Traveling with children is easy – in First class

I love to travel and have done a fair share in my life, starting when I was six on an extended camping voyage to Europe with my family. This, I am sure, instilled my love for new places, which continued on through my twenties when I ventured to Japan, and beyond and ended up in Sweden, via India. That’s a story for another day however.

The point is that I have been around the block, and I love traveling. I especially love to fly. I love taking off and landing, and everything in between. I have always loved to walk around the airport, guessing where people are from. Watching arrivals, ecstatic greetings of parted lovers and tearful departures between mothers and teens off embarking on their first adventure. I have even enjoyed the long waits during snow storms and delayed planes, with nothing to do but contemplate my journey.

I loved it all, until I had kids. And then traveling took on another dimension. Mostly being covered in vomit, finding bathrooms fast, carrying hours worth of entertainment and snacks for kids ages two to nine. Waiting can be unbearable with a hungry, tired child, as we all know.

But I now know the answer to it all. First class. Even Noah, who tends to get sick just anticipating the flight and keeps a bag practically taped over his mouth while in motion, could not get enough of our First class status. To give him credit, Noah loves to fly too, and he is a real trooper, even though he does throw up on just about every flight he is on.

The first perk with First class was the airport lounge, with free chips and juice, our 4 hour layover was a joy (and the train ride between terminals that we made 5 times was pretty fun). When we finally boarded the plane in Denver we were ready to go. Louise figured out the massage feature in her seat right away, and I hardly saw she and Olof again as they were safely tucked away in their pods behind me and Noah.

We had so much leg room we were giddy, plus individualized entertainment centers, real food and drinks and beds! Yes, our seats made out into just about full beds and we all got a good deal of sleep on our Denver – Frankfurt leg. In First class I was able to drink my bloody Mary, read a book, and watch a movie undisturbed, almost as if I were traveling alone.

The best part of all was happy and semi-rested kids, totally entertained from Davis to Bonn - almost 24 hours of travel, despite the air sickness. If only we could afford it every time….

(actually we travelled First class only from Sacramento to Denver, and from Denver to Frankfurt it was Business class, but for us Economy travelers, it was luxury all the way, thanks to Olof’s new job).