Our worst airplane experience

For our trip to Cebu, hubby and I were booked at PAL while the rest of the family (including yaya) were scattered in different airlines. Although we had already traveled with the kids before, this was the first time we were doing so without anyone else (meaning no yaya or grandparents to give us a hand!). The kids' first airplane ride was a breeze but to be honest, I was really nervous this time since they're at that age where they can get really hyper. I knew we would be spending a lot of time chasing them around, and add to that the ton of stuff we had to hand carry! Plus, Sabe still had cough and colds so I was praying that he wouldn't be uncomfortable during the ride with the pressure on his ears and stuff (not to mention he's currently experiencing the Terrible Two's!).

Anyway, we got to the airport at around 9am and everything seemed off to a good start...

The minute we entered the airport, both kids started running around while we were checking-in. Good thing there weren't a lot of people in line so they didn't really bother anyone.

It was also a good thing we had access to the Mabuhay Lounge so we were able to have a few bites before our flight (because we obviously wouldn't be able to have time to eat later on...). Although we made quite a mess with the kids getting restless and playing with the food after a while. Sorry!

I guess one of the mistakes we did on this flight was to board early. Like I said, the kids were already getting restless waiting so we thought it would be best to ride the airplane at once. They were both fine at first, looking out the window and checking out the other airplanes outside, but after a while Sabe started to get really irritable. I guess it was also because a lot of people were still boarding, so the aisle was full of strangers which he didn't like.

Miley was such a good girl the whole time, just sitting in her seat and playing with the iPad. It was Sabe who suddenly got a really bad tantrum. Even before take-off, he started pulling on his Daddy and kept saying he wanted to go down. He was getting really irritable as well, wanting to remove his shoes, socks, and eventually his pants too!

We were trying everything to entertain him so he would stay in his seat. We came prepared with toys, coloring materials, food, the iPad, etc. But nothing was working. He just simply wanted to get out of the airplane. Hubby had to hold on to him during take-off and to cut the long story short, Sabe spent almost the entire flight kicking, screaming, and crying at the top of his lungs. He kept saying "I DON'T LIKE AIRPLANE! I WANT TO GO DOWN! GO HOME!" over and over again, non-stop. And the whole plane could hear him. We felt so helpless since we didn't know what to do to pacify him. He kept saying NO to everything. The take-off part was the worst since we had to stay buckled in so we couldn't carry him while walking around (in the hopes of lulling him to sleep). Once the seatbelt sign was off, I took him to the area near the bathroom (where the flight attendants were preparing the meals) in the hopes of getting him to calm down. But no such luck. He still kept crying the whole time so hubby and I took turns carrying him there almost the whole flight (since he didn't want to go back to his seat anymore).

When I didn't have kids yet, I admit that I was one of those people who got annoyed when there were crying or noisy children in the airplane. But ever since I became a mom, I've understood how hard it is to travel with kids. And now, those poor parents with the screaming, uncontrollable kid was US! Being at the other end of the situation, it was a mixture of panic, embarrassment, stress, helplessness, exhaustion, and then after a while, just acceptance that YES, this was realy happening. I was afraid of how the other passengers would react to all that ruckus, but thankfully no one was rude to us. But I'm sure they were all thinking "why did I take this flight?" haha! Anyway, Sabe finally fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion towards the end of the trip so we had a few minutes of peace and quiet which I'm sure everyone on that plane appreciated.

We were definitely traumatized after and we didn't know if we could even make Sabe ride the airplane again going home. I had a sleepless night before the flight the next day and I just kept praying that Sabe would be in a better mood. We were even joking that we'll give him a full dose of Benadryl to knock him out, but it's also super hard to make him drink medicine. Well, it looks like our prayers paid off because look what happened on the flight home:

Yes, he was asleep the whole time! Well, what we did this time was board last so we only had to wait a few minutes before take-off. And I guess the timing was also perfect since he was already sleepy while we were waiting to board. He was in good spirits during take-off and fell asleep right after. He slept through the landing as well and we had to wake him up to go down the plane. Miley was also a good girl and all I can say is thank you Lord!

All I can say is, please be understanding of people you see in public places with crying children. You have no idea how stressed they are!

WE SURVIVED! :)

The trip to Cebu was only a short one at over an hour. But the real test will be during the plane ride to Singapore which will be over 3 hours (the kids' first out of the country trip!). The good thing is that we'll be flying with family so Lolo and Lola will be there to help hehe! But please, still pray for us and wish us luck ok? ;p