Travis' parents have been living in Germany for the past 3 years. All of Travis' siblings have visited, except us. Travis' parents are amazing and were determined to get us out there before they moved back to the states. We've known we were going to Germany for months and months. But as the day for us to go started getting closer, reality began to settle in. WE WERE GOING TO GERMANY!! Eeeeeeek! So on August 26th we hopped on a plane and made the long journey.
I was so nervous for Hailey and the flight. I couldn't sleep the night before. She's been on plenty of plane rides, so that wasn't the issue. The thing that made me nervous was the length of the plane ride. We had a two hour flight to Atlanta, a four hour layover, and then a nine hour flight to Stuttgart. Anything could go wrong with that much time to fill.
We were at the airport about 2 and a half hours early. That ended up being perfect because we had to wait about an hour and a half to get passed check in since we had a unique issue with Hailey's ticket. So we boarded the plane quickly once we got to our gate.
The first flight was fantastic. Hailey slept through most of it. She played with a super nice guy that sat by Travis. He played dolls with her and taught her how to burp her baby. He seriously was a gem. For some reason, Hailey was obsessed with sharing her doll with him. I'm glad he was such a good sport.
Then we had the four hour layover. We rode the train over to our gate. We watched an episode of Curious George, and then Hailey got hyper. She may or may not have played on the seats for a bit. Once we decided it looked like terrible parenting to let our child climb all over the chairs, we took turns chasing Hailey up and down the concourse our gate was in. We were gonna let her run and move as much as possible since the next flight was so long.
So then... dun dun dun.... the long flight to Germany.
It was a big plane. The biggest I've been on anyway. It had three seats in the middle row, and two side rows of two seats.
A German couple in front of us traded a seat with a guy so they could sit next to each other. Then an American couple came up and said they were sitting in one of their seats. The American lady treated the Germans SUPER rudely. I was appalled. The Germans were confused since they traded one of their seats with a guy earlier. So they had to ask him what happened. Since they were speaking in German, the American lady figured they didn't understand her. She spoke English to them really slowly and asked if she needed to get an interpreter. Her tone was degrading. I couldn't believe that someone could treat other PEOPLE like that. The Germans eventually figured out the originally guy's seat was the row in front. So one of them moved up.
That same lady was also rude to the guy sitting behind her. He was super tall and his knees were touching her seat. He couldn't really even fit in his seat. He leaned forward and fell asleep. The lady then tried to set her seat back and she couldn't since his knees were in the way, and he was leaning into her seat. She called a stewardess over and made the stewardess wake the man so he could move his legs. I guess I can't really even describe the tone of voice she was using. But she talked like everyone was beneath her. She hadn't even talked to me (yet) and I wanted to call her a swear word. I don't swear. Never have. It's not something I've ever been tempted to do. But at that moment I wanted to call her a female dog so bad. I wanted to shout it so loud that the whole plane would hear. But I remained silent. So that poor man had to sit with his legs spread for the rest of the flight because the lady wanted to lean her chair back. She was pretty much laying in his groin.
I tell you those stories because I want to set the stage for the next scene. Our flight was over 9 hours long. About three hours into it, Hailey started getting whiny. We had already done some laps in the aisle. But you can only do that for so long. She wasn't crying. Just an annoyed whine. We tried Curious George, and the movies on the plane. We tried all her toys, but by that time she had seen them all and was bored. So we were stuck with this tired, whiny (but not crying) toddler. The lady then leans over to her boyfriend/husband (I pity the fool), and says, "I can't take this anymore". Tall Man next to Travis (pictured above) was gone to the bathroom. So she gets up out of her seat and comes to stand next to Travis. She then proceeds to tell Travis she is trying to sleep. She mentions she's a
very light sleeper and asks Travis "if there is anything we could do" for Hailey. She says, "I understand that flying with a child is hard" (I highly doubt that), and says that maybe she would want to watch a movie or something. She tells us Hailey is being way too loud and she needs her sleep.
At first I was speechless. Hailey wasn't even
crying. If she really understood our situation, like she mentioned in her "shpeal", she would understand that it's a 9 hour flight and she can't expect a silent toddler for 9 hours. The flight attendants even passed out
free headphones. Music and movies were available for free on the screens of the seats. She could put the headphones in and listen to music if she wanted to. But Hailey wasn't even being loud! Travis, being my knight in shining armor, responded calmly. He told her we were doing our best and we already tried movies and all her toys. He said that we'll keep doing our best to keep her quiet, but there wasn't much more we could do. The lady responds to Travis telling him that he could do more. That's when it happened. I boiled over. I could NOT remain silent anymore.
I leaned in and said, and I quote, "You know what? You've made everyone around you MISERABLE. You're being rude to
everyone. Don't talk to us. You're not going to be rude to us too."
Yeah. I could dish it right back. But she wasn't done.
She tried to say some more words but I just interrupted each time and said, "No... don't talk to us. Stop."
She says that the stewardess told her to approach people herself when she had problems instead of calling for them first. I told her to call over the stewardess if she wanted to discuss it further.
Travis leans over to me and tells me to be quiet. He then got up with Hailey and went to stand at the back of the plane and the woman sat back down.
Grrrrr. I sat in our row alone, boiling with anger. I wanted to say so much more to her. I ran through everything in my head that I wish I would have said. I was so heated and full of.. hate? At that moment something clicked and I felt a little sick. I don't really ever talk to strangers like that... or really anyone. And I didn't like the feeling I had inside. That's not who I am.
I had a thought that I'm supposed to be Christ-like and loving.
Oh crap.
Now what? And that's when I knew. I had to apologize to her. I had a brief moral dilemma and battle within myself, but I knew I had to act fast before Tall Man returned to his seat.
I unbuckled my seatbelt. I had no idea what I was even going to say. I scooted a couple seats over and tapped her on the shoulder.
She immediately looked back, and I could see in her eyes that she was expecting some more fire. I said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I just want to apologize for my behavior. It was uncalled for."
She looked relieved and responded, saying, "I appreciate that. I'm just a
really light sleeper and need my sleep. I emphasize with you. I understand that it's hard. But I just
really need my sleep and she was being super loud. I didn't want to confront you, but I had to in order to get my sleep. I understand it's hard, but you have to do more to keep her quiet".
I couldn't say anything else but "I'm sorry for how I acted" and scooted back to my seat. She was still a jerk when I apologized, but I felt so much better. The fire and hate in me was gone and replaced with disbelief. I just couldn't believe someone could be so rude. We were truly doing our best in an impossible situation.
The rest of the flight (6 hours) was stressful. We got up every time Hailey whined or made a peep. We took turns standing at the back of the plane trying to get Hailey to sleep. Eventually Hailey did sleep for two of the nine hours.
I understand people around children on the plane have it bad. Kids are noisy and disruptive. And it was a night-time flight. Bad combination. But Hailey was really not that bad. No tears, no tantrums, just a little whining from being uncomfortable. That day I learned that there really are people in this world that feel entitled to everything. There are people that will make everyone around them miserable in order to make themselves comfortable. And I learned that I'm never going to let myself succumb to their level again. It's not worth it and you can't change them.
On a happier note, when we landed, we were greeted by Travis' mom. We drove to Travis' parents house, got a couple hours of sleep, and then began Day One in Germany. (Post to come.)
