Family Trip

Manfrengensen and I are on a California adventure with the kids. It was a long flight out, to say the least, traversing this land by air. I thought I had prepared pretty well. We brought the iPad and the computer and planned to take advantage of USAir’s in-flight wi-fi to stream Netflix and keep them occupied. I also bought the kids new summer workbooks (which they enjoy doing), and Edison also got a Scrabble card game. We were all set with snacks and entertainment.

After about an hour in the air, I tried to connect to the wi-fi to no avail. When I asked the flight attendant about it, she told me that the in-flight Wi-fi wasn’t working. After another hour, I asked a different attendant if they had any in-flight movies available.

She smiled that wide flight attendant smile, and like the Cheshire Cat, she cooed, “Nooo. Did you bring any DVD’s from home?” When I said I hadn’t because I was counting on the wi-fi, she smiled again and said to The Princess, “Silly Mommy. She’s just going to have to play games with you, huh? How about some tic-tac-toe? Or Mommy could have thought to bring a book; those are always fun.”

I’m usually pretty sympathetic when it comes to those who have to deal with rude people as part of their professions. There are always stories in the news about rude airline passengers giving flight attendants lip, or cases of in-flight rage, but I am telling you, I came this close to being one of those stories. This woman deserved nothing but knuckle-sandwich at 30,000 feet.

No wi-fi and no in-flight movie? Had we travelled back in time to 1960? Who was flying the plane? The Wright Brothers? Needless to say, there was a lot of squirming and whining during our five-and-a-half-hour flight. And the kids did some as well.

We got to the airport and drove to Anaheim with the help of our GPS friend, whom we have named “Gladys”. After settling at the Grand Californian Hotel, we sauntered into the park.

The first ride, was The Matterhorn, which had been Manfrengensen’s favorite when he was a kid. Our kids loved it as well, and we had a great day in the park.