Isla Mujeres, Mexico – One of my favorite quotes is by TS Eliot: “The journey not the arrival matters.” I believe it with all my heart – but I’m not sure it always applies to traveling with kids.
As anticipated, it was a long trip down. The killer was not the two flights, though they were trying. The killer was what came after the flights: long lines for immigration and customs, a shuttle bus, a ferry and finally a taxi to our hotel. All told it was about 10 hours of traveling. And that is the price you pay for paradise.
Both twins zonked out on the shuttle bus from the airport to the ferry. Twin V slept right through the rest of the night until 7am, which was impressive. Unfortunately, Twin S woke up when we were getting off the ferry. Then he had a difficult time settling back down. I think it was 2am when he finally fell asleep.
Overall, the trip went as well as I hoped, considering how long it was. I tribute that to the fact that the twins were well rested when we set out, thanks to a full night’s sleep the night before, then an active morning and an early nap before we left. I didn’t even bother hoping that they would sleep on the plane.
I was reminded why it is so preferable to get on a direct flight. Grandparents, twins and I were traveling from Detroit. Daddio was supposed to meet us in Miami, but his flight out of Boston was delayed and he missed the connection. So he ended up spending the night in Miami.
(And of course he was bringing the twins’ Peapod Tents from home, so they had nowhere to sleep the first night. We all snuggled up on the bed together, reminiscent of when they were newborns.)
In a particularly unfortunate breakdown in communication, Daddio did not know the name of our hotel, so he wasn’t even sure how to find us when he arrived about 12 hours behind us. And of course my cell phone was acting wacky (One of life’s great technological mysteries: why does the normally reliable cell phone never work in a time of emergency?). Fortunately, Daddio is a pretty savvy traveler in his own rite, and he tracked us down. What a relief when he walked in the door!
Twins and I had not seen him in about two weeks. The separation felt very long and I was definitely missing my family’s co-pilot. Grandparents try to be helpful, but sometimes S&V want only to be with a parent. It’s remarkable how much better they are behaving since Daddio’s arrival. I think they recognize that they no longer need to vie for attention – at last there is enough to go around.
