Warning: Long post...

The morning started out BAAAAAAAAAAAAD! Our flight was at 6:25AM and my plan was to leave the house by 4:15AM. We were all packed in the car and ready to go at 4:30AM and my husband starts my car and NOTHING. NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!! My car battery DIED. WTH?! I almost about cried! As my husband was on the phone calling a cab I ran inside to print out our ticket b/c when I checked in on my phone they said I had to print it out. OMG, I was about to have a heart attack! Seriously thought we were going to miss our flight! The cab came by 5AM and we were off. My husband had the kids in his car (bc of the car seats) and I rode with our luggage in the cab to the airport. Thank goodness we only live 15-20 minutes from the airport. We got there and NO LINE. OMG, I was so lucky! Then as I was checking in one of my suitcases was overweight by 5 lbs. UGH! I hate two of our luggages. They are so darn heavy to begin with but I didn't want to buy new luggages as those are still in really good condition. Anyway, after some rearranging, and still like 1 or 2 lbs overweight they let it slide. Then all of a sudden one of the agents was like, "you do know that you're only allowed 2 free luggages?" I stood there eyes wide open and said, "um, that's not what the agent told me over the phone!" She said we are all allowed 1 luggage each (for a total of 3). I actually had to pay for my youngest's ticket (10%) even if he's a lap infant b/c it's internations. It's SO dumb if you ask me... Then another agent comes and tells her that I am right. Right there and then I broke. I started crying! What a morning... In my mind I was thinking that this trip was going to be a disaster b/c it started out horribly... Going through security was a breeze. Kids didn't have to remove their shoes and our Maclaren Twin Techno double stroller went through the x-ray machine perfectly w/o incidient. The only thing was that they took the Tylenol and Motrin to get checked for some odd reason. We made it to the gate before boarding (whew!) but I had to pee so off we went to the restroom. I had both kids and our two huge carry ons on the double stroller so it was super fast. I guess they must have started boarding as we walked into the restroom b/c when we got to the gate NO ONE was there! I was thinking, "omg, I won't have anywhere to put our stuff!" Luckily the flight was SO empty. I think there were maybe like 20 passengers on this 737 aircraft. Whew!

As for the trip overall, it wasn't easy but we made it to Guam without a single meltdown from either kids. Our total flight time was 24 hours (including layovers). We stopped in San Francisco (oh, how I so miss living there!) and Honolulu (another place I miss living at!) and made it onto our connection with very little issues. Since they gate checked my double stroller all the way to Guam and our flight to HNL and Guam were the same flight number and same plane they didn't take it off the plane. I was a bit peeved they didn't tell me b/c I waited forever for it. I wanted to go to the restroom and just couldn't do it with one kid in the Ergo and one walking and two huge carry ons that would have all hung onto the double stroller. Good thing they allowed us to board early so we just did all that after we got on.

Our flight to San Francisco was so empty that we had two rows to ourselves. I was able to get bulk head seat for that leg of the flight so we had a ton of room to play around in. Too bad it was just the start of our journey b/c the rest of our trip we had a window and aisle seat on the side by ourselves without additional room to roam around b/c the flight was full from San Francisco all the way to Guam via Honolulu. I paid to upgrade to Economy Plus so we can have more leg room and, OMG, what a HUGE difference it made. I saw ppl crammed in the regular seats and thought to myself how crazy I would have gone if I were stuck there.

Two things that made the entire trip easier was the Ergo for my 9 month old and the iPad and iPhone for my 3.75 year old. My oldest slept for 3 hours and youngest slept for 2 hours TOTAL each. I had to walk around with my youngest when he was tired but every time he would fall asleep something would wake him up. I just let him play around in the Ergo while I took naps here and there. My oldest watched 4 movies and played with his Melissa and Doug re-usable sticker book, travel Hungry Hippo game, and coloring books. It kept him busy. He didn't want to sleep but I made him close his eyes to sleep. His dark circles were starting to looks scary! I brought toys for my youngest but he barely played with it. He jumped on my thighs and pushed against my chest a lot (ouch!). He liked playing with our water bottles more! I nursed him on the way up and gave him a pacifier on the way down as it worked out timing wise. I did nurse him coming down when we landed on Guam though b/c that was a much longer flight and he didn't want the pacifier.

As for how I was able to use the restroom, the Boeing 777 plane we took had a handicap restroom so it was huge. When my oldest had to go all three of us went. My youngest was on the Ergo and I just had to use all of my strength to pick up my oldest to stand on the toilet to pee. It worked out really well. I've done it before so it wasn't new to me. As for how "I" went, I pretty much left my youngest on the Ergo and did my business. I just wore leggings so it was easy to pull down and back up. Okay, it wasn't super pretty if you were to look at how it was after I pulled it back up but no one could tell! I know, TMI. I just fixed myself later on back at my seat. No biggie. That was my biggest fear, having to figure out how to use the restroom. I just left my oldest with the iPad back at our seats since he didn't want to come and was perfectly happy sitting there watching his movies.

So, see, it was pretty uneventful. I did almost blow up once at my oldest, though, b/c he was being all crazy in his seat and didn't want anything to watch or play with and he kept kicking me and pulling on his little brother. I think that was the only time I almost wanted to scream. I don't blame him though b/c he was tired and we were more than half way into our trip already.

We landed around 7:30 PM and I put the boys in bed by 10:30 PM. It took a few days but I think they are finally over their jet lag. My oldest came into my room two nights in a row and I fianlly told him he coudln't come anymore b/c he wasn't sleeping. The third night I told him that he can only call me if he has to pee or poo. He was really good and listened to me and tried to fall asleep on his own again after waking up. I think we are finally over jet lag 4 days later. Not too bad, actually!

The weather's here is so nice - 80s during the day time and 70s at night. Couldn't ask for more perfect weather as it's freezing cold back in the DC Area. We left just in time. AND I found out that 6 kids got sent home from my oldest's preschool in ONE day. Crazy...

So that's it. My solo international trip with my two boys under 4. I don't recommend it but I think it's do-able if you just prepare for the worst and just go with it. We're headed to Taiwan next and my husband will be meeting us there and we will be all flying home together so at least we will have help. Maybe that's when the meltdowns will come.

Have you ever flown with your kid(s) alone?