Last week we were in Alaska again and, while it's always a good trip, it brings some challenges both physical and emotional. From MSP it's a six hour flight to Anchorage and then a short hop (by plane), about 35m, down to Homer (see my OG post on there), well that or a 4+ hour drive. Lining the flights up can be a pain and on arrival we're already exhausted. Then we dive right into family time and it's go-go-go, the sun is up!
I tend to get stressed traveling. That was the case even before we had kids, my wife's propensity to be late was part but not all of that, though now when I travel without the littles at least I'm better. With them I can still get myself worked up, with beating my head against the wall trying to think of everything we want to bring beforehand, to getting bothered when they're in the way of other people in the airport, to when they're noisy on the plane. This trip was, perhaps, the worst it's been for me, due in part to the timing. We left the day after Independence Day. I packed most of our stuff on the 3rd, then was already wiped on the 4th, in what must have been a stress-induced letdown, when we went to a parade and stayed up doing fireworks, and finally our flight was at 8am on the 5th, requiring a 5am wakeup. So I was pretty tired.
Our first flight, the long one, went well. We flew up on Alaska Airlines and there wasn't a huge line at bag drop. I parked at the other terminal, with a train in between and that went flawlessly, we walked right on as it arrived. Even with an extra hour on the tarmac, there's runway construction going on, the kids were in good spirits and well behaved. Our daughter was a little tricky, she just doesn't like to sit still, but my wife bore the brunt that day. I even got to read a little, a rarity when flying with kids.
The toughest of the journey was our something like 4 hour layover at ANC. That airport has come a decent way in terms of food, stores etc. but it's still an airport you're trapped in. I started getting crabby with the kids for running around and the boys for constantly mock throwing a baseball or otherwise constantly wildly swinging their arms in the walking areas. Part of this was a lack of sleep, and part was possibly a bit of dread at arriving.
At some point I must've decided I'm uncomfortable up there. They have so many big projects going on and I've felt like there's not a lot I can do to help. We do fewer of the fun stuff that people travel to Alaska for, all day hikes or boat rides, fishing expeditions etc, and most of our time is hanging out at their house. It's great for the kids! It gives me a bit of cabin fever. They frequently eat late, though that was a lot better this year, and our kids (and my wife) get hangry. Plus if we're staying at their house there's the tension that exists with so many people in one space. Gladly this time we only stayed two nights then had a rental about 5 minutes away, which worked great. But I was preemptively miserable and let that impact the first couple days we were there. It's easy to come up with excuses if you're looking for them, consciously or not.
I didn't think I was being entirely dour the next day and a half, but my wife certainly did. After this brought forth some anger, which I deserved though I didn't think so at the time, I assessed how I was acting. It was time to take my own advice, frequently doled out to our eldest who can get mopey and a lousy attitude when we're not doing exactly what he wants to do when he wants to do it. Being miserable is a choice. It was time to move on. And I did. The rest of the trip was fun, though there are always some difficulties with kids and being away from home for so long.
As the trip moved forward it was of course a lack of sleep that wore on us. We were already staying up much later than usual (in addition to the three time zone difference), enjoying the sunlight and time with our family and their animals. But that wasn't all. Our eldest stayed over, camping with his cousins in a tent outside(!) two nights in a row. He and my wife went fishing across Kachemak Bay and brought back a bunch of salmon, it turned out to be a great day, but this wasn't a charter so they had to filet and package and vacuum seal (for the freezer) everything themselves. My wife got back at like 2am that night. Being away from home in general is exhausting and the younger two never got enough in terms of naps either. As we approached the end the kids behavior degraded, as happens when they're overtired. There was extra pouting, whining, crying, it was at times unbearable. They ignored us a ton, and we don't stand for that. This very much includes our daughter, who at this stage has gotten loud, demanding and often defiant herself. Once our week was up it was past time to go home.
Leaving is hard too though, in particular on our eldest. He never wants to leave when we stay with far-flung relatives, or them to go when they stay with us, and it brings out a lot of sadness. This was the toughest one yet. He was inseparable from his cousins while there, he got a lot of freedom to run and play, and he even took a real shine to the chickens. He was at home. For most of the flight back to Anchorage he was quietly crying and really down, and I can't blame him to be honest. There was lots of discussion about when we could go back, or even how we could move there. It helped that we stayed overnight in Anchorage (I have a cousin there too) and we got to see some other people before returning to Minnesota. But the departure took a toll.
We had one more challenging day, almost entirely due to a sizable delay. We learned on waking up our 1pm Alaska-time flight was pushed to 4pm. If you have small children you know the time of flights is important. We'd picked the flight so it'd be during their awake hours and well, that was out the window. We also knew that our plane was in the air, and felt we shouldn't take the new time for granted. It ended up being a crew rest situation, their flight had been delayed the previous night and it's not like there's a bunch of extra (in this case Delta) people up in Alaska. It would eventually leave at 5pm and we spent about six hours in the airport. There was some melting down about as soon as we cleared security, and it'll be hard for me to forget all three children laying on the floor just outside the Starbucks. Getting some food as quickly as possible became a priority so the sit-down places were out even though we had the time. In retrospect, it's kind of amusing I was the only one holding it together on the return.
In the end the wait wasn't that bad, nor was the flight all things considered. Delta and their staff were especially accommodating. My wife secured us an entire row (from four seats), as luckily it wasn't a full plane. They seemed to be aggressively moving other people around too. We got some food vouchers. They even ordered pizza and had a big snack cart for us. It was a long wait but we got through it. On the plane the boys kept themselves occupied and stayed awake, somewhat shockingly. Near the end our daughter fell asleep on me using the extra space we had. We got in at 130am central. It took some time to gather our stuff, get to the car (where along the way we first learned to love renting one of those little carts) and make it home. The kids were in their beds about 230 and my wife and I after 3. We're still adjusting back to our time, even almost a week later, with everyone struggling to get up before 8am. But we made it. Ah the joys of traveling.
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