We have learned the past couple of years that there are much better flights to the Caribbean out of Houston than Dallas, so we drove to Conroe on Friday. My parents live there so it's a good excuse to spend the night with them & then they can take us to & from the airport so we don't have to pay for parking. Luckily our flight wasn't until 10:00 on Saturday morning so we didn't have to get up too early. Of course you are supposed to be there 2 hours early when flying internationally, so we decided to wait & eat a big breakfast at the airport while we were waiting. Unfortunately that did not happen:
For some reason they did not have Sophie booked on our flight & it was a mess since it was an international flight. We stood at the check out counter forever & we barely made the cut off time - literally, they got her checked in about 2 minutes before! One of the agents escorted us through security, but we barely had time to grab a bite before getting on the plane:
Dunkin Donuts was the closest option we had, so we grabbed it & ate on the plane. A little more hurried than I like, but at least we finally had food! Sophie did decent on the flights both ways. She did not cry or make a lot of noise (so she didn't bother other passengers) but she was definitely busy. She went back & forth between Bryan & I the entire time. She just couldn't sit still. She barely fell asleep for about 20 minutes:
It was a 4 1/2 hour flight but I guess she only needed a little power nap :( I tell you, both of my children are social beings & they do not like to sleep in public!
Sadie on the other hand was perfect. I had her backpack stocked with snacks, stickers, colors & so much more but all she wanted to do was watch a movie:
She watched 2 movies on the way there & 2 more on the way home. She is such a great traveler!
Our only complaint about Aruba is coming home. Most of the time you go through US Customs when you enter America. Aruba actually has customs clearance in Aruba. Sounds good because then you can quickly grab your luggage & leave when you get home, but it was a mess. Everyone told us to get to the airport 3 hours early & apparently that still wasn't enough time. You have to check in & drop off baggage with your airline, go through Aruba customs, Aruba security scan & then you pick up your luggage & do it all over again through US customs. Go through customs again, drop off your luggage again & go through security again. It was exhausting. Unfortunately, my luggage got lost between Aruba & US customs so I was worried it wouldn't make it, but thankfully it did. Just like our previous flight, we literally ran to the gate but this time we didn't have time to get anything to eat so we munched on snacks the entire way.
Besides the airport debacle in Aruba, it was mostly a smooth trip & I am so proud of our girls for being troopers! But if anyone ever goes to visit, remember they are not exaggerating when they say 3-4 hours early!
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