Florida: getting to and from

We missed our opportunity to "pre-board" our flight to West Palm Beach, which we are eligible for since we are traveling with an infant. Oh well. And then we missed the start of regular boarding so we finally got to the jetway, we were among the final passengers to board the plane. That meant that, as we walked to our seats in the second-to-last row of the plane, nearly every other passenger was already seated. Did Belle ever make a splash on that airplane as we made our way past the seated passengers to the rear of the plane! Friends nudged each other to point out the adorable baby coming through the aisle. Women cooed. Some reached out at touch Belle's cute dangling legs. In nearly every row, people smiled at baby Belle as her Daddy carried her through the fuselage. Any one of those dozens of Florida-bound travelers would have been delighted to sit next to us.

And then we find our seats: the two next to one of the only middle-aged men on the plane, and perhaps the only passenger who was annoyed to sit next to an infant.

Belle proved again to be a fantastic traveler. She ate and slept and played quietly on our laps and barely made a peep. While she was sitting on her father's lap, she looked at the man sitting to her left as if to say, "why don't you like me? Everyone else I've met seems to think I'm pretty cute, but you just seem to be peeved by me?"

On the flight home, we lucked out (and Craig did some fine negotiating: he is so clever sometimes) and we got a seat for Belle so we were able to bring the car seat onto the plane. And so, we three Tri-Ceps sat in a row together, Belle at the window. She slept for nearly the entire flight, which meant we could sleep and snack and take advantage of Jet Blue's fine in-seat entertainment. She woke up to eat just before we landed but hardly made a fuss from Delray to LaGuardia. She is clearly gearing up to be a world traveler.









And, thank you, Jet Blue: on the four flights we've flown with you, you've THRICE given us a free seat so that Belle can travel in her car seat.