Countdown is 7 days until we fly to France

In exactly one week, the three of us will be boarding a plane and flying to France to visit family. The entire journey, which also includes a train ride, is going to take roughly 20 hours. Now, let's see. The longest journey Tristan has ever been on was to Victoria by car and ferry in 2 1/2 hours. Victoria trips are all family trips too. So here is the thing, we only travel because we have to in order to see family.

I have been reading a few articles lately about traveling with a small child and some of the articles made me nervous with sweat. In Fly and cry: Babies divide air travelers, some people disapprove of small children being on planes at all. If a child is unpleasant, it will be an unpleasant experience for everyone around them. People pay a lot of money to fly and on long flights like ours, it can be a complete nightmare. I don't blame them really. I was sort of one of those people. I used to silently curse whenever I saw babies go onboard a long flight with us. There are also others who are more understanding and are okay when a child screams and cries every so often. On our flight, we can expect to find people from both sides. I just hope we don't end up sitting close to one of those "baby haters" on the plane :( You know, those people that will yell at you whenever your baby fusses too much. I'm scared of them!

"You may be tired at the end of the trip, it may not be a great flight for you, but that's your job as a parent." Yes, I know. The article says that parents need to do everything possible to keep their child from disturbing others. We will have to walk Tristan a lot since he won't be sleeping until about 8 or 9 hours after we board. I can't really sleep on planes anyway so it's not a big deal. However, I do get super super tired by the time I arrive at my destination and jet lag usually hits me pretty hard. I'm so thankful Jean-Louis and I will be able to take shifts and share the parenting!

Another article that made me sweat was "Parents who shouldn't be allowed on planes." That article had a mean-tone to it. I had no idea someone could get kicked off the plane for their child's misbehavior. It was wrong of the airline to do that and they admitted it but it still happened. Luckily, we don't fit any of the descriptions they provided for parents who should not be allowed on planes. That's not to say Tristan will be an angel for the entire flight and we won't have to do much. There is a good chance he will act up because we will be taking him out of his comfort zone. Also, at 18 months, he is starting to show many signs of toddlerhood like throwing himself on the floor when we object to letting him have something. So oh yeah, we'll definitely have challenges on that flight. Will he scream and cry for an hour straight? I pray he doesn't. He has never done it before but we're going to pretty much brace ourselves for anything.