January 4, 2022
I call this day travel day. The day leading up to the Happiest Place on Earth, our vacation to Disneyland in Southern California. We started packing days before the trip. The night before our trip, we loaded our Prius with most of our luggages. We have 3 suitcases to check in. I checked in our flights and paid for 1 checked in bag. The other 2 suitcases were free using my Alaska Airlines Credit Card. Our flight leaves at 11:56 AM, boarding at 11:10 AM. We wanted to be in the airport around 10 AM, which means leaving the house by 8:45AM, at the latest.
The alarm went on at 6:45 AM. My husband got up and prepared breakfast. By 7:15, I woke up the boys, changed them and had breakfast. By 8:30 AM, we left the house to my parent’s house. My father gave us a ride at the airport. I squeezed in between the car seats and luckily fit, so the 5 of us went to the airport in the Prius.
My husband took our luggages while I unbuckled the kids. Just before we entered the airport, a lady wished us “good luck”, while my 4.5 year old started running towards the gate without us. There were some chaos in the beginning, since we didn’t know where to put our already checked in luggages. I printed out the tags, but I needed a way to tie it in our luggages. We briefly stand in line the kiosk to print our boarding passes and our luggage tags. Luckily, a lady working in Alaska was there. I showed her our printed luggage tags and she gave us the “self-tag” bag that we can clip on our luggages. She directed us to another line where we can drop off our luggages. My husband hauled our 3 luggages, while I carried our almost 2 year old (AHP) and our 4.5 year old (MBP). It was a lot easier once we checked in our luggages and headed towards security. The line was short enough and the boys cooperated, for the most part. We headed towards our gate, which included a shuttle ride. The boys were excited. MBP started counting down before the shuttle took off, which gave some giggles to other passengers. We had ample time before boarding so we took a bathroom break and refilled our water bottles, before going to our gate.
Luckily, we didn’t have to walk too far to get to our gate. We grabbed some chairs, and tried to entertain the kids. My husband got our lunch while I watched the boys. I took out the Ipad to entertain MBP, while AHP kept on running away. I offered AHP some snacks and finally took out my phone just before my husband came back. We ate our lunch and used the restrooms before boarding the plane. The airlines typically let you board early if you are traveling with kids, but I like to do the opposite and board the plane at the very end. This lessens the wait time inside the aircraft and hopefully less screaming and / or crying inside the plane.
It was an uneventful 3 hour flight. The kids did great. The folks behind even told us that they did really well. Yay! When we got to baggage claim, the driver from Lansky was already waiting for us, with my name and a cart for our luggages. I was so glad that I paid for this service. It was expensive but definitely worth it. He helped us load the luggages in the cart and pushed it while we carried the boys to the car. I checked the car seat and buckled the boys in. Initially, we thought of stopping by the grocery store, but decided not to. Instead we ordered our groceries from Instacart. We got to our hotel and MBP fell asleep on the drive. AHP on the other hand was wide awake and talking A LOT. He keeps pointing out different colors of the cars.
We got to the hotel and I took the boys with me to check in. Our double stroller and bed rail from City Stroller were already waiting for us. This is another service that I’m so glad I paid for. It was super convenient and I’m so glad that I rented the bed rail.
We settled in the hotel room, which consists of a double bed and bunk beds. MBP was on the top bunk while AHP on the bottom. AHP usually sleeps in the crib at home, but there wasn’t really enough room for a crib. Luckily the bed rail worked out and the boys actually liked the set up.
I ordered our groceries from Walmart via Instacart. Free delivery for 3 months were included as a benefit for new customers paying via Chase Freedom Flex card, which I opened to pay for our Disneyland Tickets months ago. We had dinner in the hotel while waiting for our delivery, which arrived around 7PM. For dinner, it was simple rice with sardines that we packed with us. Rice was cooked in the rice cooker which we also packed with us. We entertained the kids for a bit and put them to bed before 8 PM. When they fell asleep, I cleaned the dishes, took a shower and turned in to get ready for the big day tomorrow!
Total Money Spent for the day: $158.86
Airport Lunch – $67.37
Driver Tip (20%) – $20
Instacart – $83.84
