Today we began our first family vacation with a trip to New Mexico. Daniel and I have wanted to explore this region for some time, and it was the perfect opportunity to find out how Ashton travels without committing to a long flight or drastic time changes. We flew to Albequerque from San Jose.
We flew Southwest, and were lucky with most of our flights to have extra seats available so that Ashton could sit in his own car seat. Ashton was very interested in the inside of the airplane, especially loving the overhead lights and air. It was all perhaps too interesting because Ashton wanted to climb around rather than sit still and nap (which was desperately needed). The second flight was harder because we couldn’t use the carseat and he didn’t want to stay on our laps. And apparently FAA regulations prohibit wearing your baby in a front carrier during take-off and landing because if there’s a crash they believe you will crush your baby. Personally I think it’s much less risky than a small child flying loose around the cabin when a crash causes you to drop them. But whatever…
Ashton enjoyed exploring the airport waiting areas as well and showed no fear in cruising out into the steady flow of pedestrian traffic or climbing up and engaging with other waiting passengers. He also enjoyed the big walls of windows looking out towards the run-way, though seemed more interested in the baggage handling trucks than the airplanes.