The Kindness of Strangers

In this day and age when people are never alone if they have their cell phones handy, I find that people don't often engage with strangers when they are out and about. I notice this effect the most when I'm traveling which I used to do all the time for work. I am one of those streamlined airport people who knows where the shorter lines are, how to have all my items ready for the security check, when to board the plane to get overhead space. I have all my techniques down to a science.

Matt on the other hand is a much different traveler than I am. I remember distinctly when we went to the airport for our first trip together and I got into the preferred line and he said "Oh, you're one of those people..." Though he did warm to the idea once he realized he too became one of those people by accompanying me. Still he tends to linger through the airport while I prefer to get right to the gate, he heads through the metal detector sun glasses on his head, he waits until they are calling his name to board the plane while I sit on the airplane reading my book trying not to cringe while they are asking me if he's coming.

Despite all our difference we still enjoy traveling together. Add in two kids to the equation and you have a whole new kind of travel. We just returned from a week on the Big Island of Hawaii with the kids, Grandma and Grandpa Z, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Chris and cousin Claire. We had a wonderful trip and got to spend a lot of quality time with everyone but I for one can't wait for someone to invent some sort of teleportation device so we can skip the travel part.

We left on Saturday morning bright and early for our 8:50 am flight. All went well with the wake up and getting into the car, we cruised down 405 to the airport, found a great parking spot and that's when we hit our first snag. We had two adults, Kenzie on foot, Ben in the bjorn, three suitcases, two carry on bags and two car seats.

It was not a pretty picture getting to the check in. Undaunted we checked in at the first electronic ticketing station we saw, it was out of paper so on to the next location only to have it only give us receipts since had already checked in, so on to the bag check to talk to a real person who was able to help us get our tickets. We were then told that our flight was delayed until 11:30 due to the tsunami that might be heading towards Hawaii because of the earthquake in Chili. Then we checked our three suitcases - one of which contained McKenzie's blanket - meltdown number one. That meltdown continued while we were in line to go through security to the point where a very nice TSA agent pulled us out of line and took us down to the next security line and got us in the fast lane and told us about a kid area inside the terminals. This was our first sign of the kindness of strangers we would experience that day. We made it through security without too many more issues and then had some breakfast while trying to get more info about the tsunami. We learned that if it was going to hit Hawaii it would happen around 11:00 so we continued to wait. We found our way to the kiddie play area and let the kids loose. I then hiked up to our gate to ask about getting a fourth seat since Ben qualified as a lap child and when we booked the tickets he was pretty mellow we only booked three seats. Luck was still on our side and I was able to get a fourth seat on the aisle right in front of our assigned seats.

Fast forward to boarding the plane, of course we missed the call for those traveling with small children so we were in the middle of the pack boarding and right when we got onto the jet way we hit meltdown number two. McKenzie decided she was not getting on the plane. It wasn't a pretty site. We were juggling our carry ons, Ben in the bjorn, the car seats and trying to get her moving. That's when a very nice grandma came up and offered McKenzie some banana chips, a nice man offered to carry our car seats on for us and then a little five year old girl and her mom got out of line and came back to get us. The little girl came right up to Kenzie and said "I used to be scared to fly on planes but I'm not scared anymore, do you want to hold my hand?"  Kenzie stood up and grabbed her hand and boarded the plane. We were in awe at how many people reached out and helped us when they could have just walked on by in their own little bubble probably annoyed at a little two year old crying on the jet way. Those small actions by strangers made our travels so much easier. I will be remembering this as I travel in the future... this one is definitely worth paying backwards and forward.

Stay tuned for more posts this week on Hawaii - we took so many pictures. Here's one for now of the kids on the airplane - we're still on the ground and Ben's already asleep! McKenzie is reading the seat back safety card. She may be the only person actually following the directions to read that.