayed an hour and a half. Dexter threw tantrum after tantrum at the airport. People were watching him with the "I hope I don't sit by that one!" looks. I don't blame them either. I had timed the flight to coincide with naptime, so I was trying to wear him out so he'd sleep on the plane. Unfortunately, with the delay, he had to push past exhaustion and straight into screaming mode. When the plane finally arrived an extra 30 minutes late. Dexter was barely holding on. He went to sleep the minute the plane was on the runway, but woke up before we landed. We got a little over an hour to rest up for the remaining pain of a travel day.
We landed in Denver to find out our connecting flight had taken off 30 minutes prior and the next flight we could get out that night was in 3 hours to a town an hour away from where we wanted to go. We made due by letting Dexter run around like a mad-baby around the airport. He discovered the breezeways which made for over an hour of fun watching him run down the metal walkway and stop suddenly. He was amazed to discover that he'd still move even if he stopped.
The tiny plane we took out of Denver sat 19 people and was completely full. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. Dexter didn't do so well on that flight. He was tired, but couldn't get to sleep. I held him on my lap for most of the time. He wouldn't go to his dad, only me. I was sitting in a seat that had just 30 ft of isle in front of me. I was uncomfortable trying to hold him during the landing because I wasn't convinced it was going to be as smooth as it turned out to be. I was happy that he didn't pop out of arms as my "worst-case-scenario" mommy brain led me to believe was going to happen.
Finally, after 15 hours of driving, flying and waiting in airports we made it home for Christmas. What a pain in the ass, but it was fun once we made it.
