First Flight: Beantown, Part 1

In the weeks leading up to our trip to Boston—our first airplane trip with Aki—Yuri and I were pretty wound up. I, for one, literally lost sleep worrying about how it would be.

Not only was it going to be Aki's first time up in the air (and our first time traveling in an airplane as parents), but it was going to take six hours.

How many times had I had a toddler behind or near me on other flights, kicking the back of my seat, fussing, or just plain hollering their poor little lungs out because of the pressure on their ears? And didn't I still have some bad memories of plane flights myself as a child, particularly the hellishly long flight to the Philippines my parents took me on when I was three (with stopovers in Hong Kong and Tokyo, if I remember right)?

We got all kinds of advice from folks who took the plunge before us, some of it helpful, some of it not so. (We refrained, for example, from trying to slip Aki some Brandy before takeoff).

So, combining all of that advice into careful packing (by Yuri), a battle plan, and a kind of kamikaze fatalism (by Chris), we brought plenty of books, toys, and snacks to keep him entertained, happy, and chewing (to help pop his ears). Yuri also got up early on the day of the flight to make a whole bunch of musubi (8 spam and 8 tuna!).

And for the most part, we didn't need most of it (except for the musubi, of course: we finished most of that!) The novelty of being on an airplane kept Aki occupied for a good chunk of the time.

There was also a little redheaded boy named Jasper sitting in front of us who was about the same age as Aki, and a little Filipina girl sitting behind him. They kept popping over the backs and fronts of Aki's seat like prairie dogs playing peekaboo.

(We befriended Jasper's mom at the end of the flight, thinking we'd never see her again, and then bumped into her a few days later at Tufts during Eric's graduation: small world!)

We had some of the kindest stewardesses in the world—a sharp contrast to the short-tempered hags on our return flight. These kindly ladies were totally patient with our newbie fussiness and worries and warmed up Aki's bottles without batting an eye.

From Boston 2010

Poor Yuri: The day of the flight was also her birthday, so it was spent for the most part in worry, transit, then relief. But Aki, little prince that he is (most of the time!), gave her the best gift possible: He was an absolute dream on his first flight.